The makeup has barely been wiped off, the costumes collected and the stage cleared from the Rocky Hill Musical Theatre Company’s hugely popular and successful production of Oliver, but the company is already gearing up for its next production.
About Time, a musical revue that will take audiences time travelling across the last 100 years of musicals, will begin preparation with an information night on Friday December 13 followed by auditions on Saturday December 14 and Sunday December 15.
Sarah Trama, co-director of About Time, said that the idea started with a plan to celebrate the Roaring 20s on their 100th anniversary.
“I’m a huge fan of that period and since next year is the beginning of the Twenties, we looked at performing Chicago,” she said.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t available because it’s being performed professionally. That led to thinking about a musical revue featuring songs from across the last 100 years.
“Chris [Gordon] and I talked about what songs we wanted to use… songs that would highlight each decade but also help us tell a story. Chris wrote a script to tie it together, and About Time is the result.
Chris Gordon said the format of the script was similar to Villains and Vixens, the revue performed by RHMTC in 2017, although the story was quite different.
“With Villains, we experimented with having two characters that introduce the songs but were characters in their own right, and their discussion provided a story that’s more than just a concert of songs,” he said.
“If we do the job right, people will feel like they’ve experienced a full-blown musical that takes them through an emotional journey.
“This is a very different story than Villains and Vixens. The two characters are time travelers who head back through time to investigate a glitch in time, but there’s another story layered beneath it.”
Another difference between this production and Villains and Vixens will be the costuming and dance.
“In Villains, the cast all wore black and the movement was quite minimal to create an intimacy to match the venue, the Old Marian College Chapel,” Sarah explained.
“In About Time we want to reflect the time periods with suitable costume and dance from the eras, so it will be a bigger production and a bigger challenge.”
Joining the production team as Choreographer is Canberra based dance teacher Rachael Strong of the Rachael Strong Dance Academy.
Jane Van Dorp and Debbie Guymer will share producer duties for the show. Phil Fraser is taking on the Musical Director role and Martin Yeadon will stage manager the show.
About Time will be staged in the last two weekends of March and first weekend of April 2020.
The first step towards the production will be an information night at 7pm on Friday December 13 at the 2GN building which will give details about the story, the songs and answer any questions intending performers have.
Auditions will take place at the Goulburn Rugby Clubhouse in Addison Street on Saturday December 14 (10am to 2pm) and Sunday December 15 (1pm to 3pm). Anyone interested in attending either the information night or the auditions needs to contact Jane Van Dorp at rhmtcproductions@gmail.com.
