By Ainsley Green, Staff Writer
On Feb. 3, theatre arts and business, organization and management double major Libby Drew ’24 performed her senior capstone recital in Kline Theatre. The recital began at 7 p.m. and featured songs from a variety of different musicals that Drew explained encapsulated the theme of her performance: the joys and hardships that come with being alive.
Drew was accompanied on all of her songs by Collaborative Pianist of the Sunderman Conservatory of Music Dr. Scott Crowne. Members of the college community came out to support Drew during her project, a culmination of all her hard work over the last four years of her undergraduate career. Each song received lots of supportive applause, and the performance ended with a standing ovation.
The program consisted of songs from many well-known musicals, including “Wicked” and “The Phantom of the Opera.” Drew gave her own insight into what the songs meant to her through detailed program notes which specified how the songs and their messages shaped her as a musician and person. Themes of love, loss, friendship, self worth, confidence and the company of others were highlighted in particular.
Libby Drew ’24 performing her senior capstone recital, “Being Alive.” (Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)
A favorite memory of Drew’s was when she finally came to a decision on how to “cap off [her] collegiate theatre experience.” In recalling the capstone’s creation, she said, “I stopped trying to do what I thought was expected of me and went with what I love.”
Certain songs from the performance were a crucial part of her music journey, spanning from “Meadowlark” from the musical “The Baker’s Wife,” which was the first song she sang in vocal studio class in college, to “Being Alive” from “Company,” which was song that served as the title inspiration for her capstone.
“The namesake for my capstone is a piece I believe is one of the greatest of Sondheim’s,” Drew stated in the program. “This song is all about the ups and downs of love, and the connection with another person or people that makes all of it worth it.”
Drew also sang “No One Is Alone” from “Into the Woods” with fellow singers and friends from performances put on by the theatre department: Adela Holahan ’24, Aiden Ludka ’24 and Logan Sodl ’24. The quartet’s friendship shone as they performed a piece about the power of having friends by your side throughout life’s trials and tribulations.
“Libby’s arrangement of the song was so fantastic, she did a great job,” Holahan said when asked about her experience working on this piece with Drew. “My favorite part of the whole process was getting to spend time together again.”
Drew and Holahan have worked together in College Choir and the production of “The Prom.”
“I am so lucky to be her friend,” Holahan said. “And I know she is going to go on to do awesome things.”
Reflecting on her time in Gettysburg College’s Theatre Arts Department, Drew explained that something special about the department was “the respect and support for every artist’s individual and personal expression of what their passion means to them.”
Drew also gave advice to younger students following in her footsteps: “Everything means something, and everything is worth it… That is the beauty of a small theatre arts department at a liberal arts college; there are so many opportunities, and there is a closeness between everyone that just doesn’t exist everywhere.”
When thinking about Gettysburg College as a whole, Drew said, “The connections that I have made, both in friends and mentors, are more meaningful than I ever could have imagined before I came here. I have learned that I am capable of more than I ever thought I was. I know that I will leave with so much love and support behind me, support that will continue to be there for many, many years to come.”
The theme of Drew’s recital was the joys and hardships that come with being alive. (Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)
This article originally appeared on page 16 of the February 2024 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
