HOW TO STAGE A MUSICAL NAfME CONFERENCE FALL 2012 Dan P. Hays, Asst.

. Professor of Theatre at NE Wesleyan University Choosing your musical A. Know your students abilities You dont have to precast but you have to be able to fill all roles Know the voice ranges but transposition is lots easier now There are school versions or junior versions that are more accessible to HS/MS students abilities B. Know your communitys expectations(religious/obscenities/subject matter/traditional vs. trendy) C. Know your budget D. Know what obstacles Some musicals demand expensive sets or costumes (Les Mis/Beauty & The Beast); some demand difficult dancing (Chorus Line/Crazy For You); some demand incredible orchestra (Legally Blonde/West Side Story); some have racial demands (Big River/Hairspray); some demand hard props (walkers for The Producers/A customized barber chair and bleeding razors for Sweeney Todd);some have limitations for gender (1776 has 2 female roles; Sound of Music has no singing for chorus males) Casting your musical A. Set an audition time/day and publish expectations I create an Everything you wanted to know about auditioning for: __________ List all roles, expectations of roles, character descriptions, rehearsal schedule, and a contract that must by signed by both student and parent stating that the student will be at all rehearsals and performances (unless already cleared and excused). B. Have a few short scenes printed that students can check out beforehand. Then audition using those scenes. They dont have to be memorized, but ask them to interact, not just read. C. Have them learn a part of one of the songs that a character would sing. Make it short, but choose it carefully to show if the student has the ability to actually sing the role. D. Do a short dance audition that EVERYONE must go through. It shows their commitment to show up, and it will point out who learns quickly, who struggles, and who absolutely cant dance. E. I cast everyone who auditions, if they will make the commitment. It is great training and a fantastic recruiting tool. I began casting understudies which helped in unfortunate cases such as a student being suspended, or getting mono. But it is also great training, and it makes your stars more responsible knowing someone is waiting in the wings. Caution: do not use it as an honor. You need to make sure you could live with that person in the role. F. At callbacks, I would have a prepared sheet for each student, and I would make them cast the show from what they observed at callbacks. This made the students understand how difficult it is to cast, (including having too much talent for the number of roles; seeing how they TRULY fit into the picture; struggling with finding a place for that student who is talented but just doesnt fit in any certain role this year, etc.) This single-handedly reduced the whining and complaining that plagued the week following casting.

Page 2 Scheduling rehearsals A. 1 minute on stage = 1 hour of rehearsal (minimum). B. Work backwards first. Put in your tech rehearsals, adding in the orchestra, adding in props, sets and costumes. C. Then work from the front, with a readthrough (full cast), and a training day (full cast) at the very beginning. (We will be doing some exercises from the training.) D. Work the chorus music first, then the big chorus dance numbers. Solos, and small groups that involve the leads can be squeezed in during class time, end of rehearsals, etc. Do all the big numbers first. Do a music rehearsal for a couple of nights, choreograph the next night, and then review on the fourth night. Add more, but always go back and review the ones youve finished. E. Each rehearsal start with the big numbers that involve the most people. Then filter some out and do smaller numbers. End the rehearsal with scenes between just a few people. Work from big to small each rehearsal until you start doing run-throughs. F. Train your upperclassmen to be helpers and you wont have to spend your time with baby-sitting and discipline issues. But make sure they are positive leaders (have a few leaders take the leadership workshop at Millard South with Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser or through David Sackschewsky). G. Figure out how to best utilize times. Wednesdays were always tricky at my school, so we would always do small groups on Wed. and on game days (usually Fridays). I made sure if I was going to be gone for All State or a show choir competition, that I had an assistant that would meet with any students who would still be there. I would have groups working in different rooms some in the choir room working notes, some on stage with blocking, some in the commons area working dance moves. Utilize everyones time ALL THE TIME. There is no room for down time. Something can always be improved. A couple of examples of schedules are included in this packet. Some words of wisdom I believe if you set your expectations high, your students will rise to those expectations. I believe every show should be performed with the utmost respect of the audience. That means there is no room for pranks, inside jokes, etc. I demand professionalism in all of my actors at all times. I believe the art of acting cannot begin until the lines and music are intuitive. Learning your lines the week before you open does not allow any art just recitation. At NWU, most actors come to the first rehearsal with their lines already learned. Then the whole process is about making art. As a director, I try to always respect each artists time. I have my work prepared beforehand, and I expect they will give me their undivided attention. I do not have any time built in to schedules where we are not working. High school actors can be brilliant performers if you give them the tools and you demand they meet your expectations. X=X. What the performer feels is what the audience feels. If they are uncomfortable in their costume, the audience will feel uncomfortable. If they feel the struggle or the joy of the character, that is also what the audience will feel. I believe in color blind casting in general. I am very cautious, but I believe just about any role could be performed by just about any student. In my history, I have found audiences will accept a nontraditionally cast show in a matter of a few minutes.

