Welcome to Students Incorporated, a podcast where we dive into relevant topics and issues
related to the world of business, technology, education and design.
I'm your host, Mr. Jason.
Episodes include student conversations, interviews with thought leaders, and inspirational stories
with an international flavor.
This podcast is created and produced with the help of students from the International
Community School of Bangkok.
Welcome to Behind the Scenes, Episode 10.
I am Darren and I will be your host.
In this episode, we will be talking with our first guest, Mr. Gershom, aka Mr. G, as most
of us call him around here.
We'll be asking him about his work on the upcoming musical.
Then, we'll shift gears and have a conversation with several of the cast members.
We'll discuss the joys and challenges of being a student actor and some struggles that
they have.
We'll talk about their favorite scenes, songs, and what the audience should look out for.
But first, let's hear our quote of the day and news headlines.
Thank you, Darren.
Our quote of the day is from someone we all know and love, the famous English playwright,
William Shakespeare.
He wrote, All the world's a stage and all the men and women are merely players.
Fun fact for you.
This quote comes from the Seven Ages of Man speech, which is delivered in the play titled,
As You Like It.
This speech can actually be read as poetry.
It describes the different stages of life a person goes through in their lifetime, from
life to death.
Check it out when you get a chance.
Time for some headline news.
During a recent finance summit in Hong Kong, Wall Street executives were informed that
Hong Kong was back in business.
After three years of intense restrictions against COVID-19, Hong Kong is slowly opening
back up.
Although some restrictions still remain, the summit indicates a major turning point for
the nation.
On Saturday, climate activists protested on the runway of Amsterdam's airport.
According to the spokesperson for Greenpeace Netherlands, the airport built a new terminal
instead of reducing flights.
The airport's CEO responded saying they had a goal to achieve emissions-free airports
by 2030 and net climate-neutral aviation by 2050.
Kenya is having one of its worst droughts in decades and it is affecting hundreds of
elephants, wildebeests and zebras.
Insectivist seasons of below average rainfall is causing riverbeds to dry up and grasslands
are being destroyed.
However, steps are being taken to protect these animals, such as digging boreholes to
obtain water and transporting water to dried up water pans and dams.
Thank you for the quote and news headlines.
This episode is a special one since Shrek the musical is only one week away.
Our special guest for part one is Mr. G. Let's begin with our first question.
Welcome to the podcast Mr. G.
So, a lot of people have been wondering why did you choose Shrek for the musical this
year instead of another musical?
Okay, well it's also written in the spoiler alert director's note.
But it's a childhood favorite particularly for this senior class.
So that's one reason.
But also it's really funny and it's really exciting.
I don't know, it's one of those ones that has all the classic elements of a good story
but it has the, I'm going to say crude humor.
Yeah.
Or just to balance out the cheesiness of those fairy tale stories.
I think that's what makes it, particularly the musical goes deep into the whole like
backstories of all the characters.
And that makes it a lot of fun and more interesting than you know your block standard.
I don't know, not that these are bad musicals but like Annie, it's like it's fun but it's
everyone knows it already where Shrek is a little bit more edgy and new and the humor
is a huge element.
So I think those are the top reasons.
The fact that it's a childhood favorite and then the fact that it's like funny in a different
way than a lot of other musicals.
Is the senior class always something you keep in mind when choosing a musical?
Usually particularly if there are strong tech actors which now there is generally speaking.
When I first got here I didn't know those groups as well so it was harder to gauge what
they were into but I kind of do try and think about okay if we have a really strong tech
team for one year then I might choose something that's a fun challenge for them and if I have
a bunch of strong actors and that kind of waxes and wanes per year and sometimes we
get a ton of both because it's just how long people take the classes essentially.
That's kind of how I engage.
If I have lots of seniors in one year then I'm like oh that's quite a lot of seniors
this year and I've taught them multiple times.
Oh okay cool I think they can handle this.
Whereas if it's like mostly juniors and sophomores then I can be like okay we still have time
to do something that will challenge them like yeah.
So I guess it factors in but I wouldn't say it's the largest factor.
It's maybe at 10 to 20 percent.
So since every musical comes with its own ups and downs what would you say were some
of the more challenging parts about directing this musical?
I think the number one challenging part is the tech side.
