Photos!

Our lovely project photographer Mark came down to the auditions to take pictures of you all, accompanied and assisted by the equally lovely Vanessa! A couple of them are posted below, but they'll all be available to buy in August...

Auditions - phew...

First of all - thank you so so much to everyone who came along to the open auditions yesterday! There were 178 of you in total and you were all fantastic (I was a little jealous of you all learning those dance steps so quickly! Grrr.) We're in the process of sorting out all the paperwork and we'll be in touch very soon with all the cast details and information on the next steps.

In the meantime, keep working on those jazz hands...

The theatre seems very, very quiet this morning...

Stage Experience is over for another year - none of us can quite believe it! We'd like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who came to see the show: your support meant a lot and it was great to see packed houses at every performance. And a special thank you and congratulations to all the youngsters who took part - you produced a blinder of a show that is still being talked about all over the county this morning (my phone hasn't stopped ringing with members of the press passing on their compliments!).

So I hope you all enjoyed it too, and here's one last picture of our brilliant producer Kerry and our wonderful director Ed - the unsung heroes of the whole piece!

More Dress updates!

We're half way through the dress rehearsal at the moment and everything seems to be on track! It's fab to hear the singing with the backing of the band, who are really tremendous.

A couple of shots here taken before everyone took to the stage - including one of the props table: can you work out when each of the props are needed and who uses them?

We'll have lots of shots from the rehearsal itself to put up tomorrow and whet your appetite for opening night...

Dress Rehearsal day

There's a mild air of panic around the theatre today as it is the final day of rehearsals before opening night tomorrow. There are some last minute costume repairs going on as I type, and the principals have been called a little earlier than everyone else to polish off the last few rough edges. I'll have lots more photos by the end of the day - Mark is coming back in later to photograph the final dress rehearsal.

Remember, if you're taking part in Fame you can purchase a CD of all Mark's Stage Experience pictures for just £10, £2.50 of which goes to Cancer Research UK. Order your copy now!

Monday, Monday!

And the set has arrived! Which is very exciting - the tech crew are very busy loading everything in and constructing it, under the watchful eye of Stage Manager Sarah and Jon, our Chief LX. So far everything is going fantastically smoothly and the cast will soon be able to take to the stage once more.

The weekend was a successful one - there was even a complete run through of Act 1, which I think must be a Stage Experience record! It's great to see all the hard work paying off, and I'll put some more photos up later today.

Remember, if you haven't got your tickets yet you can get them from the New Theatre box office, by ringing 0844 847 1585 or by visiting our website here, http://www.newtheatreoxford.org.uk/ - if you're planning on bringing a group of people, call our dedicated Groups team on 0844 372 7272. Do it now!

Day 3

Some fab pics above taken in rehearsals today by the lovely Christina! Things still seem to be racing along at a great pace and with such energy, it makes us in the office feel tired just watching them...

T-shirts have arrived this afternoon for all the cast (to be distributed very soon) and several of the principals have answered some questions for the Oxford Mail - stay tuned for news of when their star interviews hit the shops!

The lady in charge of the stage...

Name: Sarah Ripley

Role: Stage Manager

About: This is my first Stage Experience. My theatre career started a long time ago and during my career I have been involved with many musicals. I toured large scale musicals all over Britain and Europe, then just prior to starting at the New Theatre I taught stage Management at LAMDA.

What is the first musical you ever saw? The first musical I ever saw was Wild Wild Women at The Theatre Royal Windsor - it was also the first one I worked on.

What is your favourite song from a musical? ‘42nd Street’ from 42nd Street.

The Final Countdown...

It's less than a week till Stage Experience begins! ID badges are being made for all staff and chaperones, the t-shirts are arriving next Monday and the tuck shop is fully stocked!

If anyone can think of anything we have forgotten to do, please drop us a line and let us know. 6 days and counting...

So many colours...

Kerry and Ed have spent two hours this afternoon dividing up the 150-something Stage Experience participants into colour-coded groups. This makes it much easier for us to organise the 10 days of rehearsal and to move everyone around the building, from stage to dressing rooms to rehearsal spaces, without risking losing anyone along the way!

The colours used this year are cerise, aqua, yellow, pink, blue, red, lavender, amber, green, orange, violet, grey, lime, silver and purple - almost enough to rival Joseph and his dreamcoat...

The music man...

Name: John Beswick

Role: Musical Director

About: John first worked as musical director for shows in the early '90s, working with amateur groups and schools in the Bristol area. He has since worked in theatres in Iceland, the Ameria and Ukraine, as well as across the UK. He was MD for Oxford Stage Experience in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, and has also done Stage Experience in Swindon (2006), Stevenage (2007) and Hastings (2009).

What is the first musical you ever saw? First show seen on TV - The Wizard of Oz; live in the theatre, a show called Time at the Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road.

What is your favourite song from a musical? Too many to choose from, but ‘With every Breath I Take’ from City Of Angels is as good a choice as any.

Welcome!

Hello everyone!

Right, we decided this would be a good way to make more backstage info available and to get everyone chatting. Stage Experience 2010 is only 20 days away, and we'll be featuring posts from members of the cast, creative team and crew so that you're all up-to-date on all things FAME...

Let me know what you want to see on here and feel free to ask any questions about anything Stage Experience - I'll get the answers to you asap.

I'm off to continue harrassing the creative team for updates now, so enjoy the fab leaping picture from the auditions day back on a sunny Saturday in April...