by Graeme Stevenson
The date: Friday 26 September
The place: Bonar Hall, University of Dundee
7.59pm. Months of preparation are about to come to fruition. Around 100 people are waiting to find out which musical we will be performing in 23 and a half hours time.
8.00pm. Ken Peebles and his independent witnesses reveal that the musical is going to be "7 Brides and 7 Brothers"!
8.01pm. Quick show of hands reveals that from the cast, crew, directors, MDs and producers only two people have ever done it before. Uh, oh!
Following this major setback, everyone gets cracking with their respective jobs. The musical is cast with Robert Nee and Donna Hazelton being given the two principal parts and the major task of learning eight songs each and vast amounts of libretto. The production team have to design a stage and then build it at Gardyne Theatre. Kirsty Scott takes on the ambitious job of finding all the props - where do you find a set of rifles at 11pm on a Friday night?
Work continues throughout the night and by 8am motivation is, not surprisingly, flagging. The first run through planned for 10am starts late, the dress rehearsal planned for 2.30pm doesn’t start till nearer 4pm and the cast don’t leave the stage until just before 7pm.
By this point, everyone is absolutely shattered but as the audience come in, backstage is a hive of activity. The timer counts down on the stage curtain and the audience demonstrate their support by giving us a loud countdown. Bang on time, the first notes of the overture sound the improvement upon earlier rehearsals is vast and the audience laugh in (mostly) the right places.
We are now waiting to hear from Guinness if we did actually break the world record: the fastest theatrical production in the world ever!
All the music groups are now well into rehearsals but new members are still welcome.
The music society’s December concert will feature a mixture of music from the new world and the old world. The orchestra will perform in the first half, playing works by Aaron Copland and the theme from the Big Country, and the chamber choir will also sing some pieces from the United States. The main work of the second half will be Saint-Saëns little-performed "Christmas Oratorio". The concert will take place on Saturday 6 December in St Paul's Cathedral.
The Big Band's evening gig will take place in the Bonar Hall on 20 November where they will play a selection of Big Band classics with their usual aplomb.
OPSOC are now well into rehearsals for "Return to the Forbidden Planet" which they will perform in the Bonar Hall in March 2004.
