1/4/21
We had a zoom meeting. Auditions are on Friday at 5pm at the PAC. Actors will perform a 30 second comic monologue and then be taught a song. Mrs. White is written to be played by a man, as is Mr. Body, but Joe is open to casting either gender in both roles. Danile Ferris is the musical director. Joe wants all of us at auditions. Scripts are not in yet, but we do have the rights. We should get the scripts next week, but we won't get the score until after they get the check. The orchestra will be three players--piano, cello, and percussion. Currently we have no SM. The set will be one backdrop with modular furniture: three sets of tables with two chairs each that can be rearranged to form different room configurations. Joe and I went through my slideshow and likes all my ideas. We have to have the costumes done early so that we can take the photos of the suspects to make the giant cards. Actors will wear body mics. Bronwen will be working with the soloists again. We will continue with our same schedule for production meetings, on Mondays at 1pm.
We had a zoom meeting. Auditions are on Friday at 5pm at the PAC. Actors will perform a 30 second comic monologue and then be taught a song. Mrs. White is written to be played by a man, as is Mr. Body, but Joe is open to casting either gender in both roles. Danile Ferris is the musical director. Joe wants all of us at auditions. Scripts are not in yet, but we do have the rights. We should get the scripts next week, but we won't get the score until after they get the check. The orchestra will be three players--piano, cello, and percussion. Currently we have no SM. The set will be one backdrop with modular furniture: three sets of tables with two chairs each that can be rearranged to form different room configurations. Joe and I went through my slideshow and likes all my ideas. We have to have the costumes done early so that we can take the photos of the suspects to make the giant cards. Actors will wear body mics. Bronwen will be working with the soloists again. We will continue with our same schedule for production meetings, on Mondays at 1pm.
Cast List
Mr. Boddy- Nick Marquez
Mrs. Peacock - Brianna Veselka Cowart
Professor Plum - Lee Brown
Ms. Scarlet - Ash Meador
Colonel Mustard -Garland Petterson
Mr. Green - Jackson Parker
Mrs. White - Charlie Jay
Detective - Victoria Parnam
Understudy - Eduardo Perez
Mrs. Peacock - Brianna Veselka Cowart
Professor Plum - Lee Brown
Ms. Scarlet - Ash Meador
Colonel Mustard -Garland Petterson
Mr. Green - Jackson Parker
Mrs. White - Charlie Jay
Detective - Victoria Parnam
Understudy - Eduardo Perez
Purchases
I am buying all the costumes online with the exception of Mrs. White. Since a male was cast in the role, I am having to build the costume from scratch to accommodate his measurements. I was able to find several great sources for drag queen shoes, and shapewear so that we don't have to make it ourselves, like we did for Hairspray. I am also getting Mrs. White's wig from a drag queen store too. I tried to order a cheaper one, but it was entirely too small for Charlie's head, so I went ahead and paid the big bucks for a wig made to fit men. I got most of the things from Amazon, but the suits came from Mens USA. I included prices and the source for each piece on the slides. I started shopping as soon as I got the cast list and most of the things I ordered arrived within the week (we have an Amazon Prime membership). I was worried that Miss Scarlet's dress, which was being shipped from New York, and Col. Mustard's tweed jacket, which was coming from the UK, were going to take the longest, but they arrived within the week as well.
Production meeting notes
1/28/21 We had another zoom meeting today. The gala will be live-streamed by a professional company doing a three camera edit on the fly. The other two performances will be broadcast on youtube. The director wants to put the tech crew in costume as household staff, so there will be two maids and a butler. We are trying to get Mar/Com to take the photos of the suspects for the giant cards. We're going to set that up for next Friday. All the fittings have been done and we are working on the few alterations that we have to do. I have more things coming in the mail this weekend.
2-1 The rest of the things showed up this weekend. Joe wants to use the feather fans from Chicago for one of the musical numbers. Mrs. White's costume is almost finished, I just have to go buy a black zipper to put in. The clear masks that we bought to try that are supposed to be anti-fog still fogged up on several of the cast members, so Joe asked for regular masks, in the color palette of each character. Those were ordered and arrived Sunday.
