So, the show is over

And the body hurts.

 

Protea Stage Production's production of Aladdin and his magic lantern had a very successful run of total 11 shows. After the last show we had the traditional after show party. I got home at three O'clock in the morning and got up again at seven to be back at the hall for the strike. For those who don't know, 'strike' in theatre has nothing to do with no-work-no-pay. It means hard work for no pay. It is when the set is broken down and taken back to the warehouse for storage.

I love offering my skills for theatre. Hard labor is not one of my skills. Unfortunately, it is something that must be done. It does not matter how many hours of sleep we had.

Enough about my pain. We had a great review in the local paper. The reviews from the judges are in. I have a copy of only one of the reviews, and will therefore only talk about this one. I will only comment about the parts where I had a role to play. For the rest, it is sufficient to say that the judge review was great. He loved the show. Now we will wait for Februarry '14 to see if we get any nominations for the annual SANCTA awards. Hold thumbs please!!

Even though I was involved with a lot of areas, let me start to talk about the parts of the review that talks about the music. That is where I played the greatest part (pun intended). Although many of the songs get mentions, it is more in the context of the acting and choreography. Not often that the music get any mention at all, so I will saviour the mentions we did get.

In short, he loved the music, especially, the African songs that opened act 1 and act 2. Woot!

He commented about Storm's performance as Aladdin and offer the opinion that she got the role more for her beautifull singing voice than her acting ability. I agree with him that Storm has a beautifull voice and sings really well in this show. She had some opera training and it paid off. I do not think that her acting abilities lacked at all. I see absolutely no problem with giving some importance to singing abilities when casting roles. I have suffered through many musicals where actors who can not sing two notes got a role because of their superior acting ability (Les Mis, the movie being a good example). Me, being a musician / songwriter myself might be a bit biased.

Shannon's vocal skills in the role of the pink genie also got a deserved mention. In this case her acting ability matched.

Ok, here is the most important part in the whole review. "The band was superb. The musical directors and musicians need a huge pat on the back. Any play with live music is better than a recording and I felt that this particular musical ensemble was definitely an asset." Thank you Mr Judge. I accept and agree with every word.

Later on: "The songs were brilliant choices and ones that the audience enjoyed singing along to." Thank you! The songs were Cameron's choice, and the sing-a-long was co-written by Cam and myself. It had every single audience member on their feet clapping and singing in every single show.

Ok. It is not much out of 5 pages of review, but I am happy with getting any mentions at all!

Once again, congratulations to Cameron for writing and directing this masterpiece.

Next time I will look at the other aspect where I was involved, including the social media marketing campaign.

 

Making the magic of theatre happen

I am really blessed to have the opportunity to be involved with theatre. The greatest thing about theatre is the people that make theatre happen.
Our current production is very special. I have never before met so many people who are so special. Sometimes I feel like I just do not belong in the precence of these exceptional people. The least I can hope for is that I will be able to learn a little bit from them and just a tiny bit of the genius would rub off.
The show was written and directed by Cameron Lawry. I am honored to be able to say that I worked with Cameron. When he approached Protea with the proposal to stage his show, not everybody believed he could pull it off, but Protea was willing to giving him the chance. Hooray to Protea for being so brave to give such a young man the chance. Cameron not only pulled it off. He pulled it off big time. He did not only show Protea he can do it. He showed the world that he can do it. I am sure that we will see him go on and reach great hights.

It was so great to witness the support that Cam got from his parents. Debby and Neville had to make many sacrifices to support their son over the six months period. I am so glad that it all paid off in the end. The team of Cam, Debby and Neville can really be proud of what they achieved.
Musical theatre is by far the most collaborative form of art that I know of. It is impossible to make the magic happen on your own. You need to be able to make many work together and you need many more to support you to make it happen. When it all comes together the magic of theatre happens.

So, what does a musical coordinator do?

If you google for a musical coordinator, you will find many pages telling you what a musical coordinator does. None of them are really in agreement, and none of them really describe what a musical coordinator really do. So, here is my take on what a musical coordinator does.

In summary, a musical coordinates all the aspects relating to the music in the production of a musical theatre show. A musical coordinator's job is to do everything that nobody else does.

The tasks listed here are usually the responsibilities of the musical director, but the musical coordinator does not report to the musical director. If he does, he would be called an 'assistant to the musical director'. He would still do all the same tasks. The only difference is, if you report to the musical director, you do what the musical director tells you to do, but if you report to the producer, then you have to take the initiative, check for everything that needs be done, and do it - or find somebody to do it.

