Band Directing Music Musical
Man wearing many hats for the short musical Welcome to Ridgington
Client Name
Suzart Productions
Release Date
February 26, 2022
Project Types
Music | Film | Directing
Vanity Project
A ten minute musical?
Something a little different – with COVID still wreaking havoc with live theater performance, Suzart Productions organized an online festival of short musical theater films and I put together a team entry for the show.
My goal was to improve my limited video and audio editing skills producing the musical tracks and then editing the video and audio into a short musical film.
It was a gratifying personal project and I'm super proud of the resulting film.
Long Story Short Festival
Suzart Productions
February 2022
Producer | Artistic Director | Musical Director | Accompanist | Video Editor
Suzart Productions
February 2022
Producer | Artistic Director | Musical Director | Accompanist | Video Editor
The perfect town of Ridgington - where everyone follows a strict regimen of routines, rituals, and traditions. Today is Cleansing Day, the only time when each family has the right to tell each other the truth that’s been pent up all year. Every other day, they must smile and nod, just as they do in public to hold their lives and families together.
Suzart originally asked me to be the Musical Director for the festival but I didn't want the responsibility of having to managing music for multiple shows.
Instead I was drawn to the contemporary feel of this specific musical which came with no backing tracks and required a musician to create them.
That interested me. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to have some say in casting the show and putting it together - myself.
And voila!
Instead I was drawn to the contemporary feel of this specific musical which came with no backing tracks and required a musician to create them.
That interested me. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to have some say in casting the show and putting it together - myself.
And voila!
In your own words, tell us a bit about your show and your cast. What can the audience expect to see?
A contemporary musical take on breaking free from a 'Big Brother Is Watching' world. In Ridgington everyone follows a strict routine. Every day of the year. Except one - cleansing day when they can let it all out and speak the truth that's been pent up all year. The story is brought to life with lovely harmonizations by a small cast of four talented local performers. Cast includes Joseph Stone (Cabaret Suzart 2019) as the family patriarch. Julie Seguin (9-to-5 Suzart 2020) plays his dutiful wife. Suzart newcomers Ainslie Moors and Adrien Pyke play the teenage children questioning the doctrine and rigid rules that have been laid down in Ridgington. The band score was put together by Steve Vesely on keyboard, Ivan Matte on bass and guitar and high school student Noah Shapiro on drums.
What were your thoughts and feelings when you read your Long Story Short Festival script for the first time?
Chuckle. Dialogue? What dialogue? I liked the music! As an amateur musician taking a stab at directing for the first time I immediately fell in love with the lack of dialogue and having the story told through a sung through musical.
What was your artistic inspiration and what ideas did you incorporate into the filming of your Long Story Short Festival show? What should the audience watch for?
As a first time videographer I didn't want to bite off too much. I wanted to keep it simple and let the music tell the story. Technically I was hoping to have multiple clean cuts from a distance and different angles and some closeups to switch among when editing. If anything I had too much to choose from . . . Cast was too good!
What to listen for - how clear the vocals are. We purposely recorded all audio beforehand with the cast singing the entire show along with me on the keyboard. Drums, bass and guitar were added later. Then we filmed and the cast sang along to their own prerecording. The end result was a much cleaner audio sound - I think!
It also made mistakes MUCH easier to cover up. Cut away to another angle!
What did you learn the most from directing a Long Story Short Festival show?
I'm a better pianist than director!
Seriously though - the cast worked through various staging options once we had the music solid and added a little choreography flair all on their own. I just made sure it was in a tight formation for the visual effects. If anything, I purposely was attracted to this show because it would not require a lot of staging or props or choreography or costumes. A living room set was all we truly needed. But that couch is heavy!
What was the most challenging part of directing a Long Story Short Festival show? How did you overcome this challenge?
Organization is everything. Welcome to Ridgington was one of the festival shows that came with no backing track so I was initially attracted to the idea of laying down just the music tracks for Suzart. But the more I thought about it the more I got excited about the idea of forming my own creative team and reaching out to some musician friends to lay down the entire track for a group I felt would do a fantastic job performing the show. That meant learning the music in July and handing it off to the cast to learn over the summer. A weekly rehearsal schedule in September leading up to a pair of film dates in November. Followed by the editing process over the past two months which gave me enough time to not rush the job and slap something together hastily.
Also noteworthy - originally we had two days planned for filming but the lighting was fantastic on our first day so I made sure to get everything filmed multiple times in a three-hour afternoon session in case our second day was grayer. Good thing. We cancelled our second day because of the weather and it wasn't a problem. Everything you see was filmed on two iPhones among multiple takes in one sunny afternoon.
Film editing was undoubtedly the hardest part. It's not something I have a lot of experience with and wanted to improve on. Lining up video with audio is HARD! If you look closely I'm sure there are a few moments you can tell the video does not line up with the audio perfectly - but I think those moments are few and far between. I'm pleased with the result. Hope the audience agrees!
