Love or money?
For Millie Dillmount, the choice seems easy: marry the rich guy, of course. But sometimes happily ever after doesn’t mean a life of jewelry and fancy cars, as she learns when she falls in love with the poor guy.
Millie’s dilemma and her ultimate choice will play out in the musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” which runs Friday through Sunday in the Macgowan Little Theater and is produced and performed by members of the Honorable Order of Licentious Instigators of the General Artist Network, or HOOLIGAN.
Heading the cast is Joanna Syiek, a first-year international development studies student who plays the role of Millie.
Syiek said the show is high on energy, which makes it entertaining for both the cast and the audience.
“It’s got a lot of twists and turns,” she said. “It’s fun for the audience to follow along and be surprised and get engaged with it.”
“Thoroughly Modern Millie,” which won the 2002 Tony Award for best musical, tells the tale of Millie, a country girl in pursuit of the high life in New York in the 1920s. Her plans fall apart when she falls for Jimmy Smith rather than her considerably loftier original plan of winning over her boss, Trevor Greydon.
HOOLIGAN’s production of “Millie” alone features a cast of 37 UCLA students in addition to 18 students in the orchestra, a crew of 13 students, and 14 students on the creative design team, according to the HOOLIGAN Web site.
While the numbers may seem large now, HOOLIGAN has grown since its humble beginnings last year.
The brainchild of third-year English student Tamara Williams along with two other classmates, the idea for HOOLIGAN was conceived in February 2006 in a UCLA speech class after reminiscing about how much they enjoyed being onstage.
“We just went downstairs and were like, “˜How do we start a club?'” Williams said. “It started with just three people; now we have more than 250.”
Despite its success in attracting members, HOOLIGAN does have one problem: trying to fund its productions. The downside of being a student group and not being involved with the official UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television is that HOOLIGAN isn’t entitled to the school’s funding or resources.
With its primary source of capital relying on fundraising, HOOLIGAN faces a challenge that the School of Theater, Film and Television doesn’t ““ namely, it isn’t entitled to free use of the stage, props, costumes and other sundries.
“We pay around $1,200 for the venue, $4,000 for costumes and $3,000 for the set (and) $15,000 for the licensing rights to do the show,” Williams said. “We’re basically like a professional group coming in. We have to rent it like anyone else.”
Regardless, Williams, who is directing and helping produce the show, notes that the theater department has been helpful and supportive of HOOLIGAN’s endeavors.
“They’re wary of working with student groups because they’ve been cancelled on in the past, but they gave us a chance,” she said. “It helped us add production value to the show by giving us a professional venue.”
While the bulk of HOOLIGAN’s funding comes from the Undergraduate Students Association Programming Fund and the Program Activities Board’s Campus Programs Committee Regular Fund, the rest comes from donations and fundraising, which consists of everything from selling candy to advertisements.
Still, funding for an all-theater on-campus event is tight, and the future of HOOLIGAN is uncertain.
“We got by this year, but it was a tight squeeze,” Williams said.
In spite of obstacles, HOOLIGAN’s most valuable asset is the fact that it allows everyone ““ no matter how inexperienced ““ an opportunity onstage.
Syiek has been involved with theater for 10 years, but nevertheless said she loves working with people of all experience levels.
“I love having people who have done millions of shows since they were 3 (years old) working with people who have never done anything with the theater, but always loved musicals,” she said. “It’s a great learning experience for everybody.”
Williams agrees.
“There’s nothing else like it at UCLA,” she said. “It’s for everyone, even people who have never done theater at all. And that’s what college is all about ““ trying new things.”