[carolecat]

Have you ever had to change and/or cancel a show because of kids who quit?
I am new at this school and have changed from Pippin to Patent Leather Shoes to Fools, and now am having to push back the performance date.
Is it me??? This is unreal.

[kozafluitmusique]

I'm not a high school director, but as ASM this year, I've had to deal with conflicts. That is ridiculous that people keep on dropping out! Was their a contract signed that they would be aware of all rehearsals, etc. in the beginning?

[DaddyDiesel]

Ihave seen show changes before. eather it be the rights were not obtained or a school board not backing the show. Specially with a script like Pippin. Its easy that a director would choose pippin and then a school board would eventually find out the content of the show and then not support it. Which would explain the easy change to the more subtle script of black patent shoes. As for pushing off the show dates. Sure. I can see reasons for doing so. BUt not very often. In highschool certain events take presidence somtimes. So if the theatre was booked for somthing and that wasnt taken into account the dates can be moved.

[carolecat]

I'm the director, we started with Pippin and just didn't have the talent. So we switched to Patent Leather Shoes, then when 4 people dropped, we went with a straight play. All my choice. But I am really amazed at these kids who drop out!!

[Sweeney Hyde]

If you didn't have the talent to do Pippin to begin with, why did you choose it?

[navada]

In the past, our former director has often had two or three shows in mind before we started preliminary auditions. He would check on the availability of rights before even contemplating a particular show. He would also book the theatre a year ahead for the same week of July every year, so that the production had a well-established and regular routine.

After discussing show options, we would then audition to see what kind of talent we had in any given year. We might find we had five senior guys capable of holding a vocal line and the usual twenty girls vying for a limited number of roles. Once we saw what we had to work with, we would then choose a show according to the existing talent and not the other way around.

I wouldn't recommend choosing the show first and then trying to make the cast fit your choice. We only did this very rarely, and we only felt confident enough to try it because we worked together in our roles for many years (the director for 20 and me for 10) and knew our performers particularly well. Without pre-casting, we could be confident that if there were 10 lead roles to cast and we had at least 15 students who were "known quantities" that we felt confident we could cast, then the show seemed safe to produce.

We have never altered our choice of show mid-stream. We have, on very rare occasions, sacked or replaced students because we're lucky enough to have a deep enough pool of talent to give us that option. But change the show? Never.

My concern would be that by changing the show three times, the students would feel confused and uncertain and begin to lose their trust in the process. Is there another alternative?

[musikman1]

You wrote: "In the past, our former director has often had two or three shows in mind before we started preliminary auditions."

How in the world do you get anybody to audition? I don't blame cast for dropping out. Most actor-folks that I know (I'm a musical director, pit orch piano-cond full time for 30+ years) audition for specific shows that they like, or a show that has a part that they want to play.

MOST areas are "saturated" with theatre groups, be they schools, community or regionals for the "up and coming" stars-of-tomorrow, so they will tend to gravitate to whatever group is doing a show that is interesting to them, OR has a lead that they can get in auditions.

If (for example) someone auditioned for Vanadergelder in Hello Dolly (cast of thousands), and after auditions the group decided that (for WHATEVER reason) that they were going to switch to Into The Woods (cast of 24), and then Charlie Brown (cast of 6-7), then Romance Romance (cast of 4), and then I Do I Do (cast of 2), I can't imagine anyone staying on for that ride.

It would seem to me that "knowing your group" would be a pre-requisite for directing (or executive producing and consulting to the director) a show in any theatre. OR, there should be a "reading committee" in the board that knows the general makeup of the auditioning pool.

Most non-pro groups that I've worked with (I do 15-20 live pit shows per year in and out of the country) have folks like set designers, lighting designers, sound designers, costume designers that have to get their work in gear and prepped far in advance of auditions.

You wrote: "I wouldn't recommend choosing the show first and then trying to make the cast fit your choice."

About all I can offer is "eek!" I can only give an example from my "little kingdom," which is as a musical director, but I prepare at least weeks ahead of auditions to learn the score, ascertain the singing ranges required, find out the pit orchestra makeup and consult with the set designer on just how many square feet the pit or combo will require, and where to place the players (normally if we're not in a legit pit, 10'-12' below stage level, we're hidden behind the set).

So I go into auditions with specific singing ranges I'm looking for, and have already hired a majority of the pit (if you don't get 'em early, they'll be engaged elsewhere!), and arranged for a rehearsal pianist.

Just from "my little world," if there would be a switch from my example list above, the singing ranges for the lead actors AND the makeup or personnel needed for the pit would change dramatically (even when using a small combo), requiring me to "fire" some and "hire" others to cover new orchestrations. (In my example, sax players and trombones for Dolly, fire the saxes and trombones and hire flute, clar and french horn for Into the Woods, fire the clarinet and french horn for Charlie Brown and pickup a harp or 2nd keyboard player, and so on..

Of course, if it's just piano-only type "seat of the pants" type group, that would be easier to work!

Rick

[navada]

People tend to operate according to the needs of their particular environment. Working with several different groups and in different venues over the course of a year obviously requires you to know the choice of show well ahead of auditions, and in that context, that makes perfect sense. I'm operating in a high school environment where we work with a regular group of students. They love theatre and they trust us, so they will audition every time rather than deciding whether or not to audition based on the choice of show, as happens in our local amateur theatre group.

I am the college's MD and we are definitely not a "seat of the pants" type group! When we have a shortlist of shows in mind prior to auditions, I prepare for them all, particularly in terms of singing ranges and instrumentation.

