This is my first week of this academic year with no school production rehearsal. I am pretty excited not to have this hanging over my head any longer and the great thing is that it was a success. I've normally been the Musical Director and I've normally been in a local school where the community are completely behind you.
It is a challenge being in an environment where the local community are highly unlikely to support you, mainly due to a language barrier. You also have to deal with nearly all the technicians don't speak your language. Having said that it is pretty exciting to do a production where there are a multitude of languages and cultures. Selecting an apporpriate show to cater for an entire student body of middle and high school students that can be watched by elementary students is a huge challenge. Considering the talnet available and the facilities is another issue all together. Thankfully my colleague had an idea and I was more than happy to share in her vision to produce "James and the Giant Peach".
We certainly faced some challenges. Some students who normally got involved in the productions decided that it was too "childish" for them whereas others who would normally from being discouraged involved chose to take part. There were a lot of highs and lows from the start. Things soon began to turn around when the students saw the thought, time and effort that had gone into this. There was excitement over costumes, set and staging. We considered tiny details from the very start and wanted to give the students a production experience that would hopefully surpass what they had experienced before.
My amazing colleague turns out to be a PR Queen and organised a dress up day, readathon, floor stickers and a million other things. There is no doubt in my mind that without her there is no way the production would have been as great as it was. I almost feel quilty that my name was anywhere near it after all of her amazing work.
The script was short, there were media inserts, audience particaption and no big song and dance numbers. I couldn't watch! As A Musical Director you have something to do and some control. As a Director you have to find somewhere where you won't be driving people insane and can keep yourself somewhat sane. I tried a variety of tactics and it turns out that I am better off in the corridor waiting for it all to be over. The lovely teacher that we had on the lights decided that I looked so awful that she appeared the next day with a survival bag and I am eternally gratefull!
The feedback has been the best I have ever received. Despite not selling as many tickets as I would have liked the feedback really has been overwhelming and we are very proud that it is being deemed the best production that the school has ever done.
Pretty glad it's over now!
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