The Waa-Mu Show

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The Waa-Mu Show

Formation	1929; 95 years ago (1929)
Type	Non-profit 501(c)(3)
Purpose	Musical theatre
Location	Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Affiliations	Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts
Website	waamushow.org

The Waa-Mu Show; /wɒˈmuː/ wah-mew; is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization within Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, that produces student written, orchestrated, produced, and performed original musical theatre work every year. The song lyrics, script, and music are developed in a series of classes.^[1] It is the institution's longest standing theatrical tradition and is held in Cahn Auditorium on Northwestern's campus. This tradition began as a musical revue, showcasing several different student-written Northwestern-inspired vignettes connected by one single theme.^[2] By 2013, the Waa-Mu show evolved into an original full-length musical.^[3]

The first Waa-Mu show took place in 1929. A senior Northwestern student Joseph W. Miller and his classmate Darrell Ware wrote the script for and staged the college musical comedy that became "The Waa-Mu Show," the first co-educational college musical show. The Women's Athletic Association (WAA) and the Men's Union (MU) collaborated to put on the first show. The name "Waa-Mu" is derived from the synthesis of the two groups' acronyms.^[3][4]

The WAA had been staging popular all-female musical comedies since 1912; the MU had presented less successful all-male comic operas for a number of years prior to 1929. Both men's and women's shows had been losing money and Miller and Ware raised $1,200 by borrowing $5 a piece from interested students to finance the first show. It also was Miller's and Ware's idea to feature both male and female students in their premiere production.^[4] At first, the female WAA committee was reluctant about sharing the stage with the male Mu members, but they eventually agreed to combine talents. The premiere show that Miller and Ware collaborated on was Good Morning Glory.^[4] The Daily Northwestern wrote, "Campus interest is the highest yet for any single dramatic activity in University history." This review prompted the producers to begin formulating and writing the following year's show. Walter Kerr was the principal writer for the 1936 musical revue entitled It Goes to Show. Kerr graduated the following year and eventually become a famous theatre critic for the New York Times. After graduating in 1929, Joe Miller stayed at Northwestern to do graduate work in personnel administration, and Darrell Ware went to Hollywood to write screenplays. In 1931 Northwestern president Walter Dill Scott offered Miller a position on the university's staff as Freshman Advisor and Waa-Mu Director.^[4]

In 1938, Waa-Mu board members were not pleased with that year's student-written script. Instead, they staged George Gershwin's musical Of Thee I Sing, about a presidential candidate who promises to bring more love to the White House. Actor Tony Randall (who was then known as Leonard Rosenberg), portrayed a boisterous Texas congressman in the production.^[5] Only three times in Waa-Mu's history has non-original material been presented; in 1935 with Ray Henderson's musical Good News, in 1938, with George Gershwin's musical Of Thee I Sing, and in 1993 with Leonard Bernstein's musical On the Town.

Waa-Mu went on hiatus during the World War II years, but was re-launched in 1946. During the three-year break, profits from previous Waa-Mu productions were invested in war bonds. Miller directed the Waa-Mu Show until 1975; his last show was Quick Change. He retired on August 31, 1975 and died in 1979. Tom Roland succeeded Miller as the second director of the Waa-Mu productions in 1976. Occasionally, Waa-Mu has been performed off-campus. The show traveled to Chicago several times after its Evanston run, most notably in 1931 (at the Civic Theatre in Chicago) and 1933. And renowned orchestra leader Fred Waring played original Waa-Mu songs on the radio in 1951.

Waa-Mu performances have been presented at Cahn Auditorium since its 1941 production, Wait A Minute, premiering on the new stage the same year that Scott Hall was completed. Before performances began in Cahn Auditorium, Waa-Mu productions were held at and around the Evanston area, at the New Evanston Theatre and the National College of Education.

• Director: Johanna McKenzie Miller

• Co-Chairs: Daniel Maton, Madeline Oberle, Mitchell Huntley, Francis Brenner

• Writing Coordinators: Lena Moore, Kailey Morand, Reva Sangal

• Music Directors: Wes D’Alelio, Oliver Paddock

• Choreographer: Ashley Valent

• Director: Johanna McKenzie Miller
• Music Supervisor: Ryan T. Nelson
• Co-Chairs: Daniel Maton, Madeline Oberle
• Writing Coordinators: Trevor K. Band, Mitchell Huntley, Jared Son, Francesca Wimer
• Music Directors: Cameron Miya, Samuel Perlman
• Choreographers: Emily Brooks, Alex Angrist, Amanda de la Fuente

• Director: Amanda Tanguay
• Music Supervisor: Ryan T. Nelson
• Co-Chairs: Jessica Nekritz, Annie Beaubien, Pallas Gutierrez
• Writing Coordinators: Brandon Acosta, Sarah Geltz, Alex Manna, Bennett Peterson
• Music Directors: Ezri Killeen, Ben Roberts

• Director: Amanda Tanguay
• Music Supervisor: Ryan T. Nelson
• Co-Chairs: Leo Jared Scheck, Emma Griffone, Olivia Worley, Jonathan Toussaint
• Writing Coordinators: Ruchir Khazanchi, Emmet Smith, Matthew Threadgill, Mikey Walden
• Music Directors: Mason Frasher, Saoirse Lee

