First-Years Shine in Freshman Musical

It’s pretty unusual to hear relaxed responses from directors and producers with less than a week before their show opens. But when asked about their production last week, Freshman Musical Director Heather E. Phipps ’10, Producer Tiffany M. Bradshaw ’10, and Music Director Samuel L. Linden ’10 were confident that they had things under control.

“We’ve got some really great people,” said Bradshaw. “Everyone is insanely talented, and everyone has brought so much to the table, that has made the whole process go really smoothly.”

“Ask Me Anything,” this year’s Freshman Musical, opened yesterday at the Agassiz Theatre and will run through tomorow. The Freshman Musical is an annual show that is entirely written, directed, performed, and produced by current first-year students.

This year’s show, with lyrics by Megan L. Amram ’10 and a script by Alexandra A. Petri ’10, tells the story of an advice columnist on a quest for true love.

“In passing, someone randomly suggested ‘Dear Abby–the Musical’ and the more we thought about it, the more we thought it would be really cool,” said Linden.

While many past Freshman Musicals have centered on Harvard life, this year’s leaders wanted to do something different.

“We wanted it to be a stand-alone piece of art,” said Amram. “We put so much effort into it.”

“We really didn’t want to do it about Harvard. It makes it so much more limiting in terms of jokes you can use—plus the prefrosh won’t get it,” added Petri.

With the show only a few days away, Phipps was eager for the show to open.

“I’m really excited to see our creative vision come to life on stage,” she said. “We’ve been working on it since October, and now we get to see everything come together.”

Amram and Petri, who had not been a part of the rehearsal process after writing the book and lyrics, especially looked forward to seeing how the show turned out.

“It’s so surreal to see something you know started out being a meeting at Herrell’s, and is now a real show,” Petri said.