From the warehouse to the stage

Tonight marks the last night of tech week, the cast and orchestra has been working extremely hard to make this production of the Mikado one to remember. For those of us who have been involved in the production from the beginning, this is both a joyful occasion (we finally get to see the finished product and share it with all our friends and family) and a sad occasion (we have all had so much fun that it will be hard to leave the show behind). Before we hit opening night I thought it might be fun to look back at the process and see some statistics of what it really takes to create the final staged production.

Time

We started talking about The Mikado in February; planning for auditions and discussing the artistic vision, creating the set design and costume design, discussing lighting and makeup, and finally hosting auditions and casting the show. April saw the beginning of cast rehearsals and while I can't even begin to give you an accurate number of hours put into those rehearsals, the basic break down is;

10 weeks X 4 days a week X 2.5 hour rehearsals = 100 hours of pure rehearsal time, now multiply that by the varying number of cast members and production staff called each day and the time spent in rehearsals raises exponentially.

In terms of shop hours, we have on record 110.5 hours spent in the set and costume shop. Some of our cast spent upwards of 15 hours in the shop.

People

I often remark that given the number of people involved in a production that it is a miracle any theater company can survive. While this is of course a slight joke (we all do this because we love it and wouldn't think about not putting in the time and effort), the amount of people involved is still a staggering number







The Mikado has;
10 production staff
1 stage manager and 2 assistant stage managers
26 cast members
30 orchestra members
4 rehearsal pianists
4 super-title operators
3 house managers
3 orchestra managers
2 videographers
2 photographers
16 board members
6 marketing committee members
plus a small army of ushers and other administrative help for a total of approximately 125 people (some of the positions listed above are performed by the same people)

Passion

The final statistic is one that is impossible to quantify; the passion that all our volunteers have put into this production. From day 1, the cast has been extremely enthusiastic about the show (we would often see them stay "in character" while passing each other in the hallways). The orchestra has once again come into rehearsals with a professional level of respect for the music and put their very best into the production. The entire production staff, cast, and orchestra have all put up with long

hours and occasional difficulties with grace and patience always keeping the love of G&S as the most important factor. I am sure you will all see in their production all the things I have mentioned and we can't wait for you to see what we have been working on all this time.





Don't miss your opportunity to see the show www.lyrictheatre.org/tickets

As always you can keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our website

Marketing for a Community Theater Production – It takes a Village

Today we hear from Ewa Nowicka, our Publicist for The Mikado and learn about the many key elements of Marketing that she has collected during this production.


Be an Organized Creative

The reality of working with a community theater is that the budget is small, very small. So an organized marketing plan will be crucial to getting the most out of your budget. The first thing that I did when I started working on this production was to talk to the director about his vision for the show, the next thing I did was write out a list of tasks I wanted to complete. I figured out the help I needed to complete those tasks and what I would need to finish them, including all the contacts and setup info Laurie Hupman had collected over the years, and the dates I expected to finish everything. As the rehearsals moved along, I would frequently go back to this list to make sure everything was on track. Being organized is vital to achieving what you set out to do—don’t underestimate the value of a good spreadsheet!

The small budget you have to work with should be looked upon as a chance to do things you always wanted to do. I really wanted to start an event specific to introducing live theater to children with this show. So with a tiny budget and a lot of creative volunteers, we are making Art Start a reality. Please come to the event on June 22nd (check out our website for more information)! Listen to folks who have suggestions and take the time to investigate them. I knew that I had a small amount of cash to use, so I looked for free marketing that also allowed for our cast to get out in the community. Friend of Lyric Marc Kenig sent me a note with the idea to sing at the San Jose Giants game, which I thought was a fabulous idea. So I booked the gig, made sure everyone was branded with Lyric Theatre T-shirts, and we sang our hearts out at a baseball game in San Jose. This gig cost us nothing, but got our brand out to our local community at a sporting event and exposed our talent to many potential ticket purchasers.

Build new Relationships with Old Vendors
Lyric Theatre has been a vibrant part of the community for over 40 years. So there have been many staff members who have worked with local newspaper and radio groups to advertise previous shows. Thanks to the pre-existing relationships with these vendors it was relatively easy for me to set up our ads on KDFC and with San Jose Mercury News. However, this was the first time that these vendors had worked with me. The great thing about this situation was that they knew what we wanted, but they were eager to make a new relationship with me. Don’t be scared to tell your vendors what your real budget is, and it is always worth a try to ask for a lower cost. You might not get exactly what you were looking for, but what you get might be better than you expected. You never know when a vendor will upgrade your ad to free color, or give you 15 free mentions on their radio station. Remember to say thank you, and hope that this will happen again! Always be grateful. You are building another block on a healthy relationship with another part of your community.