In our show, I am performing the role of the musical coordinator. As the production developed, I invented this job myself, and are making up the job description as I go along. Your job description will be different from show to show and in many cases, some of these tasks are not relevant. Just for the sake of completeness, I will add some tasks which I do not perform in this show, but which may normally form part of your task.

1. Song writing

This will depend on the show. The director may ask you to write some songs if he can not find an appropriate song to fill a specific gap. You have to write a song 'to spec'. The director will tell you what mood and feel is needed, and sometimes what the lyrics of song is about. This is not your chance to showcase your personal favorite from your own past catalog. Write a new song according to what the director want. If you can not write your own songs, coordinate with a songwriter. If the show is for a non-profit organization, chances are that you will not get paid for it. Just make sure that you sign a songwriting agreement and retain all the rights to the songs you write. That way you might be able to use the song again in another show or demo reel.

2. Music licensing

If the director makes use of pre existing hit songs, make sure that you obtain permission to use that music from the local music rights organization (SAMRO, BMI, ASCAP, etc.). This may require you to do some research to determine who the rights holders are and fill in the forms, or at least assist the producer in these tasks.

3. Music budget

Ok, in this case, I have no responsibility regarding the budget, but in many instances, the producer may give you a maximum budget within which you have to hire musicians, musical directors and pianists, etc. At least, if the director handles the full budget himself, you may have to make sure that you are compensated for all your own expenses,

4. Hiring

This is a difficult one. It is the responsibility of the show director to hire a musical director. The musical director must be responsible to the director. If the director ask for your assistance in this regards, make sure that everybody understands that you are only acting on behalf of the director. The musical director may ask you to hire a rehearsal pianist. It would be ideal to have the show pianist and the rehearsal pianist as the same person, but it is not always possible. If you have a large orchestra, you also may need to hire a conductor.

5. Musicians

The musical director may abdicate her responsibility regarding the band to you. Check with the director and musical director what kind of sound they want, and put a band together according to their needs. In the average non-profit show you may end up with a 4 or 5 piece band (drums, bass, piano, guitar, saxophone). In the average Broadway show you may have a 9 to 24 piece orchestra.

The director may have made commitments to some people or friends to include in the band. Make sure you adhere to his wishes. Where there are gaps, get somebody. It may even mean that you fill in a seat yourself - just leave your ego at home. This is not a time for you to showcase your talents as lead guitarist, but rather an opportunity to demonstrate how well you can make things happen 'behind the scenes'.

6. Band practice

You must make sure that the band know the songs. Draw up a schedule and agree the schedule with the director, musical director, choreographer, producer, and band members. It is very unlikely that you will get all those people in one place at one time, so you will be required to do a lot of walking and phoning around. The normal schedule would include:

• Singers training and rehearsals. This is almost always the job of the musical director. Attend the sessions to understand what keys they sing in, what verses gets dropped, and what tempo songs are done in. Record the singers and play it to the band. Keep on recording the songs at each rehearsal and always keep the latest and best version.
• Band practice. Give the band enough time to get to know the songs before they rehearse with the singers. First just practice the songs until all band members know the music, the chords, and the tempo, etc. The songs don't have to be practiced in any specific order. Spend as much time on each song as may be needed. More difficult songs may need more time.
• Band rehearsals. When all band members know all the songs, rehearse the whole show from start to finish. At this stage each musician must be on the instrument he or she will use during the show. It is fine for the pianist to use an electronic keyboard during practice, or the guitarist using an acoustic guitar. In rehearsals the pianist must use a real piano if that is what she will use in the show, and the guitarist must switch to the electric guitar if the show needs it.