2-8 The rest of Col. Mustard's things showed up today: his yellow plaid shirt, gold tie, and shooting socks. Garland came in for a fitting and the size 11 boots fit just fine, which made both of us happy. I had to hem his jacket sleeves but that was it. I still have to hem Emmett's jacket sleeves and dye the two sets of feather fans green and gold, but then I'm done. We're taking the photos for the suspect cards tomorrow.
2-9 MCC cancelled classes today due to inclement weather. The photos have been rescheduled for next Tuesday at 5.
Snowpacolypse wiped out the next 10 days of rehearsal. The play was rescheduled for the first weekend in March. The photos were taken the Monday we got back to school. It took three days but I got the white feather fans dyed, dried, fluffed, and fancied up.
2-1 The rest of the things showed up this weekend. Joe wants to use the feather fans from Chicago for one of the musical numbers. Mrs. White's costume is almost finished, I just have to go buy a black zipper to put in. The clear masks that we bought to try that are supposed to be anti-fog still fogged up on several of the cast members, so Joe asked for regular masks, in the color palette of each character. Those were ordered and arrived Sunday.
2-8 The rest of Col. Mustard's things showed up today: his yellow plaid shirt, gold tie, and shooting socks. Garland came in for a fitting and the size 11 boots fit just fine, which made both of us happy. I had to hem his jacket sleeves but that was it. I still have to hem Emmett's jacket sleeves and dye the two sets of feather fans green and gold, but then I'm done. We're taking the photos for the suspect cards tomorrow.
2-9 MCC cancelled classes today due to inclement weather. The photos have been rescheduled for next Tuesday at 5.
Snowpacolypse wiped out the next 10 days of rehearsal. The play was rescheduled for the first weekend in March. The photos were taken the Monday we got back to school. It took three days but I got the white feather fans dyed, dried, fluffed, and fancied up.
Mrs. White
Mrs. White is written to be cast with a man in the Panto Dame tradition. The actor is a large man and I wasn't able to get a maid uniform in his size, so I knew basically from the start that I'd have to build this costume from scratch. I started from the inside out and bought a ton of shapewear from two Trans/Drag Queen store, Dress Tech and Shoe Cup, as well as Amazon: a boned waist cincher, DD bra with pockets, foam boobs, hips, and butt, two pairs of compression tights, Mary Jane shoes with a 3" heel, and a white wig. The cost of turning a man's body into a women's body was four times as expensive as the actual cost of the costume: 5 yards of stiff black satin, and a zipper. I used a vintage vogue pattern in a plus size. I still had to size it up to fit the actor. I also moved the closure to the CB and eliminated the overlapping double breasted detail on the front of the bodice to simplify the silhouette. I added a white collar and cuffs to the dress and made a white apron out of the same satin. The hair accessory came from Amazon.
Fittings
Production Photos
"Clue" pulls in MCC audience to sleuth whodunnit
March 3, 2021 Carl Hoover
It’s a board game on the boards when McLennan Theatre stages “Clue the Musical” Thursday through Saturday at McLennan Community College’s Ball Performing Arts Center. Joseph Taylor photo.
After months where the major question for McLennan Theatre was whether COVID-19 would affect a production, the question changes at this weekend’s performances of “Clue the Musical” to who did it?
The musical inspired by the Parker Brothers board game goes on stage Thursday through Saturday, the first time the theater has mounted an indoor production since mid-March last year. Communitywide and school coronavirus measures at that time shut down the remainder of its 2019-2020 season and limited the start of its 2020-21 season to virtual or outdoor productions.
Those who attend in person will be asked to mask and observe social distancing with the PAC seating capacity reduced to 75 seats for spacing considerations. Thursday’s performance, part of the Hearts in the Arts gala that raises funds for MCC’s performance arts students and programs, has sold out and Friday’s performance has as well.
In-person audiences, however, will get to play the game of the game of the play, complete. “For a live audience, the show is basically a live interactive version of the board game,” said director Joseph Taylor.
The board game pits players, each representing a color-coded character, in solving a murder with three components: Who did it, in what mansion room the killer did it, and with what weapon.
In the musical, the character of Mr. Boddy (Nick Marquez) joins the familiar Colonel Mustard (Garland Patterson), Mrs. Peacock (Brianna Cowart), Professor Plum (Lee Brown), Mr. Green (Jackson Parker), Ms. Scarlet (Ash Meador) and Mrs. White (Charlie Jay) with an addition, the detective (Victoria Parham), standing in for game players trying to solve the mystery. Spoiler alert: Boddy won’t make it to Act 2.
