Directing in Musical Theatre

An Essential Guide

Joe Deer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780415624893
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136246708
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

This comprehensive guide, from the author of Acting in Musical Theatre, will equip aspiring directors with all of the skills that they will need in order to guide a production from beginning to end. From the very first conception and collaborations with crew and cast, through rehearsals and technical production all the way to the final performance, Joe Deer covers the full range.

Deer's accessible and compellingly practical approach uses proven, repeatable methods for addressing all aspects of a production. The focus at every stage is on working with others, using insights from experienced, successful directors to tackle common problems and devise solutions. Each section uses the same structure, to stimulate creative thinking:

• Timetables: detailed instructions on what to do and when, to provide a flexible organization template
• Prompts and Investigations: addressing conceptual questions about style, characterization and design
• Skills Workshops: Exercises and 'how-to' guides to essential skills
• Essential Forms and Formats: Including staging notation, script annotation and rehearsal checklists
• Case Studies: Well-known productions show how to apply each chapter's ideas

Directing in Musical Theatre not only provides all of the essential skills, but explains when and how to put them to use; how to think like a director.

PHASE 1

Conception

Charting a detailed course for your production journey

This is the first of five overviews you’ll encounter as you work through this book. Each serves as a checklist and timeline for one phase of your directing process. At the beginning of each subsequent part of this book, you’ll be provided with a similar timetable to guide you through the next phase of production.

Rehearsing a musical involves organizing dozens of actors, technicians, support staff, musicians and specialized coaches. While no one can guarantee an artistic hit, a well-planned calendar can help ensure that nothing is left out of the rehearsal and production process, and that everything required is done in the most logical and efficient sequence possible.

Thoughtfully organizing your entire process up front is probably the most effective way of working toward your production’s success. Waiting to create a plan for a few days or even creating one a week at a time is simply asking for problems. A schedule that includes all elements puts everyone at ease and demonstrates your comprehensive grasp of the production’s reach. It also helps prepare you for the entire task at hand while allowing you to concentrate on your immediate daily objectives. No more second-guessing yourself or losing sleep over what you may have forgotten.

The time span for preparing and rehearsing a musical is often driven by financial considerations and will depend on your theatre’s previous practice, the scope of your particular production, cast availability and how much time you’ve been allotted for studio and technical rehearsals. So, the five timetables that follow are a flexible configuration you can modify to fit your production parameters; from as little as eight days in summer theatres to as long as ten weeks in academic settings. As long as you cover all these bases in roughly this order, you should be in good shape by opening night. In a more compressed schedule, you’ll have to combine objectives into a single rehearsal (i.e. first orchestra rehearsal and first dress rehearsal at the same time). While an ideal plan would allow each important event its own rehearsal, we often don’t have this luxury. But, thoughtfully combining sympathetic objectives can be nearly as effective.

Timetable 1: preparation

Script preparation and analysis (at least three months prior to rehearsal). Following the system outlined in Chapter 1, gather the information you need to be an effective collaborative leader.

Create your concept statement and script breakdowns (two months prior to rehearsal, or some time prior to the first meeting with the designers). These documents articulate your ideas about the production, the characters and the world of your musical. They become touchstones as you work with designers, the choreographer, the musical director and all the many creative collaborators who will interpret your vision.

Visit the theatre space (two months prior to rehearsals starting – essential before meeting with your designers). Visit the space or get photographs and dimensions so you can begin imagining your production in its eventual context.

Make initial contact with your creative team (as soon as you know your designers, choreographer, musical director and any other key production personnel, and can schedule meetings). Complete your analysis of the show and create a concept statement before you actually meet. Be careful not to begin conversations with designers before you’re ready. It’s easy to begin subtly planting assumptions you may eventually regret.

Create a production calendar (immediately upon accepting the job). Get as many critical dates as possible from your producer, production manager or stage manager. Auditions, design due dates, first rehearsals, first day in the theatre, orchestra and technical rehearsals, previews and opening night dates are all probably in the theatre’s schedule already. This information will help you conceive a production that can be accomplished within the available time.

PHASE 1: CONCEPTION

CHAPTER 1
1.1	Reading and listening to the musical
	1.1.1	Gathering impressions
1.2	Creating a research portfolio
1.3	History and society viewed selectively
1.4	Tradition
1.5	Dissecting the script and score
	1.5.1	Units of action
1.6	Character analysis
	1.6.1	Facts
	1.6.2	Character journey
	1.6.3	Charting change
	1.6.4	Attitudes
	1.6.5	Ambitions
1.7	Directing and style
	1.7.1	What is style?
	1.7.2	Establishing style in your production
	1.7.3	Unity of style
	1.7.4	History and genre
	1.7.5	Worldview
	1.7.6	Articulating style
1.8	Visiting the theatre
1.9	Getting it down in paper: creating a concept statement
	1.9.1	This is the story of …
	1.9.2	Themes and ideas
	1.9.3	Images and visual style
	1.9.4	State your passion

CHAPTER 1

PREPARING FOR COLLABORATION

Directing always requires you to operate from a place of informed intuition. Your ability to rehearse, stage or collaborate with your artistic colleagues is closely tied to your early preparation and analysis. This section of the book leads you through an investigation of the script and score to get ready for the road ahead.