Don’t give up on these older types of marketing. Just because I don’t read the newspaper doesn’t mean that there aren’t many potential ticket purchasers who might not hear about our show otherwise. Plus, having a presence in a large local newspaper reminds your community that you are around, and you want them to be a part of your production.

Be Social and Be Consistent
The key to making social media work for you is to create a story that people will be interested in following, and give them a reason to care throughout that journey. Your followers will lose interest in you if you aren't consistent in your posting of your story. For The Mikado we made a conscious effort to beef up our social media presence. I have started managing our Twitter account (follow us @LyricTheatreSJ) and we now have 58% more followers than we did two months ago. We've documented the fun we've been having singing at the San Jose Giants game, performing at the Eastridge Mall Barnes and Noble, showing off our amazing flats painted by Connie Kleinjans, and candid shots of our cast rehearsing on Facebook, and we have received a lot of positive feedback on that outlet because of those posts. One of my favorite series of posts was the Meet the Cast series, which allowed our followers to see the lives of our cast offstage. As a community theater group, this series gave our audience on Facebook a chance to see what our cast cares about, and all of the great work they do in our community in addition to their volunteering with Lyric Theatre. This blog that Justin has created is another extremely effective way to engage with your online community to allow for engaging storytelling, which will hopefully encourage more folks to come in and buy a ticket. Just be consistent in whatever social media strategy you use, and always link back to your website so those reading know how to get tickets to your show!

It takes a Village
Word of mouth is an invaluable marketing tool and every single person involved in this show will need to promote the production within their own networks. We've asked every single board member, every cast member, and production staff member to spread the word by sharing photos and fliers, and emailing out information on the production. Hopefully those of you reading this have seen our fliers in your community and maybe an email got forwarded to you!

Our directors being interviewed for KDFC's
State of the Arts

Ask for help. There have been times when I was very busy and couldn’t manage to take care of a few things I planned and I had to reach out for help, and got it from the rest of marketing team. And be there to help as well—I’ve proofread a lot of emails, and been to a few more events than I planned, and it was worth it. For all of the help I've given I've received a lot more in return— the extra postings on community sites by Lindsay Ip, the new ticket discount codes created by Chris Frye, endless flier sharing by Cheryl Blalock, and multiple times our graphic designer Jennifer Mederios had to update the Art Start flier have all been invaluable!

We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing how we put together The Mikado, and we hope you come to see what our talented cast, production staff, orchestra and volunteers have been working on! Come see The Mikado at the Montgomery Theatre from June 21-29th! www.lyrictheatre.org/tickets

Ewa Nowicka is a performer, arts advocate, new Board Member at Lyric Theatre, and social media lover residing in the Bay Area. She will be performing a staged concert in San Jose on November 14th and 16th, and hopes to see you there! Learn more at www.EwaNow.com and on twitter @Ewa_Now

As always you can keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our website

Spotlight: Stage Manager

We're back again with another spotlight! This time we examine one of the most crucial roles in a theatrical production, the stage manager. Once again we will be hearing from a guest writer, Sarah Terman who has been a stage manager with several of Lyric's shows.

We beg your indulgence for the use of
an often overused meme, but it seemed
appropriate

Hi, I'm Sarah Terman, and Justin's letting me sneak on here and talk about my favorite job in theater: stage management.  Stage management is hard to describe adequately because the exact responsibilities of a stage manager vary a lot from company to company.  However, everywhere I've worked, the stage manager's primary mission is the same: to facilitate the rehearsal process and the performances of the show, taking pressure off the directors, the designers, and the performers so they can work their creative magic without getting bogged down in mundane details.  To this end, the stage manager usually is in charge of a large array of diverse tasks.  Here's a rundown of some of the more interesting ones.

During the rehearsal period, I attend every staging rehearsal.  It's my job to write down all the blocking as the director gives it to the actors.  This has three purposes: first, it allows the director to get into a the flow of the scene, without having to stop their artistic process frequently to write down what they've decided.  Most directors do come in to a rehearsal knowing what they want a scene to look like, but they may change their mind when they see it staged, or they may decide to incorporate something cool that the actors came up with on the spot.  I write all that down, so that later, when they're trying to remember what got changed, there's a written record to look at.  Second, if an actor can't attend one of the rehearsals, they can always come to see me to get the notes for the material they missed.  And finally, if an actor finds that their own notes are confusing, they come to me for clarification.  It's thus my goal to have detailed descriptions of where every person is standing and what they are doing at all times.  With 30+ people on the stage in large chorus scenes, this can be quite a handful!  I draw a lot of little diagrams to help keep everything straight.

