Performing-arts troupe gives audiences input

> BY DANNIELLE PIPER

Circle Bright Productions, a new Vancouver-based performing-arts company with a passion for audience input, is preparing its first show, From Broadway With Love.

The company, which strives to give Vancouver patrons what they want, takes their input and incorporates it into the production, along with selections chosen by the musical director, Chris King.

“The producers wanted to do an online poll,” King explained. “So they put out a poll online and people voted on the song they would like to hear.”

This is what sets Circle Bright Productions apart from others. The poll, which lasted for six months, featured some of Broadway’s well-known numbers. The top 10 numbers from the poll were put on the program of From Broadway With Love, and a further 10 were added by King.

A notable theatre veteran, King has music-directed works such as The Music Man and The Wizard of Oz. He explained that From Broadway With Love spans several decades of musical theatre.

“I wanted to try and get people a taste of different musicals they may not have heard,” King noted to the Straight by phone. “I also wanted to touch on certain eras or composers, depending on what we had already chosen from the poll.”

This was the case with “It All Fades Away” from the musical The Bridges of Madison County. Participants were encouraged to submit entries that did not appear in the poll. Although “It All Fades Away” did not make it into the top 10, King included it anyway.

After the list, King began the audition process. Well-acquainted with the skills and repertoire of Vancouver’s small musical-theatre community, King noted that his knowledge and experience made it easier to choose what number each cast member would perform.

“I picked a few songs that I thought would be great for certain people,” King said. “If I knew their voice well, I would assign them certain songs.”

The show comprises 11 cast members, a 14-piece orchestra, and a choir consisting of 13 students from Capilano University’s musical-theatre program. It will be in a concert format, with each singer performing in front of the mike.

King mentioned that his favourite number in the show is “Heart and Music”, from the 1998 musical A New Brain.

“It’s a complex one,” King said. “And it’s one of the core numbers and a group number at the same time. So it kind of involves everybody.”