LOOK! UP IN THE SKY! IT'S A BIRD? IT'S A PLANE? IT'S A FIDDLER ON THE ROOF !!!!

Welcome, or welcome back, to Stage Whispers - unofficial blog of the Light Opera Group of the Negev (LOGON to our friends and fans).  Greetings from beautiful downtown Beer Sheva.

When last we met, LOGON was right in the middle of touring the country with "Man of La Mancha".   Then came Passover, and then whooooooosh it was the end of August and whoopsy daisy here we go again, the LOGON season has begun.   

We're already through the workshops, through those first music rehearsals, and even through the auditions.  Roles have been assigned and we've even started to block out the first scene.  Suddenly it hits me:  in about four and a half months, the curtain goes up on our first performance and THERE'S SO MUCH TO DO!!!!

Is it time to panic yet?

If you've never been involved in something like LOGON, it's going to be hard to imagine what the next few months will be like for us.  Learning the lines, the action on stage, the dancing - that's the easy part.  There are sets to be built, costumes to be designed and sewn, a backdrop to be painted, posters and tee-shirts to be printed, ticket sales to arrange, rehearsals to be scheduled and rescheduled and rescheduled again because Shmulik's mother in law is having a party for her 57th birthday.....  

And this year we are hoping for a considerably larger orchestra than last year.

Not pictured: the LOGON pit orchestra

(photo credit: TheBloggess.com)
Now, it may seem simple to you. You may ask, aren't there professional staff to take care of all these things?  Well, I'll tell you:  no, actually, not really!  We have our musical director, our stage director, our choreographer and our costume designer, but aside from that, LOGON is a do-it-yourself operation from top to bottom.  Nobody's gonna do it for us if we don't do it ourselves!!!

That do-it-yourself spirit

SO, here we go again.  Why, you may ask, do we do this - year after year after year?  Suffer through the agony of auditions, rehearse endlessly, put our lives and our families on "hold" while we break our backs shlepping scenery and props and each other halfway around the country to put on a show - and remember, we pay for the privilege, even if we only help out backstage!!!!!!!   -- and then do it again, for about 35 years now?  Well, THAT I can tell you in one word:

It's a TRADITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, that's three words.

And because we love it.

And by now you have probably guessed that this year LOGON will be performing - for the first time in 19 years - FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

Welcome to Anatevka!!!!  Watch this blog for frequent updates and insights and anecdotes and the unfolding of the tale - as LOGON presents, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF!  

And awayyyyyy we go........


PS:  If you'd like to know more about LOGON, you're welcome to go back and read the posts from last year.  Also:  you can find photos of previous shows on the LOGON Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/NegevLightOpera or on our website:  http://www.negevlightopera.com/past-shows/