I’ve been away on vacation and just got back. I was actually out of town during our announcement and onsale of Putnam County Spelling Bee. At that point most of the work was on our Box Office however. But in preparation for the launch, we built a Putnam County Spelling Bee Mini Website. On that site there’s a fun little interview with Director Robin Hughes, who also happens to be our Artistic Director and Director of Production and Casting. Here’s that interview…

Our Curtain Up! Camp for kids grades 2-9 is currently up and running, and the session 1 Musical Director, Josh Walker, did a really cool thing on Thursday. A good friend of his is a dancer on Broadway, I believe currently performing in Memphis. Don’t know his name – sorry friend. Josh brought him in via Skype, and the kids, many of whom are aspiring musical theater performers, got to ask him questions and chat with him about how he’s grown his career and how he got started. Super cool.

Vision, Persistence. An Interview with Husband & Wife Actors Michael and Angela Ingersoll.

Back before we had a blog (I barely remember life without blogs), I conducted an interview with Michael and Angela Ingersoll. They had just moved to Chicago (2005/06), had been cast in our production of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! and Michael had just learned that he was going to join the national tour of Jersey Boys immediately upon finishing his run here at Metropolis. The interview had been taken offline and archived. I thought it might be fun to put that back up for folks to read. Here it is, in it’s original unedited form.

It’s hard to imagine actors with this much talent attributing their success to “perseverance” and “discipline.” But that’s exactly what Michael and Angela Ingersoll say when asked by re:create.

The husband and wife teamed up with actors Julie Burt and Steve O’Connell in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Metropolis’ opening production of the 2006/2007 season. This was the second time in these roles for the Ingersolls, both having performed in Love/Perfect at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. But to become such a successful husband – wife team, they had to become a husband and wife.

600 actors in a week, plus 200-300 that our Casting Director, Robin Hughes, sees at showcases. It's a big week for us, and for many of the actors that come out.

Given our status as a non-equity (read: non-union) but professional theatre, it's very competitive for the actors. We'd like to think we're a great place to work. Great facilities, casts, resources and productions.

The process is that we cast all of the shows we're producing this year, from these auditions. Specifically, the individual directors call back the actors they want to see for their show at callbacks which come in the following weeks. It's hugely important for us. We end up casting the shows months in advance. It's efficient for us, and helps us get the actors that we want, contracted to the shows we need.

It makes for very long days for our Casting Director and the individual show directors, but it's the only way to do it. In the end, it's fun.

Good luck to all of the actors this week.

Most of the talk regarding the Michael Ingersoll shows revolves around Michael and his fellow actors in the Jersey Boys – and no doubt, they’ve been putting on some absolutely rocking shows here. But at his holiday show, as he often does, he gave up the stage to his wife Angela, herself incredibly talented.

But this time, she brought a couple of friends with her. None of us knew he was doing it. I still don’t know their names. But they set the stage on fire. Great singers. Here’s some video. Also, the Feb 1 & 2 shows sold out.

This is a video shot from Michael and the boy’s December performance. They have four shows left – Jan 18 & 19 (sold out) and Feb 1 & 2 (almost sold out). Very fun – check it out.

I promised I wouldn’t market too much on this blog… So think of this as just sharing information- but for those interested, Michael and the Boys have two more shows on Feb 1 & 2. Tix are available as of now… Information here.

In our latest installment o f the Crow & Dilber series from our production of A Christmas Carol, Crow & Dilber interview the one and only Bob Cratchit. Enjoy!

To see more videos in the series, visit our YouTube.com channel.

In this episode, Crow & Dilber, from A Christmas Carol, join in a music review session with actors Jim DeSelm, David Tibble, Matt McNabb and music director Ken McMullen. Stage Manager Holly Marshall also makes an appearance… To give them the boot.

We shot a series of shorts during the run A Christmas Carol. They feature Crow & Dilber from the show taking us on a series of behind-the-scenes and backstage tours. We also shot several interview segments for their pilot late night TV show. We’ll post a few them here – starting with one of my favorites.

In this one Crow & Dilber take us backstage with Assistant Stage Manager Allison Queen, who shows us how the Dry Ice Fog machines work.

December got away from me in a hurry. I think there was so much to catch up on with Metropolis Marketing and with my personal life, that I didn’t have as much time to keep this updated.

The show closed on December 24 to a full house and a standing ovation. Everyone at Metropolis was pleased with the show and the audiences responded very enthusiastically. I had a great time working on it – and though it’s a TON of work for the actors, I think they had a great time as well.

Here are a few statistics on the show that you might find interesting:

• 23 actors including the three playing Tiny Tim
• Those actors came from a general audition of over 900 actors
• 10 backstage crew at every show
• 47 young actors in the children’s chorus rotated throughout the shows
• Over 100 costumes
• 13 bags of dry ice used in every show
• Besides myself, the director, on the creative team, there was an assistant director, musical director, choreographer, stage manager, assistant stage manager, child coach/wrangler, light designer, sound designer, master electrician, set designer, props designer, costume designer and her assistant, a technical director and head carpenter, the Casting/Artistic Director and the Executive Director

I can personally say it was an extremely rewarding project. I’m proud of the show and I think we’re in a good position to remount this newer version for next year. I made friends in the process too. And though I’m sad it’s over, I’ve been enjoying things like, being home, eating food while not in a rush, and breathing. Sleeping too. It’s been fun to rediscover those things.