While exploiting college stereotypes ““ the “hit it and quit it” frat guy, the naive and innocent freshman girl, and the nerdy RA ““ “College the Musical: A Musical about College” shamelessly sensationalizes student life.
In this five-character, two-actor musical starring Kelly Meyersfield and Evan Wecksell, director Lynsey Bartilson uses shallow humor to comment on the triviality of college drama.
Following the experiences of Amy (Meyersfield), a college freshman, the musical shows her fall in love with frat boy Julius (Wecksell) and embarrassingly sing about their future life together. She belts, “First kisses, then I’ll be his missus.”
Julius soon admits that his romantic lyrics were a ploy to “get in (her) pants,” which leaves Amy to contemplate where she went wrong. She sings about losing her virginity to him: “He told me it was proof that I loved him, and as he opened my thighs, he said “˜Love is compromise.'” Despite the overacting, the audience laughs as Amy sings, “He opened me up, and he pushed it inside, and I thought my intestines were gonna collide.”
The graphic and vulgar lyrics, while shocking, were funny and added to the youthful nature of the performance. But the singing, though purposely exaggerated, was weak. The content of the songs was more important than the quality of the voices.
Amy moves on after she meets Ray the RA, an awkward, nerdy upperclassman who provides her with greater intellectual satisfaction than Julius did. However, the actors who were cast appeared too mature to believably play the role of young college students.
Meyersfield and Wecksell used cheesy facial expressions, depicting innocence, fear, horniness, arousal and lust. It appeared, through their facial expressions and body language, that they were trying too hard for a laugh.
During her delivery, Meyersfield let out her own laugh a couple of times, adding to the informal nature of the production, but making the performance seem unprofessional.
The 60-minute musical resembled a tackier version of Tom Wolfe’s novel “I am Charlotte Simmons,” in which a sheltered freshman explores her newfound freedom. But while the novel went more in-depth into the formation of these typical character types, the play just touched the surface.
While college students can relate to “College the Musical,” the play causes extreme embarrassment as their everyday lives are portrayed so trivially on stage. It is a mockery of the insecurities of freshman girls and the cruel intentions of college guys.
The story, however, has a sincere moral element, expressed by Meyersfield after the last musical scene. The play urges college students to be cautious when engaging in sexual behavior and to use condoms to prevent the transmission of STDs and pregnancy. While it is admirable that the play looks out for the health of college students, it doesn’t do it with much compassion or talent.
““ Alene Tchekmedyian
E-mail Tchekmedyian at atchekmedyian@media.ucla.edu.