[dj]

Hi, all:


We're trying an experiment with our upcoming musical based on the (public domain) movie Plan 9 From Outer Space.


Composer's "Export To Image" feature offers some intriguing possibilities for script layout and we're seeing whether it works with this show.


Basically, we've incorporated the complete Vocal score for the musical into the stage script. This lets us print one document, meaning a lot of saved paper and printing costs, and less chance of actors losing their Vocal score (which they always do). It also will, we hope, allow a smoother learning process, as there will be no shuffling between script and score as we work.


The two attached examples show how they were incorporated. This first (Page 41) shows a more or less standard insertion of a song into the text, without dialogue or action breaking it up. The second (Page 64) shows how the music can be split up with dialogue and action.


As an example of savings on costs, the script, without the music incorporated, is 64 pages long; the Vocal score, stand alone, is 56 pages. Incorporated, with the music taking the place of the lyrics in the script, the whole is only 70 pages long! That's a savings of 50 printed pages per actor -- and there are 24 actors in this show.


We'll see how it works in practice. The point of this post being: there are lots of tools available in Composer for creative use.


David