Paintings, sculptures and beautiful music. This is what patrons of the Kennedy Museum of Art were greeted with Thursday evening, as seven Ohio University seniors performed at Spark of Creation. The performances featured nine songs from various musicals, including “A Chorus Line,” “Wicked” and “Ordinary Days.”
The event was named after the opening song of the night, from the musical “Children of Eden.” The musical is based on the Book of Genesis, and Eve sings about the unknown possibilities of creation. The theme was in line with the event, as it celebrated “the wonder of art and the human spirit that yearns to create it,” according to an Instagram post from OU’s musical theater program.
The evening included performances by Amy Pilgrim, Billy Elias, Julia Germer, Madison Keally, Madison Russell, Grayce Roderick and Sylvia Witt. Melissa Brobeck, assistant professor of instruction, ended the evening with the song “Till There Was You,” from "The Music Man.”
Brobeck said the seven seniors have worked hard throughout their college careers, in performances and in studies.
“(The event) is a nice time to showcase their talent and their hard work,” Brobeck said. “Plus, it sounded just really delightful to perform in a museum, which you don't typically get to do.”
Shelley Delaney, emerita professor of theater and vice president of the Friends of Kennedy Museum of Art Board, said there have been live performances at the museum before, featuring small ensembles and the OU School of Dance.
Delaney said she knew something was missing from the Kennedy Museum and decided to contact the performing arts. She called up the musical theater department to see if faculty would be interested in showcasing their students at the museum.
Brobeck was the first to jump at this offer.
“Melissa was the first one to say yes,” Delaney said. “I particularly love this senior class … when Melissa said it would be the seniors she was working with, I knew it was perfect, both for their timing in terms of the arc of their learning and training and getting ready for next steps and all of those things.”
The students are currently preparing their senior showcase materials. Brobeck said a portion of them will travel to different parts of the country where performing arts thrive. She hopes the seniors take what they’ve learned in their four years of school and apply it to the real world of performing.
“I think for most of them … you can't say for sure ... but I think a lot of our students go to New York or Chicago or Atlanta or Los Angeles,” Brobeck said. “I think they're getting ready … to book work immediately after school and then make plans to give it a go.”
Brobeck said the students in the musical theater program are in close cohorts.
The musical theater students are also gaining confidence and learning about themselves and each other. Delaney said acting and performing skills allow students to understand each other on a deeper level.
“While you're learning about yourself, you get so much better social intelligence and emotional intelligence about reading other people,” Delaney said. “You read the room, you read the human being.”
Jim Pilgrim, one of Brobeck’s voice students, said he often attends events to support the musical theater students and enjoyed the “Spark of Creation” event.
“These people, with no microphone, no music, perform these songs and put so much of themselves into it, it's wonderful,” Pilgrim said. “I love to watch these performances, I’m proud of them.”
Pilgrim said he loved Elias’ rendition of “Venice” from “Elegies,” and “At the Ballet,” from “A Chorus Line,” performed by Russell, Pilgrim and Keally.
“You're acting well, but it's all great because they're coming here and they're putting it all right here,” Pilgrim said. “They don't leave anything, they don't leave anything, they give it all.”
