Saint Anthony High School in Long Beach is getting ready to open their first virtual musical, Now. Here.This. this coming weekend. This will be the second virtual production Saint Anthony has performed during pandemic circumstances, the first being William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night which was performed in fall of 2020.
Now. Here. This. was chosen as the spring musical for its flexibility, according to the producer and director of the piece, Daniel Nakawatase. “Instead of scenes, it’s divided up into a series of modules, there is a certain number of required modules and a certain number of optional modules, so it could be anywhere from 30 minutes [in length] to an hour and a half,” said Nakawatase.
Since this show is not going to be performed live, Nakawatase had to relearn how to use video editing software. Using Final Cut Pro, he notes the program is intuitive to use, but it was still a skill he had to use that would not be used with an in person musical.
The process of putting on a musical virtually has it’s differences, but somewhat similar. In person, rehearsals for musicals last around 3-3 ½ months, virtually that timetable is about the same.
When you rehearse in person, it allows the director and students to really visualize the context of the show, but virtually the director is the only one with that knowledge. Twelfth Night had the help of green screens to generate backdrops. Now. Here. This. may be bringing some creativity back. Since the world is opening back up, the students’ comfort level on going out places will determine the diversity of backdrops.
The students do everything individually in their own homes. When they are filming a speaking segment, they record it live. With singing however, they record the vocals separately and lip sync when they film.
The students need to get approval for their vocals before they can commence with the filming element of a song; the corresponding video clip submitted for the song also needs to be approved.
Since everything is done individually, this can pose difficulties if the scene a student is doing requires a scene partner. The students rely on the reaction they learned during Zoom rehearsals and translate that to film, but there can still be a disconnect since the scene partners can’t be physically together.
Not being able to act physically as a scene partner was a challenge junior Angelina Garcia had to overcome. “There are a few scenes where I’m having a conversation with someone but I’m not going to be [actually] talking to that person, and there are times where I don’t feel like I’m putting in enough emotion,” said Garcia.
Some other skills Garcia had to learn in the virtual process were all film based. Garcia expressed that she had learned how to set up and work with different types of shots when filming. Including the importance of lighting.
Garcia expressed as well that she thinks the material for this show should be more accessible than Twelfth Night might have been, aside from the fact it is in modern English. “The storylines that come with Now. Here. This. are stories that one can actually connect with and relate to…it highlights a lot of challenges and issues about growing up,” said Garcia.
Now. Here. This. premieres this Friday night, April 23, but has multiple performances on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are available via the school website.