A musical that perfectly tells the life of a museum curator by day and a con man at night will open in November. The musical, Barnum the Magnificent, will follow the life of PT Barnum, a con-artist and circus owner, who lived during the 1800s. The informational meeting is on Sept. 21, auditions on Sept. 22-23 and callbacks on the 24th.
 
In the play, Barnum opens up a museum to showcase all of the attractions he’s collected in his life with trinkets from very eccentric people from the oldest woman alive, Joice Heth, to the famous Swedish opera singer, Jenny Lind.
The creative minds behind the musical are Mike Pierson,  choir teacher and the musical’s director, Holly Maness, debate coach and the musical’s dramatic director, Tammy Walker, choreographer, and Victoria Mangello, costume director and the musical’s costume designer.
 
“Barnum is one of those shows that is clearly laid out in the script,” Pearson said. “Our choreography will, of course, be different, and Maness, who is the dramatic director, might make some scenes different. But the basic script and music will be the same as previous performances.”
 
Faculty members are not the only one excited about how the musical will turn out. Kieran Buck, a junior auditioning for chorus, is interested to see the result.
 
“It’s going to be very different and not the stuff we usually do,” Buck said. “It’s based in a circus, so there will be clowns, acrobats, and trapezes. We might have someone actually flying. It’s going to be really exciting.”
 
Holly Maness, the dramatic director of Barnum, will be helping set the scenes.
 
“The stage set up for the musical is going to be really simple, to allow for all the spectacle that’ll be happening and the different elements that go with a circus,” Maness said.”There’s an elephant, and there’s a tiny boy, so you can see the scale of the set won’t be static but very fluid.
 
The musical will be opening in November, and tickets will be on sale in early October.