Story Slam

Hope Orchards

Story Slam, What could possibly go wrong?, 5 tellers. Saturday, 19 October, 7:00 p.m., doors open 6:30, Hope Orchards barn. The event is a fund raiser for Sweet Tree Arts scholarships. $15 includes coffee and desserts. 

School of Performing Arts

UMaine Orono

Nearly 90 musicians and vocalists will take the stage Friday, Jan. 17 when the University of Maine School of Performing Arts presents the student-directed production, “An Evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein Classics.”

The 7:30 p.m. event in Hauck Auditorium, directed by UMaine music education senior Ben McNaboe of Yarmouth, will showcase a full symphony orchestra of nearly 50 musicians and 40 vocalists, all of whom are UMaine students, faculty and alumni.

“The program is made up of music from all of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s biggest shows,” says McNaboe. “I think a lot of people have this initial reaction of it being old or out-of-date music, but to me, and I think to a lot of people in the musical theater community, it’s timeless.”

The program will feature 22 selections from such award-winning American musicals as “The Sound of Music,” “The King and I,” “South Pacific,” “Oklahoma!,” “State Fair” and “Carousel.” The event will also feature vocal performances by the university’s premier a cappella ensembles — Maine Steiners and Renaissance. The groups will perform “There is Nothing Like a Dame” and “Do-Re-Mi,” respectively.

UMaine music faculty members flutist Liz Downing and pianist Laura Artesani will perform in the symphony orchestra. The experienced orchestra had its first rehearsal Dec. 8, while the vocalists began rehearsing in November.

UMaine business management junior Morgan Cates of Camden, Maine, will host the event.

Tickets are $22 and available from the Collins Center box office. Ticket information is available at 207.581.1755 or tickets.collinscenterforthearts.org. For more information about the performance or to request a disability accommodation, call 207.581.1781. The event’s snow date is Sunday, Jan. 19 at 2 p.m.

All proceeds will benefit the UMaine’s School of Performing Arts (SPA) to enhance funding for musical and theater tours, instrument repairs and equipment purchases.

“The initial idea to do the project wasn’t as much about raising money,” says McNaboe, who began planning the event a year ago. “It came from this place of identifying that we really don’t collaborate across mediums as much as we should. This is a chance to get a large number of SPA students together in a situation where all of us are working together, between the orchestra and the vocalists on stage, to make this project happen.”

To view the event on Facebook, visit facebook.com/events/1401074010132734.

Contact: Maria NeCastro, 207.581.3743 or Monique Hashey, 207.581.4721