It's very very difficult things to construct for this show particularly and they're in
such high volume.
There are props that are on for five seconds and we have to build them by hand and there's
a lot of them.
Whereas other shows you buy them and then that's it.
Like you can use them for that five second scene but this one they have to be handmade.
So that's very challenging.
I would say that's the biggest challenge and on the acting side I think the hardest part
is we have a lot of younger performers this year who it's their only maybe second show
for some of them and that's a challenge for them and for me because we had COVID they
just had less opportunities to try out.
So at the beginning particularly they were like having to keep up with the high schoolers
which in the past wasn't as big of an issue and now they're fine.
But like at the beginning it was definitely a challenge for them to be like oh wow we
have to perform at a high school level even though we're at upper elementary or middle
school you know.
So I think that's they've risen to the challenge but it's been harder for them I think than
average.
Going from that question how does this show differ in general from others that you have
directed before?
There's a lot more comedic timing moments on average.
I should say Joseph had a couple of those and really funny moments but then there was
also the overarching story that was more serious and sad whereas this is like lots of sadness
covered with humor to like mask the sadness.
So I feel like that's been the biggest difference is the humor is timed you know in professional
shows and even stand-up comedians we think it looks effortless but it's not.
It's all scripted.
Everything is scripted even audience interactions are actually scripted but they're just good
at improvising in between those scripted moments.
Similarly here that's what we're having to do is like those things to direct are the
hardest you know telling people like oh yeah you think you're being crazy but you're not
being crazy enough for the person all the way at the back so we are missing that joke.
It's like hard to comprehend how big and over the top your humor has to be.
Hudson has to fart with his entire body whereas that's not a natural thing to do in real life.
I mean maybe for some people right and I think those are definitely unique challenges and
then vocally I would say this one's very challenging.
A lot of the leads have had to do like vocal lessons additional to the rehearsals and that's
definitely challenging.
So since we've already talked about the challenges let's talk about what have been some of your
favorite moments from directing the musical.
I think the favorite moments some of them are yet to come because we're almost done
building the dragon so that's one that's going to be a favorite when it's done and I think
other favorite moments have been there's a lot of funny scenes that have just been really
fun to put together.
An example would be like the guards and Lord Farquhar which is Darren who's in this room
but like when they come on when the guards come on without him first one of them accidentally
did this like really funny ugly face and this is just in rehearsal and I was like that's
kind of funny can you all just do that face and when they did it it was so hilarious that
when we showed it to the rest of the cast they also started laughing I was like this
is great we're just going to keep this so they'll just have that face every time they
sing they have this ugly face and jokes like that you don't get to do in other musicals
and I feel like that's a highlight and then Darren walking on his knees all the time and
then me being able to make the rest of the cast also wear knee pads and dance on their
knees I mean it's just there's a lot of things that are very entertaining for me as the director
maybe not if you're performing it but it's highly entertaining for me particularly and
then I think a lot of the interactions between Shrek, Donkey, Fiona and Shrek have been fun
because they're much more I would say they're the more nuanced of the whole show so you
got your really ridiculously funny moments and then there's really sensitive moments
between Fiona as an ogre so patients role and then Kylie's role and then Hudson so they
all have different interactions and a little bit different chemistry and then Donkey and
Shrek also have different chemistry I actually told them to like give each other notes like
secret notes and and like start having a little secret handshakes in real life so that their
chemistry would start translating and it does now and it's really fun to watch that like
grow so I would say those are huge fun and interesting highlights.
What should people be excited for ahead of the show?
Any sneak peeks and how have you enjoyed working with the cast?
Yeah I always enjoy working with the cast in some way shape or form even if there's
moments that I'm frustrated in the end it's always like oh no that was fun.
As for sneak peeks oh trying to give away without giving too much away.
The dragon is five meters long that's pretty exciting building a puppet of that scale from
scratch was very fun and interesting.
The dragon does look incredible from the little bit that I've seen.
Right yeah exactly so that's definitely an exciting thing I would say the Fiona solos
are all so so nice whether she's singing in human form or ogre form like just beautiful
and then Hudson's just rocking rock vocals and like just the amount of like growth he's
had vocally from day one to now it's like yeah you're really hearing a nice rock edge
for Shrek's particularly and he has that written into the song like the song sounds like a
rock song when you listen to it first and now he's singing it like a rock song I'm like
yes it's I know I think those are and there's just too much there's too much to look forward
to it's Shrek.
