Let's start from the very beginning

because that's a very good place to start.

I'm Rachel and I recently began working on my senior project for my bachelor degree in Music Education. I knew that keeping a journal would be vital to this project and decided with the technology of this day a blog would be the best way for me, so I keep my self accountable, and others interested and/or involved to stay up to date on the status of this project.

I'm assuming if you're reading this you either already know about my project or are interested. For those of you that don't know I decided to take the idea and music from Fox's Anastasia and adapt it so I could perform it in the possible work place of a Middle School music program. Though for my project it will be performed by my peers, the level of difficulty of the music, staging, script, etc will be for middle schoolers.

Though it has had alot of brainstorming for the past months, only in the last few days have I began really working on it hard core. First steps that occured about a month ago were getting it approved by my department, which obviously passed or I wouldn't be here.

Next was choosing my cast. I wish I would've had time to hold real auditions but because of working on it over the summer and the approval happening so late in the school year I simply had to make my best judgment of people I knew that were interested and had the talent to help me under go this. I have my leads nailed down and will bring in other characters that are named (though they are few) as I have them confirmed.

So, here it is.
Anastasia will be played by Madison Callaway. I've known Madison since she went to OC here. She was in my hall her freshman year when I was her RA. We've been friends and I've always enjoyed hearing and seeing her performed. She was so excited when the thought of this project happened and was willing to help however she could. So, when I approached her about doing Anastasia for me, she gladly accepted. I'm so excited to work with her and see how she will contribute greatly to this production.

Ben Rodriguez will be playing the part of Dimtri. I've only known Ben for about a year but being in the same master class as him has given me a great change to be entertained by his voice and talent of performing. Ben went head of heals it seemed when I asked him to help me with my production. I've seen him act without singing as well as sing without the dialogue and screen play to set things in their place so I am very excited to see all these things come together in my production.

Playing Ben's best friend of Vlad will be Michael Raftery. I've seen Michael in many things at OC as well as hearing him sing impromptu many times. He really seemed perfect for this character so once he said yes I was overwhelmed with happiness. He is just a blast to have as a friend so I can't wait to see how much fun we have working on stage.

Performing at times next to Michael will be Leah Graefe as she will play the part of Sophie. Leah and I have been good friends for a few years now. When I first heard her sing I was jealous, in awe, and always look for opportunities to sing with her cause it is great! Leah is a great communicator on stage and a very fun friend to have. Seeing her chemistry on stage with the otehr actors and actresses will be a barrel of laughs for all involved.

A story wouldn't be complete without a villain. In this story the villain, Rasputin, will be played by Brian Wilcox. Brian is another person I've only known for about a year but is someone who shocked me the first time I saw him perform on stage. He has a great voice and can perform so well on stage. I've yet to see a performance of his that I haven't enjoyed watching.

And what would a villain be without his side kick. Though in the movie it is a bat, my adaptation has Bartok being a human being. Acting along side Brian will be Damian Scheuffele. Damian has only recently started taking private voice lessons but I feel he is the perfect addition to this cast to play Bartok. He is a funny guy and I think his humor and personality will translate great onto the stage.

The only other named character I know of is the part of "Grandmama" which will be played by Talia Hazleton. Though she doesn't have training in voice, the role of Grandmama rarely sings so the part will require a little bit more acting and Talia does have experience in that role. Talia has become a great friend of mine as well as most of this cast so to put her in a role that may require a little more of her will be a good thing for both of us.

There are a few more things I should say about this project as I am introducing. Many people have had concerns about copyright. Through my research and with the help of my professors I have overcome all the possible problems with copyright. Primarily, because this is not for commercial use but for education use, I am protected from any problems that way. Also, the school pays yearly fees to an organization that allows school to perform things otherwise protected by copyright because of the need to in an education setting. On top of that, I'm not using the complete score or script and this goes into the actual work I'm doing on this project.

Though the story line is hard to deviate from, I am writing my own shortened script and arrange the songs for voice and various other instruments. My vision for this is to take it to a middle school where I can feature both the instrumentalist and vocalist that really are outstanding in their area.

To start this project off I watched the entire movie, taking notes on how long scenes and songs lasted, a general plot summary, and other things I thought were note worthy. Then I didn't watch it for a few months. I came back and looked over my notes and began developing my script to be the way I want, doing my best not to copy and paste the movie script. Keeping a long time between viewing the movie and writing the script really helped with that. Today has been day 2 of working on my first draft of the script and I'm almost done.

In the mean time, as I'm writing the script, I'm making notes of small set and costume and staging specifics I would like done. As the script and music develop I will be working on the other things involved too.

It is a huge project to undertake but it is enjoyable and I have already loved what little work I've done on it. Production date is set to be the end of September. It allows about a month of rehearsals once school starts. It's a fast running plan but it can and will be done and can and will be done well. I can't wait!!!!