Beginning this evening, Thursday Feb. 15, and running throughout the weekend at the Mondanaro Theater, SCAD Performance Ensemble presents “Silver Screen Serenade,” a cabaret show written and directed by Kevin Wallace.
The show follows a history of film scores, beginning with songs from classic Hollywood, through modern times, ending with music from Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land.”
“There’s all different songs and numbers, but they’re put together in little sequences that tell stories,” explained fourth-year performing arts major Courtney Fortner.
Fortner is a member of performance ensemble; she is one of the many cast members in the James Bond number, as well as singing “Chattanooga Choo Choo” from the film, “Sun Valley Serenade.”
“Everybody in the show pretty much has their own moment, a solo, which is kind of cool because there’s about thirty people in the cast, yet everybody gets a moment,” said Natalie Rieger, another senior performing arts major in the show.
Jesús Pineda, a fourth year architecture major, is singing “My Foolish Heart,” arranged specially for the show by writer/director Wallace. “I have a special mic that really pumps it up and really makes it seem as if I am singing in the ’50s with wonderful singers behind me,” Pineda said.
The show features a lot of technological elements, like Pineda’s microphone and the projections that will accompany every number, because “Silver Screen Serenade” was produced as a mainstage show, and features full support from the production design department.
“This is one of the first times performance ensemble has had this much support, with tech,” said third year performing arts major Kennedy Coe. “Normally we end up just pulling things from our own closets, doing our own makeup; Kevin [Wallace] will go out and buy things.”
“In my opinion, this is the biggest show we’ve done,” agreed Fortner, who has been in Performance Ensemble since she was a freshman at SCAD. “This is the first project where we’ve had full departmental support from production design, which is great, because we’ve always had fantastic prop students that helped out, but to have full support is a huge step up.”
“It lets us be able to focus on our job,” continued Coe, “We don’t have to worry about running out and doing hair and makeup, are there going to be mics, do I need to go buy lashes?”
“Where are we going to do this?” Rieger chimed in, and the group laughed.
“In this we’re referencing very specific films that people have seen, so the sets and the costume design are necessary to put you in that mindset,” said Fortner. “It’s a big part of the storytelling that can’t be conveyed through performance.
Though it travels through more than sixty years of film history, “Silver Screen Serenade” itself lasts a little over an hour. The show takes place at the Mondanaro Theater in SCAD’s Crites Hall and SCAD Card holders get free tickets to the 8 p.m. Thursday performance.
To see the full performance schedule and purchase tickets, visit savannahboxoffice.com.
By Shelby Loebker.
