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.
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.