Staging A Musical

Matthew White

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135864019
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medios de comunicación y artes escénicas
• Subtopic: Teatro

In Staging a Musical, Matthew White describes all the elements involved in putting on a musical production, including: how to choose the right show, budgets and schedules, auditions, rehearsals, and performances.

1 · Where does it all begin?

At the heart of every theatrical enterprise there is a man or woman commonly known as the producer, who oversees the entire project from start to finish, and who has overall responsibility for putting the show together. This job is not for the faint-hearted, and requires a person with real passion for the project, good communication skills, and large amounts of energy and enthusiasm. In normal circumstances it is the producer who takes care of all the financial and organisational aspects of the production, and is therefore the business head of the project. The main responsibilities of the job are as follows.

•	Drawing up a budget and organising all the production finances.
•	Obtaining the performing rights and paying the appropriate fees to the licensing company.
•	Selecting the creative team; director, musical director, choreographer, set designer, lighting designer, costume designer, and sound designer (if required).
•	Arranging the appropriate back-up for the creative team, i.e. the stage management and technical personnel.
•	Paying wages, if appropriate.
•	Overseeing all aspects of publicity and advertising.
•	Securing a suitable venue.
•	Organising auditions and ensuring that rehearsal rooms are booked.
•	Scheduling an overall timetable for the production.
•	Inviting theatre critics from newspapers, magazines, television, and radio to the opening night.

It is often, though not always, the producer who dreams up the project to start with. Sometimes, however, a director will already be on board, and will help the producer to sift through the available material. There are, of course, hundreds and hundreds of musicals just waiting to be rediscovered, reinvented, and restaged. There is also a rich pool of subjects to explore; from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the bizarre to the brain-numbingly banal. There are musicals about dogs, man-eating plants, and serial-killers; there are epic accounts of revolution and revolt, nuclear wars and presidential assassinations. There’s even a musical about a certain little whore-house in Texas! The list goes on and on.

How to find the right show

At the start of the project, some producers will have a very strong idea about which show they wish to present. Others will need to do some searching. This can be achieved in a variety of ways. Some producers start at their public libraries and begin by sifting through musical scores, cast recordings, and videos of filmed musicals. Perhaps the most effective course of action, however, is to go straight to the publisher or licensing company and ask them to send out their show catalogue. Four companies which provide this service in England are Samuel French Ltd, MusicScope, Warner/Chappell Music Ltd, and Josef Weinberger Ltd (see appendix). Upon request, any of these organisations will send out information concerning their published musicals. This service is usually free, although several companies now charge a nominal fee. These catalogues contain useful information such as a brief description of the show, a breakdown of well-known songs from the score, and an indication of both cast requirements and orchestral numbers (see the example for Guys and Dolls below). Further information can be obtained by requesting ‘perusal material, which usually includes both a vocal score and a libretto, and Music Theatre International, an American company (see appendix) also provides a unique service in the form of filmed conversations with the writers of selected musicals, such as Stephen Sondheim and Richard Maltby, Jr. This is currently available for a limited number of musicals, but will, I suspect, become a standard part of the research process in the future.

It is also worth noting that for an up-to-date list of shows available for amateur performance, application should be made to the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA- see appendix). The list indicates which publisher has the rights for which show, and gives contact numbers and addresses. Unfortunately there is no such service provided for those shows available for professional performance, and it is therefore best to contact the publishers or licensing company direct and ask for a copy of their show catalogue. (For further reference there is a list of musicals available for public performance on page 128.)

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, based on a story and characters by Damon Runyon

The improbable mixture of Miss Sarah Brown, a Salvation Army girl and Nathan Detroit, the operator of a floating crap game, gives us the main characters in this award-winning musical set in Times Square, Broadway. Unforgettable numbers include “Luck Be A Lady”, “If I Were A Bell”, “A Bushel And A Peck” and “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ The Boat”.

Cast: 15 men, 4 women, chorus

Instrumentation: Reed I (piccolo [opt.]/flute [opt.]/clarinet/alto sax), Reed II (flute [opt.]/clarinet/alto sax/percussion [scratcher]), Reed III (oboe [opt.]/cor anglais [opt.]/clarinet/tenor sax), Reed IV (clarinet/tenor sax), Reed V (bass clarinet/baritone sax/percussion [claves]), horn, 3 trumpets, trombone, percussion, piano, 4 violins, 2 cellos, double bass

An excerpt for Guys and Dolls from the Weinberger’s catalogue
(courtesy of Josef Weinberger)

Once the producer (or director) has done some research into the different shows available for performance, he or she will start to eliminate some of these musicals due to lack of suitability. Although it may be tempting to limit the choice by weeding out any shows which appear to require large sets, expensive costumes, and complex lighting, I should stress that with a large amount of imagination, many problems of staging, lighting and costuming can be overcome very successfully. It really is true to say that you can achieve extraordinary results with ‘a plank and a passion’; i.e., a space to perform in, and the determination and energy to put the whole show together. For this reason I am not of the opinion that the larger, more complicated musicals should be avoided at all costs, if there is little or no budget to play with. Some might say that to attempt a production of South Pacific or My Fair Lady with limited resources is to court disaster. On the contrary, I have seen, and been involved with several productions which have been hugely successful, despite having only a shoe-string budget. As has been seen time and time again in the West End and on Broadway, an abundance of money is no guarantee of success or quality. Likewise, the absence of money does not have to result in an impoverished production. Where a skilfully crafted show exists, it is, I believe, quite possible to present it with minimal costs in a highly effective and original manner.

