An update from our illustrious leader!

With less than four weeks to go, Monday 11th July was a busy day in the life of the Stage Experience 2011.

Since the auditions I have been pondering ideas for the show, talking with assistant director Ashley Harvey about the themes and structure of the piece and what we can do to put our stamp on what is an absolute classic. I'm really enjoying working with Ashley who is one of the cleverest and most creative directors in Oxfordshire - his addition to the team is exciting for all involved!

Yesterday I had a meeting with the ever-busy and productive Kerry Arnold and Gill Baines. We discussed groups, who can be best used for which sections and how we can make sure that the cast get the most they can out of the production, how best to work on Monday 15th August when we can't get into the auditorium because our set is being built, how to costume a period show and all manner of other things...

Then in the evening I had a great chat with our MD John Beswick about the music and he is working incredibly hard to get us the show we want, with the material we need to keep all 129 of you as busy as possible! We have some very exciting opportunities for dance, as well as some great acting opportunities and some additional singing that you might not expect, so there is something for everyone over the 10 days of rehearsals.

The aim with NTSE 2011 is to look back at Fame 2010, enhance all the positives and try to improve on areas we feel we can: its our mission to give the cast and tech team the best two weeks of their summer holidays!

I'm excited! Are you?

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!

Day 10 - the media buzz is building!

A very exciting morning already! Trev and Hamish from Jack FM came down and watched the cast run through Hard Work and Fame, which looked pretty fantastic from where we were sat, especially considering the limited amount of time they have had to rehearse. The boys from Jack then interviewed a few of the senior cast members as well as our mildly harrassed director. Everyone is quite tired but still full of enthusiasm and really looking forward to Thursday night.

Tune in to Jack FM's breakfast show on Thursday morning to hear exactly what they all had to say!

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!

Day one: introductions!

It's lunchtime on the first day of Stage Experience 2010! And so far, everything seems to be running very smoothly indeed (touch wood...). We started the day with some words of welcome from Kerry and Ed, and Jamie (the General Manager of the New Theatre) also popped in to have a quick word about health and safety. Much screaming later (you had to be there...) and everyone was given a tour of the building in their colour groups.

Mark, our photographer, and his assistant Lawrence have been taking group and individual shots all morning for the programme. We've just got the big group shot on the main stage and 6 more group photos to do this afternoon before we're finished, so they'll be done whilst Ed and his creative team run some workshops to help everyone get to know each other and shake off those first-day nerves.

The really hard work starts tomorrow...

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...

And Jon said 'Let there be lights', and there were!

Name: Jon Robinson

Role: Chief LX

About: I started 17 years ago as a trainee theatre electrician whilst completing 181 City and Guilds Theatre Electricians course. I then worked at the Apollo Theatre Oxford then the New Theatre Oxford for many years whilst also being a freelance Lighting engineer and rigger for many large out door shows up and down the UK. This will be my 9th stage experience and I'm looking forward to the challenge again.

What is the first musical you ever saw? Cats

What is your favourite song from a musical? ‘Defying Gravity’ (Wicked)

Name: Katie Clements

Role: Choreographer

About: Katie started dancing at the age of 3 and has been in love with the theatre for what seems like forever! She started working at quite a young age, her first part being that of Duffy in Annie, and her biggest part to date was in West Side Story in Leicester. Katie has been teaching for a number of years now and is a regular choreographer for John Spillers.

What is the first musical you ever saw? Hmm, I think it was Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - I went to lots when I was young! My favourite would have to be Saturday Night Fever.

What is your favourite song from a musical? ‘Defying Gravity’ from Wicked – it’s amazing!

Read through report!

By all accounts, the read through yesterday was a rip-roaring success! Lots of ideas being fired about and it was very exciting to see the beginnings of the show take place. Indeed, from this photo it looks like Ed was moving faster than the speed of light!

9 days to go... Everyone in the theatre has had their photo taken so that we can be easily identified by all participants, so we're all feeling a little self-conscious today!

More munchies!

Kerry has just returned from a shopping trip - the tuck shop is now fully stocked!

Cast read-through this afternoon, as Ed mentioned - wishing you all the best guys.

A blog from our director on the morning of the principals' read-through!

Woke up at 6.30 with 'Hard Work' running around my head after working on the overall feel for the number for about two hours last night. Pretty sure it will work, just working out how to get all the cast on stage and moving between states without bumping into each other - I have made my peace with the fact that there will be some bumping on the first few days but hey ho, thats why we rehearse isn't it!

Had a good chat with Katie (Choreographer) and I am looking forward to the read through later, although feeling anxious at the same time so I am going to go for a run and try and shake that off before the read through.

The production schedule is coming along, although it is a logistical nightmare and I have to control the urge to delete all its contents once one thing goes wrong. It shouldn't be a surprise that organising 150+ cast, in several rooms, between several production team members etc is difficult, so maybe I should give myself a break and come back to it in a bit, yes, thats what I'll do.

There are 10 days to go but its a full on Fame week! Meeting with Amy Jackson (Assistant Director) tomorrow and Sam Barton (Production Assistant) on Friday, I have directed Sam for the past two years at OYMT and I am looking forward to working with him on this one from a different perspective. It is one of my favourite things about Stage Experience, the fact that all sorts of people do all sorts of different things, but the show wouldn't happen without all of them. Yes there is a large amount of pressure on us as a production team and the theatre staff, especially Kerry, but we have such an army of people behind us to help keep it smooth and enjoyable, they are worth their weight in gold!

So, will see a small fraction of the cast later and looking forward to it!

Dressing up!

Kerry went on an exciting costume-procuring trip today, and brought the results back to the office to show us. Naturally, this turned into a bit of a dressing-up session:

I know that this doesn't look much like what the kids were wearing in the 1980s but that's because these costumes are for the parts in the show where the students are themselves putting on a production of 'Romeo and Juliet'. So fear not, there will still be leg warmers a-plenty!

12 days to go...

More progress...

Hello all,

Hope you had good weekends - less than a fortnight to go now, which is brilliant and terrifying at the same time... Most of the principle cast members have been in to collect their scripts so that they can make a good start on learning their lines, and the lovely Gill (more info on her in the next post) is hard at work designing the programme that we'll sell at performances. Our professional photographer Mark Brome will be taking photos of you all at the beginning of Stage Experience to go in there too, so be sure to get one as a fantastic souvenir!

Right more work now - I'll post about Gill a bit later.

Co-ordinating everything...

Name: Gill Baines


Role: Co-ordinator


About: I started working at the New Theatre at the age of 16, when it was known as the Apollo. Since then I have completed my degree in Musical Theatre, and have worked for a number of theatre companies in the UK and the USA in many different capacities. I enjoyed working on Stage Experience’s production of Bugsy Malone in 2008, and on the theatre master classes in 2009, so I can’t wait to get started with Fame!


First musical ever seen: The first musical I ever saw was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.


Favourite song from a musical: Ooooh, so many to choose from! I love to listen to ‘Rose’s Turn’ from Gypsy, and I love singing ‘Movie in My Mind’ from Miss Saigon.