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