I’m nervously excited about our community theatre production this year called THE BOPPING DEAD. Singing, dancing, and acting in front of a combined audience of over 1000 people is always intimidating but this fundraiser is a little more nerve-wracking. Why? Because I had the opportunity to co-adapt, plus co-write the original B and C storylines, for this 1950s teenage romantic musical with a zombie-lite twist.
It took our director, Sarina, and I three months to craft the Bopping Dead. We then collaborated with our brilliant musical director, Sheila, to add the right mix of classic and contemporary songs. I think what was most challenging was to do read-throughs and find out a few scenes fell flat and required re-writing or a musical lift. It’s tough to start afresh when you feel like something should sizzle but doesn’t translate or flow. Sarina has a sixth sense, though, and inspired us to be intrepid.
Following this, Sarina choreographed 10 original, visually striking dances, from the opening number to the big finale. As our cast ages (but is still young at heart), it’s so good for our neuroplasticity to learn many series of new movements, not just in our brains but our bodies. Plus, the best workouts are when you are so fixated on the steps that you don’t realize you are sweating!
Gail Leger is masterminding our costumes for the 9th year in a row, and Mike Evans is ingeniously designing our props. Both are volunteers and put countless hours in to their creations. We are grateful!
So, now our script is in the hands of two amazing casts: The Bedford Park Players and the Summerhill Players. The former group, my cast, is first out of the gate to workshop the show. This is when the magic happens: when people interpret the characters their own way, putting flesh on our skeleton in hilarious ways you never imagined. We’ve had so many belly laughs watching their creations come alive (or die!)
So, will the musical work? Can we bring THE BOPPING DEAD to life? Come see (and cheer us on as we love having friendly faces in the audience). We present The Bopping Dead from April 27-29, 2017 at the Randolph Academy in Toronto. All proceeds go directly to The Big Little Caravan of Joy, in Africa, and Painted Turtle Camps, in our Native Ontario reserves, two critically important arts initiatives in the world’s most vulnerable communities. Ticket info to follow!
TREDSUP 