Drum Town Girls
It started at the same time as Gerry in The Attic. (our last musical, which turned out to be a trumpeting success) But it wasn't until about May 2018 that I approached the girls. We were having dinner in the rehearsal room and I asked everyone to exit the room except these girls. Gary Beaubouef and I had had this idea to do a musical set in Japan. Set in a small town near Kanazawa we would bring to life the stories of a group of drummer girls. We loved the idea and gave the girls time to think about it. A year later and the front line was cast. The girls went into drum mode. We arranged drum workshops and started work on turning these wonderful actresses into drummers. The dream was alive.
2019, we decided to take the year off and focus on the pre-production, casting and drumming elements of the show. However at KPB Theatre a year off rarely turns out that way. We ended up shooting a film version of the Boxer in January and February 2019 followed by a short musical play performance in Kanazawa in November 2019. Needless to say we were busy in 2019. Thanks to the wonderful talents of Nagoya "Drum Town Girls" became fully cast and rehearsals have started! First step, dance and character study.
When we think about rehearsing all the different parts of an original musical, the dance, the drumming, the singing, the acting, it can all get a little daunting. So for Drum Town Girls we decided to focus on character study and acting first. A touch of dance to get the blood flowing but mainly hard core character study. No distractions. That is until COVID-19 reared it's head. Currently as I write the country is shutting down schools and many events and gatherings have been cancelled. Needless to say as this person types he is thinking over many things. Should we shut down rehearsals for a month? Should we use the power of theatre to act away any prospect of illness? Only time will tell.
This is one of the thorns in the bush that is the amateur theatre world. We cannot control the world around us outside the theatre. The best we can do is to transform the world around you inside the theatre. The journey continues...
