Chaos ensues in a town where letters fall from a monument, leading the letters to be banned. LMNOP, Denison’s fall musical production, follows the journey of a group of teenagers who fight for their freedom of speech. The musical is part romance, part clever word game, and part adult fable that reminds us how precious our liberties are and how important it is to have the courage to stand up for what we believe.
The new and unique musical is the first production for Brad Frenette, Denison’s new assistant professor of music theatre. Wanting to find balance between the fall and spring musicals — the latter of which, She Loves Me, is more established — Frenette proposed a piece that was more experimental in nature.
The audience can expect a thought-provoking piece. “First and foremost, they will be entertained,” Frenette said. “What I love about musical theatre is that we can hold space for musicals that help us escape our reality and those that can force us to consider our reality in a different way. LMNOP does both because it is entertaining but also very timely.”
The musical is a challenge for the actors, who must rely on their instincts rather than inspiration from previous productions of this new piece.
“For shows like Chicago or Les Miserables, there’s almost always a sort of expectation of what it will look like,” said Andrew Hanson, who plays the lead role in LMNOP. “A lot of staging and set design stays pretty consistent across productions — think jail cells in ‘Cell Block Tango’ or the giant red flag in Les Mis. Everyone interprets shows in a different way, and I think it’s cool that our interpretation of LMNOP might influence the runs of the show that may follow.”
The production has pushed Hanson to grow. “It really is so much fun to see what works and what doesn’t, and then putting all the working pieces together to create something cohesive,” he said. “Some of this music and dialogue is very difficult to just insert intuitively, so you really have to work at it. When you eventually figure out a way to deliver the line, ‘fearless little lovely lamb’ without snorting, it actually ends up slotting in nicely with the characters’ actions and the scene.”
For Frenette, working with the students to understand and interpret the musical has been rewarding — and motivational.
“Denison students are highly intelligent, curious, and engaged,” Frenette said. “Working with students who can analyze this piece at their level has pushed me to show up and prepare at a higher level.”
About the production
- Music by Paul Loesel
- Book and lyrics by Scott Burkell; orchestrations by Lynne Shankel
- Based on the novel Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Event information
- Friday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 10, at 2 p.m.
Free and open to the public; tickets are required.