Production Meeting on March 1st at 12:10PM

Design meetings began on November 30, 2006, giving the design crew 5 weeks to come up with a final set design for The Count of Monte Cristo. However, since this will be the very first production of this new musical, it is expected that changes will have to occur along the way. The design meetings focused on discussing occurring or potential problems with the set and the actors, how scenes will be staged and potential costume and lighting designs. This is all working towards finalized designs by February 20th for the pre-production meeting. Starting February 20th, everyone from the design meetings will be switching over to production meetings, adding construction, prop and front of house crews.

At the production meeting today, Steve TenEyck, the scenic designer, went through scene by scene and talked about how the set will change including what props will be in each scene. He projected a technical, yet detailed and very visual series of pictures of the set design. There was a projection for each scene change.

The setup of IC Theatre's specific production of The Count of Monte Cristo, the very first production of this show, has been compared to the presentational style of the 10th Anniversary in-concert production of Les Miserables in which the set consists of one background with minor scene changes and props to depict the different settings throughout the show. The set design for The Count of Monte Cristo roughly includes a two story set of about four windows along each level. The windows include long French, rectangular shutters with a balcony on the second level. There will be a black scrim projecting "The Count of Monte Cristo, France 1815" which will change to fit each new place and time throughout the show.

Costumes and props were also discussed.

The hard thing about putting on a brand new show is that it is hard to know what's going to happen and if the costumes, props and set are all going to work together. Producing shows which have already been done before allow a template and example for what worked well and what did not. The cast and crew for this show do not have this luxury. However, it allows for an exciting challenge which everyone is highly capable of taking on!