Here are the notes off the top of my head from last night's performance of This Old Gingerbread House.

POST-PROGRAM NOTES: May 9, 2003
130 students
Dress Rehearsal Running Time: 24 minutes exactly
Show Time: Not sure
TECHNICAL NOTES

•  Three standing mics on front edge of stage
•  Two handheld mics, one for each group of narrators (three on one side, two the other)
•  Body mics for Hansel and Gretel
•  Professional Video Company: Dream Maker Productions, Midwest City, OK
•  Four additional sections of risers, borrowed from St. Charles school, for ten sections
•  Never more than 12 students on stage at one time
•  Neighbors perform on the stage; T.V. crew, fairies, elves, and bees perform on the gym floor; chorus on the risers, either side
•  Center staircase from gym floor to stage
•  Narrators behind low foam bushes on either side of staircase
•  Two trees flanking the house on stage
•  Trees behind risers on gym floor and at the end of the risers and surrounding piano

SET
Foam board trees, cardboard house with Velcro candies, cardboard box T.V. cameras and ovens, large donated megaphone, and cell phone.

COSTUMES
Narrators: Bookworms and Butterflies: Colorful shorts and shirts and antennae headbands for both. For butterflies (girls), felt slip on wings. For bookworms (boys), lens-less glasses.
Bees: Black felt in an oval shape with yellow felt stripes: felt extended to tie around the neck and striped oval hung in front.
Hansel: Knickers, knee socks, shirt, suspenders, sportcoat, fisherman's cap.
Gretel: Typical Bavarian attire (a skirt, white peasant blouse, a lace up corset or vest; white knee socks, black or brown shoes), flowers braided into her braids.
Fairies: Net tulle skirts, bubble wrap wings, bare feet, ivy wreaths in hair.
Elves: Green felt tunic: rectangle with center slit to slip over head and a thin rope around waist, ivy wreath in hair, bare feet.
Neighbors: For girls, white school uniform top or white blouse, dark skirt, colorful half aprons, red felt "H" with a short strip of glittered braiding across center bar of the "H" for suspender-type straps, safety pinned over the blouse, flower wreaths braided into hair, knee socks. For boys, dark school uniform shorts or khaki shorts; white shirt (not a t-shirt); forest green "H" for Lederhosen suspenders; kneehigh tube socks.
Forest Animals (Chorus): School uniform or dark bottoms and white tops with headpieces representing animals. For example: Bear = a brown headband with ears hot glued on, a fur tunic, and face paint. Rabbit = the same but for a rabbit. (Bear and Rabbit stayed on the stage the entire show, nibbling at the house.) Other animals (on the risers throughout the show): soft pliable thin craft foam cut into layered animals faces, fitted around head, and stapled or taped to fit.
"This Old Home Improvement" Staff and Crew
Director: A raccoon with a red cape and giant megaphone.
Bob White (I changed him from Bob Thomas): A quail with a white tunic and snood with a "comb" attached to top.
Gnorm: Plaid shirt, suspenders, khaki shorts, (He didn't end up with the Chef's hat.)
Bakers: Dark shirts, white tops, full aprons (Not sure what happened to their bakers hats they were supposed to get.).
Camera Crew: Khaki shorts, white tops, ball caps.
Gophers: Same headpiece construction, khaki bottoms, white tops.
Construction Carpenters: Jeans or school shorts/pants, plaid shirts, suspenders if they had them.

CHOROEGRAPHY
Overture on piano

•  The chorus, led in by their teachers, quietly took its place on the risers. Fairies and elves were positioned in the center of gym floor with dancers sitting in a circle in the center. The others were in a large square, or U-shape, around them, narrators in place.
•  Neighbors were offstage in either wing. Hansel and Gretel were hidden inside the house. (The neighbors cast for each scene quickly exchange during transition of end of songs. Pretty quiet and painless, actually. They knew where and when to go. They returned via the back stairwells and around to the risers after their scene. If they were in a later scene, they exited the risers and went up the backstage stairwells to the wings, seamlessly and smoothly.)

"Take One Step"
(Hansel and Gretel softshoe, then other couples - these are neighbors already on stage - join in.)

During the intro, Gretel is despondent and sits on top of the center staircase. Hansel mimes, cheering her up, then takes her hand and stands her up.

Verse One
Take one step: Hansel sings solo, ad libbing steps and gestures to fit the song.
Take one step: Gretel sings solo, imitating Hansel exactly.
Everything will be okay: Holding hands, grapevine to the left then to the right, and repeat.
Freddie left, right, left, right.
Eight count turn to left, arms straight down, palms flexed.
Verse Two
Sun is bright: All dancers join in and everyone: step right, touch left, step right, ball change (1 & 2, 3/4), arms bent at waist, jazz hands, small circle sweep to the right and hold.
The sky is blue: Repeat the above to the left.
To help us on our way: Step, ball change forward right, left, right, left with arms to match.
But even if: Chasse back right, step left, step right, chasse back left, step right then left, repeat. Arms extended on chasses: right arm back high, left arm forward, dipped, reverse. Arms are brought in to center, sternum height on step step.
We will be: Cross forward right leg across left , touch left toe out to left side, arms bent at waist, snap downward at the same time as toe touch, repeat with left.
First "okay": Spread eagle jump.
Second "okay": Big nod to partner.
Instrumental Choreography notes as listed in Music K-8 magazine.
Boys step left: 1, 2; Girls repeat.
Boys step right: 1, 2; Girls repeat.
Repeat all.
Boys step forward left; Girls repeat.
Boys step back left; Girls repeat.
All do eight count pivot to the left.
All step forward left, right, left; kick right across left, low.
Repeat other direction.
Step left, kick right, step right, kick left, step left, kick right, step right, kick left.
Step backward left, right, left, kick right across left, low.
Step left, kick right, step right, kick left, step left, kick right, step right, kick left.
Do verse one again, all together.
Same grapevine moves as before with ALL dancers, BUT on the second set, Gretel and the girls spin in to the front of the guys, with both boy and girl facing forward, they Freddie left, right, and girls spin out by "be okay."
Repeat above moves according to song repeats.
Hansel and Gretel begin walking and waving goodbye while singing the ending portions, down the stairs, across gym floor, and off of the set.

