After one demanding month of rehearsing, the first production of the season for the Herberger College of Fine Arts' Lyric Opera Theatre opens today.
British composer Sandy Wilson wrote "The Boy Friend," a 1920s period musical. According to a School of Music press release, it's the musical that launched Julie Andrew's professional acting career.
Containing jazz-era tunes and dances, "The Boy Friend" tells the tale of a young English lord and a high-class lady posing as paupers in order to gain each other's attention.
Learning more than an hour's worth of dialogue and dance in a month's time was no easy task for the cast, said Timothy Leffler, managing director of the Lyric Opera Theatre.
"The students rehearsed an average of 20 hours per week, on top of being full-time students," he said.
One of the actresses in a principal role, music theater senior Lynette Rogers, also took on the responsibility of choreographing the production.
"It took a lot of hard work to get it all together in one month," she said.
Rogers initially thought students on the cast would not give a fellow student respect as their dance instructor. To her surprise, "[the cast] showed up the first day of rehearsals ready to work and learn the unique array of dances."
The musical will be "great fun for all ages," said Denise Tanguay, a spokeswoman for the Herberger College.
It also offers brilliant costumes and amazing vocal performances by School of Music students, she said.
"The Boy Friend" begins tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Evelyn Smith Music Theatre and runs through Oct. 9.
Reach the reporter at bradley.butterfield@asu.edu.
