Tony's Stage Right Blog

First Day of Classes, Cast Lists Etc.

We started classes with our Imagination Workshop and Musical Theatre Experience Classes. It was great to see so many old and new faces and the classes got off to a great start. Renata, Becky and all their helpers will be doing songs from Toy Story with the 4-7 year olds in Imagination Workshop. On the first day kids got to know each other and the instructors and sang and danced a little and everyone had a great time. Musical Theatre Experience Class has the Pre-teens working on Oklahoma,  they nearly learned the whole number of the same name on Saturday, while the teens tackled the opening number of American Idiot. Peter Jones, one of our student choreographers, attended the Broadway Alliance Workshop this summer and learned the opening number choreography from one of the shows dancers. He and Renata started teaching it to the class and it looked really great. Teens will also be doing numbers from Next to Normal and doing scenes from David Ives' - All in the Timing - a hilarious comedy. You can still join any of these classes and in fact if you're thinking about it I highly recommend it. Being in these classes not only provide excellent performance opportunities but they also give the student a chance to increase their knowledge of theatre and build their repertoire. 

Casting

The cast list for King and I is up - and as always  - it brings up the difficult and sometimes painful exercise of casting and being cast. First off, casting is a very difficult thing for any director, its doubly so when you are casting students that you have come to care about as much as Ren and I care about you all. But in the end, especially in the professional shows, we have to do what serves the show best. Its as simple as that. Ren and I have been professional equity actors for over 15 years, we have suffered through the casting experience hundreds of times. Sometimes you get the role, sometimes you don't. First off, any student cast in the professional season should be very, very happy period. This is a privilege, not a right, so be happy!  Secondly, casting and in what role has to do with dozens of variables - not just talent. Trust me, we sat though the auditions - there was a TON of TALENT! Sometimes it comes down to numbers, experience, sizes, age, etc. So no matter you're role, or if you've been cast or not - DO NOT take it as a pronouncement on your abilities! And please, no matter what happens before you react - talk to us. we're always available to you. Conversely, if you have been cast as something - DO NOT take it to mean that you are the be all and end all. Remember, Julius Cesar himself, while riding thru the streets of Rome with all the citizens hailing him as a God after a military victory, paid a servant to stand behind him and whisper -"This too shall pass!"

So, here we go, the first step on a really big year for all of us - lets make it a great one - and again, if you don't understand something or are upset about something or even HAPPY about something - feel free to seek out Ren or I and talk!

Thanks

T