I would say like if you don't know if you haven't seen the movie watch the movie and
then if you haven't imagine you had more time to watch the movie and you got to learn more
about the characters and all their childhood trauma and it's all in musical form and it's
funny it's just I mean when you put it that way it's just like what could go wrong right.
So our last question for you today is what would be your dream cast of actors to direct
in a movie or a play?
Okay I think I personally would prefer not to direct movies because of how their production
system works but maybe I'm not holding myself to that. If I was to do a Broadway like stage
show and I could have anyone I've seen Rupert Grint the guy from Harry Potter on stage before
for a show and it was all in Cockney and he was really good really fun to watch on stage
so him Hugh Jackman you know because he's my homie maybe he could like produce the show
you know with me or something like that and have a little role you know like a little
bit role.
Like a cameo.
Scarlett Johansson I don't know if she sings but you know we'll give her a speaking role
if necessary because her acting is phenomenal and then Kristen Bell she can sing super well
so she'd be great.
Idina Manziel she sings Frozen by the way for those who don't know so those would be
my female three leads and then just because I don't think he can even sing but like Henry
Cavill just put him in the show because he's the Witcher.
Well he's not the Witcher anymore sad news but spoiler alert.
Oh yeah he got recasted.
Yeah he's too busy apparently but anyway put him in the show because he's awesome.
Who's the guy that does Olaf's voice?
Josh Gad.
Yes there we go.
I think that would be like you'd have like amazing singers and amazing performance.
Oh the guy from Tic Tic Boom who's also Spider-Man.
Andrew Garfield.
Andrew Garfield whack him in there.
There you go now I have my dream cast.
And then the ensemble can be ICS students so that basically we elevate our status using
Star Power.
I think that would be an awesome awesome show and as for what show would be I actually have
two unwritten musicals so I do writing as well but the problem is I never finish things
unless I'm like forced to do it.
So like 1984 I finished because we were doing it at ICS so then I had to finish it and so
these musicals one day in the future if I have like a more boring summer where I don't
have you know post-grad degree or something I might want to finish up one of them and
they're very cheesy in the way musicals should be you know and they're kind of like rock
opera musicals so I would love to do my own writing and then have such Star Power because
then for sure it would get successful even if the writing was terrible they'd be like
well Henry Cowell's in it so.
Or you could just call back some of your alumni.
There you go exactly we got some of the best saying this stuff.
So one of the stories I wrote is about they send this this vagabond prince who's been
adopted into like this castle because his own castle got overrun by trolls so you know
he's been living there and he's kind of like the terrible prince that doesn't behave princely
at all most of his life and he's secretly but denying it in love with this the princess
who's the like over like her dad is the high king right and then the dad's like oh I'm
going to give my kingdom to her she's going to be queen but the whole board is sexist
so basically they tell him no you can't do that it has to be a king she has to marry
first she's like super annoyed and everyone she complains to is like well you know that's
the way it is except this prince guy who's like yeah man these are terrible rules if
I was your prince if I was your you know I would just let you rule and like you know
I'd support you however you want and then she's like oh I kind of like it so the board
doesn't like that because he's got a bad reputation so they send him on a suicide quest to get
an unretrievable item essentially they're trying to send him off to his death but he
somehow succeeds and kind of that's what the story is about and then meanwhile back in
the castle the bad guy is trying to essentially persuade the girl to marry him instead so
that he can take power and that's kind of and it's an extremely cheesy story you know
it has like they say the caverns of death and there's an echo you know it's like herself
but it's just a fun yeah fun thing so who knows maybe we'll do that one day I know for
one I'm very excited for the musical thank you so much for sharing with us mr. G it's
been amazing having you we'll be right back for part two with the cast members but first
we have a short PSA announcement from Kush
The musical is hitting the pack soon the dates are Thursday November 17th and Friday November
18th make sure to get tickets soon because they are almost sold out and the actors can't
wait to perform in addition make sure to follow our Instagram account at students incorporated
remember that's students incorporated one word we post there weekly and we'll notify
you every time a new episode comes up
Thank you Kush for the PSA our guests for this part include several prominent cast members
of the musical we have Hudson, Kylie, Julius and Malachi thank you for joining us today
we'll be talking to some of the cast about the play struggles and fun times that have
gone over the musical how are you doing guys pretty good yeah getting close to that
show day yeah November 17 and 18
buy your tickets okay so I guess the first question or thing I'd like to ask is like
what have you guys enjoyed most about the play so far
