Advice for having a great talent show

[gafftaper]

I am getting ready to work with a new group of students about planning the year's talent show and wrote up the following document. I thought I would share it with you both to hopefully help someone else out and to get feedback on what you would add to it. We can throw it in the Wiki when it's done.

Advice for putting on a great talent show

Auditions
-Have bands submit a video audition. If you don’t do this auditions will take twice as long dealing with just getting the bands set up.
-Other performers should keep it simple but represent well what they are doing.
-Establish ahead of time what will be the preferred format of playing music for rehearsal. You can waste a lot of time dealing with switching between music from a phone, USB drive, and CD.

Show Structure
-Plan for about 15 acts in the show. 7 or 8 acts, intermission, followed by 7 or 8 acts, add some Emcee introductions and you have a show 1 ½- 1 ¾ hours long. Which is just about perfect. If some acts are longer and you want to include them in the show, then go with less acts.
-You need a minimum of 6 to 8 Acts that have a simple setup (standup, juggling, a solo singer with a recorded background music). These are acts that can be performed in front of the closed curtain. This allows the crew to set up a more complicated act behind the curtain while the simple act is performing in front of the curtain keeping the flow smooth.
-I will meet with you once you have decided who is in the show to help setup the order for maximum smooth transitions and flow.
-No more than 2 bands in the show (one starts the show and one starts act 2 after intermission). As soon as you start dealing with Drums, keyboards, amplifiers, etc.. the setup gets really big, slow, and complicated. You can’t set that much stuff up in 5 minutes. It ties up the whole flow of the concert. If you absolutely must have a 3rd or 4th band in the show then you need to have even more simple acts that can go back to back out in front with the curtain closed.

Rehearsal
-Performers who use background music MUST come with their music as a WMA, MP3 or Audio CD. They can bring this file on a USB drive or CD. If they arrive and say all they have is a link to YouTube or it’s in iTunes you are out of the show. I will work with you to provide support to students ahead of the final rehearsal to help them get their music in the proper format. But we can’t do this at the last minute.
-Attending rehearsal is mandatory. Performers will absolutely be cut if you do not show up.
-Performers must perform the same song or act in rehearsal as in the show. No last minute changes.
-The entire group must be present at rehearsal. The point is to practice the entire performance. WE can’t do that with half the group missing.
-Rehearsal should be done in order of the show. No going first because you have a reason to be somewhere. We all have somewhere we would rather be. Rehearsing the whole show as it will be performed is critical to understanding how things need to change backstage.
-Rehearsal is scheduled ahead of time and goes in order of the show (which you choose in advance, I will help with this). Allow 10 minutes per group on the rehearsal schedule. We may get ahead some times but we will also get behind at others.

 

[Ric]

Great write up !
I'd suggest removing the comment "We all have somewhere we would rather be. " and replace it with, "we've all made a large time commitment to ensure the show goes well"

 

[Thetechmanmac]

Just did a talent show. Here are a few things I would suggest.

-During auditions, pass out an information sheet to all the performers. On the sheet should be how many mics they think they need, if they have backing tracks, instruments, how they want to be introduced by the MCs, and if they want any special lighting. This saves the crew time of trying to figure it out.
-Offer assistance with burning CDs- I have found that pretty much no students now how to burn a CD properly.
-With lighting, have some nice backdrops. I put gobos on the cyc for something other than just a wash. Have some red, green, blue and purple tops and warm/cool fronts. Downlight is great for piano and singing solos- really adds a great mood. Have multiple specials and a center spot focused right to the plasterline.
- Communication is key. Have someone experienced in theatre backstage and in the booth calling the show.For theses shows where something could go wrong it is imperative that the booth/control and backstage stay in constant communication.
-When picking MCs, pick people who are quick and witty. They will be able to add lib and improvise if necessary.
-Keep a couple of extra mics backstage and make sure the participants know how to turn on their mic.

-Tell all of your tech to relax and have fun. In the show we just did, the judges took way longer than expected to determine the winners. We had to improvise, so we ended up playing the song "I would walk 500 miles" and the MCs (who are a pretty funny group- of theatre kids) dance to it. The audience loved it.

I think what you have written now is great. Rehearsal really is key. We had a solo rap act that didn't show up on rehearsal because he had a basketball game. When we did the show, he decided to start his rap from the audience. Sure enough, during a blackout he jumped on stage and grabbed the mic thinking he was next, little did he know there was an act before him that needed that mic.

 

[gafftaper]

Great write up ! I'd suggest removing the comment "We all have somewhere we would rather be. " and replace it with, "we've all made a large time commitment to ensure the show goes well"

Good point... sometimes the truth is a little blunt.

 

[Scarrgo]

Nice write up
Depending on the age of the kids, we put a time limit on how long the act is, for our Elementary/Middle school age we put a 3min time limit. Seems most of those kids are singing with a commercial track, nice to be able to sing with the real artist that made it famous...

