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| Photo Credit : Manuel Harlan |
Hi all
Haven't written anything here in ages so thought I would do a blog post on my recent backstage visit to Dance 'Til Dawn at Glasgow Kings theatre.
Anyone likely to read this blog is also likely to know how much of a superfan I am of the show (and of Vincent & Flavia) and so will also know how delighted I was to have the chance to go 'Behind the scenes' when the show came here to Glasgow.
Many of you will have seen Dance 'Til Dawn by now given that there are only a couple of weeks left, but for those who haven't I'll give a brief rundown of what it's all about.
Basically it is a story set in 1940's Hollywood with beautiful movie starlet Sadie Strauss (Flavia), her cheating actor boyfriend and co-star Bobby Burns (Ben), and wannabe actor Tony DeLuca (Vincent).
There is hilarious narration from private detective Tommy Dubrowski (Teddy Kempner), stunning vocals by The Voice (Oliver Darley) and a beautiful femme fatale, Lana Clemenza (Abbie Osmon) - Throw some bumbling gangsters, some very glamorous women and a fabulous live orchestra in, and you have two hours of world class dancing, amazing singing, and non stop entertainment from beginning to end.
It had been arranged for me to go in on Friday afternoon for a look around at the preparation process for the show, take some photos for our @VFDanceTilDawn Twitter page, and to meet all of the cast and backstage team.
I have met Flavia and Vincent numerous times and also had said hello to one or two of the other cast members, but on a whole I was looking forward to meeting EVERYONE involved with the show, and hearing about the work that they do.
Altogether I think there are around 40 people including cast, crew and wardrobe who TOUR with the show, with each venue having some local staff to help the touring crew/backstage staff with the show preparations.
I was met at stage door by Martin who is the company manager and who I have to say was the most amazing tour guide. He very patiently showed me around every area of the theatre (both on and off stage) and answered all of my many questions, making me feel very welcome and at ease for the whole of my visit. He was lovely and never at any time did I feel that he was getting bored showing me things or explaining a particular feature. He was brilliant. :)
One of the things I had been most looking forward to seeing on my visit was the amazing set which was designed by Morgan Large, I had totally loved his Midnight Tango set and it has always been a regret that I didn't ever see it closely enough to examine all of those quirky features it had... I could hardly wait to see all of the DTD set up close and it didn't disappoint. So cleverly constructed with moveable pieces for the cast to wheel off and on stage while telling the story of the show. Great craftmanship, I loved it.
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| Set Design : Morgan Large |
Martin also introduced me to Jonny the stage manager who told me all about the stage construction, Nico who demonstrated the lighting features, and Pat who monitors every show from side of stage, making sure that the whole company are co-ordinated and everything running smoothly and on time. I also got to have a little play around with the sound desk where I had some great fun pressing various sound effect buttons which are used throughout the show... I now know where the *SPLASH, SQUELCH and SCRIBBLE* sound effects come from!! Hurrah!
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| Pat keeps a close eye on the stage throughout the show |
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| Sound mixing desk |
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| Selection of props used |
Another thing I had been dying to see was the wardrobe department where all of the costumes are meticulously cared for by Caroline (wardrobe supervisor) and her assistant Katie. You could be forgiven for thinking that with only a couple of weeks left of the show, that there wouldn't be such an urgency to keep the costumes looking the best they could, but you would be very wrong.
My first sighting was of Caroline bent over Flavia's Argentine Tango dress, carefully replacing sequins and stones, and of Katie combing through the fringing on one of the other girls dresses, studying it for any stray threads or piece of fabric that might have worked loose. The attention to maintaining these costumes is plain to see when the cast are on stage as like I said before, the tour is just about at it's end, but yet to the audience eye, the costumes look as good and are cared for as much as they would have been on the very first week of the show.
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| Stones and sequins being meticulously replaced on Flavia's Argentine Tango dress |
Next up was a peek inside both Vincent and Flavia's dressing rooms where Flav had a huge assortment of make up brushes, make up and all of the usual girly products that go into getting ready for a big night out.... Vincents dressing table was a little more sparse with a hair gel and hair dryer (maybe another one or two bits 'n' bobs) It was good to see inside as this was the first time I had ever been backstage in a theatre, so had often wondered what these things were like. I have to say, I thought they looked pretty alright. Nice and bright :-)
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| A girl can never have too many shoes... |
I also had the great privilege of watching the cast in their warm up on stage. Before EVERY show, dance captain Gemma puts all of the cast through what looked to me like a very rigorous aerobics class! It was very impressive to watch, and oh my goodness but they are ALL super-fit!! I think I would have lasted all of 5 seconds before crumpling in a heap on the floor! I then got to see some of the cast work through some parts of the routines with Vincent and Flavia. Thanks to all of them for being so nice and allowing me to photograph them.
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| Gemma putting the team through their rigorous daily pre-show warm up |
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| Working through some slight adjusments with some cast members |
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| Hello Danny :) |
Honestly, they all work so tirelessly and not one single cast member, or behind the scenes worker is ever complacent and all strive to make every single performance the best it can be. No one struck me as having an 'it's only our job' attitude.... they all genuinely seem to love their work, and are a very tight knit team.
Vincent and Flavia are the most down to earth, hard working pair and I guess this is something that helps in making a very happy ensemble/backstage team that enjoy their time together both on and off stage. They were a delight to be around and nothing was too much trouble to explain. It was an absolute privilege for me and I loved every second of my visit.
HUGE thanks to Flavia and Martin for making it possible for me to be there, and thanks to the entire Dance 'Til Dawn team for being so friendly and kind. I had a fabulous day. Xx
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