Pretville Film #FlashbackFriday

Two years ago we were involved in the most colourful and vibrant Afrikaans musical feature film project called Pretville produced by Hartiwood Films. Hubby Ferdinand Gernandt was choreographer for the project, I acted as Assistant Choreographer and featured as a dancer in the film as well. Producers Paul Kruger (also DOP) and Emma Kruger, as well as Co-Producer and Director Linda Korsten, were so supportive and encouraging throughout the creative process, it was only a pleasure to create 'cinemagic' together.

We had so much fun shooting this project and creating the choreographic content for the lively musical numbers. The delightful lyrics and soundtrack was created by the talented arranger/composer Machiel Roets (@machielroets on Twitter), some of my favourite tracks being 'Skillie Skillie Skilpad', 'In die Maanlig', 'Is jy Verlief?', Skud, Skop en Hop' and 'Ek en Jy'. 

We had a week's worth of rehearsals with the amazing dance team, as well as the various characters prior to principal filming. And then we worked the final touches whilst preparing on set during the shoot days. Here are some beautiful and fun 'behind-the-scenes' shots of the rehearsals and other on set moments.

 

The challenging task of editing fell to the lovely Anel Stolp, the beautiful costume design was the work of Nerine Pienaar from The Wardrobe Studio and the magnificent art direction by Bathoni Robinson. It was a wonderful team of crew and cast; we really had such a fun time during production.

 I even have a wonderful cookbook at home called 'Proe Pretville' that was released along with the film which contains some of the most beautiful stills from behind-the-scenes of filming Pretville.

Fans can actually visit the little Pretville 'town' in Hartbeespoort Dam which functioned as the set for the film. It has now expanded to include memorabilia from other Hartiwood Productions, there's a functional 50's 'diner' where you can order yummy milkshakes, a quaint 'silver screen' bio-scope where you can watch the film Pretville (and several other Afrikaans or South African produced features) and you can also visit the Zaza Photographic Studio, take fun photographs in the little town and dress up in 50's wardrobe and accessories. It's a really fun family outing, so contact Emma on 083 283 1323 for movie tickets, times and info on the the Pretville 'dorpie'.

Hartiwood recently produced another feature film called 'French Toast' which is due for release in 2015, (I play a tiny cameo role as a nurse and loved every minute of it, read about it here) for which they built and created another magical 'set' in Hartbeespoort Dam - the lovely French Toast 'Koffiekafee' (Cafe).


It is now also open to the public, serving their customers french-inspired cappucinos, macarons and all styles of french toast.

A few of our FADCreationS Mentorship Students will also feature in this film, read this post on their behind-the-scenes experience.


Here is a trailer of the film Pretville which released in Nov 2012.

Here's to making movies in SA!
Chat soon peeps!

Skouspel Sun City #BehindTheScenes

Flashback to several weeks ago when we worked at the annual epic Sun City Huisgenoot Skouspel event. It was such awesome fun this year!

This year was our second time working on the Skouspel event, so we knew exactly what to expect and we were well prepared for a smooth-running rehearsal process and gorgeous performances. Earlier in the year, we had already run a similar program at the Cape Town Skouspel event at Grand West Casino in July (read more about that here), so we could further improve on and finesse the Sun City version.

It was great to work with all of the different and industry top artists again. It's such great fun with all of them backstage and there is certainly never a dull moment.

All the usual faces were in attendance Kurt, Laurika, Karen, Andriette, Snotkop, Heinz, Ray, Ricus, Chris, Nadine, Emo, Joe, Rouchelle, Adam, Heuwels Fantasties and several more. It was so fabulous to witness friend and Adam group newbie Kyle Grant perform his first Skouspel, as well as presenter friend and Afrikaans personality Nadia Beukes debuting in the most beautiful Vesselina Pentcheva gowns.
But the gorgeous trio Blackbyrd was my personal favourite this year, check out there latest album release HOME and listen to the single, 'I love you, I just simply do'.

 Here are some pics of our crazy backstage and 'behind the scenes' moments:

Frontline Productions have the Huisgenoot Skouspel ship sailing on smooth waters and are always such wonderful hosts. This year we stayed in the Sun City Cabana's and enjoyed a hearty buffet breakfast every morning. We even had some time for the pool, cocktails and sunshine on our first weekend there. Yay summer! And the 'after party' is always a blast!

The Skouspel dvd has just been made available in stores, but I'm already curious what the program and set list will look like for 2015!! In the words of Heuwels Fantasties..... Skouspel!!!

Chat soon,

Chicago the Musical #FlashbackFriday

The very first musical theatre production I was ever a part of was Chicago the Musical, and what a musical to enter the world of musical theatre with!

