The Sound of Music Cast Blog Page |
|
Giving you a unique peak behind the scenes of a hit West End musical, our exclusive cast blogs take you through the start of rehearsals to what happens backstage to keep a major show on stage day to day. Sixteen Going on Seventeen "A DAY IN THE LIFE" - Part 2 Welcome back to The Sound of Music blog! Our resident bloggers: Amy Lennox (Liesl) and Luke Fredericks (Rolf) are continuing their trek around all the backstage departments at the Palladium, finding out what goes on behind the scenes! Last blog they talked about the Cast and the Wigs department. This time they are starting off with the Sound Department. LF: Ok. This is an easy journey across the corridor for me. When they are not working on the show, the Sound department all live in the room opposite my dressing room which is on the top floor at the theatre. So I have got to know these lovely people quite well. So, I can start by introducing David Beckham who is Head of Sound here at the Palladium! Hello David!
LF: For the people reading this, you do indeed share a name with a famous footballer. DB: Really? Who is that? AL: Ok. We have now acknowledged this fact and can move on. So, talk us through a typical day ‘at the office’. DB: We come in at 4:30pm on a normal day or 11:30am on a matinee day, and we check the entire sound system here at the Palladium. There are 260 speakers we have to check daily. AL: How do you check a speaker? DB: We put a signal through it. Either some music or someone speaking to make sure it is working properly and that all the frequencies are there on each speaker. We also check all 48 radio mikes that the cast wear too to make sure they are running properly. The batteries are changed in every single radio mike, for every single show. LF: That is a hell of a lot of batteries. DB: Yes. 96 batteries a show. Each pair of batteries will keep a single mike going for the length of one show! Once these are changed, we then check all the microphones in the orchestra pit. And finally check the two sound desks positioned at the back of the Stalls are working as they should be. AL: Why do you need 2 desks? DB: The main desk that controls the entire show does not have enough inputs for all the mikes so we have a sub-mixer, (a second desk) that sub-mixes all the percussion, keyboards and sound effects that are in the show. LF: Such as? DB: There are many different sound effects in the show. There is the thunder and lightening in the bedroom scene, the Abbey bells that toll, the Nazi car that drives off to name but a few! We also check on the guitar that Maria uses as it is designed for the sound of the guitar to come from it, and not from the pit. Then we hand all the mikes out to the cast via their dressing rooms, fit those that need to be fitted and then we do the show. LF: So how many are there in the Sound Department during a show? DB: During a show there are 2 of us backstage, fitting any mikes that need altering during the course of the show, checking the mikes for any problems. And then we have one person out front on the sound desk mixing the show. AL: Do you ever have any massive problems with the sound? DB: Any massive problems? Well, the rest of the sound team are here. I guess they may want to chip in. Anyone encountered any massive problems?! BS: LF: This is Becky Stockting, one of our gorgeous sound operators!! So what is the problem next door? BS: They play their music too loud when the show is on in the evenings. Sometimes they hold big showbiz parties and we end up hearing their bass in the auditorium – so when you are mixing it’s really tricky! DB: Things like that are definitely really difficult to control, but big problems in the show are hopefully avoided by our thorough checks before each and every show. But, it is live theatre and anything can go wrong. AL: So what is the biggest obstacle you find when mixing a show? DB: Consistency. The trouble is with consistency is that it doesn’t always agree artistically. The show is a hundred percent live so to keep everything constant and perfect wouldn’t be as much fun! Our job is to find the balance! LF: Great! Thanks David, now I am going to turn to Becky and quiz her on her job in the sound department! So, what do you do before the show starts? What are you off to do? BS: Well, as David said, we check the entire sound system. My main duty before the show, backstage, is to fit the radio mikes. We have to make sure they are in the same place every day… LF: On the actor’s heads? BS: On the actor’s heads so that at the desk, they get the ‘consistency’ that David spoke about. That way, at least we have a start point every day that we are used to. If the sound is not then loud enough, or clear enough or there is something going on with the EQ or clarity then we can move it around. AL: What is EQ? BS: It’s like you’re the Mid and Treble and Bass on your hi fi. There are different frequencies that you can, basically, either induce or reduce to change the sound of anything coming into the desk. Whether that be instruments from the orchestra or the actors singing and acting voices.
