July is rushing towards me.
I had hoped that we would have our show in Rio in July. We could have snuck it in just before the Olympics (they will be held in August).
But it gets to April, and still we have no plans for a July show. Things are going nowhere for me.
In July there will be paid work for me to do. That income will help me to fund our musical adventures.
So I give up on the idea of a July show in Rio. We will try for a show later in the year - after the Olympic madness is over.
This means I could do a show in the June Cabaret Fringe Festival.
It's always a big undertaking, but I feel ready to do this again. During the March festival I was a guest artist in someone else's show, which gave me a break from all the organising. In these open-access festivals the artist does everything - you need plenty of energy to make it a success.
I decide to make it a Brazilian show - it will give me some practice for the show we are going to have in Rio. Yes! It will happen! (she says, confidently???)
With some help from a mentor, I come up with a general concept for the show, and a title - "Bossa Supa-Nova". I register the show and set about putting the preparations in place. I enlist some professional musicians, select a venue, set dates for the show and ask my graphic designer to create a poster and flyers for me.
I choose dates at the end of the festival, to allow maximum time for publicity.
The band and the larger venue mean that this show will be a bit more expensive than the others I have done. Most of the costs are "variable" in nature - meaning that they multiply with each show. The only "fixed" costs are the registration fee and the cost of publicity. There are no "economies of scale" to be had. So, in order to limit my costs, I decide to do two shows instead of three. This also keeps it neat for the musicians, who are happy to play the same show two nights in a row, rather than juggling random dates throughout the festival.
I set a program and distribute the song list to the musicians. They're familiar with these songs, so we will only need one full-group rehearsal, in the week leading up to the show. I contact them all and lock in this date, well in advance. We can have a few part-rehearsals, as well.
To reduce the cost of the poster, I decide to use a photo I've already got, instead of spending lots of money on a new photo shoot. I order double the usual number of posters and flyers, because the theatre wants lots of them to display in the foyer.
The posters arrive, and I open the parcel. They don't seem quite right - they're too small. The printers admit their error and quickly reprint them for me at no extra cost. I deliver some to the theatre, and another bundle to a poster distribution company. My smiling face will soon appear on lamp-posts around the city. I put a small packet of flyers in my handbag to hand out to everyone I meet. I take a bundle of flyers to a restaurant near my office, and they put a poster on the front of their big coffee machine.
Now it's up to me to revise my lyrics, and to practise my singing.
I had hoped that we would have our show in Rio in July. We could have snuck it in just before the Olympics (they will be held in August).
But it gets to April, and still we have no plans for a July show. Things are going nowhere for me.
In July there will be paid work for me to do. That income will help me to fund our musical adventures.
So I give up on the idea of a July show in Rio. We will try for a show later in the year - after the Olympic madness is over.
This means I could do a show in the June Cabaret Fringe Festival.
It's always a big undertaking, but I feel ready to do this again. During the March festival I was a guest artist in someone else's show, which gave me a break from all the organising. In these open-access festivals the artist does everything - you need plenty of energy to make it a success.
I decide to make it a Brazilian show - it will give me some practice for the show we are going to have in Rio. Yes! It will happen! (she says, confidently???)
With some help from a mentor, I come up with a general concept for the show, and a title - "Bossa Supa-Nova". I register the show and set about putting the preparations in place. I enlist some professional musicians, select a venue, set dates for the show and ask my graphic designer to create a poster and flyers for me.
I choose dates at the end of the festival, to allow maximum time for publicity.
The band and the larger venue mean that this show will be a bit more expensive than the others I have done. Most of the costs are "variable" in nature - meaning that they multiply with each show. The only "fixed" costs are the registration fee and the cost of publicity. There are no "economies of scale" to be had. So, in order to limit my costs, I decide to do two shows instead of three. This also keeps it neat for the musicians, who are happy to play the same show two nights in a row, rather than juggling random dates throughout the festival.
I set a program and distribute the song list to the musicians. They're familiar with these songs, so we will only need one full-group rehearsal, in the week leading up to the show. I contact them all and lock in this date, well in advance. We can have a few part-rehearsals, as well.
To reduce the cost of the poster, I decide to use a photo I've already got, instead of spending lots of money on a new photo shoot. I order double the usual number of posters and flyers, because the theatre wants lots of them to display in the foyer.
The posters arrive, and I open the parcel. They don't seem quite right - they're too small. The printers admit their error and quickly reprint them for me at no extra cost. I deliver some to the theatre, and another bundle to a poster distribution company. My smiling face will soon appear on lamp-posts around the city. I put a small packet of flyers in my handbag to hand out to everyone I meet. I take a bundle of flyers to a restaurant near my office, and they put a poster on the front of their big coffee machine.
Now it's up to me to revise my lyrics, and to practise my singing.
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