It is certainly my favourite musical and the one that holds my fondest memories (not excluding the fact that I met my now-husband on this production). When I first auditioned for Chicago, I was one among about 900 candidates in Johannesburg alone (auditions were held in Cape Town as well) who fought to be a part of the debut cast of Chicago the Musical's first ever South African production. I was 22 and had never had any vocal training. So I went for a crash course in song preparation and the basics with an SA vocal coach called Kevin Feather, (forever in his debt) and decided to give it a go, never expecting to really be considered. I was blown away and so grateful to be confirmed as part of the cast.

I was chosen as one of the two female swings (covers), which meant that I got to learn all of the cell-block tango characters as well as Kitty (Lucy Liu character from the 2002 film). I was lucky enough to perform 4 out of the 6 ensemble parts: Hunyak (the Hungarian girl), Liz ('I fired two warning shots'), June ('he ran into my knife') and Kitty, whom I played regularly as the girl playing her part happened to be booked off often. I enjoyed playing all of them, but I guess at the time Kitty was my favourite as I knew her track the best ...AND she got to slide down the banister of the large band stand on the stage (closet adrenaline junkie).

The gentleman who taught us the skill was in fact a trainer from Cirque de Soleil and I felt so privileged to have worked with him. Damn, I loved sliding down that banister.
The jist of the Kitty 'slide' moment is this: you climb up a ladder to the top level of the band stand where the band's brass section are seated, you present yourself 'gymnast-like' and then basically (note in an extremely sexy manner) climb onto the side banister to sit with your bum on your leather-gloved hands leaning back slightly and your long legs crossed in front of you. Once settled you slightly release your grip on the banister which allows you to slide all the way down on your hands to the bottom. Once down there is an elaborate side-split/back-bend/sexy-vibes moment that leads into Kitty's scene.

What I found most unnerving was that Ferdinand (now-hubby) was seated in a chair on the side of the stage exactly opposite where I had to do 'sexy-vibes' at the end. (Must have been doing something right *winks*)

Whenever I played Kitty, I had the added benefit of the brass section  (I love those guys!) cheering me on - my unofficial fan club! They would write me notes and hold them up for me to read just before the slide... And I would reciprocate by passing them notes covered in red-lipped kisses and other silly messages... needless to say, there was great expectation in the brass section every time I got to play the part!

Here is a link to a media release on Artslink in Oct 2004 when it all had just become a reality. In those days I was still Diani Joubert (maiden name).
http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=21266

There are so many great stories and memories connected to this musical but I'll leave some to tell you about at a later stage. In 2008, the musical was brought back for a second SA season, which I jumped at. Some parts were recast, but many of the debut cast returned to the piece. In this season I secured the role of June ('he ran into my knife') but was still asked to cover the roles of Kitty and Hunyak. I was thrilled with the arrangement, it was like having the best of both worlds - on stage every night but still able to play multiple characters and my favourites too. My then-hubby was playing Tony Manero (John Travolta) in Saturday Night Fever and so we were 'strutting' our stuff on different stages that time around.

Both those seasons of Chicago are major milestones and incredibly memorable and meaningful to me.
If given the chance, I would take on another production of Chicago in a heartbeat.

Who knows if or when SA will see Chicago again? Never say never...



And 'all the jazz'... x

BPSE 2014 Rehearsals #ComingAttractions

It's happening again! Our annual BPSE 2014 rehearsals are underway, and the talent we have pooled together this year is scary brilliant!

The Broadway Performance Showcase Experience is an annual workshop hosted by FADCreationS, where we take a group of industry hopefuls and give them a true experience of what it takes to put a full musical theatre production together - from the audition process, all the way through to the final performances.

Eben Liebenberg from PhotoElements has been capturing some wonderful behind-the scenes moments during rehearsals... Can you see the concentration, the focus... the creative chaos... we love it!!!

Our candidates receive all the show material before hand and undergo a real audition process for casting on Day 1 at BPSE. This year we are rehearsing at the beautiful Dance De Art studios in Centurion, where each candidate will also experience full studio recordings of all of the chorus vocal material of the production. They learn choreography from scratch, plot acting scenes and start piecing it all together. Later they put it all on stage and in costume, and all this in under 2 weeks. (We're mad right!)
But honestly, it is a life-changing experience for most young artists and many keep returning to us. It's not only the work, the exposure or the final show but rather the process, the experience and the family they gain and value most through it all. The candidates (and their parents) also get to meet and rub elbows with some high-profile industry experts during an enlightening Q and A session, as well as on the VIP show evening.

 

And same as last year, 2014's production called "96000", will be performed at the Atterbury Theatre in Lynnwood, Pretoria. There will be two performances: Friday 4 April at 7pm and Saturday 5 April at 3pm.

So if you live nearby or feel like coming through to support and check out the theatre stars of the future, please join us!



Tickets are R120 per person and available at Computicket, just follow the link...








Hope to see you all there!

Love,