BS: Yeh. Whatever. One of the main reasons why I wanted to work on this show was to work with children because I really like working with kids. I worked with them a fair bit when we originally opened the show, and I still enjoy it, although I don’t get to do it enough. They are so great to work with. Actually, everyone backstage is really great to work with, and that is why I do it really. AL: Yep! They are in charge of all the costumes and accessories that are used in the show, and are constantly working to keep them all in pristine condition!
NS: It means I am the number two to Iwan’s number one! I oversee the maintenance of all the costumes on the show, on things like evening dresses, sewing beads and buttons back on, and making sure things are kept in one piece. AL: So what is a typical day for you? What time do you come in? NS: I start very, very early! Twelve o’clock most days!! (laughs) I have to lots of administration, make lots of phone calls…. AL: Phone calls for? NS: Ordering things. Buttons, shoes…. I am particularly in charge of the children so that is an on going thing. LF: We are having a new cast change of children very soon, are we not? NS: Yep! Yet another cast change. All brand new. There are eighteen children (three lots of six Von Trapps!) and it’s my job to measure them, cloth them and find their shoes! Other aspects of my job include a lot of shopping! Often in places like John Lewis, fabric suppliers in North London and continual shoe shopping too! AL: Do you buy on the high street? NS: Yes. We buy from a mixture of shoe shops and dance shops. LF: I know that the boots we all wear as Nazi’s were shipped in from Italy! Why was that? NS: They make particularly good Nazi boots! LF: Fair enough! So, what is the favourite part of your job? NS: The end of the day!!! The favourite part…..at the end of a long ‘get in’ process and everything is up and running and the costumes are looking stunning. AL: What is your favourite part of the show? NS: Probably the “Lonely Goatherd”. It’s a great song and a colourful number. The ball is pretty glam too! Even if some of the dresses are a nightmare to keep clean!! LF: Would that be the infamous White Dress?!!! NS: Oh yes! LF: For anyone confused, one of the actresses in the show, Rachel, wears a white dress that is always getting dirty. So, Wardrobe have given her a pink flannel dressing gown covered in hearts that she wears until just before she steps onto the stage to keep it clean!
NM: Hi! AL: So tell us what you are actually doing?! NM: I am painting the sailor shoes for the new sets of children that are coming in! LF: So when does a typical day start for you? NM: Um… about twelve as well! We check the diary for notes from the previous day about what needs mending or altering. NM: I did a degree in Costume Production. I originally got into it working on costumes for school productions and took it from there. I trained at Rose Bruford College. LF: Good college! NM: Absolutely! All the best people go there! LF: (That’s where I studied acting!) Thanks Nicola!
IH: 543! That includes all the understudy costumes and the children too! Everything! Costumes that need dry cleaning are sent off once a week. All clothing worn next to the actor’s skin is washed every day. That’s 6 large washing machines full after every show! LF: I can see you have 4 washing machines and 2 tumble dryers! What happens if a washing machine breaks down as obviously they are vital in the running of the show? IH: I have to go to John Lewis and buy another one! (Laughs) More to come in the next blog as Luke and Amy continue their tour backstage at the Palladium! Keep posted!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sixteen Going on Seventeen "A DAY IN THE LIFE" - Part 1 Well, it’s time for the next instalment of The Sound of Music blog! Many thanks to those who have already submitted questions to be answered by our resident bloggers: Amy Lennox (Liesl) and Luke Fredericks (Rolf). Many of you have being asking about the various “behind the scenes” aspects of the show. So for this blog we are going to take you backstage at the London Palladium to find out what exactly goes on before the curtain goes up! Remember, keep your questions coming in for future blogs! Anything you want to know about The Sound of Music? The cast? The Palladium? Drop us an email at online_team@reallyuseful.co.uk LF: So. The question is “what goes on before the curtain goes up?” Wow! Try and describe that in a blog. I guess the easiest thing is if we take a camera and a dictaphone and work our way around the theatre. So much happens before the start of a show. Every department has their own procedures to make sure that everything is ready for curtain up. There are so many different departments on this show: Wigs, Wardrobe, Sound, Stage Management, Automation, Lighting, Stage Crew and that is before you add us lot in the cast, and, of course, the Orchestra!!
