Author Topic: DEAR ABBY: Trouble with a new devised musical  (Read 2281 times)

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Maribeth

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DEAR ABBY: Trouble with a new devised musical
« on: Oct 27, 2014, 09:18 pm »
Our members sometimes have questions that they want to ask the group anonymously. They can submit their questions to members of the staff, who post the questions on their behalf. Here is one of these letters:

Quote
Dear Abby,

I'm currently working on a new devised musical.  It's a company I loved working for up until this project.

We had an intensive workshop of creating material and improvisations that led to the creation of an outline of a plot, which was never finished, and although we have 120 pages in the script we have still not written the ending.  If we were to stage the material we have it would probably be 5 hours worth of material.  Today is Monday, Tech begins on Saturday.  Due to various rules of this particular situation, I can only call the actors for 4 hours a day from now until Tech.

I've notified the producers several times that the work is in trouble.  There seems to have been no intervention.  Now that we are coming down to the wire, I'm noticing more and more that I'm being blamed for a lot of things that are completely out of my control. 

Cast Morale is shot.  The actors do not have enough time to learn the piece, they have no confidence in the director, the devising process, or the piece itself.  The costume designer has not had a chance to design because the work is so far behind. We don't have the time to rehearse this for character development, much less memorization.

It's also worth mentioning that although there is a director, the composer and lyricist (one person) also has a heavy artistic input into the show, and this person has some level of fame.   The composer and the director are openly fighting now and the director has stated that he will never work with the composer again.  Also, with this being a "devised" piece, the entire cast (lets say in the range of 10-15 people) all have creative input into the show, and they can't agree.

The point:  With massive script changes coming in rapid fire,  the entire show being reworked with no time to rehearse it, and the many other issues I'm watching unfold, I'm at a loss of how to effectively triage the situation.  I have future work with this company and I need to stay on good terms, but I cannot see a situation in which this show is a success (If I'm being honest with you all for the sake of getting effective advice).  In reality, I've really just scratched the surface of the issues going on here.

Anybody have any advice?   I really just want to protect my cast from a process and a creative team that failed them.   It would also be really great to somehow save my own skin and my sanity, but sometimes we have to take one for the team.


« Last Edit: Oct 28, 2014, 05:52 pm by Maribeth »

Maribeth

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Re: DEAR ABBY: Trouble with a new devised musical
« Reply #1 on: Oct 28, 2014, 09:14 pm »
Have you talked to the director about your concerns at all? It sounds like they need to start making decisions.

If the director didn't address these concerns when you brought them up, I would go to the producer(s) and have a really frank discussion with them about the situation (again) and lay things out for them clearly and in no uncertain terms- that if certain decisions aren't made, you won't be able to tech the show.  (At this point, I would go to the producer regardless of what the director says- they need to weigh in).

If you've only been talking to one person in the administration, like the PM, it's time to get other people involved. Bring up the points that you've mentioned here:

1. When is the script being frozen?
2. When are the costume designs being decided? At this point they have to be something that can be executed in the time you have left.
3. You can only call the actors for X hours- what's the plan to get you to tech? Mention the fact that the actors are not memorized.
4. What is the plan for tech?

My sympathies- this is a crappy situation to be in. I was the SM for a new musical once that had the same kind of problems. The show was completely rewritten the day before tech- and how do you tech something that you've never rehearsed? We ended up rehearsing instead of teching, and the designers wrote cues on top of rehearsal. In terms of triaging, that might be as good as it gets. We also ended up canceling a couple of previews. Cast morale was terrible, and I thought some of the actors were going to quit. (The show was a mess, despite being a really interesting idea with very talented performers, and ticket sales were so bad that we closed a week early.) Ultimately, despite having a good history with the company, I didn't feel like they supported the production and didn't involve themselves in the issues, even when I brought them up. Not a place I wanted to work after that.

 

riotous