The “It’s Only Life” Broadway music revue tells many stories throughout the production, but there is a story behind the scenes of the show put on by Southeastern Louisiana University’s Opera/Music Theatre Workshop.  Chuck Effler, director of the Opera/Music Theatre Workshop, was surfing the Internet when he discovered “It’s Only Life” by John Bucchino, which will be performed Sept. 19 and 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond.
Effler discovered the piece in a link to an article on Facebook and selected it after researching further and listening to clips of musical selections.
“I stumbled on it,  literally stumbled on it last spring,” said Effler. “I started listening to it, and I just fell in love with it. It was amazing music and great, great lyrics. It fit perfectly. I needed to do something small because of technical requirements for this show, and it was perfect.”
Effler increased the cast that was originally written for five performers to 12, giving more students an opportunity and a lighter load. The music review consists of individual songs, unlike a continual story of a play. Each song, though, Effler reminds us, has its own story.
“There are stories about all kinds of things. There are songs about mentally painting a kitchen as a psychological exercise,” said Effler. “The finale is called ‘A Glimpse of the Weave,’ and it’s basically about people finding within themselves what they need, discarding things that they don’t need and looking to a higher power of some sort for the meaning of life. It’s really kind of deep.”
The cast, who do not have character names, include Dana Arthur, Kayla Blanchard, Jonathan Dupre, Provence Hatfield, Alyssa Hernandez, Chase Ledet, Jeremy Lloyd, Nicholas Smith, Analynn Sober, Kristina Temple, Benjamin Vollentine and Emily Wright.
These students were selected following  auditions held last spring. According to Effler, operas require someone with vocal training, which are not necessarily required in musicals.  
“I auditioned for this show because it’s the most sure-fire way to ensure that I get healthy exposure and experience in my career field of performing,” said Ben Vollentine, whose first show will be ‘It’s Only Life.’ “As far as practice goes, if I had a spare fifteen minutes, I was looking at my songs. The music in this show was some of the hardest stuff I had ever looked at, but with the help of the other cast members, we all worked together to put it together inside and outside of the practice room.”
Effler praised the work of the cast thus far, and noted the growth of performers throughout rehearsals.
“They have done extremely well. The music is really, really hard. It doesn’t sound hard, but it’s really, really hard,” said Effler. “And we have sailed through the music rehearsals. The older ones are surprising me by how much better they’re getting, and the less experienced ones are surprising me by how committed they are and how far they have come in just two weeks.”
Each individual song requires a stage presence to help convey the feeling and story of the song. To help the performers in the acting portion of the opera, Effler brought on a stage director and Southeastern, Ken Goode.
Goode has gone through an acting workshop with the performers. Many of the students have not had acting classes as it does not fit into their music curriculum, explained Effler.
“Students who haven’t acted before don’t understand how tuned into body language we all are,” explained Effler. “We don’t think about it, but they have to think about it. They have to be giving off the right body language according to their character or according to what the lyrics of the song are about and that’s a struggle sometimes because it sometimes means a posture change, and it doesn’t feel natural.
Many of the students have not had acting classes as it does not fit into their music curriculum, explained Effler.
“Students who haven’t acted before don’t understand how tuned into body language we all are,” said Effler. “We don’t think about it, but they have to think about it. They have to be giving off the right body language according to their character or according to what the lyrics of the song are about, and that’s a struggle  because it sometimes means a posture change, and it doesn’t feel natural. The mind and the body are both involved in acting and singing.”
As many of the performers are usually just singers, adding acting to the gig was not natural or easy. They had to not only sing well, but forget who they were and become part of the song so as to bring emotion on stage with them.
“Throughout the rehearsal process, I’ve not only seen myself and the other performers grow as musicians, but also as actors, this show has forced us to become proficient in conveying emotions with very little opportunities to do so, and that has been a challenge for all of us,” said Vollentine.
As Effler put it, “That’s the hardest thing, to go inside themselves and find something they can relate to, with whatever the lyric is, and have a real emotional involvement and project that out to the audience. You know, four or five hundred people. But that’s what performers do. You open up your soul every time you go on stage.”
Steven Schepker, Department of Fine and Performing Arts faculty member, will design the set. Lynsey Manley, a senior majoring in general studies, will orchestrate the lighting. Brent Goodrich, Southeastern graduate student, is serving as assistant director. Mindy Guidroz, a junior music  major, is serving as stage manager. Rebecca Fife, a senior art major, is serving as project designer.  
To witness the show live and experience each song alongside the performers, tickets cost $21 for adults, $16 for seniors, Southeastern faculty and non-Southeastern students, $8 for children 12 and younger and free for Southeastern students. Advance tickets are available at the Columbia Theatre box office.
For more information about the show or Opera/Music Theatre Workshop, contact Effler at [email protected].