"Sorry"
(12 vocalists instead of three: each had one line. Chorus sings echo lines and on the refrains.)

Arranged in groups of three, according to solo order.

Verses One & Two: Each soloist gestures appropriately according to his/her lyrics.
On Refrain One: All do "opera hands" and lean stage left, rising up on left toe. Up on "Sor," down on "ry." Repeat opposite direction for next "sorry" then continue actions, alternating with the next three "sorrys".
Verses Three & Four: Each soloist gestures appropriately according to his/her lyrics.
On Refrain Two: Each turns to person next to him/her, flails arms in a downward V on "sorrys", turning to the person on the other side on each "sorry," same arms each time.
On Final Refrain: Exaggerated apologetic gestures to each other with each "sorry."

"Everyone Deserves A Home"
(Five ballerinas. Three on one side of stage in the wings, two on the other.)
First Verse: Three soloists have the stage. They fade back into the crowd.
Second Verse Sung by the chorus
Everyone deserves a home: The dancers pirouette into the center in time to the music. The first formation is the tallest girl in center back and the two medium height girls, turn to face their entrance wing, lunge, and bend outwards, bringing their inner arms overhead in a graceful arc, palm facing the ceiling. The two shorter girls grab hands in front of the center girl and arabesque.
Everyone deserves a place to belong: The dancers pirouette back into a single-file line, all hands extended above, palms curved gently inward. (Looks like they all melted into one person to audience.)
With windows and doors: Two front girls slide down and outward into one leg extended, one bent back behind (could do splits, but I didn't want any injuries). While two center girls lunge outward again but keep back erect, arms in an "L" (upstage arm being the stem of the L); girl in back stays in her pirouette stance.
And ceilings and floors: The two girls on the floor bring legs together and spin to face the center, pull knees up to chin, bow head, arms wrap around the knees; the two middle girls turn to face center and arabesque quickly, then pull back while the center back girl gracefully steps and bends forward, sweeping arms up to pull herself back to standing position with arms out to side shoulder height.
Oh, everyone deserves a home: The floor girls push up from floor with downstage arm, bringing upstage arm in a fist from breast to ceiling, arching back and eyes following hand, and lower in sync. The middle girls sweep downstage arm toward audience to spin around and face them, lifting outer leg point toward audience and down. Center back girl slowly pirouettes.
A home, a home: All are standing facing each other, upstage arms reaching toward each other, downstage arms at a thirty degree lowered angle, while slowly walking backwards into the wings they entered from.

"Lend A Helping Hand"
(Eight boy/girl partners and Gnorm.)

During intro, dancers enthusiastically come down from the risers, clapping and jogging in time to the music. They form an inverted "V" from audience's viewpoint. (Two couples form the point, then the next couple further out, et cetera. Gnorm is alone in the center of the "V". (At first, Gnorm does the same moves as the couples.)

Lend a helping hand, make a difference in our plans: Stand and bounce, sweep left hand to left, right arm straight, aligned to right, left, body turning to right into a profile, 8 counts. Repeat other direction.
Me and you: Step, touch, step, touch. Bending both arms, point to self, then audience, then lean back to back with partner, hold until "we can do."
We can do: Stand erect, feet spread, sweeping both arms up, then low to high.
Come on!, Pitch in! (and so on): Step, touch left, repeat right during, "Come on!", "Pitch in!", et cetera. Beckoning hugely to audience with the left arm first, then the right.
Lend a helping hand: Grapevine left, sweep hand left as above, right hand on hip. Grapevine right, right hand pointing on each beat to audience from left to right, left hand on hip. Step, touch, step touch. Bend arms and point to self, then audience, then hold right arm up in "Victory" or "Peace" sign (to signify the number TWO).
Bridge: During the bridge, the "V" collapses every two counts into a straight line, with Gnorm fading backwards into the line's center.
Remember that you?: Arms link around each other's waists, and sway left, right, et cetera. Move back into "V". Couple repeat grapevine section while Gnorm freestyles in the center. During final "Come on, pitch in!" segment, dancers run back to their place on the risers.
Finish song with the chorus.

Bow Music on piano

Starting with Scene One cast, line up holding hands and a group bow in center of gym floor, then run up to pose in front of house on stage; repeat with each scene's cast, each cast posing in front of the previous one. Groups extend down the center staircase, leaving space for Hansel and Gretel to come to; last four groups were TV crew, Bear and Rabbit, then narrators, then Hansel and Gretel. Great full cast pose. Awesome.

© Plank Road Publishing, Inc. - Used by permission.