Cast members ready to face audience for Q& A session today
The cast members of Anne & Gilbert - The Musical are used to ovations at the end of each performance, but today, after the applause, they’ll be getting questions — lots of them.
In a special arrangement, students from the UPEI Theatre and Music Departments and the Holland College School of Performing Arts will be in attendance. After the 7: 30 p. m. performance, cast and creative staff from the musical will return to the stage to take questions from the students and the general audience.
Cast members will answer questions about preparing for their roles and the challenges and rewards of participating in a professional production like Anne & Gilbert - The Musical. Members of the creative staff will also talk about the planning, organization and work involved in staging the musical. The musical also has a three- piece orchestra, and musicians will be on hand to talk about their work in the production.
This year there are 156 performance in the show run that ends in mid- October. For the last seven productions in P. E. I., Anne & Gilbert - The Musical was staged in a 500- seat theatre in Summerside. This year, the musical has its home at The Guild, a smaller theatre that offers a more intimate setting for the audience and performers. Both cast and creative staff will talk about how they adapted to a new set design, new choreography and a new performance space. This is the first time a special post- show questionandanswer session has even been held.
Licensed productions of the show have been staged in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick and in Washington, Iowa, Michigan, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
The musical, based on Anne of the Island and Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery, is written by Jeff Hochhauser, Bob Johnston and Nancy White.