"More Fog, Please": 31 Years Directing Community and High School Musicals

By Susan Moore Jordan

An intriguing look into the world of amateur theater and the people who make it happen, from one director’s point of view.

“More Fog, Please”: 31 Years Directing Community and High School Musicals is exactly that, memories of over thirty of the eighty musical theater shows Susan Moore Jordan directed from 1984 to 2015. “There’s no question where the buck stops in a theater production,” Jordan says, but she adds, “There are many people mentioned in these pages, because none of these shows could have happened without them.”
First released as a paperback in 2015, the book was a best-seller in Amazon’s Theater Direction and Production category for a number of weeks. The author has provided timely updates for some sections in this new e-book edition, and the photographs are still there, this time in vivid color.
Each chapter begins with the “Director’s Note” that appeared in the printed program for the show. Jordan informally discusses the productions as she highlights the events – some exciting, some stressful, some humorous, some anxious, some frightening, some sad – that confirm the old saying “the show must go on.” Woven throughout the book are “adventures” with stage fog, which the author loved to use.

“This book deserves to be read by all those interested in how theatre becomes the art form we all know and love.” -- reader review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Moore Jordan
• Release date: Apr 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463781975

Susan Moore Jordan

After a lifetime as a musician—performer, teacher, musical theater director—Susan Moore Jordan wrote and published her first novel in 2013 at the age of seventy-five, and she hasn’t stopped since.Her first novel, How I Grew Up, was released in 2013. Two additional novels followed: Eli’s Heart in 2014 and You Are My Song in 2015, completing “The Carousel Trilogy.” A fourth novel, Jamie’s Children, was released in July, 2016.Memories of Jake, the first book in "The Cameron Saga," was followed by Man with No Yesterdays. Set in the Vietnam War era, the books follow the impact of military service and its aftermath on two brothers.In May 2018, Susan Jordan added the genre "cozy mystery" to her novels when she released The Case of the Slain Soprano. In November of 2018 the second book in the "Augusta McKee Mystery Series" was released: The Case of the Disappearing Director. In April 2019, the third book in the series, The Case of the Toxic Tenor, was released; and in October 2019, book four, The Case of the Purloined Professor, was added.Jordan attended the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati and moved to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania in 1971 with her husband and three children.Beginning in 1984, Jordan directed some eighty local community and high school musical theater productions. She retired from directing in 2015 after over thirty years and wrote about her adventures in “More Fog, Please”: Thirty-One Years Directing Community and High School Musicals, released in November, 2015.On Feb. 2, 2018, The Case of the Slain Soprano was named a finalist in the 2018 Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards in the category Books for Adults (fiction). The book was also a semi-finalist in The Kindle Book Awards. Two novels, The Case of the Disappearing Director and Man with No Yesterdays, were named finalists in the 2019 Wishing Shelf Awards.All of Jordan’s books are “music-centric” (in the words of one reviewer), and readers comment on the strength of the element of music included in her work. Jordan sees writing as another way to share the music she loves, which she considers “the most powerful force in the universe.”Articles by Susan Moore Jordan have appeared in Musical America and The Guardian, and on August 2, 2019, she appeared on Hour Three of “The Today Show” as a Super Senior.For more information, please visit her website at www.susanmoorejordan.com

Book preview

MORE FOG, PLEASE

31 Years Directing Community and High School Musicals

McDougal's Cave 2

by

SUSAN MOORE JORDAN

Books by Susan Moore Jordan

The Carousel Trilogy

How I Grew Up

Eli’s Heart

You Are My Song

Jamie’s Children

The Cameron Saga

Memories of Jake

Man With No Yesterdays

The Augusta McKee Mystery Series

The Case of the Slain Soprano

The Case of the Disappearing Director

The Case of the Toxic Tenor

The Case of the Purloined Professor

Non-Fiction

"More Fog, Please"

More Fog, Please © 2015, E-book Publication © 2020, by Susan Moore Jordan. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Susan Moore Jordan.

Published by Shaggy Dog Productions, LLC

Cover design by Tristan Flanagan

Cover photo by Tristan Flanagan

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, East Stroudsburg High School South, 2015

Title page photo by Donna Gallucci. Used by permission.

Table of Contents

The Cast of Characters

The Director

Babes in Arms

Cinderella (1, 2, 3)

Kiss Me, Kate

The Sound of Music (Takes One and Two)

1776

Camelot

Oz, Rounds One and Two

The G & S Summers

Carousel, the First Time Around

Song of Norway

Into The Woods

The Merry Widow

Heidi

Brigadoon

The Fantasticks

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Beauty and the Beast

The Wizard of Oz, Round Three

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Oliver!

