Laura and Samara spend their days as non-profit unicorns and fill every spare minute exploring the world of musical theatre as BFFs (that’s Broadway Friends Forever). Follow @bffs613 on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
When audiences gather on May 12 to watch the Confidential Musical Theatre Project, they won’t know what show they’re about to see. The actors will never have rehearsed together or know who else has been cast. It sounds like a plan for disaster… or not? I guess we’ll all find out together!
The folks behind the show are Zucchini Productions, whom audiences most recently saw participating in Show Tune Showdown. The BFFs just had to sit down with Wendy Berkelaar, musical director/producer, Trish Lackey, director, and one of the actors (whom we’re keeping anonymous!), to confidentially discuss how this works and what audiences can expect.
What is the Confidential Musical Theatre Project (CMTP), and how does it work?
Wendy: CMTP is a one-night-only musical theatre event full of firsts for the cast and audience alike.
Trish and I decide on a show and cast it from a pool of people who applied for the project. As soon as we reach out to those we’d selected, they are sworn to secrecy. While they are allowed to reveal they are taking part in the project, they are not allowed to reveal or hint at the show or their role in it. The cast receives their script, score, and rehearsal tracks, and they rehearse on their own, individually. They can request a one-on-one rehearsal with Wendy for music and are allowed unlimited questions to Trish regarding their character, props or costume ideas, etc. They will meet each other one hour before the performance, then go on stage, script in hand, and improvise the show together for the first and only time, in front of an audience who gets to witness the first time they make choices and connections.
Have you been involved in CMTP before? How do you prepare your actors for this?
Wendy: This is my 10th Confidential Project as co-producer and music director. Our first show, Stephen Sondheim’s Company, was in 2016, and our last was [title of show] (Editor’s note: that’s the actual name of the show) in June 2019, before the pandemic. This is our first show back, post-COVID, and I couldn’t be more excited. My biggest task is wading through the score, assigning harmonies and making each cast member their own set of rehearsal tracks so they can prepare on their own.
When we get everyone together on the night of the show, we do a meet and greet, sing a vocal warm-up together, and run just eight bars of one number to have an “oh my goodness, we can do this” moment right before they step onstage. We encourage them to try anything and everything they want to—within reason, of course. The aim is to go home with as few regrets as possible. Go ahead and try it! It might fall flat… but what if something amazing comes out of it? A past cast member once said, “Don’t give fear the upper hand.” We’ve repeated it to each subsequent cast as our motto.
Trish: This is my fifth Confidential Project—my first on the creative team, but I’ve been part of three previous shows here in Ottawa and one in Toronto. As a director, I’m used to the thrill of the rehearsal process and working on relationships and fine-tuning chemistry between actors. Now I have to sit and wait, looking at my inbox to see if anyone wants to talk about character journeys or acting choices or “what the heck is this song even about?!” [But] I know as an actor in previous Confidential projects how the audience is wholeheartedly on board with you and bubbling with excitement, even when things don’t go smoothly. In fact, that’s often where the magical bits come to life.
Photo: Resonate Photography.
How do you choose a show for a production like this?
We can’t do shows that rely on their sets, complicated costumes or choreography to tell their story. We opt for stories with great characters or shows with great music. We’ve done classics like Guys and Dolls and Jesus Christ Superstar. We’ve done three Ottawa premieres—My Favourite Year, The Spitfire Grill and [title of show]. Each one has been thrilling in its own right for different reasons.
What can audiences expect the night of the performance?
Magic. If everyone shows up—if the audience and the cast are there—magic happens regardless.
Is this your first time performing in something like this? How do you prepare?
Anonymous actor: This is my first time performing in something like this. I’ve always been fascinated and terrified by this type of show. I love how fleeting it is. It makes it special and exciting. I am terrified about not rehearsing with the cast and just winging major elements of the show on the day of. Improv is such a difficult art form because you’re expected to call on your creativity and make a decision with no time to think or process it. On the other hand, that’s when great moments can come about.
Thankfully, we’ve been given the score and script. We know what the show is and rehearse on our own time and in a vacuum. But it does feel like a group project where you don’t know who’s in your group. I’m a major procrastinator, so I’ve been pushing myself to devote time every day to the prep. I don’t want to feel unprepared for the show. That way, I can get out of my own way and enjoy the experience!
The Confidential Musical Theatre Project takes place on May 12 at the Great Canadian Theatre Company at 7:30pm. The show runs 100 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $30, including HST.
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