{"id":1837,"date":"2013-10-07T15:42:59","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T19:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2013\/10\/07\/a-broadway-experience-shield-helped-with-productions-analyzed-success-of-shows\/"},"modified":"2022-11-07T19:35:36","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T00:35:36","slug":"a-broadway-experience-shield-helped-with-productions-analyzed-success-of-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/a-broadway-experience-shield-helped-with-productions-analyzed-success-of-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"A Broadway experience: Shield helped with productions, analyzed success of shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rebecca\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When Rebecca Shield takes to the stage to direct the Pauper Players production of Les Miserables<\/i> at Furman early next year, it will be with advice from one of Broadway\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep it as simple as possible,\u201d said Anthony Lyn, who has directed two long-running Broadway plays, Les Miserables<\/i> and Mary Poppins<\/i>. \u201cFocus on the acting and the story because that is what moves people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shield \u201914, a mathematics-economics major from Williamsburg, Va., was able to rub shoulders with Lyn and other Broadway greats this summer as part of her experience as a summer production associate with Disney Theatrical Group in New York City. \u00a0After spending last summer working with a small not-for-profit organization in Manhattan, Ars Nova, networking opened up a rare opportunity for Shield to spend the summer with Disney.<\/p>\n

Each morning, Shield got the full New York experience, traveling from her rented dorm space at the Fashion Institute of Technology over to the historic New Amsterdam Theatre on West 42nd<\/sup> Street in Manhattan. Working during the day and often staying for shows at night, she had a full schedule. Yet, it\u2019s an experience that Shield appropriately called \u201cmagical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shield started off the summer with Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy as Disney executives looked into the possibility of a future Broadway edition of The<\/i> Muppets<\/i>.<\/p>\n

She took a hands-on role in preproduction for Aladdin<\/i>, which will open on Broadway in 2014. She taped out the stage for fight choreography and loaded in props for rehearsals, mingling with award-winning Disney composer Alan Menken and director Casey Nicolaw, choreographer for Book of Mormon<\/i> and Spamalot<\/i>. She was also part of discussions about lighting tests, as they discussed \u201chow do we light a flying carpet?\u201d and \u201chow do we make it look like the carpet is flying?\u201d<\/p>\n

Production paperwork was part of Shield\u2019s assignment for The Lion King<\/i>, as she assisted with visa applications for South Africans joining the show\u2019s cast. The goal is for the show to be an \u201cauthentic cultural piece\u201d with authentic language, Shield said.<\/p>\n

After that, she organized the original material for Mary Poppins<\/i>, what Disney calls the show\u2019s \u201cBibles.\u201d The bulging binders are filled with details about costumes, sound, sets, makeup and hair, so that if the show is revived again in the future, they\u2019ll know exactly what is needed.<\/p>\n

The biggest project of the summer was analyzing the success of The Lion King<\/i>, now Broadway\u2019s highest grossing musical of all time. Can such a success be repeated? Shield said some felt it couldn\u2019t be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to challenge that head-on,\u201d said Shield, who worked on the project with two other summer interns.<\/p>\n

The trio set out to find a formula for the next Broadway blockbuster. \u201cUsing our liberal arts educations, we were able to look at many different perspectives \u2013 historical, artistic, business\u2026 It was really fascinating,\u201d Shield said. \u201cI was able to see my Furman education in action as I connected the dots.\u201d<\/p>\n

They compared The Lion King<\/i> with Phantom of the Opera<\/i> and Les Miserables<\/i>, looking for similarities in the musicals and their successes. In the end, they recommended selecting another musical production with a universal story and appeal. They also suggested developing a production based on a well-known movie, such as Avengers<\/i>, Pirates of the Caribbean<\/i> or the Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Shield shared the results of the research with Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical Group. While she couldn\u2019t reveal the full details and response to her presentation, she said \u201cit was well received by the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from Furman, Shield hopes to become a company manager for a national tour of a Broadway show. Down the line, she\u2019s considering a master\u2019s in business administration program to assist her in running a theatre one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to be part of an incredible world. This was my dream job,\u201d Shield said. \u201cI loved being part of a company that encourages thinking outside of the box.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Broadway image by Shutterstock.com)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Rebecca Shield takes to the stage to direct the Pauper Players production of Les Miserables at Furman early next year, it will be with advice from one of Broadway\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":1838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-mathematics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}