The Gingerbread Man Production Blog

Just so you can see the evidence for yourselves – here are the band… yep, just the two of them. Jim Rolt & Greg Swinford will be playing sweets as well as music. So talented these guys! This is a musical show so you can expect the band to be pretty busy!
Can’t wait for the set now ……

Actually, to be honest (or tbh in fb speak), they started dancing a while ago, but this little thing called Christmas got in the way of blogging. No excuses now & the show is almost upon us! Our choreographer, Wendy, has joined rehearsals and suddenly the cast are leaping all over the place (nicely choreographed leaping that is). The band are frequently to be spotted on the side of the stage and scripts have disappeared from view. All coming together nicely now.

We’re now officially open for booking as the details have been addded to the online booking system.
A few words about the plot?
The kitchen dresser at night … the ‘big ones’ have retired to bed for the night and the dresser folk come out to play. The newly baked Gingerbread Man meets Salt, Pepper and Cuckoo (who lives in the cuckoo clock) and the fun begins. Cuckoo is losing his voice though and they have to try and find a cure before he’s consigned to the dustbin! Will the Old Bag (a rather grumpy tea bag who lives in a teapot on the top shelf) help them? Will the villainous Sleek the Mouse manage to eat the Gingerbread Man? Join us for a midnight adventure on the dresser with music, song and dance!
There, now you know …..

Into December and the Gingerbread Man needs a set to play on! The theatre (in case you haven’t noticed) is very busy at the moment – something on every week (at least one thing on every week if you take all the usual group meetings into account). Great for the theatre, but so hard when you have a big show to get on stage and you have to rehearse in other locations. Still, by January the stage will be clear for the Gingerbread Man set to start going up – hooray!
I have to confess I haven’t been to any rehearsals lately as I have my own Youth Theatre show on in December (will be over if you’re reading this in OTR!) But …. post christmas there will be lots to get done to make sure the set design becomes a reality. Can’t wait for that!
You may have noticed the poster has arrived as well – thanks to Pat O’Donnell for provided the artwork. Should you feel inclined PLEASE pop into the theatre & pick up a few leaflets. I’m always banging on about this, but we really do lack the people power to take leaflets round and place them in public buildings. It would be very helpful if you could place a few for us.
So, more exciting pics as soon as the production manages to squeeze back on stage!

Well, since the last post (sorry, have NO idea where the time went), we’ve lost the 2nd Gingerbread Man & gained a third. This time we think our Gingerbread Person is here to stay and I think she’s going to be great! So, a rather frustrating time has passed and the show is back on track. Actually, it was never even close to being off the rails, but without the main character it is quite difficult to rehearse! Great to see Tamzin Moon – one of the members of the Junior Youth Theatre – stepping up bravely to play the Gingerbread Man!
We’re slowly getting a few more sponsors sorted as well! Almost there. The artwork for the poster has been produced by Pat O’Donnell, so pretty soon you might get a glimpse of the poster itself! Look out for a banner across the street in the middle of Bromyard sometime in January. Before you know what’s happening the Gingerbread Man will be all over the place….. However, if you’re reading this and thinking …. ummmm, I wonder what I could do to help out … we would LOVE people to spontaneously pop into the theatre, pick up some leaflets and spread the word! But not just yet … flyers available from mid December.

Meanwhile the band are quietly getting on with rehearsing all the songs at a number of secret locations around town. Jim and Greg plus various nembers of the cast have been meeting for weeks now and just getting on with the music. I’ve heard some of it – sounds good now and it’s only November! Can’t wait to get a few pics when they start dancing as well…..

We are VERY grateful to our lovely sponsors and so far would like to thank:
No 1 Broad Street – sponsoring Pepper
Flowerdews – sponsoring Salt
David James Jewellery – sponsoring Cuckoo
Loafers – sponsoring The Gingerbread Man
B&M Johnson – sponsoring The Set (it’s a kitchen!)
BIG THANKS to these generous people for supporting us and we hope there are a few more to come yet!

Well it looks like the Gingerbread crisis might be resolved! We’re waiting to meet the all new shiny Gingerbread Man – hopefully very soon. I’ll pop in and get some pics of the director looking relieved as soon as we meet her (yes, her). Meanwhile the cast struggle on (it gets difficult with a major character missing) with Alan (director) bravely stepping in to multitask by playing the GM whilst directing and carrying out changes to set design.
I should just point out that ‘The Old Bag’ is the name of Ann’s character in the play – I wasn’t being rude..honest.

… and we can’t catch him (actually we’re NOT doing that Gingerbread Man story but it seemed strangely appropriate). So, suddenly we’re short of a cast member! Not a great surprise, it always seems to happen at some point and now we’re looking for THE GINGERBREAD MAN take 2. Any ideas out there? Anyone fancy treading the boards in a daft suit?
Apart from that minor inconvenience everything else seems to be swimming along nicely. We’re finalising the sponsors and will post details soon.

..but they’re cracking on. Orange chairs and chalk lines for a set, lots of imagination and some detailed blocking starting to emerge. Just popped in to take a few pics and a rehearsal with just 3 of the cast is taking place – an opportunity to work some extra moves in and tighten up a few routines.  Any spoilers? Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt if you knew that Cuckoo is having problems cuckooing …. you can probably tell that from David’s expression! You may also like to know that it’s around midnight in the kitchen (on the dresser where the characters live) and strange things happen around this time ..

Meanwhile we’re still looking for one more sponsor. Anyone out there fancy sponsoring this show? It promises to be great fun and I can tell you that the music (courtesy of Jim Rolt and Greg Swinford) is shaping up really well! I’ve heard a few songs and they’re pretty impressive now (bearing in mind it’s only October!) But … sponsorship anyone? We’d like someone to sponsor Sleek the Mouse (played by Gordon White) and each sponsor is giving £150 towards the show. We offer in return your company details on publicity, flyers, website, blog and a display in the foyer during the run of the show. We have October to finalise sponsors so PLEASE get in touch!

Great 1st. week of rehearsals. Love the creative process of “blocking in”, making moving pictures out of the words. Sally Handley very clever at recording it all in diagram form. Cast already working well as a team. Allan.