Santa Monica College Theatre Arts Professor, Dr. Janie Jones, directs her students while rehearsing "Life Upon The Wicked Stage" at the SMC Studio Stage on Monday, November 17, 2008, in preparation for their upcoming Musical Theatre Workshop, "How We Got Where We Are ."The musical theatre workshop is a revue of numbers from a wide range of musicals that have been influenced by genres ranging from opera to vaudeville and from film to comic strips."We will be performing a wide range of numbers with an eye on the roots of the modern American musical," said Janie Jones, director. "Over the years, musicals have been influenced by opera and operetta, vaudeville, films, novels, comic strips, cartoon films, women's theater and more." Jones noted that the influence of opera - specifically, Puccini's "La Bohème" - is seen in "Rent," while vaudeville was a source material for "Thoroughly Modern Millie." Films, novels, comic strips, cartoon films and more were adapted for such musicals as "Spamalot," "Jekyll and Hyde," "The Wizard of Oz," "Wicked," "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin." Current trends have been influenced by theater of diversity ("Avenue Q"), women's theater ("A. . . My Name is Alice"), and more, she said."All in all, the show should be a lot of fun," Jones said. The music director is Gary Gray and the pianist is Leigh Anne Gillespie. The cast is made up of 15 students. The SMC Musical Theatre Workshop performances are scheduled at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 5 and 6, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7 in the Theatre Arts Studio Stage, located on the SMC main campus at 1900 Pico Blvd. Tickets are $10.