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Archive for the ‘musicals’ Category

The Hands of Time Snicker at Me Behind their Fingers

by: Lindsay Price on September 6th, 2008 2 Replies

30 Days of Development: Lindsay is writing every day for thirty days, and submitting every day for thirty days, and blogging about it every day for thirty days. Whew! Can she do it? Stay posted….

DAY SIX

Writing: Beauty and the Bee, moving from hand written notes to the computer. Yeek. It’s official like.

Thoughts: Some days the hands of the clock (if I actually had a clock with actual hands) tick their way so slowly round as I try to get something, anything on paper. Some days those metaphorical hands fly around, laughing maniacally all the way as I write like a mad man to beat the clock. It’s almost six o’clock. Where did the day go? What happened? What bus? Whose mother?

Today was dive into the pool day, as I started transferring my notes into a brand new file in the Lindsay 2008-2009 directory. Granted, the start was a little slow so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at the snickering hands of time. I was always slow at getting into the pool, inching my way bit by bit into the water. A little facebook here, a little ONTD there. Stop snickering!

It’s an interesting process as I see how much material is really there, does it actually fit together the way I imagined it would, what’s missing, what takes up too much space. I’m re-writing as I’m typing, which can be a bit circular. I realised the Has-Bees weren’t going to make an appearance till page ten, which is too late. Wrote another breakfast scene on the fly and crafted together the opening which will be a sound montage of sorts with conversation intertwined with ‘Flight of the Bumblebee.’

I also spent a half an hour researching the difference between soluble and insoluble fibre. The things I do for one line of dialogue….

It’s going to be another full day tomorrow, (second verse same as the first) more typing, more learning, more listening to the dialogue in my head. Not to be confused with the voices in my head. Although sometimes they do collide. Ooh, there’s a good blog subject.

Submission: Full length Appliance to Square Mama productions.

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Shout is Available!

by: Lindsay Price on June 19th, 2008 No Replies

SHOUT IS AVAILABLE!!!!!!!

www.ShoutTheMusical.com

Middle School Shout test

by: Lindsay Price on May 31st, 2008 No Replies

They look at the floor when they sing. They’ve only been practicing two afternoons a week since March Break. They can’t fully sing a capella yet, they still need the piano and occasionally look at their teacher with wide eyes.

But it was wonderful.

Kristin, the composer for SHOUT!, has been working at a Middle School this year. When I told her what a success the one act version had been in Florida, she decided to try it out with her own students. She divided the four part harmony down to two and stayed at the piano throughout throwing out starting notes, playing underneath for support.

It’s great for us to have this test show because we know we’ll get the question ‘is SHOUT suitable for Middle Schools?’ Can they do it?

It was fascinating to see the show with such young actors. The story still works. I’ve seen the show a million times now and I still cried at the end. The music is still moving. Everything is raw and instinctual, which makes me very happy because it means the students were connecting to the play unconsciously. It works, it works! Yes they can do it!

They all had fun with the songs, even if they were too shy to sing out fully. But you could see their confidence growing. There was a huge difference in the show from the dress rehearsal in the morning to the performance at night. The girl who sang ‘My Brother Andy’ sang simply and with sincerity (AND a capella!!). It was heartbreaking. There were eight Buzzy Bees instead of four, and they had just as much fun onstage. One girl, who would only come on stage for the last song, asked at the last minute if she could sit on the stage for the whole show with the others.

They were excited and pleased and proud of what they had accomplished. To see that just makes me want to explode with pride. It’s the kind of experience that Theatre should always be.

Bravo!

http://ShoutTheMusical.com

The end of the journey….the beginning of the journey….

by: Lindsay Price on May 4th, 2008 No Replies

Lakewood Ranch High School performed Shout! at the Florida State Thespian Festival this past Wednesday. This is the end of the journey for them, and they ended with a bang. The cast completely rose to the occasion with a spectacular performance after a shaky final dress on Monday night, and a decision to change the end of the show on Tuesday.

SIDE NOTE ON.

I love the fearlessness of teens. After hearing a new version of one of the songs on Monday, I realized the new version was the end of the play and the subsequent last scene was unnecessary. It was the kind of realization that only happens when you see the show in action, as opposed to just reading words on a page. I was just going to make this change after the fact (you know, seeing as the cast wasn’t scheduled for any further rehearsals….) but the director thought the students were up to the task. ‘Are you sure?’ I asked, ‘Really sure?’ ‘Absolutely’ she said. Ok……We rehearsed the new end twice and it’s perfect.

SIDE NOTE OFF.

It’s been exactly one year since I asked the director if she’d be interested in workshopping a new musical. I don’t think either she or I knew what we were getting into.

Singing a cappella is no easy feat, and it’s been interesting to see people cringe at the concept. I interviewed the Lakewood Ranch cast and every one of them thought their director was crazy for making them do it. ‘But,’ one student commented, ‘We trust Mrs. Caravan. And we know she has faith in us. So there’s no way we wouldn’t do it.’

And at the end of the process, every one of those students wants to do another a cappella musical!

This venture has been such a wonderful success and this week I’ve been a mess of emotion. This journey has been a long one for me. It was my idea, my concept, and thus my failure if it didn’t work. I could barely watch the big show on Wednesday, I was wound so tight. Some students I recently worked with were sitting nearby. They wanted to come talk to me, but I looked a little bit tense and, ah, A LOT scared. Yep that’s about it exactly. I shook throughout the whole adjudication afterward.

Shout! has been a long time in the works and it just feels unbelievable that this part of the process is coming to fruition. A concept is one thing. An actual product is a completely different matter. Something to hold in my hands. Words in print. Sheet music. Sight. Sound. Everything.

It was interesting to hear the response at our exhibitor table on Friday and Saturday. We were listening very hard to see what the buzz would be. We had a huge Shout! banner, one act versions for sale and CD’s. The Lakewood Ranch students were so excited to see themselves on the video and kept staring at the CD’s.

A lot of students came up to tell us how much they enjoyed it. A retired teacher who I have a lot of respect for complimented the show - the type of person who never gives lip service. That meant a lot to me. The cast kept coming up to me and marveling how other students were accosting them! We had customers buy the script and CD, not because they had seen the show but because they had heard it was good. It was interesting to see which song the students searched for, to make sure was on the CD, one we never would have figured.

It was interesting to see teachers leap forward at the concept, excited at the idea or coil away from the table declaring their students unable to ever learn a cappella.

But you see, I know now (after much sweat and many tears) that this musical is doable. For any group. Is it challenging? Of course. But is it rewarding? Amazingly so. I’ve seen it now first hand. And I can saw with confidence this is a great musical for students.

The buzz is exciting. The interest is good. The journey is just beginning.

The full length version of Shout is available June 2008.

See here for a whole lot more: theatrefolk.com/shout