Harbus

Issue date: 4/19/05 Section: News

If you were one of the hundreds who attended Jack Welch's speech last week, maybe you noticed something funny about good old Burden Auditorium. The normally barren stage had been replaced by big black curtains, colored flood lights, and tape on the floor denoting marks. It looked like something very serious was in the works down on that stage. And indeed it was: the HBS Show.

With a professional lighting director flown in from the West Coast, a full orchestra in the pit, and Broadway-quality sound controlled from a laptop, this is decidedly NOT akin to your typical high school production. No, the "Wizard of Hawes" is much bigger than anything you have previously seen in a school setting. And while the sets, music, and cast are on par with that you would find at Summer Stock, the show is anything but serious. Your writer was lucky enough to enjoy a sneak preview last week. And I can guarantee that the HBS Show is a must-see. You will laugh. You will cry. It's better than "Cats".

One thing the "Wizard of Hawes" certainly has over "Cats" is the inclusion of squirrels, the beasts that share Spangler lawn with HBS students and are reportedly shampooed on a regular basis to keep the campus looking as pristine as possible. Look out for these squirrels on set in the opening scene, a huge dance number to Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" which involves shaking hands and shaking some booty. We are even treated to everyone's favorite: jazz hands.

Professional choreographer Becky Bullard, wife of Ward Bullard (NE), is to thank for the fantastic dancing in the show. She has successfully turned even the most inept dancers into potential Usher back-ups. Some of her best choreography comes in a great scene depicting various corporate recruiters. A take-off on the women's prison scene in "Chicago", we see recruiters extolling the virtues of their various firms. The climax is a fight between Goldman Sachs (recruiter played by Janelle Lin, OG) and Microsoft (recruiter played by Tina Lai, NE). After HBS Show Associate Director Greg Marsh (NH) intoned to his actresses, "The fight must be convincing! There must be more anger!" Microsoft approached Goldman and the following exchange occurred:

MS: "I rule my sandbox."
GS: "I OWN your playground. Code that, nerdgirl!"
MS: "I have 95% market share!"
GS:"I'm sorry, I can't hear you. I'm listening to my iPod."

This witty banter is only as good as the actors supplying it, and they are excellent, indeed. There are six leads. Hope Carlson (NF) plays Anita Richman, hard-headed, calculating, sarcastic, and ambitious. Hope is a classically trained opera singer, and the rest of the cast raves about her singing ability. Greg Lau (NJ) plays Justin Thyme (nice TOM take-off), a well-meaning but naïve guy from a small town who is still coming to terms with all that HBS has to throw at him. He is joined by Christian Charnaux (NC), who as Chris Matic, is suave, charming, and confident but tends to get the wrong end of the stick. Mike Lester (NG) is HBS's own Carl Kester (hey, that rhymes), portrayed here as the long-suffering second fiddle to the dean.

Continued...

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