A Musical is Born! -Part 4- The Team

100 days.

100 days until... 

OPENING NIGHT!

Three years ago, I had this:

and now we're down to 100 days!

It certainly doesn't sound like very much, when I think of all that still needs to be done: casting, learning the songs and dances, blocking the scenes, finding the band, costumes, sets, props, lighting... aaaahhhh!!!!

But we've been preparing for this. Long before the actors get their librettos, the directors have been studying the script, listening to the songs, brainstorming ideas with each other. Several people have asked me if I will be directing this show. The answer is no: I know music, but I don't know theater. I don't have enough experience with sets, props, lighting, costumes, blocking– basically everything that I mentioned in the paragraph above– to know how to direct. But I did decide to be in the role of the vocal director, the person who will teach the actors the music and help them get the right "feel." Doing the heavy lifting as director is KW, who most recently directed CYT's Shrek in the spring. The choreographer is MZ*, who had just finished CYT's Beauty and the Beast. The three of us make up what is called the artistic team for Five Children and It. We were the artistic team for another show back in June 2021, so I'm excited to be working with these amazing people again!

So we've already been talking, texting, emailing... any time an idea pops into our heads, we run it by the other members of the team. During the summer, we met outside a Starbucks just to confer, sync thoughts, ask questions, go out on limbs, be open to new possibilities. Do we use puppetry for the sand fairy? Hmmm.... How do we portray a baby on stage? Hmmm... We had lots of questions. 

We didn't have answers for everything that night, but we landed on this: the magic in "Five Children and It" should feel like "Mary Poppins"– colorful, delightful, but with a touch of seriousness. And we knew the theater that we will be performing in, so it was easy to already imagine the show on the stage. The only problem is that whenever I try to imagine the show, I picture it with my own children or my friends' children (you know who you are!) playing the parts. So what we need now is actors to fill the holes... next step... casting!

*I'm sticking with initials for now, until I get permission to use their full names.