The Bell Tolls for Mediocrity

"I finally figured out what's important in life... and it's you. Here, have some nachos," proclaims Roberta (Michelle Hutt CC '09) to her girlfriend and the love of her life, Kate (Kate Stahl, CC '09), while they watch their friend Mike (Rick Betita, SEAS '10) in the gripping state championship chess game.

Welcome to Heartsville-A little bit of a topsy-turvy world where chess players are sex icons, boys loves other boys, girls love other girls, and a magical teenage matchmaker runs around with his vaguely phallic wand and his best friend, who is a bird. This is the setting for Zanna Don't!, a musical fairytale with a little more to say than meets the eye. Columbia's production will be the first time that Zanna Don't! has been put on since the show left Off-Broadway in late 2003.

On the surface, Zanna Don't! is a light-hearted comedy that explores teen love. Think of a mix of Grease and High School Musical-except that everyone's gay. Steve, the new kid in town, is just trying to fit in; he finds his group of new friends not on the football team, but in the cast of the Heartsville School musical, because, as the play poignantly asks, "What kind of world would this be if the captain of the football team weren't in the school musical?"

Beneath all that, however, lies an exploration of what it means to love and to tolerate. Bryan Hobgood, SEAS '09, who plays Zanna, explains, "It's a show about acceptance and people who don't exactly fit in all the time. And it's okay to be different."

While all of that may sound a little hokey, the show gets across the increasingly important dilemmas involving teens, their sexuality, and the hardest part of all: dealing with it.

It's fitting, then, that the proceeds for this show are going to go to Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), a non-profit, grass-roots organization that aims to educate the public on sexuality as well as to secure equal civil rights (including marriage rights) for, and end discrimination against, the LGBT community.

"It's a fun musical that's pink, but has some substance," says director Molly Braverman CC '09. "It's not just about bubblegum." Braverman says that while the show is a lot of fun, there were a lot of difficulties in trying to make sure the message gets across.

All seriousness aside, there will be a lot to look forward to in this weekend's production. The music, for example, is absolutely fantastic: "It's a lot of different genres packed into two hours," says pit guitarist, Diana Hsu, BC '10. For example, the show's music ranges from pop ballads like "Do You know What it's Like?" to heavy country songs like "Ride 'Em" and the disco funk of "Blow Winds" that will make you want to get up a dance.

"More than anything, it's just fun," says pit bassist Nick Cummis, CC '09, "it's not pompous, it's just fun."

The show enjoyed a short run Off-Broadway in 2003. Among the original cast was none other than Jai Rodriguez(Zanna), the culture gay from Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and Wilson Jermain Heredia, who played Angel in Rent.

At times, the writing of the show itself is a bit hard to follow, but all of the musical numbers really show the talent of the actors. The incredible vocalizing of Michelle Hutt in "I Ain't Got Time" or Aaron Rotenberg (GS/JTS '09) as Tank in "Sometime, Do You Think We Could Fall in Love?" or the absolutely rock-solid choreography of the entire company in the toe-tapping show stopper, "Be a Man."

So take some time this weekend to catch this rare example of musical theatre attempting to address a current political and social issue-while girls kiss each other and guys do double pirouettes in tight pants.