Interview with A.J. Wulf, by Kelsie Furst

 

Describe your process for teaching music to a cast with varying levels of musical training.

First, you’ll want to spend tens of thousands of dollars on two music degrees that will hopefully teach you the requisite skills (results may vary). Then you’ll just want to get very lucky and get hired by an organization to put those skills to use (results will DEFINITELY vary!)

 

In all seriousness, the first skill of teaching is listening, and particularly listening to the strengths and needs of your cast so that your teaching can respond to them. Coming in with a game plan and the tools necessary is vital, but every singer and cast will tell you what they need if you just take a moment to listen. In this cast, the kids need a lot of structure and repetition to learn and retain their parts, while our nuns’ chorus is more trained and can spend less time while working on more nuance and artistry within their music. The hired professionals can hardly be said to “need” me as a teacher, so I work with them collaboratively as a coach, an outside ear to hear what they sometimes cannot and make sure the show has a cohesive musical vision.

 

What is your favorite musical selection from this show?

“No Way to Stop It” is an underrated banger, and it was a criminal oversight that the song was not included in the film version, and therefore has mostly not been heard by anyone!

 

How do you balance musical accuracy with storytelling and dramatic pacing?

Musical accuracy is the foundation, and storytelling is the house. Everything must be done in service of the story, which is the ultimate goal, but we cannot begin to make the story come alive before the notes and rhythms and dialogue have been learned. Practice from the individuals is the prerequisite for rehearsal of the collective.

 

You’ve now worked with LOT on an opera, operetta, and musical. Do you have a favorite genre? Do you have a bucket list from each category and if so, what would you choose?

Musical theatre as a whole macro-genre is my favorite thing in the world, so you may as well be asking me to choose between my three children! Each sub-genre has its own challenges and charms; as a conductor, opera seria is the most challenging but the most rewarding, while musicals are often the easiest but offer a more shallow musical experience. I think light opera may be my favorite because it balances the two considerations, and because I spend the most time in that genre, since I music direct in Denver for a Gilbert & Sullivan specialty company. Next year’s The Yeomen of the Guard will be my seventh G & S operetta!

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What’s your approach to working with choreographers when tempo and rhythm impact dance?

Choose the tempo that makes the most musical sense and the most fulfilling performance. Present this tempo to the choreographer, before rehearsals begin if possible. Negotiate as needed. Ultimately, the needs of the dancers outweigh either of our artistic preferences, so don’t leave them out of the conversation.

 

How do you adapt if you have limited instrumental forces or budget?

This show didn’t require as much reworking as some I’ve directed because we’ve invested in digital orchestra software that fills in the missing instruments. My G&S shows always need similarly limited orchestral forces, so I’ve taken on the project of creating a reduced orchestral book for each operetta the year in advance of each new show. Arranging and orchestration are passion projects of mine, and it’s very important that I do as much justice to these wonderful scores as I possibly can with the 14-16 players these type of pits allow.

 

Have you ever had to make cuts or transpositions for vocal ranges? How do you approach that?

This is a constant consideration in musical theatre, where modern belting roles written for professional Broadway singers are not achievable for more amateur singers. When doing solo coaching, listen for discomfort and fatigue, and work to find the key that lies best in your singer’s tessitura. Then transpose the orchestra parts to match - good thing I’m already rewriting their books! I’ve done several transpositions in my last two years of shows, and the singers appreciate it.

 

What were the unique challenges you faced in being part of the audition panel? How was it the same or different from casting panels you’ve been on before in terms of what you were looking for from the singers? This show was quite different to cast than say Ballad of Baby Doe or Iolanthe for example.

Shows like The Sound of Music and Cinderella that carry a lot of sentimental value for the singers can become a NIGHTMARE to cast, specifically because the leads are dream roles for literally hundreds of singers in your area. We had probably 30-40 young women audition for Maria specifically (many of whom would/could only accept Maria), then had to winnow it down to 10-12 for callbacks and impossibly choose the best one from a myriad of incredible options!
 

The men’s and kids’ auditions can present a similar challenge, or the inverse - what do you do if no one shows up who is suited to play Kurt, or the Captain? Casting panels have to keep an eye on audition signups to make sure we have the people who can fill every part, and there have been many I’ve been on that have invited specific singers we’ve worked with before to audition for hard-to-fill roles.

 

What excites you most about working on this particular musical?

