‘The Soldier's Story’ to be presented at Southeastern Nov. 23
Monday, November 16, 2015
by: Rene Abadie
SOUTHEASTERN HOSTS SOLDIER’S STORY -- The musical drama “The Soldier’s Story” will be presented at Southeastern Louisiana University on Monday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m. The performance is scheduled in the Pottle Music Recital Hall and is free and open to the public. Pictured from left are Luke Halpern, Ashley Krieger, and Bill Larsen Ruffin.
HAMMOND – The musical drama “The Soldier’s Story” will be presented at Southeastern
Louisiana University on Monday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m. The performance is scheduled
in the Pottle Music Recital Hall and is free and open to the public.
“The Soldier’s Story” is an updated and reimagined musical drama based on Igor
Stravinsky’s “L’Histoire du Soldat,” a Russian folktale. In the original script, a
post-World War I Russian soldier is returning home to marry his sweetheart. On the
way, the devil makes him an offer to give him a book that will tell him the future
in exchange for the soldier’s violin.
Robert Jahncke wrote this reimagined script based on a more modern version of
the story. As Terrance Mahady, composer and producer, explains “This script tells
of a soldier musician, a Zydeco fiddler from Thibodaux, who joined the Marines to
pay off student debt.”
The drama continues with the soldier taking an emergency leave from fighting
in Afghanistan after his mother becomes ill. The devil offers to give him a tricked
out guitar and instant fame in exchange for the soldier’s electric fiddle.
The production is performed by Prodigal Players, a Northshore-based musical theatre
company formed by Mahady, a Southeastern graduate and former percussion instructor.
Cast members include Mahady, Julie Generes, Luke Halpern, Bill Larsen Ruffin, B.J.
Perez, III, and Jennifer Pulling of New Orleans; Ashley Krieger and Brina Bourliea
of Slidell, Robert Jahncke of Covington; Erik Morales of Miami; and Melany Linder
Graham of Los Angeles.
