Instead of a full musical production Wednesday to celebrate the centenary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the makers of “The Suffragist” announced that the new Iowa-based musical will feature actress Nancy Opel as Carrie Chapman Catt at the musical’s world premiere. State.
“The Suffragist” is a new music production through Nancy Hill Cobb, a former instructor at the University of Northern Iowa, with an eBook and lyrics through Cavan Hallman, the founder of the Mirrorbox Theatre in Cedar Rapids.
Opel’s nomination for Best Leading Actress was due to her role as Penelope Pennywise in the 2001 musical “Urinetown”. His other Broadway credits come with “Evita,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Wicked.” He has also made the impression on television in episodes of “Law and Order” and its derivatives.
“She thought she liked our script and sought to do it,” recalls Hill Cobb, author and composer of the show, last July, before the news became official. “We were literally in the final stages of negotiation, and then Broadway closed its doors.”
Fortunately, despite the closure of Broadway and the disruption of live entertainment across the country due to the ongoing pandemic, Opel has maintained his interest in production.
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“The story we’re focusing on is primarily Alice Paul,” Hallman told Press-Citizen in 2019. “She is a radical young woman: she had trained with militant suffragettes in England before returning to the United States and joining the suffragette (American) movement.”
The other people of Iowa, however, will be more familiar with Paul’s suffragette companion, the role that will be given to life through Opel, Carrie Chapman Catt, a graduate of the state of Iowa in 1880. In the early 1900s, Catt represented a less radical point of view than Paul.
Originally, “The Suffragist” was scheduled to open June 5 at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center on the University of Northern Iowa campus in Cedar Falls. But considerations for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, led to the postponement of production from 17 to 19 July 2021, for the protection of actors, equipment and the public.
“As a storyteller in a disappointed world, I am grateful to publish an article about a critical and obligatory change. It’s an honor to paint with Nancy Opel about this critical story of the story,” production director Rachel Klein said on a Tuesday. . It’s an amazing skill and a concerned actor, and I have no doubt that its functionality will motivate and teach the public about this campaign, fought before our time. »
How the exhibition was born: Making music history with ‘The Suffragist’
Other ancient figures in the women’s suffrage movement, such as Ida B. Wells, Lucy Burns and Inez Milholland, are said to be characters in the series. Alice Paul’s casting has yet been announced.
Hallman and Hill Cobb had expressed hope of hiring an experienced Broadway performer like Catt with a promising young man in the role of Paul. With the announcement of the cast of Opel, the team is closer than ever to knowing their vision.
“After working on this musical as a songwriter for 4 years and part, it’s incredibly exciting to announce this cast,” Hill Cobb said in the press release. “I hope that women and men around the world will not forget how hard the right to vote has been fought and how vital it is to continue to honor women from beyond through voting in every election imaginable. It’s not like that. Long ago, so many other people were denied that right, going to the polls in each and every election ensures that their fight has not been in vain.
Tickets for the show, starting at $19 with special rates for giant groups, are expected to go on sale on March 1, according to the release.
Isaac Hamlet covers art, entertainment and culture at Press-Citizen. Contact him at [email protected] or (319) -688-4247, he on Twitter @IsaacHamlet.
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