This Friday, Feb. 19, Saint Louis University Theatre will be bringing the magic of an era long past to the stage in Xavier Hall. For its third production of the 2009-2010 season, the theatre will be putting on Cole Porter’s most well known musical, Anything Goes. Audiences will be treated to a finely tuned and polished performance of music, dancing and the over-the-top antics of the passengers traveling on a ship from New York to London.

While those in attendance at any of the five performances of Anything Goes will be able to appreciate the finished product of the play and the talent of the actors, most will likely be unaware of just how much work has been put into the production. From the first concept meeting to the final performance, no detail is overlooked when putting on a play at The University Theatre.

Before anything else, The University Theatre must first obtain the rights to any play it wishes to put on during the year. This in itself is not always an easy task.

“There are two or three companies who handle the rights … They control who does the show and how it gets to be done,” John Lamb, publicity and box office coordinator, said.

Generally, the theatre has no trouble getting the rights to its desired play, as long as it performs the play as written. Otherwise, the company can choose to deny the rights or make the theatre change the performance even after rehearsals have begun.
One of the main issues in obtaining the rights is making sure that the time the theatre plans on doing the production doesn’t interfere with any other theaters putting on the same play.

“Plays go to the biggest theaters first … so you have to make sure productions don’t overlap,” Lamb said.

Once it has been determined that scheduling for the production doesn’t conflict, The University Theatre is able to begin moving forward with the rest of the preparation for the play’s opening.

Once the theatre has the rights to the play, concept meetings start taking place. These meetings are comprised of all the people who will be involved with the play’s production. The director discusses his or her vision for the play with the stage manager and those who will be in charge of lighting, set design and costumes, in order to nail down every detail of the production process. These meetings take place “three to six months in advance of the show, but for our final production of the year that concept meeting could even be a year before the show,” Lamb said.

After the meeting, each of those involved must then come up with proposals to fit what the director is looking for. Then, it’s time to get the students in on the process.

While the word ‘students’ may evoke images of those performing in the play, students behind the scenes also play an involved role in aspects of the production.

“The model we use for having a university theater is that everyone … should work on everything,” Lamb said. “Some are in the cast, some in the shop, some in costume design, some in publicity. When the next show rolls around, students rotate positions.”

Although having varying duties in the performance, all those involved are committed to a strict rehearsal schedule that starts four to five weeks prior to opening night.

The cast rehearses six days a week, for four hours a day, with the stage manager writing down every detail of how the performance is put on—where the actors stand, when they move, lighting cues, everything. Those students helping with lighting, set building and costume design expend just as much energy on their own jobs. The lighting design is adjusted up until the first performance, so those involved with that aspect are in the theater for every rehearsal, as are those building the set. Meanwhile, back in the costume shop, the costume designer and his assistants, students that “either have work-study positions or are taking set design classes that include costume building,” Lamb said, are at work measuring, cutting and sewing the outfits that will be worn during the performance.

This past weekend, the production process entered tech weekend. Tech weekend occurs the weekend before the performance’s opening, and is essentially crunch time for the cast and crew. Saturday generally consists of ‘Ten of Twelves,’ where all are called in for a 12-hour rehearsal.

“They’ll act for 10 of those hours … and act from cue-to-cue,” Lamb said. “It’s very technically oriented.”

The next day, the cast and crew is called in for ‘Six of Eights,’ at which time they’ll “fix any problems found during the run the night before, add in costumes and have the first formal run of the show,” Lamb said.

Rehearsals continue through the week, finally culminating in the long-awaited opening night.

With Anything Goes, things have run according to plan, despite dealing with a few extra aspects.

“Doing a musical is a little different,” Lamb said. “Aside from the stage director, you also have to have a musical director … and hire an orchestra.”

This particular production also has a larger cast than many of The University Theatre’s other productions, and consists of both theater and non-theater majors.

When an audience goes to see Anything Goes, Lamb expects audiences to be blown away by the performances of those onstage. But when the curtain call rolls around, don’t forget about all the work that went into the play offstage to make the performance possible.

Anything Goes opens at The University Theatre on Friday, Feb. 19, with performances on Feb. 20, 26, 27 and 28. Tickets can be purchased at the box office in Xavier Hall.

For more information about Saint Louis University Theatre, visit the department’s official website at www.slu.edu/theatre.