• Director: Stephen Shellhardt
• Music Supervisor: Ryan T. Nelson
• Co-Chairs: Kaja Burke Williams, Maxwell Beer, Sarah Ohlson, and Andrew Restieri
• Head Writers: Alex Rothfield, Jordan Knitzer, and Alec Steinhorn

• Director: David H. Bell
• Music Supervisor: Ryan T. Nelson
• Co-Chairs: Jessie Jennison, Charlotte Morris, Justin Tepper, and Eric Peters
• Head Writers: Maxwell Beer, Carrie Caffrey, and Alexander Rothfield

• Director: David H. Bell
• Music Supervisor: Ryan T. Nelson
• Co-Chairs: Elizabeth Romero, Fergus Inder, Charlie Oh, and Myrna Conn
• Head Writers: Maxwell Beer, Casey Kendall, and Jon Bauerfeld

• Director: David H. Bell
• Music Supervisor: Ryan T. Nelson
• Co-Chairs: Max Rein, Kylie Mullins, and Hannah Dunn
• Head Writers: Jon Bauerfeld, Charlie Oh, and Myrna Conn

• 1929–1975: Directed by Joe W. Miller
• 1976–1990: Directed by Tom Roland
• 1991–1993: Co-Directed by Tom Roland and Dominic Missimi
• 1994–2010: Directed by Dominic Missimi
• 2011–2017: Directed by David H. Bell
• 2018–2019: Directed by Stephen Schellhardt
• 2020-2021: Directed by Amanda Tanguay

• Claude Akins
• Warren Beatty
• Karen Black
• Jeff Blumenkrantz
• Zach Braff
• Nancy Dussault
• Gregg Edelman
• Penny Fuller
• George Furth
• Frank Galati
• Ana Gasteyer
• Larry Grossman
• Charlton Heston
• Laura Innes
• Brian d'Arcy James
• Cloris Leachman
• Shelley Long
• Paul Lynde
• Garry Marshall
• Jenny Powers
• Tony Randall
• Charlotte Rae
• Ann-Margret
• Tony Roberts
• Kate Shindle
• Sheldon Harnick
• Billy Eichner
• Cody Sweet
• Alan Schmuckler
• Michael Mahler
• Ian Weinberger

Several different positions and sub-groups with distinct responsibilities exist within the institution to ease the process of creating an original musical each year. They include:

Program Head: A staff member of the Theatre & Interpretation Center who leads the creation process and makes all final decisions. The Program Head is typically the director of the production as well.

Co-Chairs: The student leaders of the organization who work alongside the Program Head to make decisions about creative and administrative matters.

Writing Coordinators: The student leaders who are in charge of generating and combining material to form a cohesive script for the show.

Executive Board: A group of students who work under the Co-Chairs to handle all administrative, financial and organizational needs.

Creating the Musical Class: A large group of students enrolled in a winter class who generate material for the show including: the script, songs, and lyrics.

Orchestrating the Musical Class: A group of students enrolled in a winter class who generate orchestrations for the show; many of whom go on to join Team Music.

Team Music: A group of students led by the Music Director that creates all of the orchestrations for the songs generated in the Creating the Musical class as well as the incidental music and overture.

The Secret Of Camp Elliott premiered digitally in June 2021.

State of the Art was originally set to open on May 1, 2020. On March 13, 2020, the co-chairs decided to cancel the final reading of the show before it was set to go into rehearsal later that month due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person classes were suspended by the university, and it became clear that a performance as usual in Cahn Auditorium would not be possible. The team quickly pivoted to online rehearsals and soon decided to have an online presentation. State of the Art thus became the first-ever new musical to be presented live over Zoom to an international audience. Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Ken Davenport featured an article by the co-chairs on his blog, and Larson Award winner Ryan Cunningham also wrote an article about the process.^[6][7][8]

The 2019 production followed a female Chicago journalist embarking on a project to create obituaries for history’s most incredible women, including mathematician and cryptanalyst Gene Grabeel, French swordswoman and opera singer Julie d’Aubigny, and early civil rights leader Ida B. Wells. Inspired by the real life Overlooked (obituary feature), initiated by Amy Padnani at the New York Times.^[9]

The 2016 performance was titled Another Way West. The story follows a female researcher, accompanied by her nieces and nephews, on the Oregon Trail searching for her late ancestor. This show merges the journeys of both the researcher and her ancestor on the Oregon Trail.^[1]

In 2015, the students put on Gold, based on the 1936 Olympics. The plot centered around journalists sent to report about the Olympics, specifically focusing on the US Basketball Team, the US Swim Team, and the US Track and Field Team. Opening night for the show was May 1, 2015.^[10]

Inspired by the Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night, the 2014 Waa-Mu Show was Double Feature at Hollywood and Vine. The protagonist, Viola, disguises herself as a man in order to find fame as an actor in the 1930s. Opening night for the show was May 2, 2014.^[11]

The performance in 2013 entitled, Flying Home, combined the ideas of three very well known productions, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz. The main theme of this production is about adolescents leaving home and developing throughout college. Opening night for this performance was May 3, 2013.^[12]

Shows with (*) denote previously produced and non-student written material.

• Official Website