I have recently worked on several student productions where the lack of budget forced us to be creative in a variety of different ways, resulting in some very interesting discoveries. An innovative production of the seventies musical Two Gentlemen of Verona (by Guare, Shapiro and MacDermot) was achieved with minimal lighting and set, and costumes which were begged, borrowed, and tie-dyed. Necessity forced us to be inventive, resulting in a style of production in which performers transformed themselves from Italian courtiers to trees, buses and thrones, in the blink of an eye. The sheer theatricality of this was tremendously exciting to watch and was the happy result of a non-existent budget. I strongly believe, therefore, that when choosing the right musical to present there are factors to take into consideration that are far more important than merely the apparent size and scale of a show.

Can the show be cast from the available pool of performers?

The first and most important question to ask is whether the actors who are likely to audition for the production have the necessary skills, both combined and individual, for this particular show. Are they primarily singers, dancers, or actors, or a combination of these disciplines? If you already have a show in mind, you should be reasonably sure before auditions begin that you will be able to fill the roles with sufficiently talented performers. It is no good trying to produce a production of Fiddler on the Roof, for example, if there are no suitable actors to play the taxing part of Tevye. Likewise, a production of A Chorus Line without an actress who can dance up a storm in the central role of Cassie is never going to work successfully since the character’s dance ability is essential to the plot. I have already suggested that in many cases the staging difficulties in a production can often be overcome with great ingenuity and a dash of optimism. This is not, unfortunately, the case with actors, and there is absolutely no point in being unrealistic about the necessary talent required for certain productions. ‘I’m sure that her range will expand in rehearsals’, and ‘We can easily teach him to tap in three weeks’, are expectations which will probably land everybody in the soup.

It is also worth considering whether the chosen piece is suitable for the age group of the intended auditionees. If, for example, it is a school production, and the majority of the performers are teenagers, then clearly it is not a great idea to select shows such as Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, or Cy Coleman’s On the Twentieth Century, since these are musicals which feature older characters in the leading roles; parts which are probably going to be too taxing for the young actors to perform with credibility On the other hand, Grease or West Side Story are perfect vehicles for young performers since in both cases they focus upon the joys and agonies of adolescence. Given the difficulties of staging a musical in the first place, it really does make sense to capitalise upon any natural advantages that you already have, such as the youth or maturity of the available performers.

It is also important, when deciding upon a particular show, to consider cast size. If you are intending to employ professional performers, how many actors can you afford? Can the actors double up on parts, thereby reducing numbers and consequent costs? Or, on the contrary, if the production is being presented at a school or college, are you aiming to include a whole class or a whole year in the show? Can the piece be expanded to incorporate extra characters on stage? A school production of Oliver!, for example, could work very well with an expanded ensemble, since there is no limit to the number of urchins that you could include.

The answers to these questions will only really be discovered by researching the piece thoroughly and working out the suitability of the show to your own specific requirements. Obviously if a musical relies for its effect upon having a large chorus, such as George Gershwin’s Crazy For You, or Jerry Herman’s La Cage Aux Folles, it would be unwise to attempt a scaled-down version for a handful of actors. However, if the piece is character-based, involving a large variety of different roles, it may be possible to cast it with half the number of actors, so that each performer plays two or more parts.

Is the musical suitable for the theatre or theatrical space available?

If the venue has already been fixed, this will also have a bearing on which show to choose. If it is a very flexible space, with moveable seating and large backstage areas, you may well find that it will be suitable for most productions. However, if it is a small theatre-in-the-round, with no orchestra pit and little extra stage space, then the band will have to be very small indeed, and this will inevitably affect your choice of show. A big, belty Broadway show like Gypsy or Sweet Charity will suffer enormously in these circumstances, since the power of these pieces is partly the result of the fabulous razzmatazz of the orchestrations. This is not to say that it is impossible to stage such shows in small venues, but there are probably other choices which would be more suitable, and ultimately more effective. On a similar note, it is clearly not sensible to choose a heavy dance show like West Side Story or Anything Goes if the theatrical space is cramped, or where there is no height to the stage, since dance leaps and lifts will be very difficult to achieve in these circumstances.

It is clearly a question of commonsense when it comes to matching the right show with the available venue, and as long as the producer is very clear as to the demands of a particular musical, then it should be a fairly straightforward process. Some matches are particularly delightful. A recent p...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1 Where Does it All Begin?
• 2 The Creative Team
• 3 Stage Management and Technical Support
• 4 Budgets, Schedules and Publicity
• 5 Research and Design
• 6 Casting the Show
• 7 The First Day of Rehearsals
• 8 Rehearsals – Creating a Company
• 9 Rehearsals – Songs, Scenes, Choreography and Staging
• 10 Rehearsals – Stage Management Responsibilities
• 11 From the Rehearsal Room to the Stage
• 12 The First Night and Beyond
• Appendix
• Index