THE HIVE OF CREATIVITY

Photo: Cast from "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" touring production.

Let’s face it: The actors really do get all the glory. They’re up on the stage singing, dancing, talking, emoting, getting the audience to like, dislike, identify with, enjoy, tolerate, or dismiss them. They get the recognition, the applause, the standing ovations.

There’s a great line used in the advertising for the musical Wicked: “So much happened before Dorothy dropped in,” and that same sense of irony applies to every show ever mounted. So much happens before the show hits the stage, and the creative team is behind it all. They are responsible for just about every little thing that the actors eventually do and say, sing and dance, touch and use.

In a musical, things don’t get very far without a composer and lyricist. It’s pretty simple: the composer writes the music and lyricist writes the words to the music. Sometimes, as in the case of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, one person, William Finn, acts as both composer and lyricist. Some composer/lyricists (Meredith Wilson of The Music Man or Jonathan Larson of Rent) act as their own book writer (librettist) as well; Finn does not.

The book writer or librettist creates the book (the script) for a musical. Some musicals – such as Cats or Les Miserables – have little or no dialogue, in which case the book writer makes sure that everything weaves into a coherent dramatic flow. For others, an entirely scripted story must incorporate the plot, the songs, the dances, etc. Book writer Rachel Sheinkin collaborated with William Finn and others to adapt
C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E into the musical we know as SPELLING BEE.

The director oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a production by unifying various aspects. S/he leads the creative team into realizing his or her artistic vision for the show through collaboration. The director is generally the primary visionary, making decisions on the artistic concept and interpretation of the text and its staging. James Lapine has worked in one capacity or another – most often as director – on all of William Finn’s shows.

The person who stages the dances and musical scenes of a show was once called the “dance director,” but the title changed when ballet choreographers started working on musicals. A choreographer must give a musical a sense of movement that helps hold the show together visually. The creative vision of the show is guided by the director, working in tandem with the choreographer. Since the 1950s, more choreographers, like Michael Kidd, Harold Prince, Susan Stroman, Julie Taymor and Tommy Tune, have taken on the role of director as well. Not so with SPELLING BEE. Choreographer Dan Knechtges was tapped for the workshop, the off-Broadway and the Broadway productions.

Set designers are involved in all aspects of “creating the scene,” from stage construction to the use of props. They research, design, and supervise construction of the visual aids required for a production. They are drawers, painters, sculptors, sewers, and carpenters. They work with the director of the production, the writer and the people in charge of lighting and sound. From freehand sketches to scale models, the set designer eventually supervises workers who actually build the sets. Beowulf Boritt made his Broadway debut with SPELLING BEE.

The costume designer creates the look of each character by designing clothes and accessories the actors will wear in performance. Creative team collaboration among the costume designer, the director and the set and lighting designers helps to integrate the costumes into the production as a whole. Period research, rough sketches, costume plots, costume changes, final designs, finished costumes – all of these are the responsibility of the costume designer, and for SPELLING BEE costumer Jennifer Caprio, it was her Broadway debut.

Working with the creative team is absolutely essential for the lighting designer. Basically, it is up to the lighting designer to make the actors and their settings visible to the audience. Mood, time of day, location, area emphasis, style, dimension, and the look of the unified whole are all part of the lighting designer’s job as well. The lighting designer collaborates with the director and the rest of the creative team to discuss the details of the set and the director’s interpretation of the play; he or she also spends a great deal of time with the set, costume, and sound designers to ensure the creation of a unified look and feel for the production. SPELLING BEE lighting designer is Natasha Katz.

Sound effects and music are the domain of the sound designer. If original music is needed for a particular scene, act or entire show, a composer will join forces with the sound designer. The designer, however, gathers and/or creates all the necessary sounds eventually. As in all the other aspects of design, an early meeting with the director and creative team is essential for the sound designer to get a clear understanding of the whole production concept. Additionally, the sound designer is responsible for equipping all cast members in a musical with wireless body microphones and maintaining the integrity of the sound system they are using. Dan Moses Schrier is the sound designer for SPELLING BEE.