Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Lauren Minkle as Lucy, Michael M. Hendricks as Aslan the Lion, and Shannon Cuilla as the White Witch, do battle in the C.S. Lewis story "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," currently playing at West Valley College.

C.S. Lewis classic becomes a musical

By Shari Kaplan

Assorted humans, animals and trees--representing forces of good and evil--are leaving the pages of C.S. Lewis's classic novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and springing to life on the stage of the West Valley College Theatre through Dec. 15.

According to director Jeff Bengford, who teaches part-time in the WVC theatre arts department and also teaches drama full-time at Lincoln High School, he and colleague Dianne Saichek decided it was time for a performance other than the college's almost-perennial favorite, A Christmas Carol. The best-known book of Lewis's Narnia Chronicles seemed like a good choice.

"We decided it should be a musical because we knew it'd be geared toward the holidays, and we felt a musical would be more conducive to a family show," Bengford said. "And the book is so lyrical; some passages just scream to be sung."

In writing and adapting the dialogue, Bengford tried to keep as true to Lewis's own words as possible because the director loves how the English author wrote. Bengford also wrote lyrics for more than a dozen songs, being heard for the first time anywhere by audiences attending the musical. He also said the script the actors are using is not anything like the script he originally wrote: Lines have been added and subtracted, songs changed and scenes rearranged.

"That's part of putting on a world premiere; you know there are going to be changes, and it's going to be different from anything you've done before," Bengford said.

Saichek wrote the original melodies to accompany Bengford's lyrics. Among their compilations are "The Wardrobe Is Magic," "Tea with Mr. Tumnus," "Dripping, Dropping," "Sweet Delicious Dream," "Deep Magic" and Bengford's favorite, "Still Night," which is sung the night before the decisive battle to save Narnia.

"The first thing I did was read the book about 400 times," Bengford said, laughing, as he recalled the process of turning a novel into a two-act musical and figuring out how to simplify scene changes without requiring major set changes or complex special effects.

His biggest challenge was portraying Narnia's change of seasons from constant winter--the curse of the evil White Witch--to radiant spring once Aslan the Lion, his armies and the four children Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy defeat the witch and her minions.

Without giving away too many secrets of technical theater, Bengford said different-colored lighting makes all the difference in setting moods evocative of warmth and cold, good and evil. A handful of small but significant changes to the main set also help create the changing locales of the scenes.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe runs through Dec. 15 at the West Valley College Theatre, 14000 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga. Tickets are $8 general admission, $6 for students and seniors. For specific dates and showtimes, call 741-2058.