The First Annual Spring Show!
ATTENTION
The Spring Show has been postponed pending the reworking of our business plan. But check out our plans for Meet Me In St. Louis! --Michael Masumoto
Production Notes
Director: Michael Masumoto
Production Designer: Josh Coolidge
From the Director
As the President of the new Arcata Eureka Spring Community Theater, I welcome you to this overview of our upcoming First Annual Spring Show production, Meet Me In St. Louis. We are trying to create a spectacular community event that the whole family can enjoy together, utilizing some of the finest creative and artistic talent that Humboldt County has to offer. I hope you enjoy these production sketches!
As the director for this year's Spring Show, I am committed to creating a fun, cohesive, and emotionally super-charged musical theater experience which will, I hope, draw the cast and audience together into a communion of spirit and joy. I have spent a lifetime accumulating skills which I believe will allow me to create something truly special, so that I can give a gift of happiness back to a community which has given ME so much happiness.
My creative partner, Josh Coolidge, and I are hard at work preparing this year's production. We hope to have the design process completed shortly. In the meantime, I wanted to share these preliminary set and costume sketches with you, so that you can glimpse the vision that we are making real.
A Few Words About "Meet Me In St. Louis"
"Meet Me In St. Louis" takes place in St. Louis, Missouri in the years 1903-1904, climaxing with the opening of the St. Louis World's Fair. The show is a slice-of-life musical comedy/drama about a middle-class family, the Smiths, whose everyday lives are disrupted when the father, an attorney, comes home to announce that he's received a job promotion and is moving the entire family to New York City... BEFORE the World's Fair opens! This bombshell sends the Smith family into a tailspin of despair as they prepare for their impending separation from friends and loved ones. Can this family be healed? Will Mr. Smith wake up and realize that the happiness of his wife and daughters is more important than money? You'll have to see the show to find out... But, as you already know, in this type of upbeat musical comedy, there's always a happy ending!
In between the show's beautiful American song standards (including Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and The Trolley Song), Meet Me In St. Louis demonstrates that the simplest, most ordinary decisions have the power to change people's lives permanently and profoundly. The comedy (as well as the drama) of the play centers around love and the little events of daily life, writ large and filled with song. The show is very funny, yet speaks of the challenges faced by everyone. The wisdom and humor of the script, as well as the deliciousness of the songs and musical score, have made the original 1944 MGM film musical a classic of the American cinema, and the stage play a 1989 Tony-award winner for Best Musical.
Our version of the stage production will be absolutely faithful to the emotional and psychological character story of the play, yet will branch into surrealist fantasy when the subjective emotions of the characters become so strong that they must be expressed in objective terms. For instance, The Trolley Song... As the young lovers, Esther and John, come together on their trolley ride to the World's Fair site at the end of Act I, the trolley, overcome with passion, will explode into flower as the scene transforms into an Edwardian picture postcard and dancers waltz in the clouds.
The design for this production has been completely informed by period sources, most notably the Art Nouveau artist, Alphonse Mucha (who designed one of the original St Louis World's Fair posters), and the illustrator of L. Frank Baum's Oz books, John R. Neill (who inspired both the overall look for the show as well as many of the costumes). The St Louis World's Fair of the finale will be a storybook fantasyland with Mucha-inspired showgirls, acro-balance dancers, and a working Art Nouveau Ferris Wheel.
Color plays an important part in this production, as it did in the original film musical. Because the show plays out over the course of one year, we will be emphasizing the progression of the seasons through color palette changes in both lighting and costume.
One of the great things about Meet Me In St. Louis is that the story is about real people with real human emotions, dealing with issues we can all relate to in a very entertaining, funny, and touching way... yet the show has enough potential for spectacle to make it a lot of fun to watch. We hope that you enjoy the following sketches!
Sets
For the most part, the sets for this production of Meet Me In St. Louis are a series of flats, drops, and scrims painted in the style of Art Nouveau storybook illustrations, with lines of darker colors around the edges of the flat shapes. Some air-brushed shading will occur in portions of the "illustrations."
To add texture, dimension, and functionality to the set, some three dimensional set pieces will also be created: the roof-line, staircase/landings, and front porch for the Smith Home; the Trolley; a telephone with pillar; an Art Nouveau-styled upright piano; a functioning Art Nouveau-styled Ferris Wheel; etc. These three-dimensional elements will be painted in the style of stylized storybook illustrations, in keeping with the rest of the set.
The Smith Home
Description
Because it's the primary set for the show, the Smith Home is fairly elaborate. It has a real staircase with landing; light-up stained glass windows decorate both the alcove below the landing and the landing itself. A practical door is built into the SR side of the stairs, leading to the "kitchen." A free-standing telephone "pillar" stands beside the "dining room" area, which will contain a large table and chair set for 8 on a rolling platform (not shown). An Art Nouveau sideboard, piano, and sofa will define the "living room" area stage center (not shown). Custom-made fused glass wall-sconces and a chandelier will add luxurious detail to the set (not shown).
The outside of the house is nothing but a theatrical suggestion. The roof line and windows are suspended in the air above the stage, attached to nothing below. The front porch is a free-standing unit that rolls on and off. Flats which suggest trees and bushes create a "yard" area.
The back wall of the set is a painted drop. Art Nouveau swirls and abstracted "paintings" on the "walls" complete the decor.
