Show Choir! The Musical
by Julie Miller
Producer
It's day 9 of rehearsals here at Ripley-Grier studios. Our cast is working on some killer choreography for the title song, Show Choir, and it's the perfect opportunity to pull over co-author Mark McDaniels to ask him a few questions about the show.
Julie: What is a show choir?
Mark: Show Choir is a very popular extracurricular activity taking place in junior and high schools and colleges across America. It's a chance for kids to not only sing, but sing and dance, and putting them together is really the best of both worlds.
Julie: I grew up in New York, and we didn't have show choirs in New York. We had choruses and glee clubs, but they never combined dancing.
Mark. That's unfortunate. They missed out on all the fun. They missed out on the sequins.
Julie: During your years of being in a real show choir, was there any person you encountered along the way that you had in mind when you wrote this show?
Mark: When I first had the idea for a show choir musical it was right after high school. I thought this would be a really funny idea as long as the lead character is a lot like John Jacobson, who in my mind was Mr. Show Choir. Just someone who really embodies show choir in terms of his personality, his energy, his intensity, and the way he delivers his lines. He works with show choirs all across the country, does workshops; his whole image is based around show choir.
I decide to find out just how much our leading man, Mick Bonde, thinks he has in common with the character he plays.
Julie: You play leading man Jake Jonathan, who's described as an easily excitable show choir visionary, well-intentioned but stubborn, self-assured, and intense. Do you think that this was a case of type-casting?
Mick: I think every performer has that part of them. When they first start out, they're totally naïve to the world, and you just kind of go for it; you just put yourself on the line I totally think that's what Jake is. He's the beginning of every performer's dream. He's just balls to the wall and he's just going for it. And that instinct, absolutely, that part's type cast, but some of the drunken parts and other naughty parts are not necessarily me. But maybe, I don't know. I hope so.
Julie: Would Jake Jonathan say that there's a Show Choir breakfast of champions?
Mick: Jake Jonathan's breakfast of champions is probably like three extra large big gulps of coffee, and maybe some Special K.
Julie: And perhaps an Excedrin or two thrown in there?
Mick: Absolutely. Some Red Bull. Anything that's an upper, I'm pretty sure he's on it. Anything to get him started with his feet running when he hits the ground.
I'm totally amazed watching our terrific cast dancing, spinning, and singing their heart's out to the point that our rehearsal room can barely contain the energy. I ask our director, Gary Slavin, where he gets his inspiration for the staging and choreography
Gary: The dark recesses of my mind. Choreography usually gets inspired by what the music is and what the story is. In a musical, choreography has to help tell the story. There is lots of opportunity for storytelling with choreography in this play because of the way the characters progress from neophytes to huge international pop sensations. So we have to see them get better. We have to see them learn, and see them tackle different styles. And staging comes from what's the truth - what are the actors talking about.
We're on break now, and I seize the opportunity to pull over Michelle Millerick, who's been part of the show from the very beginning.
Julie: You've played the various roles of the Character Woman through the whole development of this show, from the Fringe Festival to the staged reading. What makes you keep coming back to Show Choir!?
Michelle: It's so much fun, and I get to be silly for two hours. Who doesn't want to be silly for two hours?
Julie: Do you have a favorite part of the show?
Michelle: I love Destiny. I'm a sucker for sappy uplifting ballads. It's fun to sing, too. It's very glorious - a good sound.
Julie: I was just having a lengthy conversation with our costume designer and I was wondering - do you think it's all about the glitter or all about the sequins?
Michelle: I don't know, I feel like you cannot have glitter without the sequins. They're co-dependent on each other. Everything should have glitter and sequins.