Our orchestra generally copes with whatever we throw at them. In situations where there are instruments we can't cover, we have local networks where we can "borrow" musicians we may need from other schools and vice versa.

We perform regularly in a local theatre with an in-built orchestra pit. We didn't always have access to these types of facilities and I do appreciate how lucky we are these days. Therefore all I need to do each year with regard to pit specifications is to work out which musician sits where within the pit and where the mikes need to be placed (the pit is closed except for one panel left open at the front so I can conduct the cast - the sound techs mike each instrument in the orchestra and create an orchestral mix through the speakers into the auditorium).

This has advantages and disadvantages. The mix is usually terrific, but because it sounds pretty good, I'm told that some of our dumber audience members don't understand that there are live musicians in the pit and assume the cast are just singing along to backing tracks.

[Beagle On Stage]

How do you plan your season without knowing what show you will do prior to auditions?

As for the high school students, I think it would be valuable for them to learn to be enterprising about their auditions and know that they can't just trust that everything will work out because they love theatre. When they audition for something outside of the school, they will have a rude awakening that no one has their back.

[navada]

Sometimes we do know which show we've chosen prior to auditions. Sometimes we have a shortlist, usually no more than two shows we may be tossing up between depending on how auditions sort themselves out.

Given that we are operating within a school environment and need to be mega-organised and give everyone plenty of notice of forthcoming interruptions, our chorus rehearsal times and performance dates are booked a year ahead for the same times each year. We work out the finer details of vocal and blocking rehearsal schedules with our principals once we have chosen our cast.

Despite their trust in us and their belief that the show will work well, the students remain very enterprising in their audition choices and performances. We have a very strong pool of talent to draw from, and the students (even the seniors) know that if they don't perform at their best in the auditions, there's a definite chance they'll miss out. They know we cast on talent, not seniority, and we have on occasion conducted callbacks in a group where they've been able to watch each other and know what they're up against. (This system has advantages and disadvantages - we usually use it only for reasons of time and if we're confident that the particular auditionees we're dealing with can handle it).

Most of our leading students have already auditioned and performed with our local amateur theatre company. They are therefore aware of how auditions differ according to context and according to the specific requirements of different production teams, particularly here where the ethics of our local company aren't always as unimpeachable as we'd all prefer.

[musikman1]

Hi navada,

You're not the OP, so I'll make the assumption (?) that you're talking about a different program than the OP (univ vs. hs).

You wrote: "Sometimes we do know which show we've chosen prior to auditions. Sometimes we have a shortlist, usually no more than two shows we may be tossing up between depending on how auditions sort themselves out."

You then wrote: "We have a very strong pool of talent to draw from.."

If, as you state, you have a very strong pool of talent, then why is the need for a "shortlist," vs. choosing a show based upon the very strong pool of talent?

You also wrote: "I am the college's MD and we are definitely not a "seat of the pants" type group!"

I think I'm getting a better picture here of your operation. This isn't a musical theatre production produced by a theatre department for theatre majors, is it? It's more of an "ad hoc" extracurricular activity offered to the students of any major for participation..?

The reason I ask, is that it would seem that in a group that is not "seat of the pants" (my term), set designers need to plan full set designs/draw plans/blueprints, make a model and consult with the director as to specifications months prior to auditions, in order for 1) the set designer to know how to design the space, and 2) the director to be able to plot the blocking.

This same general principle would apply to the costume designer.

Normally, rehearsals start within days of the close of auditions. I'm trying to ascertain how a director will have time to conceive, design and set blocking for his show if the choice isn't locked in until literally the 11th hour prior to the start of rehearsals. How does he make up a full rehearsal schedule to give to the cast (which cast has to be available on which days, what scenes will be blocked, run, rehearsed?).

A typical stage manager needs to know the size of the crew he will need for building the set that the set designer specifies, construction, painting, budgeting of material required, etc.

The same would be true of the choreographer (for a musical), in that choreography is usually conceived and created with the consultation of the director, and it is usually in fairly solid "creative form," so the choreographer knows how to audition the prospective dancers (example, "Baker's Wife" with virtually no choreography vs. "Little Shop" with tons of "pop dancing" in small groups).

You wrote: "When we have a shortlist of shows in mind prior to auditions, I prepare for them all, particularly in terms of singing ranges and instrumentation."

Does this mean that you expect the director to conceive and create plots for all the shows on the "short list?" The same for the set designer, stage manager, choreographer?

And further you have created two complete rehearsal schedules to account for the differing casts, choruses, etc. for two different productions. I'll make another assumption that the shows on a "shortlist" have to by definition be varied (in order to account for differing audition expectations vs. realities), because if they were similar shows, why have a shortlist? The reason for the other production possibility is to cover a shortfall from the original expected cast pool.

I'm just curious how your school's "creative flow" works. I, too, have been faced with last minute show changes due to rights being pulled, but it's very seldom (3 times in 30+ years), and I've been the "hired gun" for middle school, high school, college, university, community, regional and pro productions.

If you're working with an extracurricular non-major group, it would make more sense that your unorthodox methods would work, as it would be the "norm" for your crowd.

But if you indeed have a "strong group" to draw from, it seems quizzical that you would put yourself as MD and the entire administrative staff of the production into a virtual "black hole" of uncertainty until the very last minute before the rehearsal process is to begin.

I don't mean to be argumentative, I'm just trying to see the reasoning behind the almost intentional overload of work on your creative folks. Or more to the point, forcing them to split up their available time to "preset" two complete show options vs. focusing on a single project and taking the time to tweak it to what they would consider perfection for your target group.

Cheers,

Rick