ARTS SPOTLIGHT

ARTS SPOTLIGHT: WINTER MUSICAL

ARTS

Overcoming challenges key to staging Pippin

Constraints lead to creativity. Never has this statement been truer than through the process of mounting the winter musical, Pippin, at Madeira this year. Faced with a bevy of safety restrictions, the theater team began brainstorming in September how to stage a show without live music, wearing masks, physically distanced, and without a live audience.

CHALLENGE #1:

ADDING MUSIC WITHOUT LIVE SINGING OR INSTRUMENTS

The first challenge was bringing music into the production given singing and playing instruments in person was a non-starter. Technology provided the answer. Seven professional orchestra members assembled over Thanksgiving Break, physically distanced across the stage, and spent a marathon nine hours recording the full show under the direction of Music Director Heather Fetrow. Generously assisted by Director of Instructional Design and Innovation Stacy Tippens and other professional recording artists, a full soundtrack was mixed and ready for the students to begin recording their voices over. The students, still spread out across the country, used BandLab software to individually record their vocal parts in their bedrooms, closets, and bathrooms to get the best quality sound possible. Once every vocal track was laid down, the arduous task of mixing Madeira’s very own Pippin soundtrack began.

CHALLENGE #2: UNDERSTANDING MASKED CHARACTER VOCALS

The next challenge was how to help the audience understand who was singing when every actor was masked. We again turned to technology to assist, this time with filmed projections. Led by Ayana Ahuja ’22, students were individually filmed in front of a green screen without their masks to allow us to see them act and sing. Ayana and a team of Stagecraft students then edited the more than 20 projected moments together using Adobe After Effects. These projections were cast onto the stage while the masked actors below interacted with them. Another trick was to turn traditional rules upside down. For example, typically an actor would not turn her back to the audience. In this case, however, actors did just that to face the screen projecting the unmasked singer, which helped the audience follow along.

CHALLENGE #3:

PHYSICALLY DISTANCED ACTING

Each moment of the show was carefully blocked to overcome the challenge of maintaining physical distancing throughout the show. Theater Director Kelsey Meiklejohn brilliantly choreographed dance numbers and scenes to give the feeling of intimate moments and stage-filling drama without ever having cast members physically touch or come within six feet of one another.

CHALLENGE #4:

REHEARSING CHOREOGRAPHY OVER ZOOM

School was remote for part of the rehearsal time, so the performers had to learn and practice choreography over Zoom. There was more “top up” (moving head, arms) choreography that could be practiced seated in front of the screen and also could accommodate the physical distance that was necessary once the show returned to the stage.

CHALLENGE #5:

PERFORMING WITHOUT AN AUDIENCE

Finally, the last obstacle of performing without an audience had to be tackled. The team opted for a fully livestreamed performance. While the audience was not able to be in the space physically with the actors, the livestream allowed families, students, alumnae, and Madeira community members around the world to tune in, leading to record attendance. Each challenge in mounting a pandemic- safe musical tested the theater faculty and pushed them to their creative limits. They learned so much about incorporating technology and embracing radical changes into their art form and created a Pippin like no other. And while they would have liked to go ahead with a simple “Plan A,” “Plan Z-23” worked out beautifully too!