By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
The Fort Hays State University Department of Music and Theatre is preparing for a busy week as various ensembles and groups will take the stage the first full week of March.
Don’t Dress for Dinner
Kicking off a busy month for the students, last Friday was opening night for Don’t Dress for Dinner, with further performances at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Felten/Start Theatre in Malloy Hall on the FHSU campus, 510 S. Campus Drive.
The play by Marc Camoletti and adapted by Robin Hawdon features Bernard as he “plans a romantic weekend with his chic mistress in his charming farmhouse, while his wife, Jacqueline, is away,” according to the FHSU website. “He hired a cordon bleu chef to cook and invited his best friend, Robert, to provide the alibi,” and asks, “What could possibly go wrong? ... A night of hilarious confusion ensues.”
Choirs Concert
At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Smokey Hill chorale, FHSU Singers and Concert Choir will perform at the St. Joseph Church, 201 W. 13th, under the direction of FHSU choral activities director Terry Crull.
“That will be at St. John's Catholic Church because there's an Encore event in Beach/Schmidt, and of course, they can't go somewhere else,” Crull said. “So rather than try and find another date, which is next to impossible, we said let's go to St. Joseph Catholic Church. It’s going to be beautiful there.”
Percussion Ensemble Spring Recital
At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Felten/Start Theatre, the FHSU Percussion Ensemble will perform, including numbers they recently performed as a selected ensemble at the Kansas Music Educators Association 2023 In-service workshop.
“Ryan Pearson is our percussion instructor, and he's got a full stable of horses there that just play well,” Crull said.
Bands Spring Concert
At 7:30 Thursday, the FHSU bands will perform their Spring Concert under the direction of Peter Lillpopp in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center, 600 Park.
Northwestern College Symphonic Band Concert
Wrapping up the week, Northwestern College’s Symphonic Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center.
“They're on their spring break tour, and their organizer … called me and said, ‘Hey, we lost the stop between Colorado Springs and Omaha, can we come there?’ ” Crull said.
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The week’s events are free, excluding the play, and open to the public.
“The only thing that's not free is the play because you have to pay royalties to put on a play, and we don’t lump it into student activities fees,” Crull said. “It's $800 to $1,500 per show to do the fall musical. So that's why we sell tickets. So, the play is tickets, but our concerts, Hays Symphony Orchestra, our choirs, our bands, all of our recitals and things, they're all free.”
The concerts allow the students to perform in front of an audience and can help entice students to the university along with the collaboration between ensembles, made possible by the department’s size, Crull said.
“We support each other quite a bit,” he said. “We're a small enough department, that's one of our big recruiting positives. We say you come here, and you can do a lot of different things.
“And you'll step on stage right away. I mean, you could get a role as a freshman, maybe not the big lead, but if you go to a big school, you have to wait till all the graduate students get out of there before you're an upperclassman, and you get your chance. Otherwise, you might be just in the chorus, but you can get really good experience in jazz band and in our top bands, and so (it’s a) pretty well-rounded program. We're proud of it. And our kids work hard.”