Tying It Up

She runs across the street just in time for the last call for Evening for Arts, a show that will combine scenes from the musical Chicago with a panel discussion on the arts for Boston school children.

Gann seems excited for the chance to show off a little song and dance. Her mood is remarkably lighter.

Upon entering the bare Agassiz Theater, she throws off her hiking boots, exposing a wild pair of green socks.

“They go up to my knee,” she says to the vocal director.

While deciding whether to wear her hair up or down, she manages to master the sequence of steps to the number “All that Jazz” and performs them without a mistake.

When asked to sing, she pauses for about 30 seconds and decides on an a cappella rendition of “Spread a Little Sunshine” from Pippin. She clearly knows it well, pacing up and down the stage and gesticulating naturally.

“This is tough,” the vocal director says. “Casting is like being in a candy store. You have to choose what you don’t want.”

Gann still has another round of auditions—the 9 p.m. to midnight time slot—this time for the mainstage musical Chess. She will spend the next two days attending hours of callbacks for Kiss Me Kate, Chess, Evening for Art and the first-year musical.

But she won’t say which roles she really wants. After all, a good actress never gives away her secrets.

Last Tuesday, the cast lists were posted in the Loeb and Gann found herself in Chess, Kiss Me Kate, the first-year musical and Evening for Art. But she seems neither surprised nor proud.

“You can’t take yourself too seriously or they won’t,” she says.

—Staff writer Jessica E. Vascellaro can be reached at vascell@fas.harvard.edu.