Open Forum

I've read a lot of good advice on this forum about the daffodils, but I have one more idea and wanted to see what you think. When Edward says "these, and these, and these, and these" etc and all the daffodils appear ... We have a beautiful video with thousands of daffodils growing out of the grass. But in terms of filling the stage space with daffodils, we don't have any way to have them floating down from the sky, or popping up through trap doors. So what do you think of this? Having all the ensemble members, in their storytale costumes, appear on stage with bundles of daffodils. Would that ruin the magic of the two of them alone falling in love? or would it be a lovely take on the power of the imagination to conjure up flowers and friends?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Arden Thomas
Sequoyah High School
Pasadena CA
------------------------------

We had the audience do it. We cut out paper daffodils and gave one to each audience member as they entered. Then Edward gestured to each section of the auditorium and that section held up their daffodils. It was a magical way to include the audience, and while we collected the daffodils each night, many "went missing" because the audience wanted to keep the momento. I still hear about people who have their daffodils. I love the magic of live theatre!

------------------------------
Dawn Skinner
Elysian MN
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2019 00:34
From: Arden Thomas
Subject: Big Fish - making daffodils appear en masse

I've read a lot of good advice on this forum about the daffodils, but I have one more idea and wanted to see what you think. When Edward says "these, and these, and these, and these" etc and all the daffodils appear ... We have a beautiful video with thousands of daffodils growing out of the grass. But in terms of filling the stage space with daffodils, we don't have any way to have them floating down from the sky, or popping up through trap doors. So what do you think of this? Having all the ensemble members, in their storytale costumes, appear on stage with bundles of daffodils. Would that ruin the magic of the two of them alone falling in love? or would it be a lovely take on the power of the imagination to conjure up flowers and friends?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Arden Thomas
Sequoyah High School
Pasadena CA
------------------------------

We took strips of netting, attached several fake daffodils along with cut-out versions of them to fill the gaps. First we had fake daffodlls appear on the stage as he first mentions them. Then we had cast members run down the aisles with the strips of netting. A different group would run down the aisle as he said "these" and "these" and 'these"  until all of the aisles were filled. The cast members would kneel down until the end. It made the audience feel like they were in a field. Many people burst into tears!

------------------------------
Kathleen Horrigan
Theatre Arts Director
Lawrence Central High School
Indianapolis IN
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2019 08:05
From: Dawn Skinner
Subject: Big Fish - making daffodils appear en masse

We had the audience do it. We cut out paper daffodils and gave one to each audience member as they entered. Then Edward gestured to each section of the auditorium and that section held up their daffodils. It was a magical way to include the audience, and while we collected the daffodils each night, many "went missing" because the audience wanted to keep the momento. I still hear about people who have their daffodils. I love the magic of live theatre!

------------------------------
Dawn Skinner
Elysian MN

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2019 00:34
From: Arden Thomas
Subject: Big Fish - making daffodils appear en masse

I've read a lot of good advice on this forum about the daffodils, but I have one more idea and wanted to see what you think. When Edward says "these, and these, and these, and these" etc and all the daffodils appear ... We have a beautiful video with thousands of daffodils growing out of the grass. But in terms of filling the stage space with daffodils, we don't have any way to have them floating down from the sky, or popping up through trap doors. So what do you think of this? Having all the ensemble members, in their storytale costumes, appear on stage with bundles of daffodils. Would that ruin the magic of the two of them alone falling in love? or would it be a lovely take on the power of the imagination to conjure up flowers and friends?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Arden Thomas
Sequoyah High School
Pasadena CA
------------------------------

We had several patches of daffodils built into the set that could roll out, pop up, etc as he mentions "these and these..."
we also used projected images- an easy way to cover large areas quickly and cheaply! Project on cyc, proscenium walls, etc!

------------------------------
Sarah Serbus
Theatre Director
Union R-XI School District
Union MO
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-09-2019 13:08
From: Kathleen Horrigan
Subject: Big Fish - making daffodils appear en masse

We took strips of netting, attached several fake daffodils along with cut-out versions of them to fill the gaps. First we had fake daffodlls appear on the stage as he first mentions them. Then we had cast members run down the aisles with the strips of netting. A different group would run down the aisle as he said "these" and "these" and 'these"  until all of the aisles were filled. The cast members would kneel down until the end. It made the audience feel like they were in a field. Many people burst into tears!

------------------------------
Kathleen Horrigan
Theatre Arts Director
Lawrence Central High School
Indianapolis IN

Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2019 08:05
From: Dawn Skinner
Subject: Big Fish - making daffodils appear en masse

We had the audience do it. We cut out paper daffodils and gave one to each audience member as they entered. Then Edward gestured to each section of the auditorium and that section held up their daffodils. It was a magical way to include the audience, and while we collected the daffodils each night, many "went missing" because the audience wanted to keep the momento. I still hear about people who have their daffodils. I love the magic of live theatre!

------------------------------
Dawn Skinner
Elysian MN

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2019 00:34
From: Arden Thomas
Subject: Big Fish - making daffodils appear en masse

I've read a lot of good advice on this forum about the daffodils, but I have one more idea and wanted to see what you think. When Edward says "these, and these, and these, and these" etc and all the daffodils appear ... We have a beautiful video with thousands of daffodils growing out of the grass. But in terms of filling the stage space with daffodils, we don't have any way to have them floating down from the sky, or popping up through trap doors. So what do you think of this? Having all the ensemble members, in their storytale costumes, appear on stage with bundles of daffodils. Would that ruin the magic of the two of them alone falling in love? or would it be a lovely take on the power of the imagination to conjure up flowers and friends?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Arden Thomas
Sequoyah High School
Pasadena CA
------------------------------

I love this show and I love this question!

I was honored to be in a gorgeous production of this show at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma.  In order to create the abundance of daffodils, a number of things happened:

1.  All of us "Storytellers" came out with a large daffodil in our hands, in small groups.  "These....and these..and these.."
2.  A large drop was revealed, which had been decorated with hundreds yellow tulle puffs that suggested the yellow flowers. 
3.  Finally... and this was the part that just put us over the edge...the final moment of the song was punctuated with a drop of yellow balloons.

There wasn't a dry eye in the house....or on the stage, for that matter.

My favorite part was the way that the Storytellers participated.  It was so simple, yet so effective.  And we all kept one of the prop flowers as a memento, too!

Good luck! What a wonderful show!


------------------------------
Eric McNaughton
Theatre Director
Marist School
AtlantaGA
mcnaughtone@marist.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2019 00:34
From: Arden Thomas
Subject: Big Fish - making daffodils appear en masse

I've read a lot of good advice on this forum about the daffodils, but I have one more idea and wanted to see what you think. When Edward says "these, and these, and these, and these" etc and all the daffodils appear ... We have a beautiful video with thousands of daffodils growing out of the grass. But in terms of filling the stage space with daffodils, we don't have any way to have them floating down from the sky, or popping up through trap doors. So what do you think of this? Having all the ensemble members, in their storytale costumes, appear on stage with bundles of daffodils. Would that ruin the magic of the two of them alone falling in love? or would it be a lovely take on the power of the imagination to conjure up flowers and friends?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Arden Thomas
Sequoyah High School
Pasadena CA
------------------------------