Who would want to see a play without seeing the kids' cute faces? It is an acknowledged fact that technology has been changing exponentially year to year. Well, back when when cassette tape recorders were new and PA systems were too expensive for wide usage, our little group of performers had to come up with some creative solutions to mount a little play.
We were to perform before an audience of 500+ excited teenagers at a Youth Conference. The only microphone was at the speaker's podium. While our little play could be performed by just a few actors and it did have relatively few lines, we had to rely on broad gestures and larger than life facial expressions for the physical comedy. We could not huddle together taking turns at one stationary microphone hidden behind a large wooden podium!!!!!!
So, we pre-recorded the entire audio of our play --- lines and singing as well as musical underscoring. We really had to practice to judge the timing since we had to guess the dimensions of our stage and the reactions of the audience in advance of getting to the venue. And if we actually spoke or sang along, we couldn't hear well enough to stay in sync with the tracks. So, we had to mouth the words. During the performance we played the recording by setting the cassette tape player right at the podium mic. (Wow! That was advanced technology!)
The point is, that the pre-recording allowed us to do our play in that large hall with the noisy, boisterous audience and still pull off a successful performance.
I am wondering if pre-recording the vocals might be one way I could do my Theater Camp this summer. If I bring in the children to record their vocals by family groups (pods), then when we perform, could we mouth the words and take off the masks? If singing is the "mass spreader" of coronavirus, then just mouthing the words with no singing should not cause problems, right?
I just cannot imagine doing a children's musical without seeing the kids cute faces. It is just too important. Why would parents put their kids in a performance experience if the kids can't get the whole experience?
We were to perform before an audience of 500+ excited teenagers at a Youth Conference. The only microphone was at the speaker's podium. While our little play could be performed by just a few actors and it did have relatively few lines, we had to rely on broad gestures and larger than life facial expressions for the physical comedy. We could not huddle together taking turns at one stationary microphone hidden behind a large wooden podium!!!!!!
So, we pre-recorded the entire audio of our play --- lines and singing as well as musical underscoring. We really had to practice to judge the timing since we had to guess the dimensions of our stage and the reactions of the audience in advance of getting to the venue. And if we actually spoke or sang along, we couldn't hear well enough to stay in sync with the tracks. So, we had to mouth the words. During the performance we played the recording by setting the cassette tape player right at the podium mic. (Wow! That was advanced technology!)
The point is, that the pre-recording allowed us to do our play in that large hall with the noisy, boisterous audience and still pull off a successful performance.
I am wondering if pre-recording the vocals might be one way I could do my Theater Camp this summer. If I bring in the children to record their vocals by family groups (pods), then when we perform, could we mouth the words and take off the masks? If singing is the "mass spreader" of coronavirus, then just mouthing the words with no singing should not cause problems, right?
I just cannot imagine doing a children's musical without seeing the kids cute faces. It is just too important. Why would parents put their kids in a performance experience if the kids can't get the whole experience?
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