Happy talk, keep talking happy talk.
Talk about things you'd like to do.
You gotta have a dream
If you don't have a dream,
How ya gonna have a dream come true?
It was 65 years ago when the now-famous lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II burst onto the Broadway stage in the hit musical South Pacific.
But he might well have written them about the movers and shakers of the local musical theatre community in 2014. Because they're all dreaming big. And they're determined to make those dreams happen - even if the road ahead seems daunting.
But there's one big caveat: They can't do it alone. And they're going to need support from Burnaby to make it happen.
Enter the players
It was coming up on a half-century ago that a musical theatre company was born. Burnaby Civic Opera, as it was then called, staged its first show in 1966. In the 1970s, the group became Heritage Musical Theatre - and, in 1989, it changed again when Footlight Theatre Company staged its first show.
Footlight Theatre, as it's now known, has since made a name for producing annual, splashy productions of Broadway favourites - The Wizard of Oz, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Sound of Music, to name but a few - featuring large casts, with a focus on young community talent.
But Footlight ran up against a wall last year when its board was faced with some tough decisions: given the unexpected departure of some board members, and the financial climate of the times, could Footlight manage to stage its annual fall production?
In the end, the show was a no-go.
Jane Wace, a Footlight board member, talked to the NOW at the time and said the decision to not produce a fall show wasn't taken lightly. She noted it comes on the heels of four big shows in the previous four years.
"They were fantastic shows, but the last couple were extremely expensive shows to do," she said.
She noted that Footlight - like all other arts groups, amateur and professional - was facing a tough time filling the seats for all its productions.
"In the arts these days, it's all the same. It's tough to present something and get bums in seats," she said. "People are not going to the theatre as much as they used to."
She said the board felt it wise to be cautious and hold a fundraising benefit concert in November 2013 instead, to come back strong in 2014.
The Friends of Footlight benefit show featured a host of talented performers who have trod the boards with Footlight in the past.
Susan Reid, the board's current president, said performers were eager to get involved - for the most part, those who said "no" to taking part only did so because they've gone on to professional performing careers and were otherwise engaged. In the end, she said, the show involved the talents of some 80 people, between performers and volunteers.
"That says a lot about us," she said, during a sit-down with the NOW in January. "People were blown away by the talent we had."
Footlight's year ahead isn't yet assured. The board hasn't decided whether a full-scale musical is in the works for fall. But the foundation has been laid.
Even as Footlight was debating its future, another player appeared on the scene.
Coquitlam-based Align Entertainment is a newly formed theatre company dedicated to producing family-oriented musical theatre. Its first production, Shrek the Musical, just wrapped up its run at the Michael J. Fox Theatre in Burnaby.
Its partners - Chad Matchette, Melissa Assalone, Patti Volk and Megan Simpson - come into the venture with a wealth of theatre experience among them.
Matchette has been involved in theatre since his early teens, 30 years ago. He said it's long been a dream to have his own theatre company - a company that would be formed by friends with the same goal.
"We decided we would like to do our own thing, focus more on family-oriented stuff, more on newer works," he said.
Staging Shrek seemed like the perfect first venture, he said, because it combined the elements that they were looking for: great messages, great music and a whole lot of fun.
And, yes, it posed more than a few challenges - like a huge cast and a need for extensive sets, costumes and makeup. But the company faced the challenges head-on. It was able to partner with the Chilliwack School of Performing Arts - which was also staging Shrek- on some of the sets, props and other requirements, in order to cut the up-front costs.
And, since the company has been set up as a business rather than a non-profit group, it's also working to establish partnerships with what Matchette describes as "like-minded companies," and it's driven by a business plan.
And no, he admits up front, he doesn't expect to make money in the short term.
Profitability, he said, is a long-term goal - and even then, the aims are more artistic than financial.
"Long-term, we're looking at building a season of shows," he said. "That'll be great if there is some kind of profit involved, but that's not the ultimate goal."
So, with two musical theatre companies looking for an audience in Burnaby, that leaves the question: Can they fill those seats?
Enter the venue
Everyone can agree on this: A great theatre may not guarantee a great audience, but it sure makes life a whole lot easier.