What was the most memorable or surprising moment of filming the Long Story Short Festival show? Why does this moment stay with you?
No one moment stands out. Genuinely enjoyed the camaraderie we shared putting it together. It's about the journey. Not the destination. And when that journey is done with friends it makes for a memorable experience regardless of the outcome. Though the bonds of friendship were certainly tested when we got together for a board game afternoon afterwards to celebrate filming completion. This cast was savage!
Talk about the cast of your Long Story Short Festival show and what special message would you like to send to them?
Genuine thanks to all of you for the time you put into this little show. You were all amazing and a pleasure to work with. I'm happy for the friendships formed and strengthened. And looking forward to the day we can do this again on a live stage.
A contemporary musical take on breaking free from a 'Big Brother Is Watching' world. In Ridgington everyone follows a strict routine. Every day of the year. Except one - cleansing day when they can let it all out and speak the truth that's been pent up all year. The story is brought to life with lovely harmonizations by a small cast of four talented local performers. Cast includes Joseph Stone (Cabaret Suzart 2019) as the family patriarch. Julie Seguin (9-to-5 Suzart 2020) plays his dutiful wife. Suzart newcomers Ainslie Moors and Adrien Pyke play the teenage children questioning the doctrine and rigid rules that have been laid down in Ridgington. The band score was put together by Steve Vesely on keyboard, Ivan Matte on bass and guitar and high school student Noah Shapiro on drums.
What were your thoughts and feelings when you read your Long Story Short Festival script for the first time?
Chuckle. Dialogue? What dialogue? I liked the music! As an amateur musician taking a stab at directing for the first time I immediately fell in love with the lack of dialogue and having the story told through a sung through musical.
What was your artistic inspiration and what ideas did you incorporate into the filming of your Long Story Short Festival show? What should the audience watch for?
As a first time videographer I didn't want to bite off too much. I wanted to keep it simple and let the music tell the story. Technically I was hoping to have multiple clean cuts from a distance and different angles and some closeups to switch among when editing. If anything I had too much to choose from . . . Cast was too good!
What to listen for - how clear the vocals are. We purposely recorded all audio beforehand with the cast singing the entire show along with me on the keyboard. Drums, bass and guitar were added later. Then we filmed and the cast sang along to their own prerecording. The end result was a much cleaner audio sound - I think!
It also made mistakes MUCH easier to cover up. Cut away to another angle!
What did you learn the most from directing a Long Story Short Festival show?
I'm a better pianist than director!
Seriously though - the cast worked through various staging options once we had the music solid and added a little choreography flair all on their own. I just made sure it was in a tight formation for the visual effects. If anything, I purposely was attracted to this show because it would not require a lot of staging or props or choreography or costumes. A living room set was all we truly needed. But that couch is heavy!
What was the most challenging part of directing a Long Story Short Festival show? How did you overcome this challenge?
Organization is everything. Welcome to Ridgington was one of the festival shows that came with no backing track so I was initially attracted to the idea of laying down just the music tracks for Suzart. But the more I thought about it the more I got excited about the idea of forming my own creative team and reaching out to some musician friends to lay down the entire track for a group I felt would do a fantastic job performing the show. That meant learning the music in July and handing it off to the cast to learn over the summer. A weekly rehearsal schedule in September leading up to a pair of film dates in November. Followed by the editing process over the past two months which gave me enough time to not rush the job and slap something together hastily.
Also noteworthy - originally we had two days planned for filming but the lighting was fantastic on our first day so I made sure to get everything filmed multiple times in a three-hour afternoon session in case our second day was grayer. Good thing. We cancelled our second day because of the weather and it wasn't a problem. Everything you see was filmed on two iPhones among multiple takes in one sunny afternoon.
Film editing was undoubtedly the hardest part. It's not something I have a lot of experience with and wanted to improve on. Lining up video with audio is HARD! If you look closely I'm sure there are a few moments you can tell the video does not line up with the audio perfectly - but I think those moments are few and far between. I'm pleased with the result. Hope the audience agrees!
What was the most memorable or surprising moment of filming the Long Story Short Festival show? Why does this moment stay with you?
No one moment stands out. Genuinely enjoyed the camaraderie we shared putting it together. It's about the journey. Not the destination. And when that journey is done with friends it makes for a memorable experience regardless of the outcome. Though the bonds of friendship were certainly tested when we got together for a board game afternoon afterwards to celebrate filming completion. This cast was savage!
Talk about the cast of your Long Story Short Festival show and what special message would you like to send to them?
Genuine thanks to all of you for the time you put into this little show. You were all amazing and a pleasure to work with. I'm happy for the friendships formed and strengthened. And looking forward to the day we can do this again on a live stage.