I think the co-leads or even just the entire cast is a great group of people obviously
it's different every show but for the show in particular I feel like we have a pretty
strong cast that's really willing to work together to make this show great well I've
really enjoyed like when I don't have a scene just sitting in the audience and just like
to the show is so funny and just watching the scenes that are not in are it's just really
entertaining and for the scenes that I am in it's really fun to hear the audience laugh
so just trying to get the audience to laugh has been really enjoyable yeah I'd kind of
say the same thing like I love watching our co-leads and well just everybody do their
part in the play it's really fun to watch yeah I feel like being backstage is such a
fun experience like watching your friends be on stage and just perform and have fun
while they're doing it as well it's like you're having fun being on stage and then everyone
else also is having fun too yeah I agree with what Hudson said about this being a good cast
for many of us this will be our last musical at ICS I think we have quite a number of seniors
in the cast and leads so I think that it's really special that this is our last show
and we've had a lot of hiccups along the way especially with COVID in recent years you
know bumps on the way but I think that people are adapting well to it and I think it will
be a good show I think it's great I mean we practically begged for Shrek for years and
years and years and finally got that senior year so that's fun so I guess kind of shifting
into a more serious question what do you guys think the hardest part about acting is and
what are some examples of this in Shrek yeah for me I think the hardest part is the increased
physicality you have to have with like your body because normally you can use your face
but when you're on a stage it's pretty far from the audience and so any facial thing
you do isn't as picked up especially some parts I'm wearing a helmet then you can't
see it at all you just have to be a lot more physical which takes more energy and effort
a really hard part for me is when Mr. G gives you just a ton of notes like it's hard to
remember every single one and implement every single note and so you always forget like
one piece and then he'll just remind you about that again for example it could be physicality
annunciation stuff like that that like performing on stage with makeup on like in costume full
costume is very hard because I like have the most makeup in this place so it's really hard
to implement all the stuff that he's telling me to do while fully in character I think
the hardest part for me is including the kind of emotional aspect of my character because
my character is very emotional in a way so especially for the serious scenes it's a little
bit hard for me to include that emotion in my acting since I'm very separate in my life
I think for me it would be like kind of like getting over the awkwardness of certain scenes
there's like a lot of scenes where I feel extremely awkward when I'm doing them then
I'll just start giggling or like just being awkward and it just it doesn't look good in
the scene and so it's just like having to get over that and just like get past that
and do the scene like well like you have to get through that to be able to like put on
a good performance I agree so for me it's kind of uh two things and one kind of less
serious one so I definitely agree with Hudson and the physicality part this is something
I've never been good in throughout my years in drama and throughout my plays I've actually
received a trademark name Zergy calls them Darren hands and he tells people this happens
when their hands are not organized and they're kind of all over the place second for me has
to definitely be in kind of a musical sense is uh singing I actually didn't start singing
until my freshman year so at times I do struggle in that aspect and it's you know it's hard
to do it especially in character especially when you have to sing in front of a lot of
people and you know kind of a funny light-hearted one is just all the makeup I'm not a big fan
of makeup especially taking it off my freshman year in my first ever show it was a class
show so Mr. G told us that we can do our own makeup but I did so bad that Mr. G said that
from now on we can have makeup partners but they couldn't even help me so then I had to
get two but that didn't even work either so they had to call in a specialist to do my
makeup just so that I wouldn't ruin it on show day can you just remind us what characters
each of you will be playing I'm playing Shrek I'm playing the role of Pinocchio I'm playing
Donkey I'm playing human Fiona and I'm playing Lord Farquhar in this show there's a lot of
mythical creatures there's a lot of funny things going on now without giving too much
away there's a lot of accents happening so I would like to ask Hudson Smith to just quickly
demonstrate his Scottish accent but we'll leave the other ones for the show my Scottish
accent's actually getting pretty good I've been practicing day in day out and Mr. G's
pretty good at his own Scottish accent so I can copy that and watch my own TV shows
and movies and really put it into my own he can sing in that yeah Hudson can sing in that
I also have to sing in Scottish that's fine yeah I think that's something that's hard
like singing in character is kind of like what I mentioned earlier especially my character
is pretty short and he I may or may not be able to actually walk on my legs during the
performance and that's something that's really difficult because there's a lot of red marks