UNIT 1.1 Reading and listening to the musical

Your first step in preparing is to gain a strong sense of the text and story, and to gather first impressions. Interestingly, what this book refers to as a first impression may well be a renewed acquaintance, since so many popular and frequently produced shows are familiar to readers. But, we aren’t seeking to recreate someone else’s production. Rather, the approach this book advocates is one where you begin with a clean slate, creating your own original production from the ground up. We’ll talk about incorporating tradition and influence later. But, for now, we’re going to make a fresh start.

Consider a three-layered system in beginning your preparation. You’ll end up reading and listening to your show three times (at least) as you start. If you can avoid compressing this process, you’ll have a better chance of real familiarity with, and immersion in the world of, your musical.

UNIT 1.1.1 Gathering impressions

Reading 1: the pleasure of the story

Find time to read and listen to your show without distraction, simply for the pleasure of absorbing the story. Get a clean copy of the script and score and a good recording of the show so you can hear all the musical textures and be taken into the show as its creators wrote it. Avoid interruptions for this reading and resist the urge to take notes or make decisions. This is your chance to be an audience member. And, don’t watch filmed performances of the show, yet. You should seek to enter the theatre of your imagination, not someone else’s. After this first experience with the text, give yourself some time away from the show – at least a day or two. This digesting period is useful as the show works on you. Ideas and images, emotional responses and so much more will begin to percolate. This is the beginning of your response to the text.

Reading 2: questions

Your next reading is slightly more deliberate in that you will go through the show again, taking note of important images and ideas, allowing yourself to stop and start as needed. But, this is still mostly for the purpose of allowing your own chaotic responses to spill onto a page. Your own form of journaling, doodling, sketching or cryptically noting your ideas is what matters here. You won’t show these musings to anyone else. Take as much time as you need to get through the show. And when you’ve finished, continue journaling. Don’t go back and edit your ideas. Simply let them take over and you’ll often be surprised at what you let yourself write. The following questions may help you at this stage to stimulate ideas and responses.

Questionnaire: first impressions

1. What does the world of this show “feel” like to you? It can be useful to recognize the emotional experience of the show on first encounter – orderliness, comic chaos, pastoral romance, emotional austerity, psychological intrigue, etc. The qualities of the music can often tell you a good deal about this question. Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures will suggest a very different world than Grease. Try to articulate your gut reactions. No one has to read your notes, and you can refine the wording later on.

2. Do any strong staging images stand out? Compositional ideas can sometimes come to you as you read and listen. Note these. Phrases like “a swirling mob carrying protest signs,” “the city is his enemy,” “the earth opens up to reveal her” can be provocative as you move forward. These can also come from the text and stage directions.

3. What does this world look like? Do you imagine any specific scenic elements? Colors, shapes, textures, lighting qualities? Is this an architectural world, a natural world, fragmented scenery or highly realistic? Do you want to employ a specific audience configuration in relation to the playing space? If you know the space, are there ways that you’d like to use it for this specific production? Adjectives such as “gritty,” “pristine,” “pastel,” “earth-toned” can be useful. These may differ for various portions of the show. As you consider this question, resist designing the set. You probably have a very gifted scenic designer who can interpret your impulses and marry them with his or her own. This question can be a powerful spark to the designer’s imagination, while presenting your finished design can be profoundly limiting.

4. Whose story is this? Is A Little Night Music Fredrik’s story? Desiree’s? A trio of characters sharing focus? And, why do you care about these people? Who attracts you or distances you? We don’t need to think simply in terms of “heroes” and “villains” to identify whose story matters most to us. No need to judge any characters. Just react.

5. Are you reminded of any works of art, culture or fiction? Did any works of art, popular culture, literature, TV, film, etc. come to mind as you read and listened? These references can sometimes provide you with an anchor for your production and help your designers get a handle on your ideas for the show. For instance, the original production of Fiddler on the Roof was powerfully influenced by the director’s...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Foreword by Eric Schaeffer
• Online content for Directing in Musical Theatre
• Special thanks and acknowledgments
• Permissions
• Introduction
• Phase 1 Conception
• Phase 2 Collaboration
• Phase 3 Rehearsal
• Phase 4 Production
• Phase 5 Performance
• Appendices
• Index