In a time of tight budgets and limited resources, UF musical theater students keep singing and dancing. Economic hardships and stormy weather don't stop these performers from sharing their talents with the world.
On Monday, UF's musical theater department performed "Grease" at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre to kick off Florida's First Coast Arts Festival.
The students rehearsed the show in just three weeks after learning they could not perform their fall production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" due to copyright issues.
While "Grease" is an inherently cheesy play, these talented students brought the show to life with its full potential of campiness. If you missed the first showing, tonight you will have another chance to catch it tonight.
Their show hosted some technical diffivulties, but despite the wind and drizzle gusting through the outdoor theater, which fortunately had at least a roof, the cast managed to keep smiling and keep the audience laughing.
The show hosted some fun surprises, like the "Greased Lightning" car actually drove around stage and they even included a special Gator shout out.
Overall, the colorful costumes and sock hop-style music were perfect for the family-filled audience and the family-oriented aim of the event.
Tony Mata, the founding artistic director of the festival and the director of "Grease," has been working for three years to create this event "to showcase our talent outside of UF."
Florida's First Coast Festival will hopefully be the first of many annual weeklong festivals that bring various UF performances and artistic works to St. Augustine.
The inaugural festival, which began May 18, included renditions of "Pride and Prejudice," an opera, a sculpture exhibit and an orchestra.
The event ends with reruns of "Grease" and Pride and Prejudice, and final showing of "The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged."
"It is a difficult time to start a theater program with the arts going under and the economy going against us," Mata said. "But I think we're going to make it."
