How long does it take to stage a musical? This month, the brave cast and crew of Bombshell Theatre Co. will give themselves only 24 hours to memorize every line, practice every cue and nail every note.
The imposed spontaneity and inevitable mayhem of “The 24-Hour Musical” – taking place on July 11 at the Waukesha Civic Theatre – are sort of the point. It’s a fundraiser for the theater company, which celebrated its five-year anniversary in January.
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Leading up to the show, audiences vote for one of nine musicals by buying a ticket to the show or donating to the company. Bombshell slowly eliminates options over time; as of now, the company’s down to three options: Pollyanna, The Wind in the Willows, and H.M.S. Pinafore.
A Facebook livestream on the night of July 10 will reveal this year’s show and then document all 24 hours of the whirlwind rehearsal before the show hits the stage the next day. “People set alarms to wake up at 3 in the morning to watch what we were doing, and it was super cool and so much fun,” says producing director Tim Albrechtson.
Like the number of hours, there are 24 cast members. “We have a whole range of different people because, depending on the show, we have to assign people to play all these roles,” Albrechtson says. “We don’t always assign them the roles we assume they would be good at. That’s what makes it fun, though. What I find the funniest is some of the characters are perfectly cast, and the other ones are totally not.”
How does one not freak out with such a short amount of time? Albrechtson says that even with all the stress, his priority is for everyone to have fun.
“I remember looking down the hallway last time, and they’re all laying there on the floor with their scripts trying to memorize all of these lines,” he says. “It was definitely very stressful. … We said (you) might hate us at the end of this, but you’re going to have so much fun performing.”
Bombshell started their first 24-Hour Musical last year after seeing a theater company in England doing the same thing. The Sound of Music was chosen for the cast to tackle, and it was a major fundraising success. It was also a crowd-pleaser: Albrechtson says people loved seeing the Von Trapp children played by seven fully grown adults.
“It was probably one of my favorite times performing in my life,” he says. “The audience was so into it. Every little mistake we made was hilarious, and they loved seeing us try to do this.”
