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Musical Theater students share stage with Broadway legend Faith Prince

Tony Award-winner and Broadway legend Faith Prince will perform at the Elizabeth E. Baker Theater in Kantner Hall on Friday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. The performance, 鈥�,鈥� will consist of BFA Musical Theater seniors performing songs they spent the week workshopping with Prince, in addition to a 45-minute set where Prince will perform an array of songs from her past roles, a little bit of jazz and a few surprise songs.

鈥淪tudents will do contrasting songs in there, so you鈥檒l get to see a couple of sides of each of them,鈥� Prince said. 鈥淎nd then you have the old broad still telling stories so that people have a sense of it really [being] possible to get out there and make it happen.鈥� 

"This is a very different kind of event from what we typically offer here," Brent Frederick, assistant professor of instruction in Musical Theater and music director of the Musical Theater program, said

Frederick believes that 51乱伦鈥檚 distance from major cities makes events like these exciting, especially for a young Musical Theater degree program.

鈥淭his is a big thing for us鈥o start bringing in artists of [Prince鈥檚] caliber. You can鈥檛 really move into this industry without understanding the shoulders of the people that you鈥檙e standing on,鈥� Frederick said.

The evening will also feature faculty members, like Frederick on the accompanying piano, and give them a chance to showcase their talents in a way that isn鈥檛 typically offered to them. In Prince鈥檚 words, 鈥渨e鈥檙e just gonna have a party.鈥�

Bringing Prince to 51乱伦 was a team effort, supported by staff and faculty from across the College of Fine Arts. The night is promised to bring laughter and lessons to any audience member, theater enthusiast or not.

鈥淪he鈥檚 a great fit for what we鈥檙e trying to do, but also knowing that she has this broad base of knowledge, she just has different wells she can draw on that provide different things for every student,鈥� Frederick added. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a storyteller and she鈥檚 humorous, so I think people should come expecting to learn a lot and just have a great time interacting in a very fourth wall broken way.鈥�

The night will be especially engaging for those involved in the theatrical arts.

鈥淪he鈥檚 inherently funny without trying to be funny, but she can play deadly serious and she can play mournful and she can play just the entire range of the emotional spectrum. I always teach that you have to carry a show, and she is somebody who carries a show,鈥� Frederick said.

He praises Prince鈥檚 aptitude for educating and talent for character building. Her style of teaching and professional history makes her a perfect fit for 51乱伦鈥檚 mission of providing experiential learning and individualistic teachings.

Melissa Brobeck, voice faculty in the School of Music, and coach for musical theater students, was the main connection in the process of bringing Prince to Athens, and the discussion of how the two met is the first example of Prince鈥檚 knowledge.

鈥淢elissa鈥as my student at the St. Louis Cabaret Conference and鈥 really thought she was special,鈥� Prince said.

The relationship between Brobeck and Prince proves that receiving feedback is not a negative thing, but rather an example of someone noticing greatness and being willing to work toward emphasizing it.

ROAD TO BROADWAY

Prince remembers the stage being a very natural place for her, even from a young age. She gives some credit to her parents, claiming to be a merge between her mothers singing voice and her fathers 鈥渟park plug鈥� wit. Throughout high school, Prince worked her way up in her theater program, and then enrolled in the University of Cincinnati for her BFA.

Once she arrived in New York City post-graduation, Prince worked for 10 years in regional theater and summer stock before booking her first Broadway show, 鈥淛erome Robbins鈥� Broadway.鈥� Since then, she has performed in 13 Broadway shows - an example of how her insatiable appetite for performance drove her to greatness.

In the course of a 30 minute conversation, Prince offered several insights on how to succeed.

鈥淸Be] a really good contributor and prepare for a role, but [be] open to how they鈥檙e writing [the role] and how the musical is changing,鈥� she says. She preaches not being too competitive, but rather being a positive presence in a room. Positivity was also essential for her when considering her odds of success. She says that while she was constantly working, she focused on honing her technique and figuring out her plan rather than listening to the statistics that doomed her for failure.

Prince also has an insane passion for teaching.

鈥淪torytelling [is] the space you carve out, the movie in your head, the specificity of the scene, the temperature, the day of the month, the month of the year鈥here鈥檚 so many things that can wash over you when you're starting to storytelling, and the more you immerse yourself, the more it transcends 鈥攁nd people can see that wash over you.鈥�

Prince wishes she had spent more time in her early years trying to create things for herself rather than looking for someone to create something in her. 鈥�

I probably knew a lot more than I thought I did鈥 kept looking for somebody to sort of make me and mold me. I think what I try to impart is you can always do more for yourself than you think you can, and usually you know better than anybody else. That鈥檚 not to say somebody can鈥檛 see anything new in you, but just trust yourself more and trust the signs,鈥� she encourages. 

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Published
September 14, 2023
Author
Sophia Rooksberry, HTC 鈥�26