Jo Jo Jo Goseph!

Having worked for four years in theatre, I know quite a lot about musicals. I know that they are mostly a lot of work.

Musicals have been around for quite awhile. Telling story through song isn't something new. It's actually kind of a rusty idea. But they never seem to stop coming. From Sound of Music to Chicago to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; musicals have a wide range of subjects. And because Jacob wonderfully covered just about everything there was to say about musicals, I'll talk about the musicals I've worked on and how they've exposed me to a different type of media.

Also. Side note. I worked on the crew for these films. Specifically I was lighting director. So I have seen these musicals be put together start to finish. I might be a bit biased.

My freshman year of high school our theatre company put on Meet Me in St. Louis. It follows a young girl and hr family and their journey to the World's Fair which was to be held in St. Louis that year. It's a show about family and romance and what life is really about. I found this musical to be extremely boring. While it is a great production watching this specific one over and over again wasn't enjoyable. The songs are slower and the language is hard to follow. The humor is older as well so perhaps this is why it wasn't as fun for me.

My sophomore year we put on Good News. Which was about a college football team and the stories of a few of the players on the team. This was my all time favorite production to work on. It was set in the 1920's and it was high energy. All of the numbers were fun especially Varsity Drag and Sunnyside Up. I don't recall a time that that production gave me any sort of trouble.

My junior year we did Oliver! Now Oliver! isn't exactly the cheeriest of musicals. It follows a young Oliver Twist and his escape from the orphanage. This musical gave us a lot of trouble. The actors weren't as prepared as they should've been and the orchestra hadn't gotten enough practice. And the lighting well. It was a bit of a mess. But the production, despite having annoying music, went well.

And finally, my senior year we did Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This musical follows the  story of Joseph and his rise to power in Egypt. When I had first heard we were doing Joseph I had groaned, knowing the credibility of the musical. But the director had just told me to trust him and so I did. The production turned out amazing. We used seven narrators instead of the regular one. The casting was excellent. And our set was phenomenal. I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would.

Being on tech crew for musical has really prepared me for a life of production. We got the job done while still having a good time. We played little pranks and even sang alternative lyrics to the songs over the headset (see the title of this blog). Overall musicals aren't that horrible. At least on the crew side of things.