Songs for a New World

The Secret Garden

Footloose

Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol

Ragtime

Carousel Revisited

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Swan Song

The Production Staff

Note to the Director

Musical Theater Productions 1984-2015

Ragtime, Black Sheep Productions, 2011

The Cast of Characters

There are many people mentioned in these pages, because none of these shows could have happened without them. These are people who sometimes went without a meal in order to get to rehearsal on time; people who arranged with friends and family to care for children so they could be part of a show; people who ignored minor aches and pains and managed to forget them for the time they were in rehearsal or performing; people who sometimes came from a home with more drama than we saw on stage, and still managed to help make the shows happen.

It is from the wealth of experiences with these remarkable people in both community and high school shows that I drew the material for this book.

Each chapter is about a specific show or production (sometimes more than one production of a show), and begins with my director’s note which was part of the printed program. Your favorite show may not be included in these pages. I selected productions – both high school and community theater - that were memorable to me, usually for more than one reason.

But every production was a journey. Every production was a new adventure. Every opening night was exciting and nerve-wracking. I found myself holding my breath from the first note to the final curtain, all the while being amazed and gratified by what transpired on stage. Stephen Schwartz said it well in Pippin: … magic to do just for you.

It was magic. It is magic.

.

PIPPIN 2009

Pippin, East Stroudsburg H.S. South, 2009

Tyler Lyons, Leading Player

Photo by Michele Benefield. Used by permission.

The Director

How did I arrive at this place in my life, looking back on thirty-one years of community and high school musical theater productions?

BHS (Before High School), my favorite things were: music, ballet, books, and movies, not necessarily in that order. Not much changed once I started high school. I still loved music, ballet, books, and movies, but I added opera and musical theater to that list. Most of my classmates were into a new craze called Rock and Roll. I think I fell somewhere between geek and nerd in the high school pecking order.

My cousin Jeanne reminded me in a recent e-mail (it was over a year ago, but at my age that’s recent) that when we played together as little girls, my dolls and stuffed animals were all actors and I was the director. We acted out books and films I loved. Yes, I was definitely a little bossy, at least with my sweet cousin. She was younger by two whole months so I figured I could select the shows. Sometimes she and I were the actors. I was always the director.

I loved books, specifically Little Women and The Secret Garden and a couple of others not as well known: Maida’s Little Theater by Inez Irwin Hayes and Theater Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. I had a large collection of dolls and stuffed animals and easily cast them as any and all of the characters; turning the books into theater (my bed was perfect for a stage). I had a great imagination. I was a happy child.

In third grade I wrote, directed and starred in my own version of The Princess Who Could Not Cry. My wonderful mother made me a costume – a blue dress with a white pinafore apron - and came to my school to see the play. I had ballet lessons from the time I was eight and wanted desperately to be a prima ballerina with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, which appeared annually at the nearby University of Tennessee. In junior high school I realized I was never going to have the right body type to be a prima ballerina. That was a great disappointment. Not too long after that I discovered opera, so I figured being a prima donna at the Metropolitan Opera would have to suffice.

In the interim, I had great experiences. In my home town we had a children’s theater. A group of caring, dedicated adults cast junior high and high school students in plays that were performed for elementary school kids. The adults provided everything we needed; guidance, leadership, sets, costumes, publicity, programs, everything. I was thrilled when I was cast as the Empress in a production of The Emperor’s New Clothes when I was in eighth grade. My next appearance on stage was as a chorus member in The Student Prince, our high school’s annual musical, when I was in tenth grade.

The following year, I abandoned the stage for the orchestra pit for our school’s production of Carousel, for which I played harp. More about that show appears later in this book. I saw my first opera – Carmen. Ballet was still an important part of my life, as were books and movies. I probably watched The Great Caruso at least ten times and fell madly in love with Mario Lanza.

Let’s speed through the next years: high school graduation, acceptance at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati – where I realized my dream of singing opera was anything but realistic. Since my voice teacher was head of the opera department, I generally was involved in some way with the productions – I helped with wardrobe; I worked stage crew. One year I played the little boy in the second act of La Bohème and had a whole line to sing.

I met a tenor, Sam Jordan, and eventually married him and supported him in his desire for a career. He sang professionally for a number of years and during part of that time I worked on the staff of Edgecliff Academy of Fine Arts, which presented the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival every summer. One of my many duties as executive assistant - or whatever the designation of the moment was - meant that I assisted in various ways with productions of Shakespeare’s plays as well as such classics as The Glass Menagerie, School for Scandal, and Tevye’s Daughters.

My tenor eventually decided against continuing with his career (it’s a difficult life) and established his own music notesetting business. After we had our third child, we moved to Pennsylvania. Zoom in on a community organization, Pocono Lively Arts, established as a presenting organization for concerts. In our third year of existence, somebody suggested Let’s put on a show! Hmmm … I guess that was me.

