Broadway sends message of support, love to Michigan State in YouTube video

In a YouTube video posted this week, the national touring company of “Les Miserables” puts aside the traditional rivalry between Michigan colleges that exists even in the theater world.

“Usually, quite a few members of our company say ‘Go Blue,’ ” says one of many “Les Miz” actors who gathered to contribute a message. “But today we’re here to offer strength and support and say: ‘Go Green. Spartan Strong.’ ”

It’s just one of many touching moments in the roughly 2½-minute video containing Broadway's messages of support to Michigan State University, which was the site last week of a mass shooting on campus that killed three students and wounded five other students.

Among the shows that participated are Broadway productions of “Moulin Rouge” (in a clip that includes Tony-winning star Aaron Tveit) and “A Beautiful Noise,” which is based on Neil Diamond's life and music, plus national tours of “Wicked,” “Beetlejuice,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Jagged Little Pill,” the And Peggy company of “Hamilton" and more.

“We were just in East Lansing and we are feeling you so hard,” says a member of the “Jagged Little Pill” tour. The musical inspired by Alanis Morrissette’s album finished a run at MSU’s Wharton Center on Feb. 5.

The idea for the video came from Wes Haskell, a Michigan State alum who earned a master of fine arts degree in acting from there in 2012.

Haskell, who is the associate company manager of “A Beautiful Noise,” was at home Feb. 13 when he received a New York Times push notification about the shooting. “When I saw that, my heart instantly sank,” he said.

He started contacting friends from MSU, some of whom he says he hadn’t spoken to in about 10 years, and also reached out to faculty members. ”I just felt very helpless in that moment and for that entire week afterward. I just thought, 'What can I do to help?' "

Haskell asked some other company managers about the possibility of filming messages to help uplift the MSU community after such a traumatic event. He credits the numerous Broadway and touring companies who responded for making the video possible.

“When you pull a group of individuals together who all want to help, it’s really incredible how much that group can do,” he said by phone from New York.

Haskell also reached out to acclaimed playwright Lynn Nottage, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Sweat" is being staged by MSU's theater department and is set to open March 17 at the Studio 60 Theatre.

During the MSU shooting on Feb. 13, the "Sweat" student cast and stage managers, along with a faculty director, sheltered in place inside the MSU Auditorium, where they had been rehearsing. A faculty sound designer and a scenic designer from the master of fine arts program also sheltered in place in a different part of the building.

In a particularly moving clip, Nottage states, "I just want to say: ‘Go MSU. Spartan Strong.' In moments like this, we need our artists to be second responders. It’s really important for us to come together as a community and use the tools that we have to amplify and tell our stories.”

The Broadway messages of love and support are a reminder that Michigan State’s Wharton Center draws some of the best touring productions in the country to the East Lansing campus. “Beetlejuice,” “Wicked,” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” are all heading there in the coming months.

Haskell said he had to step away several times while the clips for the video were being put together, calling it “a very emotional process.” The YouTube video has drawn positive comments and gotten more than 14,000 views.

“It’s been a very lovely reminder that we all have the power to help each other,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Broadway sends MSU messages of love in YouTube video