Auditions are now closed for It’s All Greek to Me, a musical written and composed by Riley Spellman ’13 and Mitch Galli ’12. The student run musical is a love story set on a college campus that shadows students in Greek life.
Two fraternities are at odds with one another. Trouble starts when one fraternity president’s younger sister falls for a brother from the opposite house. “It’s your typical Romeo and Juliet story but with toga parties, drinking and, of course, fighting,” Spellman said.
Spellman wrote the script and Galli composed the music and lyrics for the student musical, which they started last Spring. During production Spellman will be stage director while Galli will direct the music, they said.
Galli and Spellman said they both agreed that the script should focus on college life but deciding what aspect to write about was difficult. “I wanted to write about college life on a perspective that St. Lawrence doesn’t really embody and I’ve noticed that aspect is Greek Life,” said Spellman.
Greek life recently reemerged at St. Lawrence after most of the fraternities were banned from campus. Spellman said she wanted to write a script that would grant the surviving fraternities some attention but for this musical the setting is on a fictional college campus where Greek life has a stronger presense.
“I wanted it to incorporate the different worlds,” said Spellman. “The script itself is parallel to the plots: two schools of thought, the theatrical arts and Greek life, coming together under unique circumstances.”
Spellman said she spent most of her summer learning how to write a musical and coming up with the plot. Knowing she wanted an odd element to the script, she turned towards Shakespearean literature.
“I am an adamant Shakespeare fan so I know the Romeo and Juliet plot very well,” said Spellman. “The Romeo and Juliet story line worked very well for the play while still giving me plenty of room to make it both my own and to break expectations within a storyline.”
“There are only a limited number of opportunities to be in a production on campus,” said Colleen Nerney ’14, a performance and communication arts major who has participated in multiple theatre productions on and off campus.
The cast will consist of 12 characters, six women and six men. Spellman and Gallii focused on encompassing both guys and girls on campus with this musical rather than just writing a musical that only girls and a few guys are willing to sit through.
Spellman said she can already see the production is possible because many talented students showed up to the first night of auditions.
“Even if I don’t get a part, it will still be good to have the audition experience, especially as an aspiring performer,” said Nerney.
This is the first time St. Lawrence has seen a musical performance in many years. Rehearsals are scheduled to start next semester and the final production is set for March 6, 7 and 8.