The other big task I have during rehearsals is the rehearsal notes.  After every staging rehearsal, I write up an email report for the production staff, which contains anything that came up during the rehearsal that people need to know about.  For example, if a set piece breaks during rehearsal - and yes, it happens! - I'll include a note explaining what broke and how.  That way, our build crew knows to come fix it, and hopefully, they'll also find a way to keep it from happening again.  Or if the director decides that a character should pull a notebook from his pocket, I'll of course need to let the props manager know we need a notebook.  I will also need to let the costume shop know that actor will need a pocket to keep the notebook in.  Every part of the show is connected, and even small changes may affect multiple departments.  Keeping everyone informed of all developments is a big part of what I do.

Once we move into the theater, my job changes.  Again, I have a lot of things to handle, but two of the most important are coordinating everyone's preparations for opening curtain, and actually calling the show.  Before each performance, I track which actors have arrived at the theater, and once it gets past a certain time, I or my assistants call the stragglers to make sure they're en route and that they will arrive before they have to go on stage. (There have been some close calls in the past.) I also periodically remind the actors how long it is until curtain - there are relatively few clocks in our dressing room area, and knowing how long they have helps the actors time their preparations.  When there is a little more than half an hour left before curtain, I consult with the run crew, the light board operator, and the supertitles operator, making sure all of them are prepared for the audience to enter the theater.  Then, ideally at exactly half an hour before curtain, I let the house manager know that he or she can open the lobby doors and let the audience be seated.  Once the house manager tells me that they have stopped seating, I start the show.

During the performance itself, I coordinate all the technical aspects - this is known as "calling the show.".  This is probably my favorite part of the job.  From my vantage point in the lighting booth, I watch the performance and cue the crew over the headset.  I tell the lights when to change, I tell the curtain when to open and close, and I sometimes tell the set crew when to shift the scene, if it's something that needs to be carefully timed.  There's also occasionally troubleshooting to be done - if an actor misses an entrance, I send my assistants to find them, or if a prop doesn't make it onstage when it's supposed to, I'll try to find a way for another actor to bring it out before it's needed.  I also monitor the costumes for signs of imminent malfunction, and pass word backstage when safety pins might be urgently needed in the wings.  But mostly I get to enjoy the show like everyone else on the audience side of the curtain.

Stage management is not for everyone.  It's less creative than most of the other positions in the production, and sometimes it can feel a little overwhelming.  But I've found that it brings me into contact with every aspect of the production like no other job I've tried.  It's a great way to watch the entire artistic process unfold, and a great way to meet a lot of very cool people.  I find stage management to be a very rewarding job, and I'm immensely proud of all the shows that I have helped along.

*As a personal note from the producer; we owe a great deal of thanks to our stage managers, they do an outstanding job and many a production would fall off rail very quickly without the tireless work of our stage managers*

Be sure to get your tickets to the Mikado now www.lyrictheatre.org/tickets

As always you can keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our website

Spotlight: The Make Up Designer

We would like to apologize for the lack of blog posts recently, as you can imagine, things have been pretty busy around here and we are looking forward to seeing all our hard work make it to the stage!

Today we wanted to offer you a view behind the curtain of a member of the production staff who is occasionally overlooked, but vitally important to our productions, the make up designer. Our make up designer for "The Mikado" is David Kirby, a long time designer both at Lyric and other theater companies in the Bay Area. I asked him to give a short description of what a make up designer does and here is what he wrote.

In designing makeup for a show, the first thing required is to find out what is wanted. In some theatre companies, the makeup designer reports directly to the director; in others, he is subordinate to the costume designer. Whichever the case, the makeup designer confers with the appropriate person to find out the overview of the desired makeup for the show. In many Gilbert & Sullivan productions, the makeup is fairly standardized, "plain vanilla," especially for the chorus. In others, there are departures from the norm, such as the stylized eye treatment in The Mikado or the ghosts in Ruddigore. (In Lyric Theatre's "Bollywood" version of The Sorcerer, for example, two dancers had to be painted gray to look like stone statues, a definite departure). The director, of course, has the final say on the makeup requirements.

