Florodora Production Details

The details have been finally worked out and I can tell you that Florodora will be presented August 1st and 2nd 2009 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts downtown on Castro Street in the SecondStage theater space. I will be stage directing and Neil Midkiff will be Music Director. As a celebration of reaching the 10th Discovery show, Florodora will be presented with a new orchestration accompanied by the Lyric Theatre Salon Orchestra.

We are working on a Discovery performing edition, with a new modern vocal score and orchestra parts based on the original score and parts with matching midi files. We are working hard to get the performing materials finished so we can cast Florodora as early as possible - and especially so cast members can start to learn the music well in advance.

We'll begin rehearsals approx June 29th with a full week of music rehearsals. Because of the addition of the orchestra, we've scheduled the luxury of an extra full week of rehearsals AND there will also bean in-venue dress rehearsal on the evening of Friday July 31st - as well as orchestra rehearsals and a sitzprobe in the Lyric warehouse.

Florodora will be a lot of fun and, naturally, the Greatest Show Ever.

Audition dates and other details soon. Watch this space!

Florodora Book Is Really Funny

Neil Midkiff and I have been editing a performing edition of the Florodora libretto. The dialog is very, very funny and chocked full of jokes and good puns. We are mergeing the best from two similar sources, a printed libretto from an English revival (date unknown) and somewhat Americanized version which seems a bit earlier.

Most of the English characters are funny, led forcefully by the Lady Holyrood character who has some of the best jokes involving marriage and other social commentary.

Librettist Owen Hall (James Davis) really did a good job with this one!

What Became of the Florodora BOYS?

I'm hoping a lot of people will want to be able to boast of joining the famous theatrical ranks Florodora Girls and Florodora Boys.

Speaking of Florodora Boys, this scene from a very early comedy-variety talkie in 1929 speculated of the fate of the original 6 Florodora Boys - the actors who played The Clerks who are the love interests for the Florodora Girls. The original actresses all left the show and married millionaires. But what ever happened to the boys???

"The Show of Shows" features early comedy films stars Heine Conklin, Lupino Lane, Bert Roach, Ben Turpin, and Lloyd Hamilton as Messrs Sims, Pym, Apfelbaum, Haskell, Grogan and Scott. There's an amusing but longish introduction to get past. The number - a take-off on Tell me Pretty Maiden - begins about a minute-and-a-half into the clip. Note the Florodora Girl line cakewalk blocking strongly resembles the entrance step in the clip from the Florodora Girl movie (see previous posting).



(In real life, one of the Florodora boys in an early revival was Milton Berle. He did quite well).

Vamping Until Sunday...

I hope to get the greenlight from the Lyric PTBs at Sunday's BoD meeting and then share all the exciting details. Any and all moral support for the BoD meeting gleefully accepted. The Board needs to vote on the budget, venue and artistic staff. I promise, then, that all will be revealed.

In the meantime, work is being done on the score and the libretto. The plan is to have a brand new much improved Florodora vocal score and matching midi files in people's hands as early as possible.

It all sounds bright and fun and will be a hoot to perform.

The Florodora Cocktail V2

I tried a Florodora Cocktail during Thanksgiving. It is a summer-y sort of punch drink, at least the basic version. The "imperial" version with cognac might pack a little more, oh, whats the word, punch.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everybody has a wonderful, restful and happy Thanksgiving.

The Name "Florodora"

Legend has it that the name of the show, the word"Florodora", was cooked up with the help of the J. Grossmith & Son London firm of perfumers.

It is supposed to be "love the smell of flowers" not "Adore flora". But it has been often misspelled "Floradora" ever since. (Floradora is the brand name of a design of Royal Doulton dishware, among other things).

Unlike G&S Operettas, it has no subtitle, although "The Queen of the Philippine Islands" is often cited. The score merely says "A Musical Comedy".

Vamping Until Ready...

I'm waiting on final paperwork for the venue and action from the GSSSJ Board to announce specifics about the Florodora Discovery production.

I'd like people to keep August 1st and 2nd, 2009 clear.

In the meantime, I'll keep vamping - posting Florodora Fun Facts as I learn them.