New York City musical to make Bloomington debut this weekend

“Vote!,” a “sharp, entertaining” new musical from New York about three high school students competing for the title of student body president, premiers Friday at the Harmony School in Bloomington.

It’s a premiere thanks to YouTube and a series of chance circumstances.

Eric Anderson, a recent Jacobs School of Music graduate and music director of several musical theater productions in Bloomington such as “Reefer Madness” and
“Songs For a New World,” was searching for his next project more than a year ago when he stumbled upon a video blog post by Andrew-Keenan Bolger. The post discussed the reading of a new musical called “Vote!” in New York that was looking for help getting off the ground. Anderson followed up the post by looking for the music of “Vote!” on YouTube.

“I listened to some demo tracks from the musical on YouTube and found Ryan J. Davis, who was decided to be the director, on Facebook,” he said. “I e-mailed Ryann Ferguson, one the writers, telling her I liked the show. I never thought she’d get back to me.”

Anderson’s interest paid off.

“I got a green light for the show back in September 2008, and I created a Facebook
group,” Anderson said. “Davis got here on February 8, a month ago. We’ve had less than a month to put it all together.”

Anderson said it turned out that Ferguson and Davis were good friends, and she sold Davis on Anderson’s ideas. He eventually became the producer and musical director of the show.

Davis is an established director and political activist in New York. He said he had been involved with “Vote!” for almost a year in New York City before coming to Bloomington.

Anderson said that part of bringing Davis to Bloomington to work on “Vote!” was convincing him of the active arts community and the big talent pool of student artists.

“Bloomington found us,” Davis said. “This was the perfect opportunity for a young college cast, and Anderson offered to bring me out to do this.”

Sophomore Jen Saltiel, the lead actress in the show, welcomed the chance to work with New York talent in Bloomington.

“It was refreshing to have an outside opinion and a different spin on things from how productions are done at IU,” she said.

Saltiel said this involved staying true to the material of writers Ferguson and Steven Jamail while being allowed the opportunity to “bring who we are to the characters.”

Part of staying true to the material meant having an authentic setting. Since the musical centers around high school students, the shows will take place in
Bloomington’s Harmony School, which producer Anderson said was a charming, bare-bones building that was perfect for what he wanted.

Davis added that inside the building there will jumpstart be flyers and banners of candidates to further the experience for audience members the minute they walk in the door.

Saltiel believed the setting, along with the multi-faceted cast, helps to capture the essence of the show and the spirit of the recent presidential election.

“That event was good for a lot of people, and I believe this show will resonate with students on that level.” she said. “It’s about voting and taking a chance to make an impact on the world. It’s about who you are as a person and taking a stand.”

Davis agreed.

“With this  great experience, we’ve learned so much about what works and what doesn’t,” he said. “It’s been a great way to bring young artists together.”