LF: Yeh. Amy comes down to warm up in rollers looking like Dot from Eastenders!
LF: We get another call after 15 minutes that tells us the details for that specific performance. We get told who is not performing that evening, which understudies (if any) are on, which group of children are performing (We currently have three teams – the Griffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws!! If you think that is bizarre, our last teams were called The Nolans, The Osmonds and The Jacksons!!!!) and who the conductor of the orchestra is. AL: And then we get a call five minutes before we are called to the stage. AL: Why? AL: Aw, thanks! Those that are in the opening of the show then head to the side of the stage that they enter from. We are all checked in (a bit like being at school!!) by stage management to make sure everyone is ready to go, who then take on the running of the show. LF: So, that is what the cast do before the curtain goes up! But what about the other departments? AL: Our first call on the “A DAY IN THE LIFE” blog is with the lovely people on our Wigs department! LF: So those of you that have seen the show will be aware that there are a lot of nuns who have the tops of their heads covered up with a wimple. However, when not being nuns, many of these actresses appear in Von Trapp’s ball in amazing gowns and with hair that looks immaculately styled. Then there is Maria who has a short blond bob and the Baroness who is also blond even though both Summer and Fiona who play these roles have much darker hair! AL: We have a fantastic wigs department who work brilliantly to make the cast look like they are ‘of the period’. So we thought we would start our journey around the theatre by popping into the see everyone in Wigs and see what they get up to on a typical show day! LF: Ok. Here we are in the Wig Department with Katie. Take us through a normal day in the Wigs department. Katie: A normal day in the wigs department is: we come in, unblock some wigs and ferry them around to the people who will be wearing them…. LF: Tell us what ‘unblocking’ means. Katie: We pull all the blocking pins out and sectioning clips that keep the wigs in place when they have been dressed out so that they don’t fall apart on people’s heads! They are then delivered to respective dressing rooms. Then at the half hour call we all have different plots to do. Currently I'm predominantly with the children in the show. So I do the hair for all the Von Trapp children so they look all gorgeous and sweet, even though they can be little monsters! AL: And what is your favourite bit of the job? Katie: Well, that would have to be creating Rolf’s hair style. Katie: Definitely!! Especially when he changes in Act 2 and goes from nice telegram boy to nasty Nazi boy. Lots and lots of blue stuff! LF: Blue stuff! For those not familiar it’s like a blue gel spray that slicks my hair down for the scene in the Abbey at the end of the show. We affectionately call it ‘blue stuff’ and say it as though we are Gollum from Lord of the Rings! Anyway, what time do you start on a normal day Katie? Katie: On a normal day I start at 6.15 and finish just after the show comes down! And it is a very nice evenings work!!! LF: Do you any particularly funny stories form your time in the Wigs Department? Katie: One that springs to mind was during a dress run in the tech week for the quick changes at the end of the show (when the nuns strip to reveal their main characters underneath for the bow) our then current Wig Master threw on a wig with such force that he misplaced it, giving the innocent victim a really low ‘monkey forehead’! It was hysterical. She walked on for the bows and the rest of the cast questioned, while laughing hysterically, if she had her wig on upside down!!! She looked ridiculous! LF: I wish we had a picture! AL: And now, we are interviewing Melissa Lindsay who is Wig Mistress, or Head of Department for those who don’t know what that means! AL: So Mel, you are in charge of this department. What exactly does that mean? ML: I make sure all the wigs look good everyday for each show. AL: So what is a typical day? ML: A typical day. I come in, get all the wigs ready. There are 18 wigs on the show and we set about four or five a day, on rotation. AL: What do you mean by ‘set’ a wig? ML: Well, we wash it, put setting lotion on it, wet-wave it – which is a tedious process. It involves putting finger waves through the hair so all these lovely luscious waves that you see here are painstakingly put in. It takes about an hour to do each wig! AL: Wow! ML: