Dolphin Show

The Dolphin Show logo

From 2006's On the Town

The Dolphin Show is a non-profit student theatre organization that annually presents a large-scale student-produced musical theatre at Northwestern University.

History

A group of Northwestern University men formed the Dolphin Club in 1939 to compete in Chicago area swimming meets. In 1940, the 15-member team held a swim carnival to to raise money to attend a Florida. The carnival and the meet were both successful, so the water show were repeated in 1941 and 1942. When World War II forced the cancellation of the annual Waa-Mu musical, the club combined their tradition with some students from the Waa-Mu show to present an evening of song and dance called the Dolphin Show. The 1944 Dolphin Show was a musical revue called "Wela Kahau" including women's water ballet and the men's Dolphin Club. Poceeds from this show bought war bonds. In 1948 audiences returned to see a musical-comedy revue around the original Patten Gymnasium pool. The Dolphin Show became jontly produced by the female Lorelei swimming club in 1949, but drifted away from its aquatic origin. The Dolphin Executive Board gave equal representation to both clubs who chose a theme for each year's show. In 1963 the production was no longer raising funds for the swim clubs. In 1964 the show presented Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado around the pool. In 1970, the group performed the musical Mame on stage at Cahn Auditorium.^[1]

Alumni include actors David Schwimmer, Warren Beatty, Richard Kind, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, musical director Keith Dworkin, singer Ardis Krainik and Kate Shindle who was Miss America 1998.^[1][2]

Shows

The productions have been awarded Northwestern University's Center for Student Involvement's "Outstanding Theatrical Production", "Outstanding Producers", and "Outstanding Director" awards, as well as William Daniels Awards, including "Best Musical."^[3]

Year	Show	Directors	Producers	Musical Director
2012	42nd Street	Emily Maltby	Jeremey Shpizner Lucas McMahon
2011	Ragtime	Michael Holtzman	Julie Boor Lucas McMahon	Liz Doran Patrick Sulken
2010	Parade	Scott G. Weinstein	Zachary Baer Tom Casserly Jamie Lynn White	Ian Weinberger
2009	The Wizard of Oz	Katie Spelman	Zachary Baer Tracy MacKenzie Kyly Zakheim	Will Curry Liz Doran
2008	Carousel	Tyler G. Beattie	Brittney Anne Bahlman Deanna Hope	Eugenio Vargas
2007	Into the Woods	Travis Greisler	Dave Leuchter Evyn Williams	Joel Esher
2006	On the Town	Josh Penzell	Abra Chusid Whitney Frick	Keith Dworkin
2005	How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying	Evan Brody	Abby Wolbe Rachael Scholten
2004	Gypsy: A Musical Fable	Sloan Gordon Grenz	Danna Ginsberg Dana Oppenheim
2003	Evita	Jonathan Saylors	Chris Plevin Amy Ludwigsen	Cory Hills Daniel Singer
2002	Damn Yankees	Jessica Redish	Megan Felsburg Geeta Kharker	Greg Brown
2001	The Secret Garden	Matthew Trombetta	Kate Webster Karyn Meltz
2000	Kiss of the Spider Woman	Mikie Garver	Claire Yoon and Kim Kelly
1999	Guys and Dolls
1998	Sweeney Todd

Striking the set of 2005's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "About the Dolphin Show". official web site. Northwestern University. http://groups.northwestern.edu/dolphinshow/about.html. Retrieved July 1, 2011. 
2. ^ Geeta Kharker (Summer 2002). "Stepping Up to the Plate". Northwestern magazine. http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/northwestern/summer2002/features/stepping_up/index.htm. Retrieved July 1, 2011. 
3. ^ "Student Recognition Banquet". Norris University Center web site. http://www.norris.northwestern.edu/csi/operations/srb/. Retrieved July 1, 2011.