‘Clue’ first musical produced at OTC

When the lights go up later this month on OTC’s presentation of “Clue: The Musical,” there will be some deep sighs of relief.

The effort of the College’s Fine Arts Department to put on its first musical production in six years of stage performances has been filled with lots of hard work by students and faculty who decided to dip their toes into musical theater for the first time.

“There’s a huge difference between a play and a musical production,” said Jennifer McAtee, the production’s music director.

“There’s some dialogue but there are 15 songs in the musical. Almost the entire production is sung. There’s a huge amount of music. There are very few spaces where there isn’t any singing.”

For 16 weeks, students have been learning songs, dance moves, stage blocking and lines of dialogue in order to produce a successful production that’s based on the popular board game.

Jeremy Lowther, at OTC student who plays one of the lead roles as Mr. Body, has musical theater experience and has been practicing at home in addition to the work he’s put in at school.

“I started on this last semester but it’s better when you are working with everyone else,” he said.

Everyone sings in the production, too, McAtee said, who will be playing the musical accompaniment on the piano at each performance all 175 pages of musical accompaniment.

“I’ve had to learn the music and teach it, too, but I’ve been practicing four hours a night. The music is tough but it’s great. It’s not boring music. There are some tangos and waltzes,” she said.

Jon Herbert, the production’s director, said he’s excited about the idea of putting on a musical.

“We’ve been wanting to do a musical. It’s going to be a great production. The students have beautiful voices. Everything is coming together really well,” he said.

Showtimes are April 26 and 27 at 7:30 p.m. and April 29 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 each. To purchase tickets, contact the Gillioz Box Office at 417-863-9491.

 

Steve Koehler is coordinator of media relations for Ozarks Technical Community College.