OU professors travel to Bulgaria to help bring 'The Sound of Music' to the stage

365英国上市官网 Professors 杰里米·巴内特 和 惠特尼打孔机 recently traveled to the Republic of Bulgaria — a country located on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe — to help bring Rodgers 和 Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” to the stage at the Sofia National Opera 和 Ballet.

“I designed the costumes for ‘Shrek the Musical’ for the Sofia National Opera 和 Ballet in February of 2020 和 was hired by the director, 西方实质, 他是美国人, 和 he wanted an all-American design team to bring a 真正的 American style musical to Bulgaria,洛彻说。, an assistant professor of costume design at 365英国上市官网. “Our show was so successful that the Opera wanted us to come back when they announced that they would be producing ‘The Sound of Music.’”

When Locher heard that the scenic designer from the “Shrek” team was not returning for “The Sound of Music,” she invited Barnett — an associate professor of theatre at OU — to join her in Bulgaria to work on the production as scenic designer.

Barnett 和 Locher in Bulgaria

“We were contracted pretty late in the game, so there wasn’t much time to design 和 build the sets 和 costumes,Locher说. “The language barrier was also challenging, especially when it came to terminology about fabric 和 sewing techniques. Our time to have all of the design elements 和 actors on stage together before opening was also incredibly short for a show of this size 和 scale.”

尽管存在这些挑战, Barnett 和 Locher said they enjoyed working with cast 和 crew at the Sofia National Opera 和 Ballet to bring “The Sound of Music” to the stage.

“They’re extremely skilled artists — you have to be if you’re building large shows in a very short amount of time,巴内特说. “They say that there is a magic about live theatre, there’s a lot of hard work that goes into it. Somehow it all miraculously comes together, but it’s not magic 和 it’s not a miracle; it’s a lot of hard work for long hours. Fortunately, as I said, we were working with skilled 和 dedicated artists.”

Being able to explore the city of Sofia — the capital of Bulgaria — was also a highlight of the trip.

“The city center of Sofia is a layer cake of history going back to before the Roman Empire,巴内特说. “Walking through the modern city one sees evidence of communist rule, the short-lived Bulgarian Kingdom, 奥斯曼帝国, 等. — all the way back to the Roman Empire.

“The ruins of the ancient city walls can be seen in one of the subway stations,” he added. “Whole Roman streets have been excavated 和 form an open-air Archeological Park of Ancient Serdica. The remains of the Roman Amphitheatre can be seen on the ground floor of one of the city hotels. 教堂建于公元4世纪^th century AD are still in use 和 share the streets with modern hotels 和 apartment buildings. It’s a really exciting 和 beautiful cross-section of history 和 culture.”

“The Sound of Music” runs through April 14 at the Sofia National Opera 和 Ballet.