What’s the buzz Diverse, talented cast chronicles the Savior’s journey in UMaine’s ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’

Sandra Hardy had one aim going into the auditions for “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the musical theater offering this winter at the University of Maine School of Performing Arts in Orono. She wanted to teach.

“It’s always been education first,” said Hardy, an associate professor of theater who is known for a hard-driving style of directing and controversial productions. “A show like this, with 50 cast members, gives lots of kids a chance to be onstage. I also thought it would be good to bring in media kids from the New Media program. We should be teaching acting for the stage, for the screen, for television.”

In addition to her students, Hardy may also be offering the community a powerful lesson about the so-called Millennial Generation. Born roughly between 1982 and 2000, the Millennials, whose oldest members are about 24, are considered to be more accepting, open-minded and technologically advanced than other generations, and they number more than 40 million strong, according to a 2004 Census Bureau report. Their vocabulary has always included words such as “multiculturalism,” “diversity,” “sexuality” and “Internet.”

The “Jesus Christ Superstar” cast, which includes actors, musicians and staff of varied race, sex, religion, physical condition, academic departments, theatrical experience and technological background, is as Millennial as it gets in this part of Maine. The show, which opened last night and runs through Feb. 26 at Hauck Auditorium, takes place live onstage, as well as in prerecorded broadcasts on two screens suspended on either side of the auditorium. Some of the performers have already graduated from college, one is an instructor performing alongside many of his students, and another is a student at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor. Two-thirds of the cast come from outside the theater and music departments. Two cast members are in wheelchairs. Another has multiple sclerosis. The music conductor for the Christianity-based story is Jewish. “And there’s me, who’s old,” said Hardy, who is nearing 70.

In my own 20-plus years of being a theatergoer and critic at university shows, this is the most diversity I’ve seen onstage at Orono. Don’t be misled: The cast is primarily white, but not exclusively so. Still, it’s the kind of cast even someone who isn’t a savior could love. And, one assumes, the kind the

Savior did love. After all, Jesus Christ, whose last days on Earth are chronicled in the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice psychedelic story, had his own ragtag band of followers. And leave it to a juiced-up rock opera that showed up on Broadway in 1971, with the Civil Rights Movement in full swing, to inspire a new generation of community builders.

UM graduate Joseph Ritsch lives in Philadelphia and tours the country as Sunrize Highway, a musical theater character and cabaret singer he created. He returned this winter to his alma mater to design the choreography for the show, which is entirely sung, and features a live 20-person band directed by Danny Williams, director of annual and reunion giving for the UM Alumni Association.

“As a student here, I never saw this much diversity, particularly when it comes to gay students being out,” said Ritsch, who graduated in 1992. “It shocks me in a good way. But the truth is, I have not seen this much talent in a long time in terms of dancing – especially since we don’t have a dance department any more.”

As Hardy might say, the nurturing of that talent is at the center of her mission. But if the students also learn something about who they are and what they, as a generation have to offer, that’s good. If the audience is provoked into new ways of thinking, even better.

“I’m not the person everyone depends on to serve the vanilla ice cream,” said Hardy, who has been at the university nearly 20 years. Before Maine, she taught at a large public high school in Connecticut. “I’ve made a conscientious effort over the years to do this. It’s difficult because the campus is so homogeneous in so many ways. But theater offers insights into the human condition, and you can’t explore the human condition without the range of humans.”

Or without the actors, many of whom she personally recruited.

“We all want and love to do what we are doing,” said 23-year-old Joshua Schmersal, a UM grad performing the title role. “As an alumnus, I’ve wanted and wished to see diversity. But this is the first time I’ve been in a multi-ethnic cast, and the first time I’ve been onstage with a person who is handicapped.”

For Thomas Bennett, a 24-year-old economics major from Brunswick, it’s the first time he has been onstage. The university installed an access ramp backstage so Bennett, who is in a wheelchair, and one other cast member could both roll onto stage.

“This is huge. Tremendously, amazingly huge,” said Bennett, who was told in high school that he had talent but couldn’t be cast because of his disability. “Sandra came to me and said: I need you in this play. That’s acceptance. I applied to four colleges. This is not the most accessible campus I saw, but the reason I came here is that it’s the most mentally accessible. That means if I ask someone for help, someone will always help me.”

“It’s definitely a production that exemplifies diversity from the technology to the people themselves,” said Jason Poisson, a fifth year theater major, or, in the vernacular of the Millennias, a “super senior.” “I think it will strike people that way. We really embrace each other’s differences. That’s going to show.”

Hardy, whose manner might be described as witty and brusque, put her hands over her ears at a recent rehearsal when the electric guitar was winding out through the hall. She called out for the cast to stop a scene. “I hate that guitar!” she opined. “I really hate it. I’m too old for this.” Then she turned to the cast and hollered: “Everyone! Stop dancing!” She turned to one of the men in a wheelchair. “Ron! No dancing!” she said. He beamed back at her. “Aw, c’mon!” he replied through a smile. The cast cheered him on.

The right touch of humor, after all, can be the greatest inclusive device of all.

“Inclusion like this is very important,” said Bennett, whose father is coming from Texas to see his son’s stage debut. “When you expose people to different types of people, you can see that the world is a better place because we all see that, in the end, we’re coming from the same place.”

Spoken like a true Millennial.

The University of Maine School of Performing Arts will present “Jesus Christ Superstar” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17-18 and 23-25, and 2 p.m. Feb. 19 and 26 at Hauck Auditorium in Orono. For tickets, call 581-1755. Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.