#stageproduction

#stageproduction

Milky Whites: The Struggle of Putting a Cow OnstageThe 1987 musical Into the Woods weaves together several stories from the Brothers Grimm into one production. One of those stories is Jack and the Beanstalk, in which Jack trades his cow named Milky White for magic beans. The cow figures heavily in the rest of the story, so every stage production has a Milky White. The musical is quite popular, and is performed by high schools and community theater groups across the US. And they all have to put a cow on stage.Not every production has the budget or the talent to put a professionally-designed cow on stage, so imagination is the main ingredient. The website Low Budget Milky Whites is dedicated to chronicling the most, um, imaginative ways that Milky White is played in Into the Woods.

My Neighbor Totoro is Going to the StageYou may have thought it impossible to translate Hayao Miyazaki’s gorgeous hand-drawn film My Neighbor Totoro into a stage production, but it's happening. It will be easier to believe when you know who is working on it. The Royal Shakespeare Company has teamed up with Jim Henson's Creature Shop to bring the musical to life. Industry insiders are working on the production in London, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Los Angeles and Tokyo. The design of the stage production also involves famed UK puppeteer Basil Twist, who is designing some puppets, as well as Mervyn Millar of Britain's Significant Object puppet studio, who is designing others. Jim Henson's Creature studio will make sure the puppets are true to Miyazaki’s vision and mesh with each other. And yes, the cat bus will fly, but no one is divulging how. The musical, which will have new songs, will open on October 8 at the Barbican in London, and will run through next January 21. Read more about the production at Deadline. -via Mental Floss #MyNeighborTotoro #stageproduction #JimHenson