Rehearsals are well underway for TIP's May production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The show has a cast of 38 that includes 11 children. It's been quite the experience and, as you can imagine, is a lot of work. I am fortunate in having a great team to work with. Directing can be a challenge. It can be hard to focus on the story as a whole and to make sure that everything serves the story. It can be difficult to describe the concept in your head in a way that the creative t

I will be directing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as the season finale, for Tokyo International Players. It's a wonderful musical with some lovely melodies. Most people know the title song "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", but my favourite is "Hushabye Mountain". It's a beautiful lullaby with and haunting melody and can sound almost melancholy. I can't wait to hear it sung. The auditions are taking place in November, so it won't be long now! #tokyointernationalplayers #musicaltheatre

I have been working with the cast of Tokyo International Player's upcoming production of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan. There are six songs in the show, all of which are placed at the end of scenes or interludes, helping to illuminate important moral or political points. At Sunday's rehearsal we spent time working on communicating with the audience and performing the songs. I love the energy of the cast and their willingness to take direction and to try new t

I have spent the last six months working as Assistant Director and Vocal Director on Tokyo International Player's production of The Who's Tommy. The music was more challenging than I was expecting with one of the songs having 13 vocal parts. There was also the challenge of teaching music in a rock style after coming off a show where all the music was sung in the legit musical theatre style. The woman on the show were expected to do a lot of belting and the male roles were ve

After months of rehearsal we finally got to perform Sweeney Todd at Moliere Theatre in Tokyo. Playing Lovett was a challenge, but one I was happy to take on. I love the complexity of Sondheim's beautiful score and I imagine I will continue to hear the songs in my dreams for quite some time. As well as the challenge of singing the score I ended up having to deal with vocal issues just before the show. I'm not sure that I would have coped without the support of the members o