The next step is the physical preparation of the makeup. The makeup designer makes sure the required makeup is on hand. For theatre companies that provide makeup to the actors, this means that the company kit, as well as the makeup artist's personal kit, are well provided. In some companies, the makeup designer is also the single handed makeup artist; in other companies, there is a makeup crew. The designer recruits the crew and makes sure they are all aware of the makeup requirements. Also included in this process is the cleaning of the makeup brushes, tidying of the company kit, and laying in supplies of sponges, tissues, and baby wipes for makeup removal.

Next, the makeup designer orients and informs the cast about what is required of them. Makeup design sketches are useful in this event, showing what colors of makeup go where (this is especially helpful to first-time actors). It also helps to provide information to the cast, in the case that the company does not provide makeup to the cast, about what sort of makeup they need to buy and where they can go to get it.

Finally, the show opens and the makeup is applied. The makeup designer needs to be on hand to supervise the makeup and make sure the design sketches are followed, to assist beginning actors who have little or no experience in applying makeup, and, if the designer is also the sole makeup artist, to do any needed character or specialty makeups. He also needs to be prepared to do damage control during each performance, in case some makeup runs, a painted-on tattoo is smeared, or a mustache comes loose.

As always you can keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our Website. Be sure to pick up your tickets to see the show!

Special Report: Photo Shoot

Today we got our 3 Little Maids together for a photo shoot at the Japanese Friendship Gardens in Kelly Park. We all met at the warehouse at 11 am where our makeup designer, David Kirby, got the ladies all painted up. Our costume designer, Lisa Claybaugh, helped them into their costumes and wigs and we all set off for the park. Please enjoy the behind the scene's photos and be on the look out for the finished photos coming soon!

As always you can keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our website.

*photos courtesy of Tim Converse and Sandra Linehan

Left, right, and center: blocking begins

The first two weeks of our Mikado rehearsals are over, the cast has had lots of time to work with our music director learning and perfecting the songs in the show and now it is time to turn them over to our stage director for blocking, but what is blocking? In simplest terms, blocking is the process by which directors arrange actors on the stage. Popular understanding states that the term blocking originated in the 19th century when directors and librettists like Gilbert would use actual blocks to depict the actors and move them around a mock stage to get an idea of what the show will look like. There are several factors that go into blocking a show; dramatic presence, sight lines to the audience, as well as set and lighting design.

As these shows are primarily visual pieces, it is important to consider how a scene will look when blocking. If your two main love interests are singing a duet, it would be better to place them in a secluded corner together rather than on opposite ends of the stage, or if you have a powerful king making a grand entrance it make sense to stage him on a raised platform while the rest of the cast looks up at him in reverence. Sight lines are simple enough to explain, they are what the audience can see. Each stage has it's own peculiarities to where the audience can see and what is considered "off stage" and it is crucial for a director to know where those lines are. Set and light design also play a role in blocking, as mentioned before if you have a grand entrance and the set incorporates a raised platform, the natural choice is to block the actor there. On the flip side, it is important to know where the lighting designer will be aiming the stage lights as an actor in the dark is an unseen actor.

There is one important member of the production staff we have not talked about yet, the stage manager. The stage manager is really the one responsible for making sure a show runs smoothly. They attend every rehearsal and take detailed notes about blocking and entrances. When a show begins its run, it is not uncommon for the director to remove themselves from the production, they may still be present and will offer notes on the performance, but at this point, the stage manager is in charge of calling entrances and making sure the blocking is carried out in the manner the director laid out.

A note about terminology; you may have heard the term stage right or stage left and wondered what they mean. The reason behind using terms like stage left and stage right is to avoid confusion. When the director is staging, he/she will be viewing the scene from the point of view of the audience. Obviously, the actors view it from the opposite point of view. If a director were to say "move left" the actor would have to question "his left or my left". To alleviate this, theater companies have adopted the use of stage left, stage right, up stage, and down stage. Up stage refers to the back of the stage (a term derived from a type of stage that rises away from the audience), down stage is the opposite (the side closest to the audience), left and right stage are from the actors point of view, and the term house left or house right may be used to indicate the stage from the audiences point of view.

Got it? There will be a test.

As always, you can keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our website.

Inspiration! The origins of The Mikado

The year was 1884, Princess Ida is nearing the end of it's run and Richard D'Oyly Carte realized that for the first time since 1877, no new Gilbert and Sullivan production would be ready by the time Ida closed. In March of that year, D'Oyly Carte sent contractual notice to Gilbert and Sullivan that a new play would be required. Gilbert immediately began working on a script that involved falling in love against their will use of a magic lozenge. Sullivan was less enthusiastic about the opportunity, having seen a close friend suffer from a stroke and contemplating his own failing health in addition to a desire to devote his time to more "serious" music, Sullivan wrote back that it would be impossible to work on another collaboration with Gilbert. Gilbert was surprised to hear that Sullivan was not interested in another collaboration and asked him to reconsider. Sullivan responded that he would prefer a plot which allowed him to write music that complemented both humorous and serious plots and that the "magic lozenge" plot was too improbable as well as too similar to a previous show by the duo, The Sorcerer.