And agree with the no phones, iPods, or YouTube...I flat out refuse to play it for the show...will once for rehearsal....

A great idea putting the bands start of show and act 2, I am not a fan of High School Garage bands for talent shows, as they can be very unpredictable...but it is what it is...and I don't get to make that call ...but they do get a time limit or they will never get off the stage...


Lots of great advice here

Sean...

 

[TheaterEd]

great idea putting the bands start of show and act 2, I am not a fan of High School Garage bands for talent shows, as they can be very unpredictable...but it is what it is...and I don't get to make that call ...but they do get a time limit or they will never get off the stage...

We have a 'live music club' here at our school that does a battle of the bands type concert, that way we don't really have to worry about bands during the talent show.

During auditions, pass out an information sheet to all the performers. On the sheet should be how many mics they think they need, if they have backing tracks, instruments, how they want to be introduced by the MCs, and if they want any special lighting. This saves the crew time of trying to figure it out.

In my experience, the kids will have no clue how to fill out this form in a useful way. If you can, I recommend having an experienced tech interview the acts at auditions and have the tech fill out the form.

 

[gafftaper]

If you can, I recommend having an experienced tech interview the acts at auditions and have the tech fill out the form.

That's a great idea!

 

[Thetechmanmac]

@gafftaper Just out of curiosity, is this a show for high school, middle school, or elementary school?

Side note- Ive reread my post a couple of times and realized that, you probably know all of the things I said. I was just sharing some of the things I had learned from my previous talent show experience. I apologize if I came across a little flashy. This entire thread is going to come in handy for students and other people putting on similar productions!

 

[What Rigger?]

I am getting ready to work with a new group of students about planning the year's talent show and wrote up the following document. I thought I would share it with you both to hopefully help someone else out and to get feedback on what you would add to it. We can throw it in the Wiki when it's done.

Advice for putting on a great talent show

Auditions
-Have bands submit a video audition. If you don’t do this auditions will take twice as long dealing with just getting the bands set up.
-Other performers should keep it simple but represent well what they are doing.
-Establish ahead of time what will be the preferred format of playing music for rehearsal. You can waste a lot of time dealing with switching between music from a phone, USB drive, and CD.

Show Structure
-Plan for about 15 acts in the show. 7 or 8 acts, intermission, followed by 7 or 8 acts, add some Emcee introductions and you have a show 1 ½- 1 ¾ hours long. Which is just about perfect. If some acts are longer and you want to include them in the show, then go with less acts.
-You need a minimum of 6 to 8 Acts that have a simple setup (standup, juggling, a solo singer with a recorded background music). These are acts that can be performed in front of the closed curtain. This allows the crew to set up a more complicated act behind the curtain while the simple act is performing in front of the curtain keeping the flow smooth.
-I will meet with you once you have decided who is in the show to help setup the order for maximum smooth transitions and flow.
-No more than 2 bands in the show (one starts the show and one starts act 2 after intermission). As soon as you start dealing with Drums, keyboards, amplifiers, etc.. the setup gets really big, slow, and complicated. You can’t set that much stuff up in 5 minutes. It ties up the whole flow of the concert. If you absolutely must have a 3rd or 4th band in the show then you need to have even more simple acts that can go back to back out in front with the curtain closed.

Rehearsal
-Performers who use background music MUST come with their music as a WMA, MP3 or Audio CD. They can bring this file on a USB drive or CD. If they arrive and say all they have is a link to YouTube or it’s in iTunes you are out of the show. I will work with you to provide support to students ahead of the final rehearsal to help them get their music in the proper format. But we can’t do this at the last minute.
-Attending rehearsal is mandatory. Performers will absolutely be cut if you do not show up.
-Performers must perform the same song or act in rehearsal as in the show. No last minute changes.
-The entire group must be present at rehearsal. The point is to practice the entire performance. WE can’t do that with half the group missing.
-Rehearsal should be done in order of the show. No going first because you have a reason to be somewhere. We all have somewhere we would rather be. Rehearsing the whole show as it will be performed is critical to understanding how things need to change backstage.
-Rehearsal is scheduled ahead of time and goes in order of the show (which you choose in advance, I will help with this). Allow 10 minutes per group on the rehearsal schedule. We may get ahead some times but we will also get behind at others.

May Odin and Shiva bless you sir, for even attempting a talent show. You're a bigger man than I.

 

[TheaterEd]

We have a 'live music club' here at our school that does a battle of the bands type concert, that way we don't really have to worry about bands during the talent show.

Ugh. Speaking of which.... Due to a scheduling fumble by one of the committees. These two events are going to be held back to back. Talent show on Friday, Band Showcase on Saturday...... Very much not looking forward to that.