• Rehearsals with singers and dancers. Somebody invented the name 'sitzprobe' for this. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds epic. It is your job to make sure that the band knows all the songs by heart by this time. There may be some surprises as you may need to adjust some songs in tempo or key at this stage. During rehearsals songs may be done in whatever order is convenient. Coordinate with the band, directors, and singers to draw up a schedule. You do not want singers to sit around wasting their time while waiting for their songs to be rehearsed. However, when you rehearse a song, it can be a waste of time if the right singers are not present. That includes the chorus ensemble. During this time, take special care to balance the volume between the instruments and the singers.
• Dress rehearsals. The last week before a show is usually set aside for dress rehearsals. This time, the whole show is rehearsed from top to finish, in the order that the show runs. This is like running the show without an audience. The first dress rehearsal may be stopped and started as needed. The director would want to have at least two dress rehearsals running all the way through without interruptions, before the show opens. As musical coordinator, you must leave proceedings in the hands of the director. Do not interfere, comment, or interrupt. Make sure that no interruptions are caused by the band. If needed, make notes and discuss with the band after the rehearsal. The sound engineer must be present at dress rehearsals to make sure that sound levels are appropriate.
• Opening night. Calculate your schedule by starting with this date. This is the date you can not miss. Determine how much time is needed for each task and work backwards from here to calculate a start and end time for each step listed above.

7. Coordinating between band, musical director and choreographer

It is your job to make sure everybody has a copy of all the music. Make up a folder for each musician in the band, choreographer, musical director and rehearsal pianist. The 'flip files' work best for this (a file book containing 30 or 50 see-through plastic pockets). Inside each musician's file, place a copy of the chord tabs of each song. Keep the songs in the order in which they will be done in the show. Do not print songs double sided. If a song spills over to a second page, place it such that the song starts on the left side and continue on the right. This will avoid musicians having to turn pages during a song.

Pianists do not like chord tabs. Print out complete scores for the pianists. Again, print on single sided paper. Pianists like to tape the score together to enable them to open it out on one long stream to place it on the piano music shelf. Brass and wind players also need a score printed, but for them you need their dynamic parts, i.e. the music notes containing only the parts they play, with no piano or vocal parts. Take heed of special tuning requirements for brass players.

Each file must also contain a CD of all the songs. This CD must be replaced every week. In the beginning each CD will have only original artist recordings. Replace these recordings with the singers and rehearsal pianist recordings.

8. Other music consumables and needs

You may need to check that all musicians have all they need. Each band member needs a music stand and music lights. Guitarists must put on fresh strings before the show. Pianos may need tuning. Everybody will however have to bring their own toilet paper.

This list is by no means complete. There may be many other tasks added here. Feel free to add anything you feel belongs here in the comments below.

 

PSP.TV @ProteaStage interview with Shannon Hancock

Our PSP.TVT host, Michael, presents the second of our interviews with cast and crew of Aladdin and his magic lantern! Earlier this week we had an interview with the show director and writer, Cameron Lawry.

Today we have the first cast member, Shannon Hancock, who plays the role of the genie in the lamp.

Watch out for our next interview with Ruvi Naidoo.

Activity is picking up everywhere, so also wait for some action footage as we have spent most of our Sunday painting the sets.

As it goes with many shows, things will have to change along the way.

One of the things that can change is the name of the show. Our show will from now on be known as Aladdin and his magic lantern! to keep it with the South African flavor of the show.

A number of songs will have to change and all advertising material will have to updated. Be patient and soon all will be done, so while I have lots of work to get all that on the internet, have fun and watch out video!

 



Don't forget to like us on Facebook, twitter and join our newsletter.

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This is why we love theatre

We love theatre because of the wonderful people who are in theatre. With all the auditions over and all the roles casted, it is time to share some of the wonderful moments we had.

 



 



Brad is a very talented actor and has been in Protea productions before, and as sure as I can be, he will be around in theaters for some time to come. It takes a lot of guts to be on stage. Some people just have more of it than others. These are the ones who will stretch the boundaries a little bit and who will be remembered.

Brad, thanks for being such a sport a making theatre such a wonderful experience for us all.

Protea Stage kicked off its SMM campaign

As I promised you, Protea Stage kicked off its Social Media Marketing campaign this week and to make this work, I am going to ask all my readers to help us making it a success.

It took us a while to open all the accounts and figure out all the passwords for the accounts that were open, but, the three main pillars of our campaign is ready to roll:

Youtube

Yes, everybody needs a youtube account and we got it. Soon we will fill it with lots of exciting content, but for a start, you can watch our video of Cameron (the script writer and director) having fun with the crew singing the sing-along song he co-wrote with me.

Please watch our video. Share the video. AND please subscribe to our channel.

We promise to add some exciting content in the next few weeks, including interviews with our cast and crew.

 

Twitter

By following us on our twitter account at @ProteaStage you can make sure that you are the first to hear the news.