A photo of the Japanese Village
taken by W. S. Gilbert

It seemed that this may be the end of the Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, however in May of 1884, Gilbert wrote to Sullivan again asking if he would reconsider should Gilbert write a plot with no supernatural elements and with "a consistent plot, free from anachronisms, constructed in perfect good faith & to the best of my ability". Sullivan agreed, and Gilbert began thinking of a new plot, the plot which would become The Mikado. The story of how The Mikado came to Gilbert states that he was walking in his study one day when an ancient Japanese sword fell off the wall. Gilbert picked it up and placed it back in it's place and as he did so realized that an exotic locale like Japan would make a good setting for his new plot. In the 1850's Japan had been opened to western trade and influence and by the 60's and 70's a massive interest in  Japanese culture had swept through Britain, this culminated in the Japanese Village exhibit in Knightsbridge, specifically at Humphrey's Hall a few miles from Gilbert's house. It is widely believed that this was the inspiration for the show, however that may not be accurate; for example, Gilbert began working on the plot in May of 1884 and the Japanese Village opened in January of 1885. However, Gilbert may have known about the exhibit coming to Kinghtsbridge and it is clear that he used the exhibit to build interest for his plot as well as to accurately depict the Japanese style going so far as to hire members of the exhibit to teach the cast traditional Japanese movements and attitudes.

The rest of the story is history, in March of 1885, the show opened at the Savoy theater and became the longest running Gilbert and Sullivan production closing in January of 1887 a staggering 672 shows. Since then, it has become one of the most often performed pieces in musical theater history. It has been translated into multiple languages and is a popular choice for school, amateur, and professional companies alike. Not to be left out of the fun, John  Philip Sousa published a march based on the themes of The Mikado it premiered the same year as The Mikado and can be found here played by the US Marine Band.

All background information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mikado

As always, you can keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our website.

Are you particularly busy?

My dad likes to use the cheesy pun "time flies like and arrow, fruit flies like a banana". While it caused us all to groan, the first half of the pun is accurate beyond belief. It is a singular anomaly of life that, as much as we wished otherwise, time continues to flow despite our busy schedules. It can be easy for those of us involved in a production to forget that there is still a company surrounding us continuing on with it's day to day business and we thought this might be a good time to highlight some of the activities going on.

This past weekend Lyric Theatre hosted auditions for the next two shows. This summer's discovery series production of The Prince of Pilsen and next fall's main-stage production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Utopia Limited. We had a turnout of around 80 people for these auditions, a record for the company, and our production staff was very pleased with the quality of singers available. Next weekend will be call-backs for both shows, and the production staffs will be continuing to meet to discuss casting and artistic vision, and we look forward to presenting these shows to you in the coming months.

The Board of Directors continues it's mission to oversee the running of the company and to work on it's many committees. We strive to continually monitor the financial and holistic health of the company and to

make strides into new methods of meeting the needs of our audience and performers. In addition, we sent out our membership renewal letters and are in the process of prepping for our annual membership meeting on May 4th. If you are currently a member of the company, you should have received information about the membership meeting in the mail last week. This is a time for us to gather together and share a meal with the whole Lyric family as well as to hear reports from the president of the company and the finance committee. This is also the time when we elect members to the Board of Directors. If you are not a member of Lyric Theatre, but would like to have a voice in shaping the future of the company, information can be found here.

Our Marketing committee is hard at work planning the artwork for the our upcoming season. We are pleased to announce that Jennifer Medeiros, a long time Lyric cast member, will be returning as our graphic designer. She has already worked up some really cool designs and we can't wait to share them with you. We are also working on some cool new forms of marketing for The Mikado and we will be sharing those with you as they happen.

Looking even farther ahead, our Production Staffing committee is in the process of hiring stage directors, music directors, and producers for our next season. We are pleased to announce our production staff for Utopia Limited; Laurie Hupman: producer, Phil Lowery: stage director, Jeff Yaeger: music director, and Neil Midkiff: vocal director.

Phew, that's a lot of stuff I could use a vacation after just writing about it! Mikado rehearsals continue and you will be hearing more about them as we get farther along. As always, you can keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, or our website.

