{"id":16761,"date":"2018-11-21T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T17:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=16761"},"modified":"2018-11-19T11:48:57","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T19:48:57","slug":"making-rent-in-victoria-is-no-easy-task","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/11\/21\/making-rent-in-victoria-is-no-easy-task\/","title":{"rendered":"Making RENT<\/em> in Victoria is no easy task"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Victoria Operatic Society (VOS) isn\u2019t one to shy away from a difficult show. Over the last few years they\u2019ve put on productions such as Les Miserables<\/i>, Spamalot<\/i>, Miss Saigon<\/i>, and, most recently, 9 to 5<\/i>. This is something that director Doug Crockett is excited to be a part of with their latest production, RENT<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first got here, VOS was still doing a lot of older type shows,\u201d says Crockett. \u201cYou know, Annie<\/i>\u2014of course, Annie<\/i>, you can do that any time and people will still love it\u2014the old Rodgers and Hammerstein stuff, and it just started to evolve, I think, since I\u2019ve been here.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this wave of newer shows hitting the stage, VOS decided to mount what Crockett believes is the first full-scale production of RENT <\/i>in Victoria. It\u2019s a gamble that has paid off, as the show is already breaking pre-ticket sales, prompting an additional performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cast members rehearsing for the Victoria Operatic Society production of RENT<\/em> (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe started off with six and now we\u2019re doing seven performances,\u201d says Crockett.<\/p>\n

Excited as he is to be directing such a buzz-worthy show, Crockett admits he wasn\u2019t originally sure he was up for the challenge, as it brought up a lot of memories for him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the \u201980s and \u201990s,\u201d says Crockett. \u201cSo, I was around, lost a lot of friends to AIDS. I used to visit New York back in the \u201980s before it was gentrified, when New York was considered really one of the sleaziest cities, I\u2019d say… I don\u2019t know if \u2018sleazy\u2019 is the word I should use, but it certainly was not what it is today, sort of the Disney version of New York we see when we go there now. There were prostitutes and drug use, and it just was not the greatest place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Crockett quickly realized that he had a unique perspective to bring to his young cast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that these people are going to have no reference at all for what the world was,\u201d says Crockett. \u201cAnd I thought, you know, I think I can offer something to the cast of this show because I do have that experience, I did live through it. And I\u2019m happy to say that I believe I have [brought something to the cast].\u201d<\/p>\n

Cultural references alone have been a huge learning curve for the young cast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll mention things and people will look at me and go, \u2018Well, what\u2019s that?\u2019\u201d admits Crockett.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That minor snag aside, once he made the decision to direct, Crockett had to figure out how to tackle casting in Victoria a show that is typically performed by an incredibly ethnically diverse cast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re community theatre, so we can only cast people who audition,\u201d says Crockett.<\/p>\n

And because RENT<\/i> is a show that is performed by young people, relies heavily on chemistry between actors, and is almost exclusively sung, the casting process was a bit like a jigsaw puzzle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just so many different things that come into play,\u201d says Crockett, \u201cand I really have to say that VOS tried very hard to bring in new talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

From putting up posters downtown to promoting the auditions at various events such as Pride and Car Free YYJ, VOS did their best to try and bring on as diverse a cast as possible. And while they may not have been able to get an ideally diverse cast, Crockett is thrilled with the all the new talent coming to VOS\u2019 stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy doing that outreach, we really brought in some people,\u201d he says. \u201cI am just so happy that we were able to get so many fresh faces, especially for a show like RENT<\/i>, where it should be this big ensemble.\u201d<\/p>\n

RENT
\n<\/i>Various times,\u00a0Friday, November 23\u00a0to Thursday, December 20
\nVarious prices,\u00a0McPherson Playhouse
\nrmts.bc.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Victoria Operatic Society (VOS) isn\u2019t one to shy away from a difficult show. Over the last few years they\u2019ve put on productions such as Les Miserables, Spamalot, Miss Saigon, and, most recently, 9 to 5. This is something that director Doug Crockett is excited to be a part of with their latest production, RENT. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-november-21-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16763,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16761\/revisions\/16763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}