Please follow us on twitter. Retweet and share our tweets. This is where you can hear all the talk about us AND don't forget to join in the talks!

Facebook

Our facebook page will be the centre of all the activity.

Please like our page and become a friend of Protea. Don't forget to like a post and spread the word to your friends.

And off course, most important - mark your diaries for October the 18th when we open in the Benoni town hall.

You can help us make this show a success by helping us spread the word.

 

Essential elements of Social Media Marketing

Last time I introduced you to Social Media Marketing (SMM) for theatre. Today I want to talk a bit more in depth about it by introducing the two elements of Social Media Marketing. Without these two elements, your marketing effort is not likely to succeed.

The term Social Media has two parts. The first word of the term is "social". Social means people. To make your campaign work, you need people. More specific, you need to attract lots of people to your campaign. In geek speak, this is called "traffic".

This is one place where the old saying of "you build it and they will come" does not work. If you do not make a effort to bring people to your site, they will not come. Simply opening a Youtube channel or a Facebook account will not do the job for you. You need to tell people about your Youtube and Facebook accounts. In a previous post I told you the best ways to find those people. To get value out of your Social Media campaign, you must bring the fans to your pages. We are talking about the fans of the company, the crew, the cast, the writers, etc. Once you got their attention, you must continuously remind them to return to your site. This can be done by linking your Twitter, Facebook and Youtube accounts, i.e. each time you post a new video, a tweet is send out and a post is created on your Facebook wall. To get more traffic, ask all your fans to spread the word by liking, sharing and re-tweeting. In all your newsletter, have a link to your web site, your Facebook, Youtube and Twitter accounts and make sure that those links are easy to find on your web site.

The second element of Social Media Marketing is the "Media" part of the term. Just getting people to visit your Facebook or Youtube accounts just to find nothing there, is one sure way of scaring them away forever. When they come to your pages, they want to do something here. They want to see something and get some information. This is what the marketing people call "content".

Creating content is important. It is even more important to continue to create fresh content. People want to see something new each time they visit. This means that you must post a new video on Youtube every once in a while, make regular tweets and post new posts on your Facebook wall.

I mentioned the most important Social Media tools above. Each tool has its specific purpose. This is not an exact rule, but you may get best value put of your SMM campaign if you use each tool in different ways.

Youtube is a video site. Use it to post videos. Keep your videos entertaining, educational and informing. A new video once a month might be enough, but more often would not hurt. Do not spam your fans. Daily videos about nothing of interest are likely to scare them away.

Twitter works best for short news messages. Use twitter to tell your fans about a new video or tell them if something interesting happened. Tweets on twitter has a very short shelf life and it is therefore advisable to support your tweets with more permanent pages on your web site or a blog.

Facebook posts also has a short shelf life. Many people have more than 50 friends, each posting something once a day. Most people do not bother to scroll down very far. You therefore have to post regularly and entice them to go to your page where they can find more information. Do not spam your fans. When you post a new video on Youtube, post a link on your wall and ask your friends to like the post. Do not post daily links to old videos. That is just a sure way to scare them away again.

So much for Social Media theory for the day. This week coming, Protea Stage will launch their Social Media campaign. Please follow them on Twitter at @ProteaStage and on Facebook at Protea Stage Production to follow our campaign.

You can also follow me on twitter at @Sepheritoh and on Facebook at Eric Swardt

 

Set designs and backdrops

This weekend promises to be very busy. Tomorrow will start off with Anne recording in my studio, before we will take the kids of the Aladdin cast to see the Wizard of Oz. This is a fantastic production, starring our own Michael Brownhill as the scarecrow.

For the set, Startimers uses a very clever idea. The backdrop is made up with a huge "book" that fills the whole stage back. During scene changes, the book's pages are simply flipped behind closed curtains. It is very quick and allows for a large number of different scenes, each with a different backdrop.

The day after tomorrow (Sunday) we are getting together at the warehouse to start planning the set for Aladdin. Aladdin will also require a fair number of different scenes, and we may consider the same idea. Alternatively, we may go for the more traditions idea of a large canvas backdrop.

Our previous production, Bottoms up, needed only one set for the whole play. All the scenes were played out inside a living room of a flat in downtown Liverpool. For that production, we designed a "box set". This means we've built the room onstage, complete with doors, cupboards and furniture. A box set allows for far more realistic scenery and more intricate details.

