The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Artscene M gti Oakville Beaver · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2006 29 Director brings wealth of experience to No, No Nanette latest credit in Artne Allan' s impressive and lengthy resume By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Anything Goes irf Stratford, Stage West' s production of West Side Story, The Phantom o f the Opera, Ragtime, Showboat - these are just some of the productions Anne -Allan has directed or supervised over the course of her lengthy career in Canadian theatre. Now, the Toronto resident is directing Sheridan College' s produc tion of No, No, Nanette, a 1920s Broadway musical featuring second and third year students in the col lege's Music Theatre-Performance program. "I' ve been having a ball, I'm really enjoying it," the Ireland-born per former and director said of her directing experience at Sheridan. "I find the students so willing to work and to create this piece. There's this vitality of youth, which is like, `Come on, let's do it,' and I think that' s great." As the artistic director ef the Charlottetown Festival, which fea tures Canada's best performers, designers, playwrights, composers and directors, Allan might be work ing with some of these young actors in the future. "Sheridan is such a wonderful place for training for young people, specifically in the music theatre genre - I think it's one of the best programs in Canada," she said. "This is ideal for me because I get to know the young people who are just com ing out into the business, which is great - they're the future of Canadian musical theatre." Working with Allan is an ideal experience for the students, too. "She's absolutely phenomenal," said Kirstin Howell, who plays Pauline, the "wise-cracking maid" and one of the musical's 10 central characters. "It' s really exciting to work with her - her vision for the show is really beautiful and it comes from a place of so much research and so much knowledge." Allan has been in production with the 34-member -cast of No, No, Nanette - composed by Vincent Youmans and lyricists Irving Caesar and Otto Harback - for just under a month. BARRIE ERSKINEI OAKVILLE BEAVER NO, NO NOT LIKE THAT: Anne Allan gives directions to Sheridan Music Theatre-Performance students Andrew Chandler (character Jimmy Smith) and Liz Ruddle (character Flora Latham) during a rehearsal for the upcoming production of the musical No, No, N anette. Allan, Artistic Director for The Charlottetown Festival, is serving as guest director for the 1920s Broadway musical. -.Set in 1925 in New York and Atlantic City, the story follows the adventures of Nanette (Lauren Busteed), a schoolgirl ward that the wealthy Jimmy Smith (Andrew Chandler) and Sue Smith (Kate Stefankiewicz) are trying .to raise to become a lady. "There's a lot of humour to it and it' s particularly lovely because it's a period piece - we're having a lot of fun going back to the 1920s," said Allan, smiling. "There' s just some thing delightful about the music of this era." Famous tunes like Tea for Two and I Want to be Happy are among the classics included in the musical, which also boasts a lot of dance something Allan, who began her career as a classical dancer before she got into acting and directing - con siders the best part of the musical. "The dance takes it to a whole other level - I think people smile automatically the moment tap dance starts, and we've got a lot of that," she said. Allan's impressive dance resume includes serving as the private dance instructor to the Princess of Wales from 1981 - 1990 and choreography work on productions like Jesus Christ Superstar; Aspects o f Love, War Brides, Buddy Holly, Evita and most recently, for the Warner Bros, show, The Gilmore Girls. "She so humbleJh a t we really didn't know how much she had done and how much experience she has," said Howell, 23. "There's never been a moment of being intimidated about it, never a moment of `Oh my gosh you did that?' You've worked with so many big people.'" BARRIE ERSKINE I OAKVILLE BEAVER LIKE THIS: Anne Allan goes over a scene w ith Kate Stefankiewicz (character Sue Smith) Allan does admit her career includes "a lot of highlights." "I just want to keep building on improving the arts in Canada and the musical theatre side of things," she said. "I think in Canada there's a wealth of talent, so any way I can help with developing that talent would be a highlight for me." The way she' s directing No, No, Nanette at Sheridan is a step in that direction. "I treat it very much like they're all professionals," she said. "I think it's a wonderful opportunity to teach the students things, because there's certainly a difference between being a student and being a professional. I think it's very important to allow them to try different things with their characters and to let their creativity come to the fore." And in terms of what she' s seen so far, Allan is pleased. "It' s a very dedicated group of peo ple," she said, making note of the hard work contributed by the stage managing team, costume designers and musical theatre program staff, headed by Greg Peterson and produc tion manager, Martin Zwicker. Theatre Sheridan' s production of No, No, Nanette runs Feb. 14 -1 8 and Feb. 20 - 24 at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18 also features a 2 p.m. matinee. All performances are in the main building at Sheridan College, 1430 TVafalgar Rd. Call Sheridan' s box office, 905-815-4049, for tickets, which range from $16-25.