A GATEWAY TO MUSICAL HOLIDAYS
Theatre company presents online performances from past shows
Well, it looks like we'll all be staying home for the holidays. To help us cope with our social lockdown, Gateway Theatre is drawing on its tradition of presenting musical theatre, dating back to 1984, with home-recorded performances of some favourite tunes from productions past by some of the stars.
Participants include David Adams, Lauren Bowler, Oliver Castillo, and many more, with a song list that includes music from, among others, My Fair Lady, Annie, and The Wizard. The Gateway team of Barbara Tomasic (director) and Christopher King (music supervisor) are overseeing the production.
We talked to Chelsea Rose, who appeared in the theatre's 2019 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, about her participation.
Q Did you film your piece yourself?
A We had some meetings over Zoom to figure out the vision of the show and how we were going to go about doing it. Then every person involved filmed themselves at home. Some recorded their vocals and then recorded their videos later, some did it all at the same time. We did have Donnie Tejani, the costumer and props person for the show, come by and deliver a couple of props, and suggest costuming. But everything was done ourselves at home with whatever equipment we have.
Q What did he bring you?
A Fairy lights. And I already had a bunch, so there are a bunch of twinkly lights in the background.
Q Did you have to do a bunch of takes?
A Whenever I record something, I like to do a few different takes. With this one, I only ended up doing two video takes and two audio takes. Because it was a song I'm so familiar with and sang a million times last year, it was pretty easy to get a good take right away. I separated the audio and video. I have a good recording system at home because I'm a recording artist. I was able to use my better microphone and setup to do separate takes. Then the editing team put it together at the end.
Q So it doesn't look like you're lip-synching?
A It shouldn't. I did sing along and muted the video. It should line up. I've been very lucky to have been involved in quite a number of online shows this year, and so I've kind of got it down.
Q What's your Christmas going to be like this year?
A Different, that's for sure. My family's a very big Christmas family. Everyone's really struggling with how to do this without getting together. I have two grandparents who were hoping to come over from the Island but that's not going to happen with the restrictions and their own health state. I decorated early.
My house is very Christmas-y. It has been since Nov. 13. It's going to be a weird at-home Christmas. I'm sure there will be a lot of Zooming. We've been doing Zoom board games since March.
Q Do you have viewing traditions?
A I try to watch the classics
like White Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life. Jim Carey as the Grinch. My family, every Christmas Eve for my entire life, has watched the Alistair Sims Scrooge on Christmas Eve. Whether we do that virtually together or what, I know that we'll all be watching that movie on Christmas Eve.