Behind the baton

Tonight we spend some time with one of the most recognizable members of a production team, the music director. The music director is responsible for ensuring the cast and the orchestra learns the music and conducts all the shows. The music director is involved in a production from the very start and must be an expert on the music, analyzing and interpreting what is in the score and reconciling it with the stage direction. Our music director for The Mikado is Aaron Schultz. Aaron first joined Lyric Theatre in 2009 as our music director for Yeoman of the Guard, interestingly Yeoman was Aaron's first Gilbert and Sullivan show. Like many of us who did not grow up with G&S, Aaron found out that he really liked the style and has been music director for several shows since then. I asked Aaron to share some of his thoughts on how the rehearsals have been going;

"Rehearsals started off great with the first all-cast gathering. The main issue with the evening was the inability of one's stomach to endure the amount of good deserts the mouth wants. Seriously, the cast delivered a fantastic first read, it appears that not only is the cast gifted in talent, but also a friendly group of super nice folks. I am very excited to work with them! And indeed, after two days thus far, I have not been disappointed. I had scheduled the leads on the first night over a four hour span. The goal was to bring people in and out in such a way as to touch at least half of all lead song moments, while requiring a minimal amount of time. The arrivals and departures worked, but the leads were so strong that we got through what I thought would be 4 hours of music in less than 3."

The men's chorus hard at work
under Aaron's baton

Not to be left out in the cold, Aaron has this to say about the chorus; "Four days in and, wow, the chorus has learned a LOT of music over 7.5 hours. We have pretty much 95% of the chorus measures, including combined, men's only, and women's only. Even though there is no substitute for seemingly dull parts banging out, in the end I feel that these early rehearsals have still managed to create some real music and enable some shared performance experiences!"

About The Mikado, "The Mikado deserves its reputation as a top tier G&S show, and indeed a top tier English opera. While it may not have the overt beauty of Puccini, the drama of Wagner, or the 'greatness' of Verdi (in my opinion, The Mikado does not aim for this). The opera does span the range of G&S and is fun to work on and a delight to perform"

As always, you can keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, or our website.

A 2nd Trombone! - The music of The Mikado

The Schirmer edition of
score 

Rehearsals officially started on April 6th with two weeks of music rehearsals. Before we begin staging the show, our music director works with the leads and chorus to ensure both quality of the singing as well as to gain an understanding of musical phrasing. In an operetta, a lot of character personality can be conveyed through the way a song is sung and it is important that our cast understand how to portray that personality. Much of the personality is found in the score itself, through dynamics and articulations (a fancy word for the markings that tell you how to sing or play a part; for example whether to slur two notes together or sing them separately). In addition to the score, some of the personality will come from director's suggestions or an actor's personal interpretation of their character. Towards the end of the first two weeks the cast will have worked through all the music in the show and will be fully prepared to begin staging the actual scenes that you see on the stage.

I thought it might make an interesting point to talk about the different versions of the score as well as some interesting facts about one of the most famous songs in the show. As you might expect of a show like The Mikado, there are multiple versions of the score and one of the most interesting is the "First Night Edition" that still survives in some places. It is not very often performed and there are some major differences between that and the Schirmer score we will be using. Most notably, is the fact that Yum-Yum's aria "The sun whose rays" was originally in Act 1 of the show. However, the original Yum-Yum complained that she would not be able to do the song justice so shortly after "Three little maids" and "So please you sir" and so it was moved to Act 2 just after the opening chorus. In addition, some minor changes were made including; removing a verse from "Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted" and "So please you sir" was originally a quintet with Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, Peep-Bo, Pooh-Bah, and Pish-Tush, however Pish-Tush has left the stage earlier with the chorus and with no convenient way to bring him back, the part is often cut from productions. In addition the "Little List" song was originally later in Act 1 then where it lies now and had a chorus refrain, the music for which was left out of the autograph score making it very difficult to add back into the show.

Jordan Eldgredge as Ko-Ko

Speaking of the "Little List" song, this is a song that has an interesting role in the show. It is pure satire meant to poke fun at the culture and society of Gilbert and Sullivan's time. Because of it's role in the show, this song is often rewritten to poke fun at more modern trends. We will be doing this very thing for our production of the show and I hope to be able to share our rewrite with you soon. In the meantime, I'll leave you with the lyrics from our 2010 production of The Mikado. As always you can keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our website.

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I’ve got a little list — I’ve got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed — who never would be missed!

