2004, Brigadoon
Rehearsals
Preparations for Brigadoon were underway. Lynne's husband did a terrific poster and then decided we needed a more memorable web page, so registered www.dvsingers.org. He also offered to do an on-line ticketing page, but it was felt it would be cheaper to use an existing service. A show fee was as introduced. Early in the rehearsal period funds were short, and so Gerard organised a raffle at rehearsals.
The publicity machine got into action, and a concert party was organized to go around retirement villages to promote the show; they found they were also paid for the privilege. They also visited the Ringwood Highland Games, set up a tent, sang and handed out posters. This proved very popular. Some also sang and handed out posters at the Eltham and Warrandyte Markets. Some of the production team went to Geelong to pick up sets and costumes, and Malcolm and Anita Wilton organised working bees. This was a magnificent effort by this team.
Twenty-seven booked in for the auditions, which was promising. A large cast was required and most roles were filled. Graham had been retrenched and was unsure of his availability, so Lynne took over the Direction and Graham auditioned and was allocated the role of Tommy, opposite Susanna Wailes, with Geoff Collier doing the comic lead. A new mezzo was offered the role of Meg, but inexplicably dropped out, and Christine Keys accepted it. One of the songs was transposed up for her high soprano. Darren Rosenfeld was Charlie and young Lucas Richter the angry young dancer, Harry.
It was a predominantly male show, so we were able to accommodate some of this demand by reallocating the part of Angus as Annie for Judith. A magnificent bass-baritone who'd recently moved into the district blew the panel away, but then said he was unavailable for principal rehearsals. After a few years in Tonga, Tim Warren returned for a minor role.
All the fun of the choreography began. This always brings forth much in the way of initial left feet and embarrassed laughter. Amazingly, the choreographer always achieves the seemingly impossible. Lynne devised an intricate Gene Kelly routine for Graham for "Almost like being in Love", which took a lot of work but was very effective. Geoff Collier, who'd been a professional dancer, was a great help to everyone.
And of course there were more dramas! There were problems with the backstage chorus, as not everyone could see the monitor. Michael Try was invited back to assist, and things came together. At the charity performance, the door hadn't been attached to the house, so Jeff carried it on when he entered! However, when Tommy left, he leaned it against the frame and it fell back on Jeff's foot! The sword dance was quite funny too, as they finally had swords, which were very short! When Tommy stepped onto the bridge at the end of the first scene he found it hadn't been chocked and went sailing into the wings.
Performances
Each performance was preceded by a half-hour from a lone piper from the Ringwood Pipes and Drums, who ended his performance by piping his way into the theatre to his seat as the lights went down. Opening Night was a Scottish gala as there was a special rate for those who wore traditional Scottish dress. Several clans were represented in colourful groups. Also on opening night the lights blew halfway through the first act. Fortunately the spots were on and stayed on until they came back again. The lighting designer then pointed the finger at the front-of-house staff for having an extra urn on! Lesley came along with a $3,000 camera and took some amazing the photos.
Free tickets were handed out for the Wednesday performance, in the hope that people taking them up would bring a paying customer and there was quite a large audience.
Gerard organized a customer survey form for Brigadoon, and the over-whelming criticism was the inability to hear all the dialogue and songs. American musicals are quite different from G&S, and often have dialogue over music. Some of the roles sit quite low too, so that was a problem for some of the higher voices. In the second week some shotgun mikes were employed to boost the voices, but this had little impact.
However, the show was an outstanding success, both at the box office and artistically. It was by far our most popular show and we made a profit of around $12,000. However, set storage was still a problem, and it was agreed to retain money to build a shed on the Flint's property.
At the cast party, Alan Flint read a poem he'd written in honour of the show.
These history notes have been kindly provided by our long-term artistic director and co-founder, Graham Ford.
