This year, The Overseas School of Colombo is putting together the musical Bugsy Malone. Since the beginning of the year, I have seen many of my friends auditioning for the school musical and enthusiastically attending rehearsals twice a week in preparation for the opening in March. At the beginning of February, I finally joined in on the excitement as part of the backstage crew.
It has been really fun to look in on the rehearsals and get sneak peaks of the show that so much work has been going into since the beginning of the year. As entertaining as it to simply watch the acting however, my work backstage is also very interesting.
Not being very experienced in the field of theatre, learning about the work that goes into a musical in such a hands on manner has been very enlightening. The theater teacher, Miss Jackson, has been giving the backstage crew directions concerning the cues to bring in and take out props throughout the show, and has showed us how to manage props efficiently in the small space available backstage. Furthermore, I now understand the coordination and practice needed to pull of a musical, as the backstage crew has to be fully aware of the props to be kept at the wings of stage left and stage right, as well as exactly when they are needed.
With the 10th of March rapidly approaching, everyone involved is working together with renewed dedication in order to make the show enjoyable for the cast and crew as well as the audience.
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