Characters sing — it’s a musical, after all — with accompaniment by pianist Daniel Farris. Ushers will pass out tiny pencils and paper for audience members to keep track of clues and eliminate suspects, just as they would in the game, and the house lights will go up after major clues for audiences to write.
So who did it? Not even the cast knows by the time the opening number begins, said Taylor. Three audience members selected at random and called to the stage will select cards naming the murderer, the weapon and the room.
Mr. Boddy gets a peek before the cards are sealed in an envelope, which sets the other part of the musical in motion: He’s the one dropping clues in dialogue for the cast to find out which one of them did it.
While audience members are in the dark for much of the musical, imagine how it feels onstage when your character may or may not be the guilty party.
“There are 216 potential endings. It’s a big challenge,” the director said. Not only do actors have to memorize alternate lines triggered by dialogue cues, they have to learn those cues as well and create a character that’s believable both innocent and guilty, although suspicious is the logical middle ground here. “It’s kind of been a bear to rehearse,” Taylor admitted.
After performing the murder mystery live to show audience members whodunnit, the MCC cast may sigh with the accomplishment — they did it.
Saturday’s performance was approaching a sellout at press time, but those unable to secure a ticket can view the livestreams carried on the McLennan Theater YouTube channel at the time of the performances.
After months where the major question for McLennan Theatre was whether COVID-19 would affect a production, the question changes at this weekend’s performances of “Clue the Musical” to who did it?
The musical inspired by the Parker Brothers board game goes on stage Thursday through Saturday, the first time the theater has mounted an indoor production since mid-March last year. Communitywide and school coronavirus measures at that time shut down the remainder of its 2019-2020 season and limited the start of its 2020-21 season to virtual or outdoor productions.
Those who attend in person will be asked to mask and observe social distancing with the PAC seating capacity reduced to 75 seats for spacing considerations. Thursday’s performance, part of the Hearts in the Arts gala that raises funds for MCC’s performance arts students and programs, has sold out and Friday’s performance has as well.
In-person audiences, however, will get to play the game of the game of the play, complete. “For a live audience, the show is basically a live interactive version of the board game,” said director Joseph Taylor.
The board game pits players, each representing a color-coded character, in solving a murder with three components: Who did it, in what mansion room the killer did it, and with what weapon.
In the musical, the character of Mr. Boddy (Nick Marquez) joins the familiar Colonel Mustard (Garland Patterson), Mrs. Peacock (Brianna Cowart), Professor Plum (Lee Brown), Mr. Green (Jackson Parker), Ms. Scarlet (Ash Meador) and Mrs. White (Charlie Jay) with an addition, the detective (Victoria Parham), standing in for game players trying to solve the mystery. Spoiler alert: Boddy won’t make it to Act 2.
Characters sing — it’s a musical, after all — with accompaniment by pianist Daniel Farris. Ushers will pass out tiny pencils and paper for audience members to keep track of clues and eliminate suspects, just as they would in the game, and the house lights will go up after major clues for audiences to write.
So who did it? Not even the cast knows by the time the opening number begins, said Taylor. Three audience members selected at random and called to the stage will select cards naming the murderer, the weapon and the room.
Mr. Boddy gets a peek before the cards are sealed in an envelope, which sets the other part of the musical in motion: He’s the one dropping clues in dialogue for the cast to find out which one of them did it.
While audience members are in the dark for much of the musical, imagine how it feels onstage when your character may or may not be the guilty party.
“There are 216 potential endings. It’s a big challenge,” the director said. Not only do actors have to memorize alternate lines triggered by dialogue cues, they have to learn those cues as well and create a character that’s believable both innocent and guilty, although suspicious is the logical middle ground here. “It’s kind of been a bear to rehearse,” Taylor admitted.
After performing the murder mystery live to show audience members whodunnit, the MCC cast may sigh with the accomplishment — they did it.
Saturday’s performance was approaching a sellout at press time, but those unable to secure a ticket can view the livestreams carried on the McLennan Theater YouTube channel at the time of the performances.