So we did, and it was quite successful. After our first production of Scrooge, we were astounded by the number of people who came to audition, to play in the orchestra, to work backstage … amateurs in the truest sense of the word. All these people wanted to be part of something they loved. They came from just about every profession imaginable: an Episcopal priest, the local orthodontist, stay-at-home moms, attorneys, real estate brokers, nurses, electricians, on occasion a physician, teachers, retired people, college students – and frequently, people with some professional performing experience who generously shared their talent and expertise. And children from all the area schools from age eight up through high school.

At first I acted as producer, but after only a few years the director who had been handling our annual holiday show had to withdraw a few weeks into the rehearsal period because of a personal crisis. I ended up working with the choreographer to finish Babes in Toyland. It was fun. People were fun to work with; better than dolls and stuffed animals, by far. It was immensely satisfying. I had ideas that translated to the stage well, and between my experiences at the Conservatory and Edgecliff Academy I had learned a great deal about how to put a show together.

All the parts of a production are kind of like a jigsaw puzzle … and the director is the person who puts it together. It seems I had a knack for doing that. Step one: selecting the show. I was fortunate enough to nearly always be the one to make the selection. I didn’t always choose a show I loved; sometimes I realized we needed to do musicals that would draw an audience. So I would love that show for the time we were working on it. Other times, I chose a show I was passionate about. Surprise: those were my favorites. And since I’m a musician, they were generally shows with strong musical scores. Another surprise: the best of the best were, for me, the ones that were close to opera.

The director is expected to come up with a vision for the production. Remember that good imagination I mentioned earlier? I still had it, and it’s vital in theater. Envisioning the show is one thing. That’s the fun part. Translating that to the stage is quite another and it’s a lot of hard work. Step two: finding the people to flesh out the vision and seeing to it everyone works toward the same end – actors and technicians alike.

One thing I always kept in mind: the actors are the people who actually present the authors’ creation to the audience. While I had definite ideas of the characters, it is the actors who have to find a way to make the character fit them. Unless I thought an actor had wandered far afield from what the author intended (which happened very seldom), it made sense to me for the actor to create the character. To that end I always did what I could to encourage the actor to find his character and be that person throughout the show. If you have the right cast, you’re halfway home.

As for the production – set, costumes, lights, sound, properties, etc.- sometimes compromises have to be made because of limitations of funds or of talent. It’s still possible to have a show close to the one you dreamed about. Keep your vision!

Sleepless nights are the norm, especially during tech week or during any stressful situation that arises. Eating on the run or skipping meals, and not just the director, many times everybody involved deals with these. There’s this deadline: it’s called opening night.

There’s no question where the buck stops in a theater production, and you have to be ready for just about anything. It’s surprising what can happen. There were situations which arose that are discussed in individual chapters in the book. Sometimes a quick decision must be made. I read somewhere the moment of absolute certainty never comes; make the decision and move on. Good advice. The play’s the thing, keeping that in mind is paramount. Opening night is always staring you in the face.

But I digress. Fast forward again, this time thirty years … through many more community productions, musicals at two high schools, a children’s theater workshop for more than twenty summers, adding a summer show to the Pocono Lively Arts musicals (which meant I was directing two and eventually three shows a year for PLA, plus a high school production) … and arrive at 2015, where I closed the curtain on my final high school production. The last community theater production I directed was in 2011, some four years earlier.

Not bad for a dreamy, nerdy kid who loved books, movies, music, ballet, opera – and musicals. It was a good run.

Babes in Arms

(1984)

The timeless appeal of Rodgers and Hart’s wonderful music plus the engaging plot idea – young actors and actresses playing young actors and actresses – and the large cast made Babes in Arms an ideal choice for the Stroudsburg High School Class of 1984 musical. It has been interesting to note that these young men and women you see performing tonight have found so much to enjoy in a musical written in 1937 – which might indicate to us all that, while times change, as the old adage goes, people, in many ways, are the same.

About the young men and women in the cast: I only wish every adult in the audience had been able to share in the experience of preparation for this show over the past several weeks. It has been a great privilege to work with this group of dedicated, talented, energetic, and enthusiastic people that includes both the cast members and the backstage staff.

I applaud them, and I know you will, too.

Susan Jordan

Stroudsburg High School, April, 1984

In October of 1983 the Pocono Lively Arts production of Babes in Toyland was in trouble. The young man we had hired to direct the show, who had twice brought fine productions to the public for us, had to withdraw from the current project because of a family emergency. We were about five weeks into rehearsals. Not a good place to be when a director has to leave. I think we were all concerned; rehearsals had been cancelled at the last minute more than once.

Consideration of our options resulted in the young woman who was choreographer and me, the producer, agreeing to complete the show. We tried to follow through with the initial thoughts of the now departed director while considering how to move forward with the remainder of the first act and the entirety of the second. Not the happiest way to be introduced to directing duties, but I enjoyed what I did with Babes in Toyland; it was fun to see the finished product and see how performers and audiences alike loved what happened on the stage. We had very good houses, near sellouts.

