Compressing a full-length movie into a four-minute theatrical concoction sounds like quite the challenge, but emphasize famous one-liners, add a pinch of choreography, and a dash ““ or more like a bucket ““ of humor, and the show’s good to go. Thus was born “Jerry Maguire: The Musical.”
The Strathmore Players, named after the location of the apartment in which they practice, consists of about 25 students who will be performing “Jerry Maguire: The Musical” (or “JMTM,” as they fondly call it) under the production category in Spring Sing 2009. The Players are the first non-Greek group to compete in the production category in all of Spring Sing’s history.
Fourth-year world arts and cultures and communication studies student Ali Owens is the executive director of this year’s Spring Sing.
“Traditionally, productions have been a combination of fraternities and sororities coming together to produce something completely unique to UCLA, something that is relatable to the university and engages the entire community to bring about that Bruin spirit, that Bruin pride,” Owens said. “This one is a bit unique because it doesn’t necessarily follow a storyline that is directly connected to UCLA; instead, it follows Jerry Maguire.”
The show was conceived by third-year political science student Justin Wedell, who said he wanted to break the barriers of tradition and deviate from the norm.
“I’ve been to the past few Spring Sings, and every year it’s been a fraternity and a sorority singing just rah-rah about UCLA, and I just felt it had to be dealt with,” he said. “I tried to think of the most absurd thing possible and route it into a musical, and we auditioned and somehow got in.”
The idea to do “Jerry Maguire” had Wedell at hello, when he caught the movie playing over and over on a television channel.
Motivated, Wedell ran to Powell Library to jot down his ideas. Within two hours, he held the finished script in his hands. Now he only had to find people to join him in the musical madness.
“I liken it to when the British Empire was recruiting sailors. Oftentimes they would just walk into a pub and take the most blacked-out sailor and put him on a ship, and he’d wake up and he was in the army,” Wedell said. “In some sense, it was almost the same thing. I was going around when people were relatively (inebriated) and recruiting them, and then the next day, without their former knowledge, they were now part of a major musical.”
Adding to Wedell’s quirky lyrics that emphasize major lines like “Show me the money!” are both live music ““ another new element in the production category ““ and, of course, some funky dance moves.
Second-year world arts and cultures student Michelle Horak is performing in the chorus as well as helping with the routine.
“The choreography is pretty simple. It’s really fun, and everyone’s been really into it and getting really enthusiastic, so I think people will like it,” she said. “We’re trying to get the general plot of the movie while still making it kind of dramatic and getting the key lines in there, so it’s pretty funny.”
Like Horak, Wedell is convinced “JMTM” will be a hit with the audience at Spring Sing.
“It’s gonna be huge,” Wedell said, adding that he hopes every student “has as open a palate to humor as” the others with whom he has shared the musical.
“If you could condense all that Seinfeldian or completely out-of-left-field comedy into a wild four-minute musical, then I think this would be it. It’s pretty much going to be an exercise in absurdity,” he said. “If you come into it with that mindset, I think you’ll really appreciate what we bring to the table.”