On the 31st of January at 10:00 p.m. we held our final talk-back session between the audience and the cast. The second time was different from the first, in that the final session only had the main characters on-stage. The first session on the 24th of January we had the entire cast. Both turned out just fine and both audiences were enthusiastic about the experience to pose questions and compliment the actors and the production team.
Waiting to Begin
I invited the audience to come up to the front of the DeJong Concert Hall. These were real troopers. The performance itself ended at 10:00 p.m., so these were those who were willing to stay an additional 25 minutes so they could hear from the cast. My hat goes off to them for staying up so late with us.
Responding to Questions
The audience would pose a question and then I would repeat the question in the microphone just to make sure everyone understood the question at hand. Then, we gave time to however many of the actors wanted to respond. There were some great questions!
Interested Audience Members
These were the faithful audience members that stayed afterwards. The session was engaging and the audience was very participatory. They kept asking questions, even when we ran out of time.
Actors Responding
There were some questions that made the actors reflect, others that brought up jokes, and others that brought out their appreciative attitude for the whole process of this show, as well as the great leaders that brought it together.
Looking Out
I want to give a special thanks for all those who have attended a talk-back session for The Phantom of the Opera. Thanks for supporting the arts at BYU.
We hope you’ll make it a habit to attend performances on Thursdays to participate in the upcoming talk-back sessions for the next shows. Henry 5 will be the next show on stage, so I’m looking forward to attending the talk-back session with the dramaturg for that show: Anne Flinders. Even if you don’t attend the performances on Thursdays you are still invited to come after the show to visit with the cast.
Thanks again for being so supportive of all we do at BYU to enrich lives through the arts.
