Songfest 2007: Caught In a Tale Spin
This would have been up much sooner, but this News section wasn’t in a state ready for posting anything at all until now. Sorry for the delay! As if you’ve been on pins-and-needles waiting for news on this project (or any project, for that matter), right? Sure…
Anyway…
Songfest 2007: Caught In a Tale Spin came to a close on Saturday, March 24 after a 6-performance run. The show was a huge succeess (5 sold-out shows and lots of praise), and as with most of my major creative endeavors, I am both happy and sad that it is now behind me.
For those who don’t know, Songfest is a massive musical stage show that takes place each spring at Pepperdine University (my alma mater) in Malibu, California. The show is very difficult to describe- it consists of amateur (student) performers doing a bunch of “mini-musicals” with original scripts and custom-arranged songs. Though it is an “amateur” show, we (the production staff) run the show in as professional a manner as possible, and the production quality is very high. The entertainment value, however, is higher still. The community spirit, enthusiasm, and “good, old-fashioned” fun-factor brought forth during this event is something that is very hard to find anywhere else in show business. This show is always wildly popular, and both the audience and the participants look back on it with fond and unique memories. For a lack of appropriately descriptive words, let’s just leave it at my saying it’s pretty darn special.
For several years now, I have served as director, executive producer, and music arranger for this show. Work actually begins for me each year in August, with most of the “heavy lifting” coming in February and March, with wrap-up and random work here-and-there from April until the following August. 2007 marked my sixth year at the helm of this production.
This year’s show featured five competing acts (including 250+ cast members), all based around a tall-tales/folk-tales theme. It also included six Songfest Hosts performing specially arranged and prepared music and skits, a terrific 18-piece orchestra (it’s a gig most of our pro musicians beg to put on their calendars as much as a year in advance!), and about 40 musical numbers. This wasn’t the biggest Songfest show I’ve ever done (that would probably be the massive 2-hour-45-minute-long Songfest 2006: Across the Board), but it sure wasn’t exaclty what you’d call small, either, at just around 2 hours. Caught In a Tale Spin was also one of the strongest Songfests I’ve been part of, as it didn’t really contain any sections of weaker or duller material.
The student group leaders were just terrific- and their promptness, organization, and attention to detail was a very unusual (and very welcome!) departure from the way things usually go over the course of a given year of Songfest production. All of the production staff was amazed at how unprecendentedly “with it” our student groups were this year. Thanks, guys (and girls)!
As a result, I had more time and energy to be able to put into my musical arrangements, my directing duties, and the rehearsal and preparation of the Hosts. I felt like the hosts were much more polished and ready to perform, musically speaking, than they had been in the previous couple years. We were able to put in the time together and we took care of many those tiny little rehearsal details that make the difference between talented singers getting 90% of a song out there for people to enjoy, and a true ensemble getting as much as 98-99% of a song’s potential into a performance. Most semi-talented performers can sing in an entertaining way- a great performance, though, is all about that extra level of shine and sparkle that can only come from lots of quality rehearsal and preparation.
This year, the music staff (Chris Stivers, John Brockman, and I) had around 40 songs to tackle. For my “share”, I had about 15 songs to arrange, orchestrate, and prepare. Keep in mind that with 18 musicians, that comes out to 270 individual musical parts (18 x 15 = 270), each of which is the length of an entire song. A huge task, obviously. This year, not only were my arrangements done nearly a week early (previously, despite my best efforts, this has ALWAYS been an 11th hour crisis as I go several days in a row without sleep trying to finish with literally just minutes to spare before the orchestra rehearsals begin), but they were actually better. My orchestrations were musically sharper, my printed scores/parts more clear, and my rehearsal preparation more detailed and thorough. Further, I was much more rested, and therefore much more effective in my directing duties in the final weeks of show preparation. I was able to edit and refine all of the host scripts, I was able to direct and rehearse their skits, and I was able to be present for more of the student groups’ frantic preparation and show rehearsal.
SO- organizationally speaking, we were sharp this year, and that made my life easier, my job more enjoyable, and ultimately the on-stage product was more polished and perfected. I was confident in this year’s show even before making it through the dress rehearsal- and that’s never happened before. Even my wife, Jenny, was shocked (and even moreso, relieved) at how smoothly and calmly I seemed to be handling everything during the final weeks.
Now, post-Songfest, my weekly work output for the show has dropped off to a really low level. I still have review and pre-planning meetings from time-to-time, and I still have some major reporting to complete. Along with my collaborators (notably Chris Stivers [music director], Katie McNayr [producer], and David Barber [production manager]), I’m also going through assessment to determine what we want to change for future shows (and how we want to make those changes). Otherwise, though, I’m on to other things.
I’m looking forward to my next big project(s) (which will be?…), and am finally getting to put more time into some much-neglected duties and activities. It’s nice to have some breathing room! But I do miss the excitement and electricity all around as a show as big as Songfest kicks into high gear.
As of now, my arrangement with Pepperdine places me in position to head up Songfest for 2008 (and beyond). That could change, of course, if a huge, months-consuming, high-budget, wonderful, or really exciting film/TV project opportunity comes my way, and I’m always looking forward to that. In the meantime, however, Songfest is a terrific thing to be a part of, and I feel pretty lucky to get to do that kind of thing for a living.
I’m glad the chaos and long hours are over, and I’m pleased with the year’s work. I still haven’t reached perfection, of course, though, so my plan is to still make next year’s show better. Be on the lookout next March for Songfest 2008!
Click here and here to see my photo galleries from Songfest 2007: Caught In a Tale Spin.
