If you saw the "Glee" episode where we meet the glee clubs sectional competitors, you probably laughed at the thought of a musical and dancing group of deaf and hearing-impaired students. It might have seemed like something wild pulled out of a writer's imagination.
There was a time when deaf people and musicals were two things that seemed to be far removed from each other. In the Mark Medoff's 1980 play, and later the 1986 movie, "Children of Lesser God," the hearing teacher attempts to explain music to his deaf lover.
In the movie, Marlee Matlin starred opposite William Hurt. The play was originally written for Phyllis Frelich and she would take that role to Broadway to earn a Tony Award. Both Frelich and Matlin have been involved with the North Hollywood-based Deaf West Theatre. Both are on the company's advisory board.
Matlin was the first deaf contestant on "Dancing with the Stars" (season six) and while it seemed that she lacked rhythm, this isn't always the case with deaf or hearing-impaired actors.
In 2000, Jeff Calhoun adapted the musical "Oliver!" for Deaf West Theatre. Typically, Deaf West Theatre uses voice actors to read lines for the ASL signing actors. In the case of the ASL adaptation of the musical "Big River" (based on the Mark Twain book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn") by Roger Miller (music and lyrics) and William Hauptman (book), the actor who played Huck Finn (Tyrone Giordano) was deaf and Jim (Michael McElroy) was not. That production started at the NoHo theater in 2001 and would later move to the bigger Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles for the end of 2002. By 2003, it would be on Broadway. In 2004-2005, the production went on national tour.
In 2007, Deaf West Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City (Los Angeles), again under director Calhoun, produced another musical "Sleeping Beauty Wakes." More recently Deaf West Theatre and director Jeff Calhoun were back at the Mark Taper Forum earlier this year with a revival of "Pippin."
Deaf West Theatre with Jeff Calhoun have changed the meaning of music and musicals by bringing together the deaf and hearing-impaired and hearing actors and audiences and continue to bring musicals with meaning to both audiences.
Even the tone-deaf can enjoy the musical. A few decades ago, who could have imagined that?
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