Footlight Theatre, for much of its past, had used the James Cowan Theatre at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. But the theatre posed many challenges for the productions - its smaller size, the lack of an orchestra pit, and small backstage areas made it difficult to stage the kind of large shows that the company was aiming for.
"The whole style of the musicals had to change," pointed out board member Elaine Lindbjerg, noting the configuration at the Shadbolt was such that for some shows the orchestra had to be off to the side, and for others at the back of the stage.
In 2009, the company made the decision to move to a bigger venue: the 600-seat Michael J. Fox Theatre at Burnaby South Secondary School.
"It was really a huge, wonderful move to move to Michael J. Fox," Reid said. "It's a great venue."
Matchette agrees.
He's familiar with the theatre through the performing arts school he runs - the Lindbjerg Academy of Performing Arts - and said he had no hesitation in choosing the venue.
"I have worked with the staff there for years, and they're amazing," he said, adding the theatre itself is a perfect size for a musical of the scale he wanted to produce. "It's a wonderful space."
Enter the performers
Everyone can also agree on this: You can't have a great show without great performers.
From a performer's point of view, there's definitely a market for what Align Entertainment is doing.
"It's a great opportunity," said Ranae Miller, a musical theatre grad from Capilano University who stars as Princess Fiona. "As an actor, you're always looking for a company that's passionate and looking to put on a great show. It's great to find a new company that has that attitude."
And its focus on new musicals appealed to her.
"I never thought that anyone would put on Shrek," she said.
Matchette, for his part, said he was blown away by the attendance at auditions, when more than 200 performers turned out.
Shrek had a cast of 34 adults and a 33-member kids' choir - all the adults are experienced performers, and most of the kids have fine arts training of some kind.
"They're just an amazing group of people," he said.
Footlight Theatre, too, has always had success in drawing large numbers of people to its auditions.
Reid noted that one of the company's big focuses is young talent - in particular, kids.
"Our mandate has been to be a family theatre, to help children and teens, to get families involved in theatre, " Reid explained.
Typically, hundreds of kids will audition throughout the Lower Mainland.
Reid noted there are many, many performers in Burnaby alone - dance schools are full of children looking for a chance to appear onstage in capacities other than their school's annual shows. She said the Footlight environment is perfect for nurturing young talent.
"It's like training camp," she said. "We've noticed tremendous mentoring from the people who are well-seasoned in the company, to help the young kids."
Lindbjerg said the chance for the youngsters to work side-by-side with performers of all ages has been beneficial to them.
"A lot of the young people who have performed on our stage have gone on to be professionals," Lindbjerg noted. "It's a tremendous opportunity for them."
All of the Footlight shows feature large casts - with anywhere from 40 to 80 performers taking to the stage in recent years.
Among the recent large-scale successes was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - its first in the Michael J. Fox Theatre, in 2009.
"The first show, Joseph, was fabulous," Reid said.
The next year, Footlight followed up with a huge production of The Sound of Music. Among its highlights was a nun's chorus with some 30 singers.
"The Sound of Music was a booming success," Reid said.
Another huge cast took to the stage the following year for The Wizard of Oz - including a huge cast of kids playing the 40 or so munchkins.
It was, Reid said, the perfect show for Footlight, allowing them to showcase local children.
She said that, technically and artistically speaking, The Wizard of Oz was one of the most spectacular shows Footlight has ever staged - complete with flying witches and monkeys, and a cast of some 70-plus people.
"Technically it was by far our superior show," she said.
What it lacked, sadly, was audience - Reid said turnout was lower than anticipated, and that was a blow for the company.
Its production of Grease the next year proved equally challenging - in part, Reid noted, because it didn't have parts for kids, which was a Footlight tradition, and it was a less family-friendly show than others had been.
In part, Footlight was finding itself a victim of its own artistic success - from its smaller shows at the Shadbolt Centre, it had grown into lavish productions at the Michael J. Fox Theatre.
But the audience didn't quite keep up.
"We mushroomed so fast," Lindbjerg said.
Which brings us to the critical question: Can both theatre companies get those much-talked-about bums in seats?
In the second part of our special report, Julie MacLellan takes a look at how Footlight and Align Entertainment are addressing the challenges of the theatre business - and what the future holds.
