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Courtesy Of Doug Anderson
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The student cast of Fun Home
When the crisp fall air returns every September, so does the question Doug Anderson gets from his community members in Middlebury: "Have you chosen the winter musical yet?"
As artistic director of Town Hall Theater, Anderson has directed the popular Winter Term Musical, a collaboration with the Middlebury College Department of Music, for 15 years. During the fall term, student actors learn and rehearse the music with Middlebury faculty member Carol Christensen. In January, students — orchestra pit musicians and actors alike — leave campus to bring their talents to the community. The orchestra, conducted by Middlebury grad Ronnie Romano, has three short weeks to learn the music. All the students rehearse twice a day and, on a professional timeline, stage a high-quality musical at the historic downtown theater.
"I'm not sure any other small-town theater and college have this kind of cooperative venture," Anderson wrote in an email to Seven Days.
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The musicals have been so polished that these January shows sell out fast. This year, tickets for the four-night run were snapped up in just 12 hours, Anderson said.
The rush may be partly due to homegrown enthusiasm. This year's production, running Thursday, January 26, through Sunday, January 29, is Fun Home, the 2015 Tony Award winner for Best Musical. It's based on Vermonter Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.
The memoir chronicles Bechdel's experience as a young queer person growing up in a funeral home in rural Pennsylvania — as well as her complex relationship with, and growing understanding of, her father. The story touches on themes of queerness, gender identity and family dysfunction in a dark, sometimes humorous way.
"Fun Home is the first musical to foreground lesbian relationships," Anderson said by phone.
Bechdel, who lives in Bolton, is also known for her now-retired comic strip, "Dykes to Watch Out For," and the sometimes misunderstood Bechdel Test, a form of media criticism that asks whether a film features two women talking to each other about something other than a man.
Zack Maluccio, 22, is a senior theater and economics major from New Orleans who plays Bruce, Bechdel's father, in this production of Fun Home. He learned of Bechdel when he read her graphic memoir as part of a first-year seminar at Middlebury College. He considers performing in the musical a full-circle moment in his education.
Anderson contextualized the play, Maluccio recalled, helping students born in the 2000s better understand the era in which the story takes place. They learned that being out as a gay person in rural Pennsylvania in the 1980s "was a huge risk at the time, and one that usually didn't pay off," Maluccio said. When the musical opened on Broadway, in spring 2015, "it was still before the Supreme Court had federally legalized same-sex marriage," he added. "It is utterly unbelievable at times just how slow progress can be."
For the Winter Term Musical, Anderson said he and Christensen select plays that are not only musically challenging but also tackle important topics.
"Musicals aren't just escapist," he said. "They deal with serious issues and are ahead of the curve as far as what's happening in society. In these 15 years, we've educated the student body and the town of Middlebury. They've gotten a survey of why the musical matters."
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Courtesy Of Max Krauss
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The cast of Company in 2022
Jonathan Isham Jr., of Cornwall, has been to numerous Winter Term Musicals with his family over the years and said he bought Fun Home tickets the moment they became available. An economics and environmental studies professor at Middlebury, Isham believes the relevancy of the musicals is a draw for audience members.
He and his family appreciated seeing Les Misérables during the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, Ragtime in an era of racial justice protests and Company after the death of Stephen Sondheim, Isham said.
It's special "that, in the dark of winter, there's this beautiful performance over a few days," he explained.
Other past Winter Term Musicals include The Light in the Piazza, Cabaret and Urinetown. Last year Maluccio portrayed Robert in Company and cherished the experience of performing downtown in Town Hall Theater.
"It's an invaluable experience for a student to feel a connection to the town," Maluccio said. Middlebury is a very "mysterious thing" for first-year college students, he explained. As he's grown older and spent more time in the community, he's fallen in love with the town and gotten to know more residents.
"I do credit Town Hall Theater as really bolstering that connection," he added.
Maluccio also noted that some students show a lack of respect for the community at times and that it can take only "a few jerks" to sour opinions of the college.
"It can sometimes stain the relationship between college and community," he said. "In a way, getting to do shows like this is this bridge."
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Courtesy Of Max Krauss
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A scene from Chicago in 2016
Anderson believes similar "friction" exists between residents and students in many small college towns. He lauds Middlebury College president Laurie Patton for helping to ease Middlebury's tensions since her inauguration in 2015. He noted that she often addresses community groups and encourages students to work and volunteer at local nonprofits.
Although there is an economic divide between lower-income residents and the students, who pay more than $60,000 a year in tuition, the town benefits from the college, Anderson said. In addition to being the town's largest employer, the college fuels the local economy and hosts a wide range of cultural experiences that are open to the public, including the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series.
Yet Anderson knows many people who won't go to campus. "Somebody will say to me, 'I had no idea there was so much talent up at the college' because they literally haven't been exposed to the students," he said.
The Winter Term Musical is a chance for the students to come down the hill, he said. After each show, they remain onstage with the lights up to greet audience members. Anderson loves seeing the interaction between community members and students.
"It's my proudest moment," he said.