Below is a story board presentation of act 1, scene 1, from the musical, The exile, with the opening song, Freedom day. It shows my idea of the backdrop for this scene.

The exile will require a fair number of different backdrops for the different scenes. The idea of a book as backdrop, as used in the Wizard, may just work very well.

 

Aladdin and his magic lamp

Those who' s been following this blog will know by now. We (Protea Stage Production) are well underway with our second show for 2013. Our first show, Bottoms Up, directed by Margaret Todd, was a huge success. Scarcely one month break, and we are all system going again.

Protea stage is a non-profit theater production company here in Benoni. They have been around for about fourty years now and won many awards over the years.

Aladdin and his magic lamp is a youth musical, written and directed by Cameron Lowry. Cameron has been with Protea for many years and starred in many of the past productions as a child star.

 

I have been involved with Protea since the start of this year and wrote a few songs for the musical. This week we started rehearsals, with the first shot at the one song I wrote, A wonderful world.

 

Aladdin auditions underway!

Auditions for the Protea Stage Productions musical for this year is underway. This first two days of auditions over this weekend went pretty well.

The show we are doing is called Aladdin and his magic lamp. The show was written by Cameron Jordan Lawry and is based on the classic story of Aladdin, with a few twists. Most of the music for the show will be standard well known hits, with myself contributing three original songs specially written for the show.

The show will be produced by the Protea Stage Productions. Cameron will also be co-directing the show with Michael Brownhill.

The show will feature at least 14 cast members, with a still to be determined chorus.mthis means that any voluteers are still welcome to join us. We can always fit you in as one of the towns folk, venders, guards, suitors or servants.

Last chance for auditioning is Monday night at the Tom Newby school. Do not miss out on this opportunity to be part of something magic!

 

The show is over!

It is Sunday 3 O'clock in the afternoon and the show is now over for u as we park the last trailer and head home.

For the cast and crew, actors, directors, sound man and most of the people, the show ended 10 O'clock last night. The cast had their after-party and as they slept off their head aches, we got out of the bed to strike the set down, clean the hall and move everything back to the warehouse.

While cast members talk about after-show blues I say, "thank goodness".

This show was a great experience for me. It gave me an appreciation for what goes into putting up a show. For me it was at the cost of one iPhone that I dropped into a water tub, one day at the hospital with a strained back and many tranquilizers and pain killers to keep my knees working.

For Protea it was at a huge expense, which we probably did not recover. The biggest cost of community theater is however the time of so many people who gave up so many hours of their time to bring you that 2 hours of joy. It was many hours of rehearsals, building sets, setting up the stage every night, packing stuff away after each show and striking it all down.

The average man or woman has no appreciation for all these hours by volunteers that it takes to put a show together.

Next time you watch a show, enjoy it, and then say a soft thank you to all those heroes who made it possible. And know, that those people appreciate it so much more if you enjoy the show. That is why we do it. For your enjoyment. That is what we get out of it. The knowing that somebody appreciated and enjoyed it.

Thank you to everybody who support their local theatre.

 

The magic of theater comes alive

 

There is just that something about theater that comes alive on gala night. All these weeks of hard work suddenly seems to have special meaning. Those jokes you have seen a million times during rehearsals suddenly just seem so funny again when the whole crowd cracks up.

Well done to the whole cast cast and crew of Protea Stage Productions to bring their latest show, bottoms up to life tonight.

 

 

A much needed day off

Today we have the day off.

This is much needed after a week that I have barely seen my home. Last Sunday, Protea Stage Productions moved into the town hall. All this excitement is all about our play for the year, a farce called Bottoms Up. The gala night is next Friday May 17th. If anybody is around Benoni the next few weeks, please come and support us. Protea is a not for profit, community production company and would really appreciate any extra support.

The following series of photos show how we built up the stage set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch this space for the final pics, and off cause the show.!!

See you there.

Thank you for the support.

 

Moving in!

Today we (Protea Productions) moved into the City Hall. My back is off!

My day started at about 8 O'clock this morning when we packed the set up into the trailers, and we worked all the way through to about 5 O'clock the afternoon. At least we got all the heavy stuff built up now. Tomorrow we'll patch up the walls and holes and start painting. Dress rehearsals on Tuesday.

Hope I will make it through this week. Don't think there will be time for writing any songs this week. At least I wrote 3 songs last week, so I think I am half a step ahead.

