Last week, the students of APO took the Koumantzelis stage with their production of First Date the Musical, which tangibly enhanced an acclaimed musical about a blind date. The students in APO did an exceptional job bringing back this 2012 production in all its hilarity and forged it into something theatrically exceptional and enjoyable for the entire audience. When we asked Lauren Davis (Class of 2019) from the audience what she thought of the show, she not only applauded the humor brought out by the play but also told us she really liked ‘how they pointed out the do’s and don’ts of first dates without the cliché’s’. It’s pretty hard to be funny and not cliché at the same time, but leave it to Bentley students to execute it perfectly. Other members of the audience enjoyed the show as much as we did and said it was a “definite must see”.
We went to one of the students behind the whole production to get a better insight of how the show got to be as good at it was- Dominic Richards, who was not only a performer in the show that night but is also the President of APO.
He walked us through the whole procedure and how they chose First Date for their production. “First, the Reading Chair took nominations; we considered three different shows bringing in practicality and the use of a minimal cast. We found that First Date fit the criteria they needed, especially with the minimal cast. They were surprised that a lot more people auditioned than expected. They originally wanted more females than males but the way it worked out was perfect” Now that they had a perfect cast, we wanted to know how long it took to reenact and make the show perfect. Dominic told us that this time they had a few time restraints so they needed to get the show out in 6 weeks! Based on the show, I think it’s safe to say Bentley students sure can work under pressure! Don’t you think? Lastly, when we asked him what he thought about his cast, he beamed with positive comments “They were perfect and had so much enthusiasm! They were more than willing to do extra practices and work hard”.
Once again, a successful event performed by the Bentley community. One of APO’s next event will be their spring arts festival ‘arts fest’, so if you missed this one, be sure to attend the next one because you wouldn’t want to miss out!
Stay tuned for news on the next big event at Bentley!