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Trek Musicals – to perform new musicals with karaoke at various venues

Over 2015 Graham Ford started thinking of a new way to perform musicals. Some eight years earlier, as founder and artistic director of the Diamond Valley Singers, he had come up with the idea of doing smaller productions of musicals. These were performed in smaller venues with piano, minimal sets and no amplification. They were very successful, and ran for a few years.
As a singing teacher who utilised karaoke technology in his teaching, the idea of this being used for musicals was a natural progression. Performers would have the karaoke files to rehearse at home, they could change keys and tempos to suit, and brain fades would be a thing of the past with the words being displayed on a screen, or wall, behind the audience. He spoke to many musical acquaintances and the response was overwhelmingly positive.

So in January 2016, with borrowed equipment, he tried the system out and found it was feasible. Feedback from friends who attended allowed him to fine tune some aspects.
An information session was held in late February 2016. Twenty-one attended with twenty-three apologies. From this a steering committee was formed. This committee decided to launch the group with performances of Such Is Life, a Ned Kelly musical written by one of the committee. The reason for this choice was that it had been performed in two seasons prior and involved narration and songs, so would be easy to manage. Some sets and costumes were also available.

Auditions have been held and three performances confirmed in Eltham, Heidelberg and Seymour. Ringwood, Winchelsea and Dunolly have also expressed interest. The arrangement with venues would be for a share of the profits.

As with the Diamond Valley Singers, none of the key personnel are paid. Assuming a profit eventuates, the monies would be split between the writers, some retained for future costs, and some to charity.