on my knee that I don't know where they came from but it's exciting that I get to do that
so um what do you guys think is something big the audience should look out for I mean
there's definitely lots of jokes I make lots of jokes throughout something you might not
catch and pretty much anything Darren says is a joke yeah it's gonna be a really funny
show a lot of times when you go to a musical you're looking for the the music aspect of
it but I think even the lines and just the talking is particularly funny in this production
I have to say the same thing like the jokes it's just like chock full of jokes and I
like watching the original Broadway version I don't think like I've been more entertained
by a musical before so yeah definitely look out for jokes like yeah like Hudson said there's
jokes in every single line so it's really entertaining the audience should look out
for the variety and characters that we have because there's so many different characters
and there's so much so much stuff going on in one scene like especially like songs like
um story of my life and I think it's a really cool thing uh look out for the songs as well
they're like really fun songs and they're super entertaining there are a few emotional
songs but a lot of them have a lot of like jokes within them like Malachi and Hudson
both said like there's a lot of jokes within the songs and they're just like the dances
are amazing um Miss Liz is an amazing choreographer and it's everybody's having fun so it's just
it's looking amazing I think that one thing the audience should look out for is the use
of props um this show is the most prop heavy show Mr. G says he's ever put on there's funny
props there's cool props the set I believe is incredible and it's such like an extra
show that I think the audience will never be bored whether that just be looking at the
acting or if they just take a look around to see the little props that like just pay
attention to how much detail that even the tech has to go into so deeply and I think
the second thing is the use of dialogue in uh Joseph it was only songs which in a way
was a good break and really fun but I think it's those little acting scenes that just
add on that little bit more and I'm glad that they're we're bringing those back the amount
of lines that some of us have to memorize it's a very long script and many many hours
have been spent doing that so I think that's another hard part if you have to guess how
many pages of lines would you say you've had maybe 60 yeah it's a lot what is some of the
biggest obstacles and challenges that you faced well for me similar to haxton's Scottish
accent I have a really difficult accent that I've had to learn I don't know if it's an
accent more than like just like higher pitch I mean yeah I guess it is an accent I have
to sing in this accent and I'll just say that it's really really high pitched and I have
a really low voice naturally so learning that and not killing my voice every time I sing
my solo is difficult so I've had to learn to retrain my my singing and vocal cords I
think my biggest challenge is keeping up energy because as donkey you kind of have to have
a lot of energy and I I've had a lot of trouble with that in the past energy is really needed
in this show especially for my character I think probably other than being like awkward
one of my biggest challenges is probably like not having to like worry about the dancing
and stuff like I am not a dancer and then I'm also in this pretty big dance scene so
it's really hard to like both learn to like sing and dance and it's probably not my strongest
ever that I can do but that's probably one of my biggest challenges is like dancing I'm
not a dancer at all two things for me one is also with singing just with range I have
to sing much higher notes than were in my range at the beginning of the production so
I've had to go through voice lessons and just practice every single day now I've gotten
it but the amount of effort it took it was a lot and then another thing is also with
laugh like try not to laugh during scenes if you do that it completely ruins the scene
and there's this one particular scene where I think Addy is saying something to me and
every time it is so difficult to not laugh you know you're gonna get in trouble if you
do for me I definitely agree with Hudson when I say it comes to the singing because like
I said that's something that I started a lot later than most people in the production and
for me it's also one of the songs was quite out of my range both low and high and I think
that you know I've had to really work at that I've talked with Mr. G I've practiced multiple
times one on one with him because he'll tend to call us aside and work one on one with
us with these things helping build our physicality and also just singing in general that was
difficult and I kind of just started to get it now it's crazy because the show is just
only two weeks away but you know that kind of just shows that like these things are so
put together but a lot of it just comes together in the last week or the last two weeks and
the second one kind of a more funny one is having to do the entire show on my knees
you know at first before my knee pads came in it wasn't very fun because I couldn't
really move the packs a very rough surface and then even with knee pads it hurt too much
so now I'm like have double padding on my knees and it's okay now but now it's like
balance I have to deal with so it's something that's so fun but also so out there you know
God I get to do it but it has been a challenge.