There’s the pestilential nuisances who e-mail you with spam —
Like “bankers” from Nigeria whose goal it is to scam.
The loud-mouthed TV dietitians yelling that you’re fat —
They’ll send you some concoction that’ll slim you just like that!
The telephone solicitors who simply won’t desist —
They’d none of ’em be missed — they’d none of ’em be missed!
He’s got ’em on the list — he’s got ’em on the list;
And they’ll none of them be missed — they’ll none of them be missed.

There’s the operetta singer, and the others of his race,
The off-pitch soloist — I’ve got him on the list!
The people who smoke cigarettes and puff them in your face —
They never would be missed — they never would be missed!

The CEO who runs his enterprise into the ground,
But walks away with millions when the whole affair is found,
All fat cats working Wall Street and the bonuses they flout,
And the idiotic Senators who help to bail them out,
And that singular anomaly, the sub-prime mortgagist
I don’t think he’d be missed — I’m sure he’ll not be missed!
He’s got him on the list — he’s got him on the list;
And I don’t think he’ll be missed — I’m sure he’ll not be missed.

And the people who pollute TV with shows that they contrive,
The exhibitionist — I’ve got him on the list!
The people who cause accidents when texting while they drive,
They’d none of ’em be missed — I wish they’d all desist.

The talk show host who claims to be so balanced and so fair,
But never is objective when his show is on the air,
Montgomery Theater renovators canceling our shows —
Just how this place will look next year — well, heaven only knows!
And all the social Twitter Facebook MySpace Friendster-ists
I don’t think they’ll be missed — I’m sure they’ll not be missed!
You may put ’em on the list — you may put ’em on the list;
And they’ll none of them be missed — they’ll none of them be missed!

Special Report: Live from the Mikado potluck and read through

Tonight we gather the cast and production staff for a time honored tradition at Lyric Theatre. Before every show rehearsal period, we get together and share a meal followed by a read through of the show. The point of this event is to give our cast a chance to meet each other and socialize before we dive into rehearsals. It is a night of fun for all and the top off is the read through where our cast sings through the show often with hilarious over acting. Tonight is no exception with bouts of raucous laughter rising off the rehearsal floor every few minutes. I am happy to announce that this is a highly enthusiastic cast and they are excited to show you what they are going to make of the old classic. We look forward to presenting you this show in a short 10 weeks!

As always we encourage you to keep in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our website.

So you want to be a star; first you must audition

Every show at Lyric Theatre begins with the audition process, a time when the directors and producer gather together the best talent in the area and force them to compete for our approval. I'm kidding of course, we are always grateful for the high level of talent we see at auditions and the process of casting a show is one of the most difficult parts of the job. For the Mikado, we had over 50 people audition for us, each one seemingly more and more talented. Of those who auditioned we had to cast a show of just 9 leads and a chorus of 17. As you can imagine, this requires a lot of debate and give and take among the production staff to cast the best person for each role.

For the staff the whole process begins about a month before the audition dates. During this time, we work on creating an audition notice that has a show synopsis along with the lead roles for the show and a short description of each character. That notice is then sent off into the vast expanse of the internet through our mailing list as well as posting to various message boards and Facebook groups dedicated to informing Bay Area actors about audition opportunities. Before anyone knows it, the audition date rolls around and we gather together to listen to each prospective candidate. The directors are listening for musical ability as well as style and natural acting ability, occasionally we will have a "cold reading" where we provide a number of lines from the show and ask each candidate to read one, this is an opportunity for our stage director to see how each candidate approaches a role without any direction. After 2-3 days of auditions, the staff will meet to discuss who will be "called back" for which role. Call backs are where we provide music and dialogue from the show and ask each candidate to prepare this material. Each role will have 2-3 people called back and from those candidates we will cast the show (chorus members are not called back, but cast from the larger pool of candidate).

After call backs production staff begins the arduous task of casting the show. More often than not, we simply wish we could cast everyone who auditioned for us, but unfortunately that is not an option. We will spend hours pouring over our notes about all our candidates and discussing their performance and how they would fit with the artistic vision for the show. As I mentioned earlier, this is a long process and my personal record so far has been 3 o'clock in the morning to fully cast a show! In the end, we contact everyone who auditioned for us and tell them the good news, or in some cases the bad news, and move on to working on other tasks. Next time we will talk about one of those tasks, set design.

