The World’s Greatest Showman will take to the Marvel Stage at Rockefeller Arts Center on the SUNY Fredonia campus at the end of April. The Department of Theatre and Dance presents Barnum, the last installment of the Walter Gloor Mainstage Series opening on Friday, April 22 at 8 p.m. Barnum, by Cy Coleman, Mark Bramble and Michael Stewart, is a heartwarming musical for the whole family. Midtown Realty, a long-time corporate sponsor of the Department of Theatre and Dance once again lends support for the spring musical production.
 
Additional performances of Barnum will take place on April 23, 28, 29 and 30 at 8 p.m. and a matinee performance on April 24 at 2 p.m. Adult ticket prices are $15 and student/child ticket prices are $12.50. The Central Ticket Office will take seating reservations during regular business hours at 673-3501.
 
Before creating the three-ring circus for which he will forever be associated, Phineas Taylor Barnum had the ability to create illusions and make fortunes at the same time. The life of the great showman is chronicled in the family musical as we see P.T. Barnum, rise from modest means to a world-renowned impresario.
 
As the show’s many characters turn somersaults, twirl batons, juggle, fly through the air on trapezes and strut their stuff in high-spirited dance routines, the sunny-natured musical brings out the child in all audiences as the episodes of Barnum’s life unfolds. The big production numbers like "Come Follow the Band" and "Join the Circus" fill the stage with magic.
 
The craftsmanship of the SUNY Fredonia theatre production team will bring the carnival atmosphere to the Marvel Theatre stage with the eye-popping opulence: Scene Designer Curtis Phillips, on the theatre department faculty, has used circus wagons of the nineteenth century to inspire the various locales.
 
Costume designer and faculty member Paula Trimpey is presenting a dazzling array of costumes numbering in the thousands against the colorful backdrop of painted scenery. Worth the price of admission alone are the clown costumes.
 
School of Music Professor Raymond Stewart will conduct Cy Coleman’s razzle-dazzle score. Mr. Stewart toured with the original Broadway production of Barnum for nine months in the early 1980’s. Dressed in period uniforms, hiis ensemble of 22 players will perform the bouncy score and interact with part of the on-stage cast playing the band in Barnum’s circus tent.
 
Capitalizing on his prodigious skills as a movement and acting teacher in the theatre department, Edward Sharon makes his directing debut on campus with this production. "Barnum has an infectious charm about it," he said. "There is something special for everyone in this show."
 
Adrienne Westwood, who most recently choreographed the Via Orchesis major concert in February on campus, choreographed the dances.
 
Christopher Handley, a senior from Elma, N.Y. who is about to graduate with a B.F.A. in musical theatre, plays P.T. Barnum in this last role, his swan song, at Fredonia. He will sing, dance, juggle, and walk a tight wire for the production. Mr. Handley remarked, "This is absolutely the most challenging part that I have ever undertaken, it is a real tour de force."
 
Grace Abele, a junior from Berne, N.Y. who is enrolled in the B.F.A. acting program, and Kathleen Sereika, a freshman from Hilton, N.Y, enrolled in the B.F.A. musical theatre program, take the parts of Chairy Barnum and Jenny Lind respectively. Chairy Barnum supplies much of the conflict for the musical play as she desires her husband to give up the flamboyant life of show business and maintain a respectable position in New England. Jenny Lind, known as "The Swedish Nightingale" during the nineteenth century, was a protégé whose prodigious singing talents were presented by the master showman in a major cross-country tour.
 
Composer Cy Coleman, who passed away last November having received a Tony, three Emmys, and a Drama Desk Award, along with numerous award nominations, is one of the last of Broadway’s great composers, having written such musicals as Sweet Charity, On the Twentieth Century, I Love My Wife, Little Me and Seesaw. Barnum gained him high distinction with Tony nominations as both composer for the Best Score and co-producer for the Best Musical.
 
Barnum is a musical about illusion, but there is absolutely no illusion in what it delivers: It’s just great fun! As Barnum himself would have said, "Step right up, step right up, get in line for "The Greatest Show on Earth."