The Musical Approaches

I have officially finished teaching for the Term. Well, I have to prepare 15 'reliefs' for next week as I leave my poisonous babies to torment a temporary teacher or two but other than that I am FREE!

Next week we go into the theatre.

'Bump in' is 8am Monday followed by a run through and an afternoon tech meeting. Last night the Director, Choreographer and myself (Stage Manager) sat around my dining table and nutted out every cue. There are light cues, curtain and fly cues and AV cues. I am hoping the Conductor can cue herself. Monday afternoon we'll sit with the Lighting Tech at the theatre and do the plot....

On Thursday night one of the dancers was talking to me about costumes and mentioned the moment when they throw back their hoods.
"What hoods would they be?" I inquired with a growing sense of alarm.
"Oh," she chirped,"We all wear these cloaks with hoods as we come on and then we throw them back to reveal our costumes underneath."
"Who is WE?"
"All, the chorus," she prattled on, oblivious to the effect her words were having on me.

There are 20 girls in the chorus.

Twenty black hooded cloaks which we do not have one week out of the opening night.

Hhahahahahahahahahahahahahahah(hysterical laughter)

An emergency meeting with the apologetic director who could not work out how no one had mentioned the cloaks before. gggggrrrr

Fortunately we have 20 academic gowns. The latest idea is that we cut out 20 pieces of black cloth and drape them veil like over the kids heads and let the academic gowns do the rest. Sheesh.

On another note, the theatre we're going to has many memories for me. When I was in my teens I was a member of a local theatre company who put on musical shows for children every school holiday. My first production was 'Pinocchio' at 15 followed by 'Noddy and his Magic Bicycle', 'Mary Poppins' and 'Humphrey Bear and His Magic Shoes'. My starring role was as Rabbit in 'Winnie The Pooh' in my first year of Uni and my last production in that theatre was 'Snow White' which I sort of fell into
1 day off the plane when I returned from my year overseas, back packing and the like.

In that production I replaced my little sister who was working backstage, when she was struck down with terrible bronchitis. As well as turning the stage revolves and helping with quick changes, I ended up operating a smoke machine and stage managing part of the performance when our stage manager had to fill in for an actor who had failed to turn up. (he was sacked) I also filled in for another girl who, towards the end of the run (each show ran for 2 weeks, two shows a day and a matinee on Saturdays) was taken ill, and so I became the Wicked Witch in disguise...with apple and all. So from being a temporary fill-in I managed to get quite a range of experience in a number of fields during that show!!

Ever since then I have loved stage managing. It appeals to my bossy, anally retentive Sagittarian nature.
"Stand by light cue 25......go cue 25"

So I will be back in my beloved Scott Theatre for the first time in 27 years. This place contains so many memories for me. Many firsts. First loves, first heartbreak, first success, first drinks (ooer), so many laughs and stories, retold so many times.
Some of my colleagues from that time have gone on to national fame, notably Shaun Micallef who was a skinny, lanky Jerry Lewis fan when I replaced him as stage manager in Snow White.

Here is a sample of Shaun's humour from some years ago. I found it on his fan site . (he has a FAN SITE...who would have thunk it!)