Lizzy Ozamiz, a junior in textile engineering, Andrew Enloe, a freshman in First Year College and Eric Wilbanks, a freshman in Spanish language and literature are all involved in the Student Studio's version of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. The musical is told from the villain's point of view. The original production was made famous by actor Neil Patrick Harris. Photo courtesy of Robert Steinberg
Musicals tend to have a formula, dating back to the black and white studio films of the 1930s. The hero of the story must fight a villain in order to win the love of a beautiful girl, singing and dancing along the way.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, as the title suggests, is not that kind of musical.
As part of Student Studio, a group of students involved with University Theatre are putting on a production of Dr. Horrible, which Morgan Graham, a senior in elementary education, described as “an underdog story.”
“It’s a story where the normal villain is actually the good guy from the audience’s point of view. And the stereotypical hero is actually the villain,” Graham said. “…[I]t’s being flipped, so it’s from the villain’s point of view.”
Robert Steinberg, a junior in marketing and one of the directors, put it more simply, saying, “It’s a musical about a villain trying to take over the world to impress a girl.”
However, the hero of the story, Dr. Horrible, is not all that horrible, according to Graham.
“He won’t go all the way and do the most villainous things,” Graham said.
“He’s a villain with integrity,” Caroline Hopping, a doctoral student in statistics, added.
Student Studio is not technically a part of University Theatre and is completely student-run with support from UT staff. According to Graham, there is always a window between the spring musical right after spring break and the last production of the semester for a Student Studio production.
Steinberg said he wanted to do Dr. Horrible this year because he loved the original web series, which starred Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible and was co-written by Joss Whedon, the creator of cult TV shows like Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
“We knew we wanted to do a Student Studio. And then my friend showed me Dr. Horrible. And I knew that students would love this show,” Steinberg said.
He wasn’t sure if the show would actually be able to run because he had to contact the owners of the stage rights in order to go through with it. Luckily, they got back to him and granted one of the last stage production contracts of Dr. Horrible for them to put on the show.
“There are only five more right contracts going to be put on,” Steinberg said. “So we are one of the last groups to put it on.”
Because of the small scale of the show, it was perfect for the group of students to put on.
“It’s a very intimate cast, so it lends itself to the Student Studio,” Hopping said.
Steinberg said the show is something that college students would enjoy because it is funny and whimsical.
“It was something that would be a lot of fun because it has a lot of themes in it that we really enjoy,” Steinberg said.
Being a series originally made for the Internet helps the appeal as well, according to Hopping.
“It was made for the Internet generation,” Hopping said.
Steinberg also talked about putting on a stage show based on a filmed web series.
“There’s a lot of stuff that they can do on film that we can’t do on stage. And there’s stuff that we have the freedom to do on stage that they can’t do on film,” Steinberg said.
Andrew Enloe, a freshman in First Year College who also portrays Captain Hammer in the show, is new to UT and wants as much experience with it as possible.
“I just got introduced to the UT family. It’s a great group of people. I love theatre so it’s nice to do it with a good group,” Enloe said.
Steinberg said he has enjoyed the different perspective that directing has afforded him during this production.
“I’m an aspiring actor so I wanted a different perspective. So it’s nice to see it from the other side of the table, from the director side,” Steinberg said.
According to Graham, the show will be a different experience for everyone.
“It’s cool to see something that your peers, by themselves, put on. It’s not the same kind of show that N.C. State puts on,” Graham said. “It’s one of those things that not a lot of people will expect.”
Steinberg added, “This could be one of the last stage productions of Dr. Horrible. It’s also really funny.”
The students also emphasized that it is an underdog story which almost everyone can enjoy.
“Everyone can feel overwhelmed at times, and we all like the underdog story,” Enloe said.
“It’s a story that everyone can relate to,” Graham added.