BWW Blog: Stage Right in Greensburg, PA Attempts World Record

Their day started with an unknown script in a box, 14.5 hours later Stage Right in Greensburg, PA attempted to break a World Record for "Fastest Theatrical Production." Having this short amount of time to complete an almost impossible task, their hard work and efforts were a huge success.

Stage Right brought the book of Genesis from the Bible to life in their record breaking production of "Children of Eden" on March 9th, 2019 at the Palace Theatre in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Their day started at 5:30 in the morning when they received their scripts, and immediately started working on auditions. Their set design was even "started on a napkin and brought to life by 1:30 pm." said Anthony Marino, director for the musical and director of Stage Right in his opening remarks to the audience before the performance.

This show had a large cast that all worked tirelessly to make this dream come true for the performing arts school. It was incredible to see the rehearsal progress videos on their social media come to life on the big stage in such a short time.

Looking at this from a Theatre Student prospective, only 2 main things stood out to me as problems with the show: the sound and the programs.

As fantastic as this production was, it was difficult to hear some of the performers. Granted, the amount of people that had lavalier microphones was astounding - but by the time a soloist would go to sing, they would already be one line in before their mics were live. In one scene, two girls' microphones were not working/not loud enough. Another actor came out to give them a handheld mic, and it didn't seem as if that microphone was on either. Working with microphones on multiple actors is always a bit of a challenge, but this did not stop the flow of their production.

My other disappointment was with the programs. None of the musicians in the orchestra were credited for playing, and none of the soloists in the ensemble were listed either. There was a young girl who did an INCREDIBLE job in the song "Ain't it good?" but I have no idea who she was because she wasn't identified.

Looking at this from an audience member perspective, this show was fantastic. Musically, there were only two lyric slip-ups, but the lead characters and soloists all had fantastic voices, and did a great job with their characterization. Harmonies were spot on, and everyone seemed confident in what they were doing.

Putting on a production in only 14.5 hours is no easy feat. Everyone there had their work cut out for them with that tight of a schedule. They managed to overcome all of the challenges that may have faced them, and put on an impressive, and fantastic show.

I hope to see another production by this company when they actually have their full rehearsal time. With how well this company did in 14.5 hours, I could only imagine what they can do with more time.

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