By Aaron Calvin
Things came full circle in Spiegel Theater Tuesday afternoon. Up and coming playwrights Mark Sanderlin and Alexandra Rubin showcased the newest incarnation of their musical “Tangled” for Hofstra drama classes. The dramatic read through of the musical stood as a landmark for the writers, as it was staged at their alma mater.
“Tangled,” begins with concerns and characters that will seem familiar to any audience. The show is set at typical American high school and begins fairly predictably, combining angst ridden teens with songs about feeling mediocre. However, the show develops to encompass realistic and heartfelt characters, rather than the usual caricature of a high school student seen in other popular musicals. The characters’ problems involved the following: starting a new school as a transgender, dealing with the harshness and vulgarity of high school cliques and explaining to people how you met your boyfriend on Facebook.
The entire experience offered a unique learning opportunity for Hofstra students. As English professor Dr. Maureen McFeely stated before the show, the audience was going to be “witness to the birth of a musical.” It offered an interesting insight to drama students, allowing them a glimpse of what their own futures could hold.
Alexandra Rubin began writing the show as a play before she even came to Hofstra, but it’s first incarnation was performed as part of the Drama Department’s Experimental Works night.
By the time their graduation rolled around last May, Rubin teamed up with music major Mark Sanderlin to help turn the project into a musical. Sanderlin’s music certainly adds a great deal to the show, allowing the characters to communicate their problems by way of impressive a cappella harmonies.
“It’s not necessarily a cause musical,” Sanderlin said when asked how he felt the musical stood apart from other high school set musicals. “It’s not just a high school story. It’s a human story. It’s not just a transgender story. It’s relatable to many people.”
Hofstra students were also interested in how The University helped to prepare the duo for the reality of the competitive world of musical theater.
“When you start off, you do everything yourself,” Alexandra said. “You have to learn to make connections and discuss yourself. I like Hofstra because you can do many different things, even if you aren’t necessarily specializing in them.”
The musical itself is still under construction. The directors plan to retool the music and continue filling out grants and submitting their musical to festivals, which the pair admitted they were forced to spend almost more time on than the actual musical. Sanderlin continues to develop his skills in Broadway Music Inc. workshops.
The show is moving forward, however, with another reading at The Theater for the New City on January 11. The Hofstra alumni are hopeful, but cautious about the future. “There’s nothing that prepares you for the real world,” Sanderlin stated. “The reality is different than anything else you’ve experienced.”