Going back to what you said about everything coming together here at the end we have cast
members here but another big part of the show is the tech they have to come for these last
several weeks and since the beginning they have to come until six and just work on whatever
it is that she wants them to do there's a lot of techies so there's so much work for
them to do all these this really really tiny props like one little flute and really big
props like a dragon that has to be held by 10 people yeah so I think the techies have
also been doing a ton of work and that's all really coming together here at the end as
well.
Yeah I'm really proud of the techies like I'm friends with a few of them and it's just
I am often asked me like are you guys gonna be able to finish and stuff because like that
sort of thing stresses me out and I know for a fact they're gonna be done by the time it's
show day but I'm just so like thankful for our techies because they are miracle workers
they're amazing they get stuff done in record time they do like these insane props and like
like Darren said this is like a very like prop heavy show so this is I'm really excited
about that so I'm thankful for our techies.
Yes so many props and heavy things to move those might be some things you don't know
that goes on in a musical.
Now just before we wrap up I would like to go around and ask everyone what's one piece
of advice they would offer to maybe a student actor now or someone who wants to try out
for a musical in the future.
For me I'd say the one thing is to listen because the people around you in the play
whether that be the leads or techies trying to get you out of the way or even Mr. G they
know what they're doing and they're here for a reason because they have experience and
so it's always best even if you think you know better you probably don't and as long
as you listen that allows you to develop your skills and just get better as an actor.
I would say in general just have fun like this musical is just a really really fun musical
like the songs are fun and the choreography is fun I would say my practical advice would
be to just memorize your lines and your dances the point of perfection where you can play
around with your physicality and your tone and your enunciation stuff like that during
your scene because you're gonna have a lot of fun with that once you've mastered the
basics.
I'd say practice definitely and also I think don't be afraid to take risks because sometimes
that can make a scene just truly magical.
I think like listen to Mr. G he has like a lot of great advice for you he is amazing
he like he knows what he's talking about and Mr. G always has good advice to give if he
is critiquing you it's because he wants you to do better and not because you're a bad
actor you're in the play for a reason and Mr. G is very picky about who gets into the
play and who's not in the play and even if you don't get into a play that doesn't mean
you're a bad actor it just means you weren't fit for that musical.
Mr. G knows what he's talking about and he wants you to do great and that is why he gives
you so much criticism so when he gives you that criticism if you are in a musical with
him you need to listen to that because he wants you to do good.
I really definitely agree with what all of you said especially about that listening to
Mr. G. I've been working with him for I think five years now and he's a great director he's
always willing to help you out and just kind of what Julia said about taking risks.
What Mr. G has always told me is don't make me tell you it's too little make me tell you
it's too much so basically to just put everything you got and if he says hey can you tone that
down a bit it's a lot better than hey can you tone that up because it's a lot easier
to put take energy down and bring it up and I think that's something really important
that he's taught me and kind of gives us all the ability to be comfortable to take those
risks because we know that like he's not going to be mad if it didn't work out he's just
going to be like hey maybe don't do that and my personal advice would be to work hard.
Mr. G can see when you work hard and there's many times like even now like I would say
I haven't got my role 100% but I'm putting everything I got and like in the past I've
never gotten it until the very end but he sees that he doesn't expect us to be perfect
he just wants us to give our best because he knows that our best is what he wants so
Mr. G can see when you're not doing that so if you're in a show just kind of remember
what everyone said learn your lines the choreography don't be afraid to take risks and do your
best.
Please stay tuned for more episodes about exciting and engaging topics as always this
podcast would not be possible without the hard work and support of our international
school production team keep an eye out for the next episode which will be consisting
of us having a conversation with middle schoolers.
All music and sound effects are courtesy of mixabay.com a vibrant community of creatives
sharing copyright free images videos and music and we are signing off until next time we
are students incorporated because your voice matters.