Page 3 Staging games and strategies

Walking In Space Great warm up game. All are instructed to simply walk around and try to evenly fill the performance space. They are given many tasks along the way: walk faster, walk in slow motion, do a funny walk, walk backwards, do not touch anyone else, walk in pairs, etc. Also, freeze and ask them to touch one other person, or three other people. Give them specific body parts that have to be used to touch (like a toe). Give them a great challenge, like you must touch 5 people (and remind them to help out the people who are caught on the extreme edges). Ask them to quickly form into groups of 5 or 8 or some odd number. Ask them to form a group into a circle, or a triangle, or a triangle in a circle. Ask them to, without talking, find a group of people wearing the same colored clothing, or who are the same height, or have the same color of hair. You can keep coming up with new possibilities. Memory Mime Game Leader instructs the whole group to each mime a specific activity (i.e. a sport). All mime different sports at the same time. After a short period, the leader yells freeze. All participants freeze completely, and the leader finds an interesting statue. That person is asked to remain frozen, while the others relax. The group is then asked to imitate the statue as closely as possible, including which direction the person is facing. They then are asked to remember this statue (which will from then on be called by the persons first name - like Chelseas position.) The game progresses and another activity is mimed (a vocation, for example). Again, repeat the steps. After the whole group does this second statue, ask them to return to the first statue. Repeat several times until the group has several (5,6 or 7) different statues in their repertoire. Recreate the statues in different orders. This is a good game before beginning choreography, as it uses the same mental muscles. Here are some possible prompts -- sports (steer them away from common sports like football and volleyball); jobs (again, no teachers , doctors or secretaries); animals, daily activities, something you did this weekend, a typical day at school, a teacher, a favorite commercial, something youd do at an amusement park, someone youd see at a circus, an activity that takes more than one person to accomplish (like playing poker, or washing a dog - one kid is the washer, the other is the dog).

Pictures and Levels Have students stand in a straight line across the stage. Then explain that only in A Chorus Line would you ever use this. Explain first thing you do is to change your LEVEL. From laying on the floor to standing on a piece of furniture and every possibility in between. Second change your DEPTH. This is how close or far away you are from the audience. The further away (upstage), the more you will need your level to be high. The closer to the audience (downstage) the more your level will need to be low. This allows the patron to see the people in the back. Next, get your group close to each other and separated from other groups. Each group of 2, 3, 4 or more actors should be TIGHTLY intertwined, and there should be space between each group that is clearly defined from an audiences viewpoint. Third, change your FOCUS. This is the direction your body is facing. Think of a clock on the floor. 12:00 would be facing straight front (not a desirable acting position) and 6:00 would be full back (again, rarely should this be used). But every other MINUTE on the clockface is a good position that can make your pictures look great. Each person in the group should have a slightly different focus. Finally, add CHARACTER. If you are a proper young lady in the 1840s, you would sit or stand differently than some teenage punk from a rough part of town in 2012. Sometimes, your character would not be in a low level, so you have to adjust your group picture. Ask your students to form a group of 4 people. At first give them 15 seconds to find a group and make a good picture. Then repeat with new people. Then make the transitions faster. Give them some characters to add to the picture (examples: Grease gang; bank robbers; nuns and priests; four-year olds on the playground, etc.) Everytime you are rehearsing, yell pictures and levels and see if they can arrange themselves. It cleans up your show and makes your blocking of large casts so much quicker and easier.