Vol. 25, No.1 3
LET’S Get Hitch’d By Glenn Hare
Hit the high notes!
If you go… What: “The 39 Steps”
The School of Music presents performances by winners of the USC ConcertoAria Competition, accompanied by the USC Symphony Orchestra The program will include performances of Johannes Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture,” Felix Mendelssohn’s “The Hebrides,” Giuseppe Verdi’s overture from “Nabucco” and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Marche Slave.”
Where: Longstreet Theatre, 1300 Greene St. When: Feb. 21-March 1; W-F 8 p.m.; Sat. 7 p.m.; Sun. 3 p.m. Tickets: $18 general public; $16 USC faculty/ staff, military and seniors (60 and older); $12 students; 803-777-2551 (box office); cas.sc.edu/THEA.
If you Go...
Asked if he was a class clown, Jim Helsinger admits that he was. “But only for good causes, mainly my own,” he says. “When I was a kid, I learned making people laugh would keep bullies from beating me up, and it was a way to try to impress girls.” Now the Florida-based theater director is bringing his love of laughter, slapstick and wordplay to USC as guest director of Theatre South Carolina’s production of “The 39 Steps.” A master of comic timing, Helsinger is the artistic director of the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, where he directs many of the Bard’s best-known comedies as well as other farcical productions, such as “The Taming of the Shrew” and “A Tuna Christmas.” “Making an audience laugh is more technical than most people realize,” he says. “It requires two important elements. The first is a good story with fully developed characters that people find interesting. The second is precision timing. If you don’t have both, then people don’t laugh. And you know what that’s like? It’s tragic.”
Adapted from the Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name, “The 39 Steps” is a juicy combination of World War II espionage and Hitchcock suspense peppered with Monty Python absurdity. It follows Richard Hanney, a dapper English gentleman who leads a very boring life until he meets the very beautiful and very blond Annabella Schmidt, an international spy. As Helsinger explains, the film was Hitchcock’s first leading man movie where the main character finds himself out of his element, trying to survive, and was the prototype for the Hitchcock classics “North by Northwest” and “Vertigo.” The play, which was a hit in New York and London and which Helsinger has previously directed in Orlando, makes reference to every Hitchcock movie and even includes a silhouetted cameo by the famous film director. “As much as people like popular icons — like Hitchcock and Shakespeare — they like poking fun at them,” says Helsinger. “I think it’s going to be a blast.” For more campus events, visit calendar.sc.edu.
Where Koger Center for the Arts When Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m. Tickets $30 general public; $25 USC faculty and staff; $8 students; 803-251-2222 (box office); online at capitoltickets.com.