Ewa as Perichole
photo courtesy Steve Stubbs

Before we go, I wanted to share another perspective of the audition process with you, that of the person auditioning. I asked Ewa Nowicka who most recently stared as the title role of La Périchole with Lyric to tell me a bit about her process of auditioning. Obviously, the first task is to decide if you want to audition for the show, this can be a question of interest in a show, available roles, location of company and performance venue, etc. Assuming you decide to audition the next step is to sign up for an audition slot (Lyric uses an online booking system allowing our candidates to pick the time that works best from our available pool). Then you have to decide what song you are going to audition with; do you want a song from the show that will show off your compatibility with a desired role or do you pick a song from another show that shows off your range and acting ability. Finally, no matter how many times you audition there is always the challenge of working with a new pianist (often you don't know who it will be until you walk through the door) and overcoming your nerves. For all the work actors put into their auditions, they have about 6 minutes to make an impression on the production staff and secure a call back!

As always, you can keep in touch with Lyric Theatre on Facebook, Twitter, or our website. Please consider sharing this blog with your friends and help us share the joy of musical theater with the Bay Area!

Who are you and what do you do: a producer's tale

That's me all spiffy (the joys of the musician life) and I'm sure some of you are wondering who I am and how I got involved with Lyric Theatre, as well as what my role of producer is with a show like The Mikado. To formally introduce myself, my name is Justin Horn and I have been with Lyric Theatre since 2005 when I joined the orchestra (percussion) for Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore. Since then I have played every main stage show with the exception of 1776; I also started to work with other committee's in Lyric including working on marketing. In 2013, Ruddigore came around again and our producer was looking for some help and a person he could train to become a full producer with the company. I have always been interested in the behind the scene's aspect of theater and so I volunteered for the role, it turned out to be a tremendous amount of fun and two shows later, here I am!

But what does a producer actually do? I'm sure the majority of people will be familiar with the term producer from movies and live theater and you may even know that producers are considered to be the "head" of a production. To help you understand how the role of producer works with Lyric Theatre, let's jump back in time to the very beginning of a production. Some of you may not know this, but a production like The Mikado begins one to two years before it ever reaches the stage. The very first step is for our repertoire committee to meet and work out our season for the next year. They will consider many factors including; popularity of show, when it was last performed, demand inside the company to mount a production, etc. After approval by our board, the process moves into the hiring committee. This group looks at potential directors and will interview and hire a stage and music director. It is usually at this point that a producer is hired as well. From that point forward the producer is charged with making a production happen.

One of the first things a producer needs is to gather the remainder of the production staff, this consists of people like; stage managers, lighting designers, set and costume designers, props managers, and other technical staff. This list can be quite large depending on the show and it is truly amazing that even six to eight months before rehearsals begin about ten people are already hard at work planning and organizing. Over the coming weeks we will be exploring what some of these positions entail and you can see how much thought and care are put into areas many of us don't think about.

In addition to hiring a production staff the producer is in charge of budgeting a show. This is a delicate task that requires allowing the directors and designers the freedom to realize their artistic vision while keeping expenditures down. It is not my favorite part of the job, but a necessary one. From this point, everything kicks into high gear and multiple meetings are called to prepare for auditions and rehearsals. There is a dinner meeting with the music and stage director to talk about the vision for the show and to begin organizing auditions. Speaking of auditions, we will discuss those in more depth on the next blog entry, it is an interesting process and I want to do it justice. After auditions there is a long process of contacting everyone who has been cast and beginning the process of organizing rehearsal schedules.

Finally, we are ready to gather the full production staff for a meeting to get everyone started on their tasks and layout the general feel for the productions. As producer, I really have the freedom to set the tone for the production and a good producer can make or break a production staff and through them a cast. After all this rehearsals finally start and we still have ten weeks to go!

So there it is, the whole process of being a producer from start to the beginning of rehearsals. The job doesn't end there, I will continue meeting with the staff to make sure we are on track as well as check in with the cast to see how rehearsals are going and to help solve any issues that arise. I will end this post by saying that there is an old saying "jack of all trades"...we'll ignore the second part of the idiom for now. What I mean by this is the job of producer is always evolving and there will always be something that was not planned for, so perhaps my biggest job is to be flexible and attentive trying to anticipate issues and resolve them and going forward to help the company better plan for new challenges.

Thank you so much for checking out our blog, as always you can keep in touch with us on facebook, twitter, or our website. I hope you will consider sharing this blog with your friends and help us build excitement as we embark on another production!

-Justin Horn, Producer "The Mikado"

Welcome to a look behind the curtains at Lyric Theatre. 

The goal of this blog is to provide you with a deeper understanding of what it takes to stage a production. We will be updating this blog with information about the process of staging a production as well as thoughts from our production staff. Check back often and share with your friends!

Be sure to check out our website for more information on our shows www.lyrictheatre.org

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We hope you find this to be informative and interesting and always remember to support local community theater!

-Justin Horn, Producer "The Mikado"