So it’s a long slog but it is a very period show. It takes a lot of time to do. LF: What period is the show set in? ML: It’s 1938, in Austria…..I think! AL: What is the favourite part of your job? ML: It's when everything looks absolutely gorgeous on stage. I watch the show regularly as part of my job. I check the wigs and make up as well! Check that everyone looks good under the lights. LF: Do you ever catch anyone wearing too much make up? ML: A couple. I won’t name any names. (laughs!!) LF: And I bet it’s mostly the men. ML: It is funnily enough! A bit too much bronzer comes out now and again! LF: That’s not me I hasten to add. I don’t wear any! AL: Whatever! LF: Moving on. Mel, have you worked on any other shows? ML: Yes I have. Before this I was on Daddy Cool, which I did from beginning to end. Before that was The Woman in White and before that was Bombay Dreams. All three shows I worked on from first night through to closing night. LF: So how does this compare to The Sound of Music? ML: Well, this show is an easier job in terms of the plots and running the show. But is harder because of the detail and the delicate nature of the wigs involved. But it’s great because it’s a hard process but an amazing result at the end! LF: Absolutely. They look fantastic. AL: Ok. That’s it for the wig department. Now we are going to head to another part of the theatre to meet the guys who work in……… So where do Amy and Luke head to next? Be sure to check in soon for the next instalment of the Sixteen Going On Seventeen blog as they continue to explore the goings on backstage at The London Palladium. We promise more photos and stories! Don’t forget to keep the emails and questions coming in!! April 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sixteen Going on Seventeen Blog 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO OUR BLOGGERS
So, as it’s the first blog, we thought we would get the ball rolling by finding out a bit more about Amy and Luke: Hi guys! Welcome to the brand new Sound of Music blog! How are you enjoying the show? AL: I absolutely love it! We have been going what? Five months? and I am not even slightly bored. It’s different every night and the cast are so much fun. We have a really good laugh. LF: I’m the same. I am having a fantastic time with the show. The cast are brilliant and it is such a great feeling performing at the London Palladium! I pinch myself everyday when I come into work! How long have you been performing in the show? LF: Just over four months. We started rehearsals at the end of August as part of the new cast, and then opened in the show at the end of September last year. It’s going so quickly! So how did you end up landing the roles? AL: I went through the normal audition process but it ended up being rather long! How many auditions did you have before you got the part? AL: I can’t remember exactly. I think it was six or seven in all. Talk about stressful!
AL: We both had to sing in front of Andrew Lloyd Webber at the end as well! That was pretty surreal. LF: We had one giant audition with all the people auditioning for Rolf and Liesl where we learnt the Sixteen Going On Seventeen dance. That was great fun being paired up with lots of different Liesls! So you both were paired up during the audition process? AL: No. Not at all. We never got to work at all. I did not even chat to Luke until the first day of rehearsals. LF: We were in the same dance call together but with the nerves and everything I could not remember anyone’s face! AL: Me neither! LF: It was hard enough trying to remember the moves and the words to the song! What was the most daunting part of auditions? LF: The most daunting part……er. All of it! Actually the scariest part was the final round and seeing a panel of about ten people sitting round a giant table waiting to see my audition! I did get the giggles though right at the start which kind of calmed me down! David (Grindrod) was reading for Liesl and he is taller than me! So it was quite funny to be doing a romantic scene opposite him! But it settled my nerves! AL: I was quite calm at the start of auditions. I went in and did my thing and was quite happy with it. But as the recalls kept coming I got more and more emotionally attached to the possibility of being cast as Liesl and inturn became more and more stressed by it! LF: But the panel were always really supportive. They helped calm the nerves and helped us to find the characters! AL: Yeh. They were lovely. David Grindrod also read as Rolf for me and was much better than Luke. I think they made