Thank you, everyone, for your input! I'll always welcome more...
Ellen: Yes, when I mentioned we will be doing this title, my asst. director (also my costume person) kind of looked at me with her head down, eyes glaring in my direction between a furrowed brow and her glasses...haha. We have a wonderful resource nearby - Casaday Costumes, a non-profit warehouse - that has the curtains and matching outfits; so, that will help, and have volunteer seamstresses for alterations. Quick changes are a challenge! Last year's Wizard of Oz production was a challenge in that area, but with good help backstage, we got it done! Thank you for your input on the sets, too. Reading your reply, I began to visualize, more concretely, how things will work.
Jeff: I love the idea of having the audience drawn in to the festival activities! I know my kids will be thrilled to do this, as well.
George: That design is marvelous...I hope you don't mind my imitating its features. The layout is simplistic, yet elegant, and will make for very quick scene changes (lengthy scene changes can easily kill a show's momentum, right?). Having the mountain backdrop visible throughout the entire show would also keep the audience aware of 'where' they are...
I have seen productions of this show, and have watched some on youtube. Some theaters/companies have huge budgets and large venues, and probably many stage crew members...these shows used large sets and every set was elaborate and specific to each scene. I couldn't imagine...haha. And, George, it is true that the sets do not make the show, as much as the show makes the sets. Does that make sense? Ha...
We are a small school with a decent budget, so it is great to read so many responses and be able to think about incorporating these ideas, to think about how to tailor some of these to fit our circumstances, as well as remaining aware of the challenges mentioned above.
Thanks, again, everyone!
-Tom
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Thomas Boys
Musical Director/Drama Club Sponsor
Argos Jr/Sr High School
Argos, Indiana USA
tboys@argos.k12.in.us------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 10-29-2018 09:09
From: Thomas Boys
Subject: The Sound of Music
Our high school is going to perform "The Sound of Music" next spring. If any of you have produced this show, what was your experience like? I am interested in hearing about any pitfalls you may have encountered, and any creative ideas you came up with to enhance the performance in either your set design or staging.
Some may say this show has been done to death...but, I say it's a timeless classic and never gets old! Haha... The national Broadway tour of this show is currently underway and we were lucky to get the rights, as it was restricted. This will be the 5th show I have directed and I, like most of you, always want to raise the bar and make the 'next' show better than the last! I'll thank you for your input.
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Thomas Boys
Musical Director/Drama Club Sponsor
Argos Jr/Sr High School
Argos, Indiana USA
tboys@argos.k12.in.us
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