Rodgers & Hammerstein played a crucial foundational role in my love and pursuit of musical theatre. My mom gifted me an 8 CD set of golden age musicals which I grew up wearing out, including three shows from R & H, and South Pacific was one of my first shows in a leading role. R & H are the quintessential writers of American musical theatre - their voice is so accessible, so universal, so plain yet poetic, that it couldn’t help but resonate with the audiences of the American heartland, then and now. The Sound of Music was never one of my favorites, but I love getting to put my own interpretation on music that is so well known and so important to so many people!

 

What part of your job do you look forward to the most?

Making music in the pit is maybe the most musically rewarding work I do in my whole career, both as a player and a conductor. I’ve never felt like such an integral and important musician, like every one of us is a soloist. The process of vocal directing and working as chorus master is fun too, but the best part is getting to be with my exceptional orchestra colleagues, making musical magic in the dark!

 

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Interview with Peter Muller, Stage Director, by Emily Morris

 

Describe the process of directing a cast with varying levels of theatrical experience.

That is the difficulty with this level of theater. You have everyone from extremely experienced performers to actors who have maybe only performed at school or have only been in one or two productions. In musicals and operas there is the ensemble or chorus. This is a great place for those performers to gain experience by working with and observing the more seasoned actors. It's a great way to gain experience and hone their skills. That said, the ensemble for The Sound of Music, like most LOT productions, is filled with many professionally trained voices. They, along with our live orchestra, create a thrilling sound for our audience.

 

Are there challenges with directing such a well-known show and how have you worked through them?

The Sound of Music is such an iconic show. While most of us probably did not see the original Broadway production with Mary Martin, we are most familiar with the film version starring Julie Andrews.

The goal with this production is to create something that is familiar to what we remember but also new and fresh. While we stick to the dialogue and lyrics, our production features custom backdrops and scenic projections, it is the performances that are actors have created that make this production fresh and our own.

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Describe the challenges and joys that come with working with so many kids? Is this the most kids you've ever worked with in a professional show?

​I directed a production of Oliver! that had about 30 children in it. However they all functioned as an ensemble rather than principles and that makes a whole lot of difference. The biggest challenge for our young cast in The Sound of Music is that we have chosen to double cast all of the child roles. That means that we have two sets of the Von Trapp children, and that placed a lot of restrictions on rehearsal time as each set of children only had half the amount of time. However, youth has its advantages and these are wonderfully talented and bright kids and they bring a lot of enthusiasm to the production. 

 

You wear a lot of hats in this show - director, lighting designer, set designer - maybe more? How do you balance that?

I actually find it quite easy to fill all those roles since I can have 24/7 discussions with myself about the production. But more importantly, each of those technical elements can be seamlessly incorporated into the vision of the production as a whole since they are all handled by one person.

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What is your favorite part of Sound of Music?

My favorite part about the musical is exactly that, the music. Nearly every scene has an iconic song in it and Richard Rodgers knew how to compose tuneful, and memorable songs. Many songs from the Rogers and Hammerstein songbook became standards as most of them had a foxtrot, waltz, or march rhythm to them.

What were the unique challenges you faced in being part of the audition panel? How was it the same or different from casting panels you’ve been on before in terms of what you were looking for from the singers?

The hardest part about any audition process for me is the relatively small amount of time you have to make a decision. If you have 100 actors audition and you need to weed out 2/3 of them that's a pretty daunting task.

I rely on the rest of the production team for their thoughts and expertise in filtering through what often is 100 outstanding auditions.

 

How do you pick the one person best suited for Maria or the one person best suited for the Captain?

With a musical, you start by taking out the auditioners whose voice would not fit the needs of the production. You then look at who has the dance skills needed for the musical numbers. You're then left with a group of people that you organize into who is best suited for each of the characters. Some actors will read for multiple parts, and some actors will only read for one part. At the end of the process, there is a discussion amongst the production team and I look input and expertise from the music director, the choreographer, and the producer. Sometimes we agree and sometimes we don't and we have to work through that and go sometimes with our gut instinct. Hopefully, you end up with someone who can sing, dance, act the part (and hopefully look the part as well). Sometimes this is a bit of a leap of faith and others, when you're lucky, you know you found the right person from the beginning!

 

What excites you most about working on SOM?

Like millions of people, The Sound of Music is a memory for my childhood. It's quite a wonderful thing to get to relive fond memories and experiences. It's also a wonderful thing to get to create those feelings. This production does all of that for me.

 

What part of your job do you look forward to the most?

Creating.

 

What is your bucket list musical?

That's a bit of a hard question since there are so many shows I'd like to do for different reasons. However, I've never had the opportunity to direct Fiddler on the Roof, so I that is definitely on my bucket list. I'd also like to do more contemporary shows such
as Cabaret or Chicago.