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2014 - 2015 Season

Extra, Extra: The Count of Monte Cristo in the News

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Welcome back, and happy New Year! Opening night is just around the corner, and The Count of Monte Cristo has been receiving a lot of press coverage. Many local and national sources are interested in this new musical making its premiere in America. Here are some of the videos and press photos from recent events. Hope you enjoy, and make sure you get your tickets soon!

Broadwayworld.com, a prestigious site for Broadway, theater, and live performance information, featured lead cast members Preston Yates (as Edmund Dantes) and Shae Robins (as Mercedes) on the home page singing this soulful and heart-wrenching duet.

BYU News has released numerous videos and photos on their page dedicated to The Count of Monte Cristo. A recent video showed the villains of the show, played by Taylor Morris, Matthew Krantz, and Cameron Smith, constructing a plot against Edmund Dantes.

Fox 13 News out of Salt Lake City came and did two TV spots, including an interview with Jeff Martin, the show’s creative producer.

They also had a clip highlighting Shae Robins in the emotional ballad “I Will Be There”.

The show was featured on the BYU School of Music’s website, with additional information regarding working with composer Frank Wildhorn. Additionally, BYU’s student newspaper the Universe ran an article about the show. More news resources and interviews will be coming in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

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Games and Activities Inspired by this Fishy, Wishful Tale (Part 2)

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The cast has been participating in workshops with Teresa Love, an adjunct professor at BYU who teaches theatre for the elementary classroom, storytelling, and adapts many of the TYA plays performed on the BYU stage. (Fun fact: She wrote the script to BYU's most recent mainstage play, The Selfish Giant.) She is currently helping the cast of The Fisherman and His Wife construct a post-show interactive workshop for 3rd graders. These workshops will take place after the students have seen the show performed at their elementary school. In the images below, the cast and stage manager collaborate to first establish, then create frozen images of the play's themes: CONTENTMENT, POSSIBILITIES, DESIRE, UNSATISFIED, REVERSED, HAPPY. Overall Message: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU FISH FOR! Can you see any of these themes or messages represented in the poses below? MORE WORKSHOP PICTURES TO COME!
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Design Inspiration

July 26, 2022 12:00 AM
by Amelia Johnson, Dramaturg Creating a show is a process. Though the run of the show is over, there was a lot more that went into the show than what was seen in those few weeks. Months before the run, the production team began meetings. They discussed the director’s vision for the show and began planning designs. Everything was approved of and discussed before lights were set, sets, were built, and the costume and makeup designs were implemented. This year, the costume and makeup designers drew inspiration from the local artist, James Christensen. Having passed away earlier this year, director Dallyn Bayles thought it would be nice to pay tribute to him in this way. Costume designer Dennis Wright was thrilled to base his designs of Christensen's style. He said, “What I really love about Christensen’s work is the whimsy that he incorporates into his characters. His distinctive use of patterns, layers and silhouette is really fun and distinctive. I wanted to be sure to capture that in the costume designs for this production. “I love this show, and the concept and design choices our team has made. I am excited to share it with our audience. As a big James Christensen fan, my one regret is that I didn’t actually get to meet the artist in person. I just returned to Utah last year and sadly, missed my chance. I am very grateful to be able to pay tribute to him in this small way”. Makeup and hair designer Sarah Bult also shared some of her thoughts. “After reading the script I looked through as many James Christensen paintings as I could find. I picked out textures, colors, broke it all down and paired certain characters with those elements. His artwork influenced everything from the shape and colors of hair down to the detail on the bead work of the hairpins. I loved that I could draw my inspiration from his work and create something that really embodied his artwork." Bult continued, “One thing I didn’t expect to be a challenge was that not many Christensen pieces have hair showing. This created a very unique and fun challenge for me. I had to look many different paintings, combine textures and colors, and use my own design style to come up with fun fairy tale hair and makeup styles that were reminiscent of Christensen’s artwork. I am very excited to see how all of the elements come together”. Join us on the 4th Wall next time to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes!
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Until Next Time, Microburst

July 26, 2022 12:00 AM
by Holly Mancuso, dramaturg After a successful run, Microburst Theatre Festival has wrapped up for this year. If you missed it, make sure you join us next year for a fresh round of new plays written by students. As part of the show we created boards for the lobby highlighting each of the shows. Different drafts showed how much these plays have changed since the first drafts, which was fun for audiences to see. [caption id="attachment_3667" align="aligncenter" width="3264"] The Microburst lobby display[/caption] As part of this process, the production team has grappled with the question: "Why new plays?" This is a fair concern, since many people don't feel comfortable seeing something with which they aren't familiar. It's also easier to be drawn in by a known name
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