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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:35 pm
It started as a joke, I didn't really think that five years later it would be an actual show! My dad and his students awesome!
http://www.timescall.com/communitytc/schools-story.asp?ID=7780
For some reason the whole article isn't on the site, but I have the paper so here's the whole thing.
Behind the scenes Musical offers look at tension between actors and the crew
By Melanie M. Sidwell Longmont Times-Call
LONGMONT Boy and girl from opposing sides somehow fall in love. Good friends fight and then make up. And sometimes, the actors forget their lines and there's a prop malfunction.
Backstage: A Musical Review is a story within a story about a high school drama club preparing a musical theater production, piecemealed together from ideas and the experiences of current and past students of the Skyline Performing Arts Department.
The show parodies several songs from major Broadway musicals in a plot about the age-old tensions between actors and the stage crew, known as techies.
It's pretty transparent, said John Benton, facility manager of Vance Brand Civic Auditorium, drama club sponsor and stage technology teacher. You don't have to be a theater geek to understand the show. Anyone who�s ever worked on a high school show will recognize something in there.
The idea for the musical review was born five years ago after some actual techies in one of Benton's stage technology classes complained that actors got all the glory in a show. They mused that they should do a play about the trials and tribulations of working backstage.
Benton said he kept track of people's ideas through the years and proposed to the students that this was the year they would write the show.
"They had a very strange reaction. At first, they were panicked," Benton said. Freshman Jesse Horner, 15, who portrays actor Lawrence Nightingale in the musical review, said taking on the show without a finished script was "very scary." "To have that much influence on a play was a little scary at first, but then you get to design the characters, which makes it more reflective and personal," he said. Senior Emily Andrews, 18, collaborated with Benton on most of the script; she is also the show's coreographer and portrays the narrator, Michelle. "The whole show has kind of become a work in progress. The script was ffinished just weeks ago, and we are still adding and creating as a cast," Andrews said. "It's been a lot of fun for me, because I get to take John's old-fashioned ideas and perspective and try to incorporate them into modern-day high school, creating sort of this classic partial high school steryotype with a bit of a twist." She said the cast reieved the finalized script a few weeks ago, giving them little time to rehearse. "But Shakespeare was still writing his shows opening night, so if the Globe Theatre can do it, so can we," Andrews said. The show contains music from Broadway, using modern movements and a play on words in the lyrics, sich as "Gels of Many Colors" mimicking "Coat of Many Colors" from the play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"; and "The Acttors and the Techies" spoofing "The Farmer and the Cowman" in "Oklahoma!" "The show itself is truly a test of our skills as actors and technicians, because... we were all kinds of thrown into this show being cast as characters... still in progress," Andrews said. "But in that process, we've all had the chance to sort of make those characters on our own, and we are all hoping for an amazing production."
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:13 pm
Oooooh! That sounds really neat! You know what I always thought would be cool? It would be awesome if there was musical about breaking all the rules of theatre.... with a whole number where the cast has its backs to the audience, and a scene where all the characters have their hands in their pockets!
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:37 pm
The joke we have is Rehersal the Musical, in which the song before the end of the first act is a number with genie lifts xD
That's awesome though, I'd love to see that.
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:28 am
That sounds so great! What a wonderful idea! I love when shows come together through a collaborative effort.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:58 pm
You need to see "Noises Off." It's similar to that idea, and really funny.
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 4:48 pm
Comechatcha You need to see "Noises Off." It's similar to that idea, and really funny. I love Noises Off! <3
That sounds super interesting. Especially since it's a musical and I love spoofs. :3
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Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:22 pm
Comechatcha You need to see "Noises Off." It's similar to that idea, and really funny. Oh, I totally own the DVD! It's probably the funniest and at the same time, most painful show I've ever seen!
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