He's here!...The Phantom of the Opera!!!

Well, I never thought I would be directing the music for the Phantom of the Opera and yet....here we are. I thought I did a pretty good job in the past couple of terms whittling back and focusing on my priorities and not being too stressed out or busy. Then, I was asked if I was interested in directing the music for Phantom. Ummmm....YES! :) So...here we are.

Rehearsals are going well. So far, it's a lot of prep work on my part and tedious pitches and sectionals. Tonight was our 4th music rehearsal and it sounded pretty good, considering. The cast is strong and I think they are working to get done what needs to get done. Here's the crazy part: We had 5 weeks from callbacks. !!! 5 weeks isn't a lot of time for a show like Phantom. Lucky for us, most of the cast are musicians and can learn their own music. Those who aren't have set up outside rehearsal time with me and the chorus all have CD's with their parts recorded on them. It just seems a little surreal still.

The show's rights have just been released for production on college and high school stages all over the nation and so far, we are the first University to take it on. We have hired in the Phantom from our Portland Opera connections and have cast the rest of the show from either EOU students or community members. It's a cast of 30 and we have our work cut out for us.

Every spare minute that I have (that is not being spent with my family or teaching in some other capacity) is being spent in preparation for leading these rehearsals. It's a lot of pressure for me and a lot of work to make sure that I do my job to allow the cast to do theirs.

I'm excited for the opportunity. I directed the music for Little Women and just finished up with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. In truth, I'm glad I had those shows to cut my teeth on because this is not a small venture in any stretch of the imagination. The pitches have almost all been learned and then it's on to the coaching. My goal is to have all the tools to the singers that they will need to put on a successful show by the 13th of October. Not to scare myself, but that is in 6 days and 4 rehearsals from tonight.

No problem...........