Compose Yourself! The 2009 Music and Drama Summer Musical

By Catherine Gardner

Imagine meeting all the famous composers of our past and performing their music with them! This was the theme of our summer musical “Compose Yourself” by Alan Billingsley and John Jacobson.

Our goal was to learn the entire musical and to perform it in FIVE DAYS! We all knew we had a busy week ahead of us, but boy did we have fun! The musical this year was made up of familiar classical themes. It was great to see the campers eyes light up when we played the music for the first time and hear them say, “I know that song -- I just didn’t know it was by Brahms!” We all learned a lot about composers of the past as we sang their music and acted out their characters.

On Monday, Cherry Fraser and I held private ‘auditions’ for each camper while our volunteers Gillian and Jennifer helped keep the group happy by leading outdoor games. By the end of the first day, everyone had a part and was busy highlighting lines to be learned in the next few days.

We started right away on the music, learning the notes first, and then going up on stage to add the blocking. Cherry and I were a bit nervous about the hardest piece, “A Fairly Friendly Fugue” which was a Bach-inspired fugue in two parts. We decided to start it early in the week so that we would have lots of time to perfect it.  Fortunately, our campers rose to the challenge and by Thursday, they had it memorized! What a great group!

In between music rehearsals and staging, we had a set to paint and signs to decorate, as well as costumes to organize. Everyone worked together and the result on Friday was magnificent! Parents and siblings, grandparents and friends all gathered to see the final performance on Friday. We all wished each other a nervous “good luck” backstage, but once the campers took their places, the nerves were gone and everyone remembered to project their voices and ‘react’ to each other’s lines as the scenes unfolded.

Though it was a busy week, everyone worked together to create a wonderful performance and we learned about famous composers in the process!