a big mistake! LF: Alright cheeky! Don’t push it! How did you feel when you landed the parts? LF: Wow! That was an amazing phone call! My agent called me two days after the final audition and I was at work in a call centre! Being in a west end show was a huge ambition and to hear it had come true was pretty incredible! My feet didn’t hit the ground for days! Several bottles of champagne were cracked open that night! AL: I was actually on a train going to my boyfriend’s, by myself and sitting opposite a little old lady. My agent called and decided to wind me up saying they wanted to see me for yet another recall!! Aaargghh!! But then when he told me I had it, I screamed my head off and I think I gave the poor old lady a heart attack! Have you ever worked together before? AL: No never. This is officially my first job since graduating form Guildford School of Acting. LF: It does feel like we have known each other for years though! AL: We are like an old married couple! Ha! So, are you both getting on?! LF: No. She’s a diva! (starts laughing!!) We actually really do get on well. We clicked from day one and have such a great time in the first half that when things get serious in act two it is really hard to be so horrible to her! We even have pet names. I call Amy “Stinky” for obvious reasons!!!! AL: Actually, that is utter rubbish. I am lady like in every way possible! But no, we get on like a house on fire. Luke and I are very silly together. It will be really sad when it all ends. LF: Speak for yourself! AL: Charming! LF: Love ya Stinky! February 2008 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the behind the scenes peak of a major West End show in production in our rehearsal blog with original cast member, Sophie Bould... |
DB: Hi.
We get a lot of problems with the club next door!
LF: I am going to take a photo of David on his guitar for the blog. So, Becky, back to you. What is the best thing about your job, apart from putting in Rolf’s mike?! 
LF: Right, now we have just walked in to the Wardrobe department and the Head of Department is running away because he doesn’t want to be interviewed…..so I am going to turn to Nicole who is second in command. She is now chuckling away because Iwan Harries (Wardrobe Master) has fled. Now for everyone reading this blog, this is Nicole Smith who is our Deputy Wardrobe Mistress. Nicole, what exactly does your title mean?
AL: Anyway, I am now talking to Nicola Metcalfe who is busy drawing on some shoes! Nichola is one of our Wardrobe Assistants.
AL: Now, I have managed to corner the illusive Wardrobe Master, Iwan Harries. Iwan, just quickly, how many costumes are there on this show and how are they maintained?
AL: Well, the easiest thing to start with is to tell you what the cast get up to before the show starts. I come in at 6.15 which is the time that I get my rollers in so that my hair is lovely and curly for the show. They have to been in for at least half an hour so that my hair stays curly for the whole show. At half six, we all go down to the stage for a vocal warm up with the Musical Director. We do lots of scales and exercises.
AL: After warm up we then head back to our respective dressing rooms which is usually in time for “the half”. This is always 35 minutes before the curtain goes up and is the time by which all cast members must be in the building! So, we then have thirty minutes to get into costume and make up and be ready for our first entrance in the show. So what about the other five minutes? Well, “act one beginners” get called to the stage 5 minutes before the start of a show. This is to give time to get to the stage and make sure we start on time.
LF: Just enough time to finish a cuppa and brush my teeth.
LF: Cos I have to kiss you at the end of our scene and it’s only fair that I don’t smell!
LF: Good answer. Would have said the same myself.
ML: Hello!
Welcome to this first Sound of Music Blog on the new look web site! Over the next few weeks we are going to go backstage with two members of the current cast and find out a little bit more of what is going on! Amy Lennox who plays Liesl and Luke Fredericks who plays Rolf will be keeping you updated on the world behind the footlights so if you have any questions you would like answered then drop us an 
LF: Loads! I think all in all I had five rounds of auditions. Initially I was singing in front of our Resident Director, Anna, and the casting director David Grindrod. As we got further through auditions we then got seen by Jeremy Sams and Arlene Philips who directed and choreographed the show. 
