Good Morning All.
Happy New Year! So 2013 is here and guess what - we made a panto last year!
Its now already 'Last year's Panto'. So what will this year's be I wonder? The ever moving, ever changing flow of life and art will inevitably continue beautifully and cruelly whether we like it or not!
Today's blog is about gratitude and growth. As we have this short pause day before our final coming together I will here do a roll call of my team with just a few words about each member of TEAM CINDERELLA. Some have been very visible in this blog, some less so, but all are the vital and unique individuals who have made TC what it is. Thank you to all of you for bringing your honesty, love and talent to something that I hope will sing in your hearts forever. One of those times when we as human beings strive to be the very best we can. And we didn't do too badly folks! And after all this waxing lyrical and emotional it is "just a panto", or is it?
I appreciate that this roll call is very personal to TC and may be of less interest to those of my readers who are not part of this team. So totally understand if you want to go and make another cuppa and leave this page.
I am however choosing to put it out there for it to be seen by anyone who wants to look, and as a tribute to those who have been aboard the TC ship!
Here goes my roll-call of thanks to Team Cinderella 2012
So......
The Creatives:
Olly: As you have with the many plays you have written for our company Arc, over the past 28 years, you did it again with a fabulous script for Cinderella. And a great collaboration that set the ball rolling. The imagination, love, humour and sheer writing skill you brought to it was at the heart of it and led to everything else. Thank you.
Phil: Your combination of huge levels of inspiration, talent, skills, self-discipline, tenacity,humour, quirkiness and commitment set the metronome going and kept it going for Cinderella 2012. And for your generous and enthusiastic approach to collaboration and overall artistic support and leadership, thank you.
Owen: Your ability to enter a room and change the energy is legendary, whether it be through your near the knuckle humour or your gruelling warm-ups! You work with an apparent ease in introducing and demonstrating your choreography. It is intuitive and disciplined. Working off the same page as you came as such a surprise, all prejudice about jazz hands melting away! Thank you.
Ian: Your understanding of the themes of Cinderella were in depth and clear from our very early discussions about the show. The rich sources you brought for us to explore exploded in our imaginations! Transformation we agreed was the overriding vision for the whole show and you realised that fluidity in the set and costumes. And the conversation that carried on throughout! Thank you.
Chloe: Short but exquisitely sweet window in the TC journey. A real joy to work with you. You have a forensic eye for shape, colour and emotion. Remember we have a gel colour to patent! (VG!)Thank you
Steve B: Your quiet and self-contained approach is systematic and balanced. Your unflappable ability to deal with problems is a great strength. Thank you.
Phil H: Spending time with you in the band room, the civilised coffee maker even in the messy home from home! Your quiet humour in and out of the show is side-splitting at times! and you and Phil's ongoing private banter through shows, intriguing to watch! You have been great fun. Thank you.,
The Production Team.
Chris: In you there are a whole lot of talents and skills including leadership But most of all I enjoyed sitting in your workshop often and beginning to understand that you speak the language of wood! Who could not marvel at the fact that you could possibly build this set single-handedly. Its in part why I can't bear the idea of dumping it you know! Thank you.
Nita: My stalwart General Manager and long term friend and fixer at the Mothership called Arc. Your calm and thoughtful approach to life and work helped to smooth so many of the challenges and pressures of producing Cinderella which you did alongside me as my first and foremost partner in crime! Thank you.
MJ: Funny and great to be around, especially when he acts as the messenger for all things! I appreciate your calling, your beginners smile to the band who have no relay. Your care for my absent-mindedness during rehearsals and for your authority, and maybe just a bit surprising at your tender age!(ooh the ageism) Thank you.
Zoe: A hilarious sense of humour marked the start of our relationship, when you promised to deliver the entire transformation, shoes and all in the blink of an eye. So talented and skilled at making, the ball dress for Lascivia was a triumph as was of course "The" dress. Thank you.
Alison: Fabulous seamstress, you joined the TC half way through to pick up from Zoe (seamlessly!!) and did so with such elegance in every way. Your calm approach and steadfast efforts resulted in the transformation of the dress working beautifully and being the single defining moment of the show. Thank you.
Cameron: Working to be in the right place at all times. Your kind and sensitive nature means you take on and worry about everyone else! Thank you.
Myfannwy: From the first bounty, till the last sweeping up of the glitter you have been a total star. I am sure not many people would guess you are on a placement and have worked voluntarily on this project, because your professional approach to every aspect has been exemplary! Remember if you ever need a reference I am your woman. Thank you.
Laura: I didn't get to know you very well - but saw you quietly getting on with your job with no fuss. You probably carried one of the greatest responsibilities in the show, having to get Amy into the transformation dress and ensuring it worked! No pressure thre then! Thank you.
Steve P: Your enthusiasm for panto was very evident from the beginning when you posted on Facebook, "Panto is back". You love being around theatre and even have a tatoo to prove it! Your enthusiasm at the beginning of rehearsals was evident. Thank you.
Erin: Your tenacity and commitment have been evident since the get go. You came on board as an apprentice and took on the job as follow spot operator. Boring and infrequently the star of the show, the follow spot does have its moments of glory. And you delivered them well. Tenacity counts for a lot in this business. Thank you.
Luke: You are the dark horse of TC, and I have not worked out really why you are doing this apprenticeship when you are about to start your training as a doctor? I guess it sets you up to do all the tech for those doctors who love doing comedy reviews! Thank you.
Sam: Now you wear trousers and no longer sweat pants you cut a dashing figure in the flies! (oops that's a good one!). You have been a very present member of the TC, and as an apprentice you seemed to have learnt a great deal and put it into practice! Thank you.
Hayley: Chaperone supremo! I didn't get to spend much time with you as you were most often holed up with our Young Company, who by all accounts delighted in your imaginative and creative activities in the green room! And for looking after them so attentively! Thank you
And to those of the vanguard set team who were up there ahead of us all painting and prepping before the fit up and who those of us working out of the Malthouse hardly saw, to Beth,Chris, Cat, Bradley, Gergana, whilst we didn't spend much time together, as yours were short but intense involvements, they were nonetheless essential to the success of Cinderella. Thank you to you all!
And to my special Arc Team, Josh, Natalie and Theresa who held the Arc fort in my absence from it! Their quiet (well not always) support for the project may for the large part go unnoticed - But not by me guys! Thank you as always
And of course a very big thanks to the members of the Broadway Theatre Staff and Volunteers. To Denise, for being there always! Making sure that everything runs to time and in the right way! And for being a soother and a supporter to everyone. To Celia for her funny and humorous take on life and the universe And for her lovely cappuchino making! and to Lauren and Jenny who have to get the prize for panto enthusiasm! To Chris and Barry - thanks for everything - and in particular pioneering the streaming of the show which I think is the way its going for survival of what we want to continue to do live. Its getting on the vanguard of this that will add to the theatre's success going forward.
And last but not least all the Parent Chaperones who got on with it quietly in the background but without whom we would have had no happy kids on stage, or on stage at all. Thank you
Probably Enough for the first roll call -
Over next after a cup of coffee to our wonderful Acting Company on Blog 54 B
