"Casting Iolanthe, keeps us up all night" 

Sung to “Love, unrequited, robs me of my rest”

by Gerald Hurst

Dedicated to Cameron, Jennifer, Andrea, Diana, and Siri

Prologue

Casting Iolanthe, keeps us up all night,
All of those rehearsals, cause us to be frantic,
Production woes, give us quite a fright,
Pulling it all together, makes us want to panic.

Tryouts

There’s the first casting call in Heilman Hall
and the directors are smiling and cheery
As they listen to those who try hard to propose
to appear as a peer or a peri.

And it makes you feel blue, for it’s sad but it’s true
you can’t cast all the people that you get
Name confusion adds tension, like Latin declension
with Mara, Meray, and Maret.

Local casting has perils, thank goodness for Merrells
with six Coles and a whole passel more.
While the singing Lords’ parts go to two old “guys”
who’ve never graced BAct before.

When the candidates sing and the ensembles ring
All the people there find it entrancing
But pliés are confusing so results are amusing
When Andrea has the men dancing.

But it’s finished at last, and the show is all cast
with full quota of misses and misters
The Bryn Athyn malaise even happens in plays
when two brothers marry their sisters.

Rehearsals

We begin to rehearse, and it couldn’t be worse,
with all kinds of stutterin’ and stammerin’
But we give it our best, and then try to digest
a fistful of notes from Cameron.

We feel like we’re hexed, when one day to the next
we forget all the lines that we must speak
Except for Kent Cooper, with memory super
who knows his whole part by the first week.

Jennifer gathers her troops, chides the tenor who swoops
and the choir causes rafters to ring.
But with three parts or four, sometimes less, sometimes more
We’re not quite sure which one to sing.

Andrea’s fairies together trip light as a feather,
exhibiting grace, charm, and deft feet
While her Lords are all thunky and clumsy and clunky,
especially those with two left feet.

And rehearsals are tough when you don’t have enough
of the cast to complete all the blocking
Whether C, M, or T, L, S, P and LC
there’s always somebody lacking.

Production

Set construction’s a task, when you always must ask
for more workers whenever you need ‘em
But for scenery paint there’s no cause for complaint
’cause the Pitcairns don’t ask, they just breed ‘em.

All the props now appear, mirror, monocle, spear,
flagolets and Willis’s rifle
But the wands, pen, and scroll cause a problem quite droll
where to stick them is more than a trifle.

The clothes for a fairy are wonderfully airy
with colors both bright and bewitching
Lords have tuxes and crowns, red and blue formal gowns
so long that they all require stitching.

Next the orchestra starts, with all of its parts
for percussion, horns, woodwinds, and strings
Then the moment arrives for which Cameron strives
When the Lords at last all sprout their wings.

Then we finish run through, and we have a fun crew
But we still have some problems to weather
All the tiny details this production entails
Will it all ever come together?

Performances

Then it’s opening night, and we hope things are right
For the cast is all rested, the fog machine tested
And all the peers’ wings have loaded their springs
And the makeup’s in place on everyone’s face
And the hair is all curled, and the flags are unfurled
And the tickets are sold, and the soda is cold
And the crew’s on location, while articulation
Of all of our voices have blended.

Epilogue

Then five shows are done,
And it’s really been fun,
The prep has been long,
Ditto, ditto my song,
And a BAct success has now ended.