I am super-excited to announce that I will be directing the Fall 2010 musical for the Microsoft Theater Troupe.
I proposed the show The Wild Party (Book and Music by Andrew Lippa) at the end of May and was accepted! It will be my second time directing for the troupe. I previously directed All in The Timing by David Ives. I have also done set designs for The Threepenny Opera, Schoolhouse Rock Live!, and Into the Woods. Currently, my only performance experience with the troupe is the role of Jenny in The Threepenny Opera.
I’m still letting everything sink in, but I am really looking forward to this. I have enjoyed listening to the show for about 10 years or so, and my husband has been listening to it for the past couple of years. In fact, he was the driving force behind my proposal, as he kept mentioning that he wanted to see the show live and that I should try to put it on.
To be perfectly honest, I was hesitant because I would love to be in the show. The music is great fun to sing and the characters are interesting. I think I will still be a little envious of my actors, but there wasn’t much buzz elsewhere, so I figured if I wanted to see the show, I needed to get back into the director’s chair.
Directing should be better this time around. (Not to say it wasn’t fabulous the first time!) I live in Kirkland instead of Auburn, so late night rehearsals won’t be followed by an absurdly long drive home. I don’t have a 9-5 type job, so I won’t have to get up ridiculously early to go to work after having gotten home so late due to rehearsals and a long drive home. In fact, I don’t really have a “job” job, so I can really focus on the show with little distraction.
I am also excited about some of the publicity ideas we have. I have already set up a Fan Page on Facebook. We plan to regularly film sort of “behind the scenes” segments with the cast and crew and post them. We hope these will get the word circulating much earlier and result in much buzz! The show is not well-known, so we have to make sure people hear us coming!
To wrap up, here is the info from our Facebook page:
Playing October 22nd, 23rd, 29th, 30th; November 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th, 12th and 13th @8:00pm in Cafe 31.
Based on Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 narrative poem of the same name, Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party transports audiences to the Roaring Twenties as two vaudeville performers host a gathering of Prohibition era misfits for a night of life changing decadence.
This high energy show (in the tradition of Chicago, Cabaret and Rent) premiered off-Broadway in February, 2000 with a stellar cast including Tony Award winner Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Julia Murney and Brian D’Arcy James – winning the 2000 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical of the 2000 season.
With a cast of colorful eccentrics, and catchy soundtrack of jazz, funk, gospel, and rock, The Wild Party promises to be as much fun to watch as it will be to perform!
The original cast recording is available on Zune Marketplace and iTunes.
The Renaissance Woman 