A Let-It-Snow Letter from the Past!
While creating the program for this year's Let It Snow!, previewing this Thursday and Friday and opening the day after Thanksgiving, FYI,I came across the first program for the first Let It Snow! back in 2004, and re-read Tara's original director's note. It's a great reminder of the show's original concept, direct from the show creator!
Susan and I are directing it this year, and since we're different people from Tara, the show will be different, even though Susan and I have both been in the show all three of its previous runs. Doing the show so many times means we get to kick it up a notch, so we've been focusing on more singing and dancing, and we have Kind Of A Set (step unit, door, and windows!) in the minimalist spirit of Our Town.
We like to shake things up and keep on growing -- BUT, we also want to stay true to the heart of the show, and Tara's original director's note encapsulates that really well.
We love you, Tara! Stay warm in Maine! Enjoy your letter from Tara From the Past!
A Musical for the Holidays
I grew up in Maine, one mile up on a dead-end road, with our nearest neighbors a quarter-mile away. My parents were two city-slickers from Boston (I refer to my dad as the “gentleman farmer,” which I think amuses him), and every Thanksgiving, carloads of city relatives would make the two-hour drive for a “real New England Holiday.” They delighted in collecting pine cones from the side of the road, taking walks in the crisp autumn air, and being made to wear bright orange outside—it was hunting season, after all! I don’t even think they minded the year an ice-coated hill necessitated an ad-hoc end-of the-road parking lot and a shuttle service from my dad’s aged Jeep
truck.
At the time, these country thrills were pretty much lost on me. As a teenager, I focused more on the fact that all my friends’ phone numbers were toll calls, a short trip to the mall could take all day, and safety orange was definitely not a flattering color. But now, I remember those Thanksgivings with a soft-focus warmth that tricks me into forgetting all the bad stuff. And isn’t that what holidays are all about?
That’s the sort of world we’re trying to create in Let It Snow! Living someplace where everybody knows you, where things are simple (at least they seem that way), where there’s a happy ending just around the corner. Sure, that world doesn’t exist, but it seems a little closer at this time of year.
And now, here’s the rub—we’re making this all up. Nothing that you’re about to see has ever been seen before. We’ll get some suggestions from you to start us off, and from there we’ll create a classic Broadway-style musical in front of your very eyes. We’ve been studying musicals, listening to soundtracks, even practicing a few dance moves. But we don’t know what’s going to happen any more than you do. So sit back, relax, and enjoy as we build a little snowflake of a musical for you. It fades away almost as soon as you can catch it, and every one is different.
Enjoy the show!
—Tara McDonough, director [from Let It Snow! 2004]
Susan and I are directing it this year, and since we're different people from Tara, the show will be different, even though Susan and I have both been in the show all three of its previous runs. Doing the show so many times means we get to kick it up a notch, so we've been focusing on more singing and dancing, and we have Kind Of A Set (step unit, door, and windows!) in the minimalist spirit of Our Town.
We like to shake things up and keep on growing -- BUT, we also want to stay true to the heart of the show, and Tara's original director's note encapsulates that really well.
We love you, Tara! Stay warm in Maine! Enjoy your letter from Tara From the Past!
A Musical for the Holidays
I grew up in Maine, one mile up on a dead-end road, with our nearest neighbors a quarter-mile away. My parents were two city-slickers from Boston (I refer to my dad as the “gentleman farmer,” which I think amuses him), and every Thanksgiving, carloads of city relatives would make the two-hour drive for a “real New England Holiday.” They delighted in collecting pine cones from the side of the road, taking walks in the crisp autumn air, and being made to wear bright orange outside—it was hunting season, after all! I don’t even think they minded the year an ice-coated hill necessitated an ad-hoc end-of the-road parking lot and a shuttle service from my dad’s aged Jeep
truck.
At the time, these country thrills were pretty much lost on me. As a teenager, I focused more on the fact that all my friends’ phone numbers were toll calls, a short trip to the mall could take all day, and safety orange was definitely not a flattering color. But now, I remember those Thanksgivings with a soft-focus warmth that tricks me into forgetting all the bad stuff. And isn’t that what holidays are all about?
That’s the sort of world we’re trying to create in Let It Snow! Living someplace where everybody knows you, where things are simple (at least they seem that way), where there’s a happy ending just around the corner. Sure, that world doesn’t exist, but it seems a little closer at this time of year.
And now, here’s the rub—we’re making this all up. Nothing that you’re about to see has ever been seen before. We’ll get some suggestions from you to start us off, and from there we’ll create a classic Broadway-style musical in front of your very eyes. We’ve been studying musicals, listening to soundtracks, even practicing a few dance moves. But we don’t know what’s going to happen any more than you do. So sit back, relax, and enjoy as we build a little snowflake of a musical for you. It fades away almost as soon as you can catch it, and every one is different.
Enjoy the show!
—Tara McDonough, director [from Let It Snow! 2004]
Labels: Let It Snow 2009
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