Published: Friday, April 4, 2014
Updated: Friday, April 4, 2014 16:04
Women leave men for various reasons. Some men learn what they need to do to fix the relationship, while others don't have a clue.
In St. Philip's Theater's production of Five Guys Named Moe, Nomax, the main character, is dumped by his girlfriend because he doesn't treat her right.
Nomax becomes depressed and, while in a dream-like state, five guys, Big Moe, Little Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe and Four-Eyed Moe, appear to him out of his radio to teach him the error of his ways.
"Given that this is a musical revue, it has a loose story," director Vincent Hardy said. Hardy is the theater coordinator and an assistant theater professor at St. Philip's College.
"The character Nomax is having troubles in his relationship and these five guys come out of the radio, and using Louis Jordan's music, try to school him or teach him how he should treat women, instead of how he has been treating them," Hardy said in an interview Thursday.
Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jordan, known as "the Father of Rhythm & Blues" and "the Grandfather of Rock 'n' Roll," pioneered an amalgam of jazz and blues that came to be called "jump blues" or "jumpin' jive."
The play opens 8 p.m. today in Watson Theater at St. Philip's. The show continues 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through April 13. A special high school performance is at 10 a.m. April 10.
Auditions Feb. 11-12 brought 12-15 hopefuls in to tryout for a six-member cast, Hardy said. Rehearsals began Feb. 17.
Only four students were selected because Hardy hired two guest artists to perform in the musical.
Kenneth Lopez, graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy Conservatory of New York City, and Andrew Jacobi Jeter, set designer from the local Renaissance Guild Theater Company are the guest artists.
"One of the reasons I like blending student actors with professionals is because the students, I feel, have a concrete example as how to approach the work," Hardy said.
Hardy said because this is a musical, the students had to learn the music and choreography before he could do staging.
"I think students don't recognize particularly how difficult a musical can be because you have to learn music, choreography and you have to be acting, and so you kind of have to be a triple talent, which takes a lot of work," Hardy said.
Drama sophomore Louis Valdez, who plays Nomax, could not agree more.
"It's challenging because I'm not a musical person," Valdez said. He has acted in other plays such as "Julius Caesar," "A Place to Stand" and "Death of a Salesman."
A little over a month ago, one of the originally cast guest artists suddenly had to back out.
H ardy said his first instinct was to "hit the panic button," but with the help of Valdez, they were able to recast the role of Big Moe with Lopez. Valdez and Lopez worked together in the Classic Theater's production of "Death of a Salesman," Hardy said.
Lopez has been with the cast for the last four weeks and has adapted well, Hardy said. "He stepped right in," Hardy said. Lopez is also the production's assistant musical director.
Hardy said the musical traditionally has an all-male cast. He decided to make the character Four-Eyed Moe a woman.
"In my understanding of the piece, it just kind of fit that Four-Eyed Moe could be a woman, and the female energy, at least in my mind, added a very nice twist," Hardy said. "It just seemed like a natural segue for me to cast a woman."
Hardy said he chose to do this musical because it provided a great opportunity for the students to learn musical form.
Drama freshman Kevin Molina, who portrays No Moe, will be in hi s debut musical.
He said the success of the musical is dependent upon the collaboration of his cast mates.
"Right now, I'm taking every opportunity I can to make this thing happen, to make sure my cast mates and I are together because we're a team," he said. "Like Michael Jordan said, 'There's no I in team but there is an I in win,' and that goes for everyone."
Hardy pointed out, "Kevin often speaks in sports metaphors."
Hardy said he hopes the audience has fun and is able to make connections to the contributions of Jordan's work as a musician.
"Louis Jordan's music was kind of a springboard to several other musical forms like rap and rock'n'roll," he said. "He was the first to coin the term 'rockin' in the lyrics to one of his songs. Musical forms that are popular now kind of have their genesis in previous writings."
Hardy said the musical is light-hearted, but the main point is to shed light on the lack of equality between men and women. He said one of the characters tells Nomax he needs to start treating women equally and with respect otherwise his relationships will never work.
Tickets are $10 general admission, $5 for Alamo College students and employees, seniors and San Antonio Theater Coalition members. Admission is free for high school students with ID.
For more information, visit http://www.alamo.edu/spc/fine-arts/ or call 210-486-4828.
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