(Dayton) – The finale to Muse Machine’s 30th year celebrates the best summers of our lives and our recent heat wave! Muse Machine has created a song-and-dance revue spotlighting the most talented student singers, dancers and musicians in the Greater Dayton region. MeadWestvaco presents Too Darn Hot: The Songs of Summer on August 9 at the Victoria Theatre. Too Darn Hot features new concepts and arrangements of many favorites from Cole Porter to the Beach Boys to Adele, from Broadway to classical to pop to disco! The show will fill the stage with nearly 200 student performers.
“There are several segments and the show is funny and moving and sentimental,” said Douglas Merk, producer. “In some way, every song or dance reflects on summer memories and the heat of the season.” The show is relentlessly diverse, at times featuring just one singer paired opposite one instrument and later expanding into an entire orchestra and a theatre filled with dancers and singers for massive production numbers. At different times, the mic is shared by Dayton-area high school, middle school or even elementary school students. Muse Machine alumni also return to the Victoria stage for the concert. Too Darn Hot even features an original song written by alum Micah Trout from his recent album. “It’s incredibly special for me to return to Ohio and the Victoria stage to perform for a Muse audience,” says Trout. “This is where I discovered what I wanted to do with my life.”
For the first time in Muse’s history, part of the show has been created “by request.” For weeks, the public has been suggesting songs for the concert by submitting ideas through musemachine.com. “The response has been incredible,” said Tim Olt, Muse Machine’s conductor, who is writing new arrangements of each of these songs. “A surprising amount of the show has come from the clever ideas of Muse fans!”
Tipp City students are teaming up with young people from across the Miami Valley to rehearse for the big production. Aided by a virtual army of parent and community volunteers, Tipp City residents Caitlyn Hood and Claire Heatherly will join the ranks of this summer’s sizzling concert.
Tickets for Too Darn Hot are available exclusively through Ticket Center Stage at 937/228-3630, online at www.ticketcenterstage.com or at the Ticket Center Stage box office in the Schuster Center in downtown Dayton.
About the Muse Machine
The Muse Machine is a nationally recognized arts education organization, which provides creative experiences and resources for young people of the Miami Valley. Since 1982, they’ve produced musicals and concerts for the community and engaged thousands of students through academically-relevant lessons, workshops and in-school projects. For more information, visit www.musemachine.com.