 

 

 

PDCA - So, how much have we done?

Remember our plan? Let's remind you. We had the problem with so much to do in so little time. Then we drew up the big plan.

 

First, let us remind you of the basic principles of planning: Plan, Do, Check, Action (PDCA). No plan (Plan) is worth anything if you do not do (Do) anything. After you have done something it is worth your while to check how you have done against the plan (Check), and then take corrective action (Action) if you are not achieving the plan.

 

We now got to the end of the month of March. So, what did we plan to do?

 

To summarize, we planned to have 3 songs written for Rock fable, of which we wanted 2 recorded with vocals. For The exile we planned to have 2 songs vocals recorded plus 2 songs back tracks recorded. For Wake not the dead we wanted 2 songs back tracks recorded. That is a total of 9 songs backtracks, of which wanted 4 vocals recorded.

 

What have we done?

 

For Rock fable we have 2 written, with backtracks recorded. no vocals.

 

For The exile we recorded 4 backtracks, no vocals.

 

For Wake not the dead we recorded 2 backtracks, no vocals.

 

Yup, that is a little bit behind schedule, is it not? Rock fable is behind with the writing of one song. For the rest, we achieved plan on the backtracks, but when it comes to vocals, we are sadly nowhere. That is 4 songs behind.

 

What is the problem? As we have discussed before, the problem is to find singers.

For Rock fable I have a singer, she is just not ready yet. I will see her tomorrow, maybe we can discuss it and work out some plan of action.

For The exile, I uploaded all the backtracks, with lyrics and scores to indaba, but no success yet. If we hired professional singers we probably would have been on schedule.

 

Now I will have to make some decisions. Throwing money at it might solve it, while, on the other hand, the problem may get solved if we work a little harder at it.

 

Fact is, let's admit, I have not worked hard enough at getting singers. Just uploading songs to indaba and hope for the best is just not going to cut it. My countermeasure must be to actively seek singers on indaba, network more, and invite more singers to my projects.

 

My strategy for April will be to invite at least one new singer to each project per week. Once I have built up some momentum, I can ask singers who participated in one song to contribute to the other projects too. This way I just might get at least something done.

If you are interested, or know somebody who would be, just contact me.

Hold thumbs and let's hope we make better progress next month.

And b.t.w. in the meanwhile I am spending much more time than what I planned for with Protea Stage Productions. That definitely contributed to my falling behind schedule, but the experience gained there is worth it, therefore I will continue spending time with them.

 

Building sets for Bottom up

This week was a very busy week all round.

To kick start the execution of the plan we started to work on last week, I spend my Monday and Tuesday evenings recording back tracks for a song, Singing comes cheap, from The exile. The tracks was uploaded to Indaba, but I have not yet started searching for singers.

Then there was the meeting with Anne on Wednesday. She loved the song I wrote so much that she promoted me from songwriter to producer X 3. I have to decide if I take the job(s) of producer, but it does sound exiting. That is producing the demo CD, which will be used to get sponsorships exited, then produce the album and then the show. We've spend most of the evening talking about stories for songs to write and the overall vision of the show and album. We might have been a bit over exited for a first production meeting, but we discussed target listeners markets, venue sizes and stage designs. A rough date for the first recording has been decided as well.

There is no way that I can produce a show while I'm holding down a full time job, so I will have to do some serious planning, including planning my leave around the show.

Next we went to Cape Town for the dealers awards. This is suppose to be the annual celebrations day, but whenever a dealer sees me, they read "complaints department" written on my forehead.

The dealers at my table did not disappoint. At least, the whole evening was not a drag. The entertainment from Elvis Blue and his team was as good as it can get.

Back home on Saturday. I had some time Saturday night to work on my song writing, by slowing the song for Ann down from 160 bpm to 140 bpm, and transpose it down from soprano range to alto range. As any songwriter knows, you can not simply transpose a song few semitones and forget about it, so I still have a few notes to work around.

Sunday morning was spend at the Protea Stage Productions warehouse, putting a set together for the show, Bottom up.

It may not look much like the final stage set yet, but after a few adjustments and paint brushes, it will look great.. I have been honored to observe professionals in action. These guys have dome it before, and know what to do as efficient and cost effective as possible.

 

So much to do - better planning will get more done

In a post earlier I gave a list of all the projects I am working on, which are all work-in-progress. One question that I received was: why is nothing finished yet?

