Annie Hays, Contributing Writer
If anyone ever wanted to know the true story of college that the brochures can’t tell them, they would have to look no further than GLEO: The Untold Story of the “True” Directions.
The musical followed a variety of students during one year at St. GLE-O University. Act One is set as the first semester at GLE-O. Ms. Melis (Amy Persaud), the drama ministry teacher at Saint GLEO University tries to put on the show Wicked in her class Drama Ministry 123.
After receiving an impressive color-coordinated resume from Tina the biology major (Elizabeth Panek) and hearing some impressive auditions from Barbie the blonde (Anysia Weicht), Lori the Scottish exchange student (Jenifer MacDonald), Nikki the stuck-up over achiever (Noelle Bertossi), and more, the cast was ready to start rehearsals.
Meanwhile, Cookie the cheerleader (Haley Wing) is trying to help the shy Freshman Lynn (Lindsey Thilmony) become a popular cheerleader. Then when Nikki finds out she did not get the part in Wicked she wanted, she decided to hold The Wizard of Oz the same weekend to get revenge.
All throughout the musical, the cast deals with their personal issues and insecurities. They ranged from Barbie’s fears of not being able to pay for college and thus not being able to graduate, Layne’s (Jake Gates) drug addiction, Tina’s struggle to make straight A’s, Marshall’s (Danny François)
attempted suicide, and Charlie’s (Jamilah Ray) struggle with her girlfriend.
College is a blast as the musical proved. The audience and I were in stitches for most of the performance. Cookie’s stereotypical dumb cheerleader antics and Tina’s hyperactive nerd persona in particular were absolutely hysterical.
The musical also showed the not so fun part of college. One of the songs sung during the first day of school. “What is this Feeling?” – showed the love/hate relationship between Nikki and Stacy (Genny Feiler), whom were two polar opposite roommates who didn’t get along for most of the musical.
But in the end, after the cast had to endure trials, tribulations, and nasty love triangles, they all pulled together to overcome their difficulties as a drama ministry.
This musical was perfect for anyone affiliated with college, especially the Saint Leo community. Incoming freshmen can get a humorous and serious look at college, seniors can laugh at all the things they will soon be leaving, and professors will be inspired to be as helpful and caring to their students as Ms. Nelis was.
