Limelight Productions 'Backstage' Blog

2010-03-31T13:12:00.003+01:00

Welcome Back Limelighters
The new season is upon us with first rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast tonight - remember its in Rosyth Institute as the Parish Hall is in use tonight.

Just wanted to say a very well done to our very own Clare McGarr and Kevin Reed for playing the leads in Rosyth Musical's The King and I. Also to Cameron Brown who has been in our childrens cast before. Great show!!

Look out for more news to come.

Sue x

Beauty and the Beast Auditions

2010-02-18T12:57:00.002Z

A reminder that Beauty and the Beast auditions are coming soon.
Children’s audition is on Saturday 6 March and adults audition on Sunday 7 March.

See the website for more details:
http://www.thelimelightproductions.co.uk/shows/nextshow.htm

Jesus Christ Superstar

2010-01-06T23:05:00.001Z

Limelight Productions & The Fife Festival of Musicals!
What’s The Buzz............?

Limelight Productions are delighted to announce their involvement in an exciting new production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at the Alhambra Theatre in Dunfermline in April 2010.

We have been asked to participate in this special one-of production in collaboration with the Melodramatics Theatre Company and the Alhambra Theatre.

This production is limited to only a very few companies to perform, in order to mark the 40th Anniversary year of Andrew Lloyd Webbers ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’. This production will also form one of the flagship events of the Fife Festival of Musicals, which the Alhambra Theatre is hosting this year between March and October.

This is the first time a collaboration of this type has been attempted, and we are delighted to be a part of it. Such is the combined nature of this venture, it will not specifically be hosted as a Limelight or Melodramatics production, but will instead fall under the banner of the Alhambra Theatre.

Alhambra Theatre

presents

‘Jesus Christ Superstar’

(in association with Limelight Productions and The Melodramatics)

29th April – 1st May (Saturday Matinee)

Auditions

This is an open day/audition workshop invitation, open to anyone (would be nice to see as many Limeys as possible)

Sunday 17th January – Rosyth Parish Church. 12 – 5pm

Saturday 16th January – Edinburgh – (TBC)

(Please wear something comfortable.)

Wizard of Oz wrap

2009-10-21T18:36:00.001+01:00

It doesn’t feel like it but its’ been a whole month since the Wizard of Oz. It was a great week and the production team have asked me to say a very big thank you to absolutely everyone involved in the show for all your hard work. The feedback from audiences was fantastic so well done everyone. I was hearing that we had broken some sort of record for audience numbers but I will need to get some confirmation on that! Our highest selling performance was the Saturday matinee at 630 seats!!

I can also report that we were able to donate £2000 to the Mary Leishman Foundation. (On a personal note I was really chuffed that Limelight had chosen this very worthwhile charity this year as I was honoured to have shared a stage with this amazing lady for many years at Kelty Musical.)

You will be very pleased to hear that we will be in the Alhambra again for Beauty and the Beast and I know you will be over the moon that we have the same fantastic production team as last year so welcome back:

Bobby Mitchell (Director);
Graeme Sharpe (Assistant Director);
Clare Stewart (Choreographer); and
Ollie Kingsley (Musical Director – get practising your big blue bugs folks!!!)

Keep an eye on the website for details about auditions and rehearsals.

And very big congratulations to Clare McGarr (Wizard of Oz tree and poppy) and Kevin Reed (Wizard of Oz Scarecrow) and for landing the roles of Anna and the King in Rosyth Musical’s production of the King and I.

Oh and a big HI to Hannah from the cast – thanks for becoming a follower of our wee blog!!

Luv
Sue xx

10 Costume Facts for the Wizard of Oz

2009-07-19T12:16:00.000+01:00

Everyone knows the stories about the original Tin Man ending up in hospital due to the make-up he wore, or that Dorothy’s slippers were originally silver in the book, or that the actual lion costume worn by Lahr in the film was indeed real lion, but have you heard any of the following costume stories? Here are 10 facts about the costumes in the film of the Wizard of Oz scoured from the internet!

1. There were 3,210 costumes made for the film. (Don’t tell Judith that one!!!! – we may never see her for dust!)

2. Jack Haley (Tin Man) had been filming his first scene for three days before anyone realized that he had no "rust" on his "tin" costume, even though in the story he was supposed to have been standing rusted for an entire year. The rust was immediately applied to it.

3. The "oil" used to lubricate the Tin Man was not really oil – chocolate syrup was used as it was discovered that oil would not photograph well!

4. The Cowardly Lion's tail was worked by technicians on an overhead walkway.

5. The Cowardly Lion costume was sold for a whopping $700,000 in 2006. The sale was conducted by the US-based auction house Profiles In History. The costume, which had been part of a Hollywood memorabilia sale on auction site eBay, had been estimated to bring in $590,000.

6. The scarecrow outfit is currently housed in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington DC.

7. A blue and white gingham dress worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz fetched £140,000 at an auction in London in 2005. The dress, which was purchased by an unnamed phone buyer, had been expected to fetch £35,000.

8. There were actually 10 dresses made for Dorothy each with a 27-inch waist.

9. The first film version of Dorothy depicted her as a blonde with baby doll-esque makeup because that’s the way illustrator John R. Neill drew her in the books. The first person to illustrate Dorothy for L. Frank Baum was W.W. Denslow, who drew her the way we know her today: brunette pigtails and the blue-and-white Gingham dress. But Baum had a falling-out with Denslow and John R. Neill took over for the design from then on out, which amounted to more than 40 stories.

