Staging a show is all about cooperation, team work and reaching a common goal
By
Mark Schadenberg
The
concept of ‘team work’ must be learned (promoted and gently engraved) at an
early age. I don’t believe it needs to necessarily be taught, but more
accurately assimilated into everyday lifestyle.
Children
learn to share their toys and work on school projects in a group, and acquire
the necessary traits to live within society, which requires team work, through
such activities as group school assignments, girl guides and minor sports.
LION
KING
My
10-year-old daughter is acquiring her team skills currently as part of the
large ensemble cast of Lion King Junior as it will be staged May 2 – 15 at
Innerkip Presbyterian Church. If you read the posters it wouldn’t appear the
performance schedule is so long, but there are 4 school performances not
advertised to the general public.
If
you know Lion King as composed as a full-length animated movie in 1994 with
music by Elton John, Tim Rice, and Hans Zimmer, and produced for Disney, you
can hum along to songs Circle Of Life, I Just Can’t Wait To Be King, Hakuna
Matata and the Oscar-winning Can You Feel The Love Tonight.
Lion
King Junior as produced currently in Innerkip by K2K Productions appears to be
more closely an adaptation to the Broadway musical version, including many
elaborate animal-like costumes. It is a must-see show.
The
reason ‘team work’ is so important may be obvious, but maybe not so obvious as
this Senior Cast is all children between the ages of 10 – 14 (The even younger
Junior Cast staged 101 Dalmations a few weeks ago), and many of the cast
members are assigned to play more than one role from one performance to the
next. The kids not only must memorize their lines and perfect their songs, but must
acquire acting skills, including mimicking animals. Also, a good portion of the
group are also learning to play African-style drums.
Included
in the performance is an adult choir to assist in the background with many of
the complex songs.
Truly,
however, behind the leadership of Brian Belleth (K2K is part of the Woodstock-area
Youth For Christ –YFC initiative), along with director Andrew Downing, music
director Kelly Wrigglesworth, YFC’s Rachel Kuehnel, and choreographers
Christina Cannella and Desiree Ford, the youth performers only begin the idea
of team work – working in unison with about 40 adult volunteers. Set builder /
designer Mary Ann Tonin has her crew, plus there’s many back stage coordinators
including Eric Boulard.
Also, if you happen to see chef Jed Lau there, he's not the caterer for cast and crew, but rather the conductor of the adult choir. Who knew Jed has so many talents?
Also, if you happen to see chef Jed Lau there, he's not the caterer for cast and crew, but rather the conductor of the adult choir. Who knew Jed has so many talents?
Beyond
everything in front of the curtain and behind the curtain there is also a
talented group in the sound crew as many of the children will wear portable
mics. I could see how it would be easy for the operator of the mixing board to
be mixed up at times with so many microphones and spotlight switches.
My
wonderful wife Nicole took on the difficult task of organizing ticket sales for
6 public performances. It’s a tiring endeavour, but luckily the venue is small
enough that there is not a bad seat in the house and sales are general
admission and not assigned seats.
Tying
up all the loose ends is chief administration volunteer Beth Boulard.
At
the end of the day, and considering there are many expenses for costumes and a
hefty price tag on borrowing the music rights, to reach a successful show financially
you must add in creating a program and selling ads, persuading a group of
talented needle-and-thread people to sew costumes, reel in a crew to do makeup,
plus parents and siblings as ushers and clean-up crew, and then you must also
convince a local blog writer (and Realtor) if he can sell refreshments at a
couple of the performances.
Movie
or Stage Musical?
Be
Prepared is another standard song from the Lion King movie.
Among
the several songs added to the musical when it became a Broadway stage show
were Endless Night and He Lives In You.
I’m
not a religious person, but we all hope our children grow up with the fundamentals
of team work, being prepared (rehearsing, studying and learning), kindness to
all, compassion, a strong work ethic, and to have kids aspire to utilize their
(given) talents to the fullest.
Lion
King Junior
Who:
Woodstock area children 10-14 years old.
Where:
Innerkip Presbyterian Church
Tickets:
$15 for adults, and $10 for students 13-and-under
Tickets
By Phone: (519) 537-8080
Tickets:
Hallmark Shop at 535 Dundas St, Woodstock
Picture from church's website
LINKS:
www.yfcwoodstock.com
www.yfcwoodstock.com
Endless
Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLaChLkIY_g
K2K is just one of many
reasons to live in Oxford County.
Contact me today if you want
to locate your family here.
Mark Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist
(SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
Independently Owned & Operated, Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . .
Destination
No comments:
Post a Comment