This week I will break my normal Friday-Sunday-Wednesday blog schedule and fit an extra Monday blog in as well. With so many things just going along, nothing ever gets finished. There are some things that have clear deadlines and time schedules. For the rest, if I continue on the way I am going now, I might end up retiring in 10 years with all those projects still in progress.

<rant warning> Another incident on Sunday made me think a little bit. I was really excited to get invilved in a certain project. At our last meeting, a certain person went off for about half an hour about how she needs help and we must get involved. Exited about getting the opportunity to be involved, I pledged my support. She gave me the time and address where I should meet her on Sunday. Well, I waited for almost an hour at the designated place and time without anybody rocking up. Not only did I waste that hour waiting for her, but I had to let my family down who wanted me to spend the Sunday with them. (It just so happen to be my birthday comming up next week and it is family tradition to take everybody to a restaurant for such occation). Later on I found out she gave me the wrong time and I was an hour too early. This is her project and I can not do it without her and her team, so I can not exactly say stuff her and go on on my own. Well, I am still a bit miffed about wasting my time and be disrespected like that. </rant over>

Ok, so this got me thinking. I have so much to do, but I do not get anything finished becauce I am doing too much at a time. I do not have clear goals. If I set myself specific goals and specific timelines for each project, I would be able to get to a point where I can move on to the next project. I have to take control by myself and not be dependant on others who disrespect my time.Unfortunately nobody works in a vacuum, and I will have to rely on other people from time to time, but then at least I must make sure I am in control and if people let me down, I can just move on and get somebody else.

So, let's set priorities. Anybody have any suggestions on what I should finish first?

There is the Exile. What can we do to finish this up? First I must keep up the blog posts about all the songs. That is easy. That part is going fine. I just keep on posting in my spare time. I do not want to change the schedule there. Next there is the question about the songs that were not included in the concept album recording. Some people did ask questions about that and it was suggested that I record them as well. Great idea. I will put a plan together for that.

Next we have Wake not the dead. There are a few songs written, but not yet recorded. Great songs, great story, and besides, I love horrors. Let's add this one to the list as well. Then the Rock fabel. One song in development waiting for feedback. This project is in collaboration with Anne, and I think we must give it some priority as well. Not only do I hate letting other people down, but I can greatly benefit from this both in networking and in exposure. Then we have The nightingale. Some songs written, one recorded. Then there is ghost town. One song recorded. Great song by the way and definitely a candidate for my greatest hits album one day.

Mmm. See what is happening here. Too many things. I must not fall in the same trap. Let's prioritize. Who's got any ideas what should come first? Leave your comments below in the cmments section, or email me, or phone me, or use telepathy to get your ideas accross to me.

By the middle of this week I will come up with some priorities and a rough plan.

 

So much to do in so little time

For somebody who is doing this while holding a pretty busy daytime job, I have far too many projects in progress.

First there is The exile. This is my main project which we are now in the process of pitching to producers.

Next there is Ghost town, a rock concert musical in development.

Then I have Wake not the dead, the horror musical. This is a musical propper, and if all goes well, I will record the songs by sometimes middel of this year.

Last on the list of musicals is A story of a nightingale. Many of the songs are written.

For all of these musicals, at least one, and sometimes many, demo songs are recorded.

Next in progress, on the production side is the farce, Bottoms up, by the Protea Stage Productions. My involvement here is more on the hand-of-all-trades and whatever-I-can-find-to-do-to-look-like-I-am-helping nature. The show will go on stage in May 2013. Later this year, around October, we will put a musical up, so watch this space. I will be much more involved in that production.

On the songwriting side, I am pitching songs for 2 projects. One I am especially keen for. This will probably turn into a 50's /Jim Steinman style rock show. The other project is pure adapting of some of my songs for a singer who plan to record an album this year.

So, if all these projects just keep moving forward and if my work gets accepted, then this year will be a very busy year. Keep watching this space.

 

Protea stage productions 2013 committee

This Sunday, 27th January, the Protea stage productions held their AGM and elected their committe for 2013. The very experienced Bob Stone was re-elected as chair with Lynsay stepping up for the vice chair position. Congratulations to everybody who were elected. I will serve on the committee in a non-executive position as general committee member.

This year we will enchant the East Rand with a great program.

You can read more about Protea Stage Productions at the web site. Be sure to support us with our program this year!