Not too many weeks later my son Steve came home one day and said to me, Mom, how’d you like to direct our senior class play? We don’t have a director, but we want to do a play.

I think I asked him if they knew what play they would perform, and was told I could select the play. Sure, why not? Sounds like fun.

The idea of following my experience with Babes in Toyland with this opportunity to select the show, cast it, and see it through from start to finish was one I could not resist. My first show. My show. Until it would become, as every show must, the cast’s show.

Within days I was contacted by the Stroudsburg High School principal, Karl Dickl, and asked if I could come in for a meeting. When I arrived I was surprised to see the superintendent and activities director were joining us. What about making this a musical? A musical! Much more complicated. But after only a moment’s hesitation I smiled and agreed to do it.

They were aware of my involvement with PLA, whose shows were jointly sponsored by PLA and the school district. It was a happy partnership; PLA did the work and the school district provided the venue. We also involved the high school students in various ways. They had to audition to be cast in the shows, but often were recruited to work backstage and play in the pit orchestra. Poster and program cover competitions were held for each show by the art teachers. The winners saw their art work reproduced and appearing all over town, and in the hands of the patrons at all performances. All publicity announced Pocono Lively Arts and The Stroudsburg Area School District present … It was an auspicious beginning.

I knew some of the seniors – some were even my voice students. My son Steve had actually begun working as a theater tech while he was still in junior high school, and had learned a great deal from the professional we hired to light the PLA shows. He agreed to be my technical director. The young woman I’d worked with on Babes in Toyland, Anna Eskenazi-Woodbridge, agreed to be choreographer. I had a staff!

I went through catalogs of the major stage musical rental houses, read synopses, looked through song lists and character requirements, and I liked Babes in Arms for these students. I figured the kids I was working with could handle it. I liked the script: it was lively and entertaining, and the music was great. Such songs as My Funny Valentine, Where or When, and The Lady Is a Tramp were considered standards and I liked them.

I went to first the high school band director and then the choral director, hoping to enlist their aid. They both turned me down, a huge disappointment.

I understand now it was an impossible request. School was back in session after Christmas break and they both had events scheduled that required their time and energy. I was a Johnny-come-lately in the academic year. One of the faculty members, Charlie Cole – I believe he was a math teacher - was known as a fine piano player. He agreed to play for the show, and to put together a combo to accompany it: the tried and true piano, bass, and drums. Instant music director!

As I recall, he played for most rehearsals as well, though a freshman girl, Janice Lee, filled in from time to time (she is now Director of Choral Music at the same high school). During one memorable rehearsal, the lights in the auditorium unexpectedly went out. Charlie, our ever unflappable pianist continued to play in the dark, commenting I feel like Stevie Wonder, and cracking the cast up. The lights came back on shortly thereafter.

We held auditions, and we had plenty of girls but not enough guys, so the cast of seniors agreed to recruit two junior boys to fill those roles. They were excited to be involved. The kids were dedicated to the project. It had been some years since a musical had taken place at SHS and they had a feeling they were part of something important.

A word of explanation about the large cast comment in my director’s note: Large in this instance refers to the fact that all of the characters had at least a line or two of dialogue. In numbers, the cast we had for this production consisted of twenty performers who acted, sang and danced. We expanded the numbers by bringing our four stagehands on for several scenes.

In Babes in Arms, the apprentices at a summer theater are working for the theater owner and appearing in small roles in his productions, but they are passionately preparing their own production, a revue which they hope to find a sponsor for so they can move their show to the big time. There are a lot of plot twists and turns including a love triangle, the stage mother from hell, and one of the apprentices hiding her true identity.

Valentine White is the young man who has written the revue. It’s a role with a lot of meat in it; Val is the center of the love triangle and has some wonderful music and some scenes that really give the actor a chance to shine. Val White will always be Stephen Paynter to me because he played the role to the hilt. He sang extremely well and immersed himself in the character. Or at least I think he did! Maybe Val White was just an extension of Steve; I guess I will never know for sure. He was the heart of the production and his passion ignited the rest of the cast.

One of my favorite moments was Stephen’s delivery of one line after he’d just kissed two different girls in the span of about five minutes. He looked stricken, and exclaimed: "What am I – a nymphomaniac?" as he ran offstage to a huge laugh and vigorous applause.

Bunny Byron is one of the few adult roles in the show; she’s secretary and all around assistant to the owner of the theater. Another stellar young performer, Lisa Jolley, shone in this role and had some of the best songs: Johnny One Note and The Lady Is a Tramp, among others.

The entire cast was solid and worked very hard. One of the things we addressed, other than the external basics of acting on stage (projection, movement, gestures, etc.), was exploring the characters and the interaction between the characters.