10. The Horse of a Different Colour couldn't be actually painted because of Animal Rights concerns. So they used coloured, flavoured jelly on a white horse. It was difficult to keep the horse from licking the paste, so the scene had to be shot quickly. It is reported that if you look closely at the film you can see the driver of the buggy subtly restraining the horse from licking itself. (Well 9 items would have been odd – and it was the horses costume…)

Sue x

Rehearsals

2009-06-01T13:31:00.000+01:00

Hey folks, Grum here.

So we're almost at the halfway stage and we're making good time, actually. There's been meetings, rehearsals, character development and, of course, the adults joined in with the kids for a truly spectacular warm up on the night after Eurovision! (Still loved the 'Carousel' task! Well done to the winning team).

To keep you all updated, I'm creating & uploading regular video diaries as the rehearsals move forward thick & fast. In addition to this lovely written blog (maintained by Her Majesty, Queen Sue) you can view my video diary at http://www.viddler.com/explore/GSharpe/videos

From a production team point of view, everything is moving really quite smoothly so far. Bobs and I are constantly blocking, and outside of rehearsals we are bringing together all the elements we need to for show week. It's going to be quite exciting and I'll try to give a sneak peek of as much as I can in my video diary. Olly's work with the singers sounds fantastic, the ensemble have really taken to him and stepped up their game from last year, creating beautiful sounds and what else can you say about Clare's dancing other than 'Wow'? That word was created purely and simply to describe her choreography.

AND on top of everything else (as if Wizard of Oz wasn't enough!), we have the rather spectacular Limelight's Got Talent 2 in June, which promises to be a fun & entertaining variety show, with a bit of everything for everyone. I think there are still plenty of opportunities to take part in this night of family frivolity, so get your name to Fee as soon as you can. Last year's was a hoot! There are some special treats lined up for this year already, though... so if you want to come along and enjoy the fun without too much effort, don't forget to get your tickets. Bargain at £4, and like everything with Limelight, all are welcome.

Anyway, it's getting late and too much Britain's Got Talent over the past week has taken it's toll on my sleep habits! (Although, how fantastic were Diversity!? Just wait until Limelight's Got Talent 2 - Steven & I might try to recreate that Transformers routine haha... on second thoughts, maybe not).

Goodnight Limeys and I shall speak to you all soon,

Grum xx

Swing Dance Workshop - 11 May 09

2009-05-13T01:54:00.002+01:00

What a fantastic workshop! A huge big thank you to Christi and Paul for putting us through our paces on Sunday.

Not only did we learn to dance the Lindy Hop, Christi gave us a history on the evolvement of Swing

As a dancer it was great being told to dance and NOT point your toes!!! We were all totally exhausted after the workshop but everyone I spoke to had really enjoyed the class. And its great news that the whole company will be in the “Jitterbug”- roll on the choreography Clare!!!!!! With the size of stage in the Alhambra, this number is going to look FABULOUS.

I have added a couple of pics below but go off to the website to see some more pictures of the day.

http://www.thelimelightproductions.co.uk/shows/productions/2009-WOZ/SwingWorkshop.htm

Audition panel

2009-03-08T12:50:00.004Z

Audition panel hard at work. Aaaww!

Audition Day

2009-03-07T15:47:00.000Z

Well, those were quite a full couple of days. I don’t know about you but I’m exhausted! We auditioned loads of children and all the company members/principals over two days and I don’t think I’ve sat for that length of time EVER.

Loads of people worked hard to make these days run smoothly and I want to give a big thank you to everyone from the committee to Mums & Dads & Aunties & Uncles & Grannies & Grandads who helped to ensure we were able to see everybody swiftly and in such an organised way. I hate to single people out but I have to thank Claire Bloomfield especially for her hard work and energy in leading our children’s acting workshops on Saturday. Claire, I don’t know what you did, but those were some AWESOME monkeys. Also the ever brilliant Alan on the piano to ensure we got to hear the best from our singing children.

The kids themselves were a great mix of new and familiar faces. Bobby and I were really impressed by the level of talent on display in the audition room – especially when you consider it’s in an audition environment (and nobody likes an audition environment). We also renamed everybody in one group ‘Erin’ because Bobby and I kept forgetting their names (which would have been okay, except poor Sean got renamed Erin!).

Nonetheless, the kids auditioned, the decisions have been made, and the letters will go out soon – good luck to anybody waiting to find out!

Onto Sunday and an entirely different set up for the adult auditions – a new style for Limelight – register between 9-10 and audition slots are between 10-5. I think it worked pretty well – we were only ten minutes behind (all through the day) and it allowed us to spend time with each and every person who came through the door.

Just one word though about the standard that came through the door - WOW! Everybody gave us something different and each were strong. Brilliantly (or madly) they were all fantastic which makes the decision for us more difficult (but I’d rather they were all brilliant than not!). And so, to the decisions – well we are all as a Production Team having a proper sit down and we should have a confirmed cast list in the next 24 hours.

It’s very rare at the end of a day of auditions (let alone two days) to be able to say you enjoyed every single performance that came through the door but we did. And those who auditioned should feel very proud.

So, onwards and upwards, lets get on down that Yellow Brick Road!

Speak soon,

Grum x

P.S. A big BIG thank you to the ever Lime coloured Fee for reading in all those parts (aka ALL the parts) and John Friend for reading in also. And the lovely Kath, Isabel & Judith for keeping us stocked with tea. I don’t think I drank a hot cup of tea though, I was too engrossed in everybody’s audition!

Rehearsls and Auditions

2009-01-29T00:51:00.000Z

Wizard of Oz - 2009

Preparatory rehearsals will take place on Wednesday 18th and 25th February 09 in Rosyth Parish Church Hall.

Childrens auditions will take place on Saturday 28th February 09 and adult auditions on Sunday 1st March 09. Registration for both rehearsals will be between 9am and 10am at Rosyth Parish Church.

Further details will be announced soon.