The Trolley Song
Description
The Trolley will be either a three-dimensional unit OR a flat (based on functional necessity). The Trolley will have hidden "flower cupboards" along the roofline, base, and wheel areas; these cupboards will contain artificial flowers or flower garlands which can be ejected by cast members at pre-arranged cues. The surrounding set is a series of decorative flats painted like clouds or birds. The Sun is painted on a canvas drop.
Fog machines may blanket the stage with fog to complete the illusion that chorus members are dancing in the clouds.
The Christmas Ball
Description
A flat, stylized Christmas Tree dominates this set. Flats painted with festive pillars and curtains adorn the wing areas. Decorative garlands and stars hang above. The stage will be filled with dancers dressed in Christmas fantasy costumes, waltzing.
The St. Louis World's Fair Finale
Description
Flats in the shape of giant Figures of Agriculture and Industry dominate the SR and SL portion of this set, while a functioning Art Nouveau-styled Ferris Wheel turns in the center. Flats drawn in false-perspective representing International Pavillions, trees, and bushes create the illusion of depth. On a musical cue, the Ferris Wheel and pavillions will illuminate, outlined with tiny lights.
The stage will be filled with Mucha-inspired showgirls, men dressed in Costumes of the World, acro-balance dancers, and, of course, the principal players gazing in wonder at this show-stopping tableau!
Costumes
The costumes for this production of Meet Me In St. Louis are designed to play upon the archetype and/or character of the principal or chorus member involved. They also help to set the period of the overall show, as well as highlight the time of year represented in the current scene.
For instance, let's look at the preliminary costume designs for Tootie and Agnes, the youngest Smith Family daughters.
Tootie (left), the youngest daughter, is sweet and funny but also an absolute terror, obsessed with death and bloodshed; at one point in the show, Tootie even throws a female scarecrow on the trolley tracks in an attempt to derail the trolley! In ironic counterpoint, we've dressed her in a costume inspired by John R. Neill's illustrations of Dorothy from the L. Frank Baum Oz books, the quintissential "good girl."
Agnes (right), the second-youngest daughter, is a tomboy and a much more straight-forward person. Her costume is inspired by John R. Neill's illustrations of L. Frank Baum's "Trot" character from the Oz books, a very independent and resourceful little girl. Note the sailor suit and "skinned" knee... and the look of irritation when she is forced to dress up!
For contrast, let's take a look at the costume designs for the eldest Smith family daughters, Esther and Rose.
Rose, the eldest daughter, is uptight, a flirt and a poseur. She is constantly spouting French in an effort to sound more grown up, and has trouble making up her mind about Love. Josh has dressed her in a very buttoned-up type of outfit, structured and elegant while still remaining youthful and true to the period.
Esther, the next eldest Smith family daughter, is a good-hearted girl who rapidly falls in love with the boy next door. Josh has given her a fresher, less structured outfit which will contrast nicely against her sister's more uptight look. Esther's slightly raised hemline was a sign of youth during this time period.
Note the fringe and floral details on the girls' outfits... Although, to modern eyes, these details seem more at home on a sofa than a dress, they were considered the height of fashionable clothing decoration during this time period!
Lon's Going Away Party
Above, you can see a selection of summer party clothing designs for the chorus of the "Skip To My Lou/Under the Bamboo Tree" party sequence in Act I. In the early part of the twentieth century, well-bred young ladies and gentlemen wore what we today would consider to be fairly formal clothing to parties; in fact, people in general wore more layers and more structured clothing, even in summer, than most Americans do today. In addition, hats were a must-have item for both men and women whenever outside. Even when playing tennis, people would wear sweaters... Seems crazy today, doesn't it? But clothes in those days really covered you up; it was the Victorian influence on Fashion.
But however hot these party clothes must have been in summer... don't they look absolutely beautiful?
Christmas Ball
The Christmas Ball in Act II is still in preparation. At present, we are planning to have female chorus members dressed in Christmas fantasy gowns, with girls representing snowflakes, wreathes, stars, bells, poinsettias, and other holiday goodies... We're trying to give a beautiful but surrealist tone to the Ball in order to outwardly dramatize Esther's internal conviction that St Louis is just the best place on Earth to be for Christmas... as well as everything else!
I mean, what could be better than going to a Christmas party and seeing a girl wearing candles on her head? I'd want to take pictures!
The Trolley Song
In the Trolley Song number, all of the chorus people will be wearing matching outfits... This will help to throw the main characters, Esther and John, into sharp relief as they come together, filled with the uncertainties that plague young love, aboard the trolley. I also think that there's something really peaceful and beautiful about a chorus dressed all alike which seems in keeping with our "Dancing in the Clouds" theme for the sequence.
And So Much More...
We have so many costumes designed for this show, we simply can not show them all here! Come see Meet Me In St. Louis at HSU's Van Duzer Theatre in May/June 2009 and see what we've managed to put together for your entertainment... I think you'll be pleased with the finished product!
And all this opulence can't happen without YOU, the community... If you're interested in helping with a donation of money to help pay for this community extravaganza, visit our Sponsorship page for more information. If you have no money but a little free time to donate instead, please consider volunteering; visit our Volunteers page for more information. We are grateful for anything you can donate that will to help to make our First Annual Spring Show the success it deserves to be! Thanks!