The Making of a New Musical
By Diane Parkes
The show you are about to watch may only last an hour - but it has taken 18 months to bring to the stage. With a team of writers, actors and musicians, technical crews, director, choreographer, costume and set designers and makers, creating a new musical from scratch is a complex and multi-layered process. But it’s worth every minute, says Head of New Musical Theatre, Deidre O’Halloran.
Work on No Such Thing as Wolves began in summer 2024 when Deirdre and her team put out a call for pitches for the show - and the more innovative the better!
Hippodrome Head of New Musical Theatre
Deirdre O’Halloran
“They are all original ideas, and we like them to be generated by the artists that we are working with,” Deirdre explains. “Because then we know they will be very passionate about it.”
Deirdre and the team knew immediately the idea for No Such Thing as Wolves was a winner - and that its writers, Gerard Foster and Richie Webb, understood how to create high quality children’s entertainment.
“They had so much experience of writing for children that we were really excited to see what a musical for children by these two people would look like. They really care about the children’s audience and came up with an idea that was a perfect fit for our My First Musical series.”
The first glimpse of the completed script was in January 2025 when the writers and a cast of local actors came together for a first sharing at the Hippodrome. This three-day process led to some amends to the show and enabled other teams at the theatre such as Marketing and Communications a chance to experience it so they could begin work on promotion.
With the production on its way, the next part of the process was to recruit the rest of the creative team.
“Because we’ve now heard it out loud, we know exactly what kind of show it is so we can work out who might be the best person to work on it in terms of director,” Deirdre explains. “We found five directors that we wanted the writers to meet and had conversations with each of them.
“Gerard and Richie were really intrigued by Emily Ling Williams because she immediately had ideas about dance and what choreography in the show could look like, which complemented Gerard and Richie’s experience brilliantly and we were really excited by her vision.”
And work began on designing and building the visual elements of the staging.
“Hannah Sibai designed both the set and the costumes, and our fantastic Costume Supervisor Caroline Mirfin transformed those designs into reality that fits the actors beautifully,” says Deirdre. “We worked with a couple of different companies on building the sets as there are a couple of big pieces that need to be made from scratch.”
In June the cast was finalised and then came together for the first time.
“We held a two-week workshop which is I think the most vital part of the process,” says Deirdre. “Firstly it gave two weeks in a non-pressured environment to play around with a few ideas. The other thing with those two weeks is that we had audiences come in. Our first audience is school children. We had a class of 30 five-year-olds who watched about 40 minutes of the show with no costumes, no props, no lights and no set - and they were absolutely gripped by it which was really rewarding for us.”
But there was still a long road ahead.
“From June we had quite a lot of production meetings where we nailed down what the final designs are going to be and figure out what is actually viable. Lots of very technical conversations took place at that time. We also worked a lot on orchestration, and we recorded an EP of four tracks so we could put those tracks out and people could get a taste of the show before they come.”
Rehearsals began in November and meanwhile the technical teams were working in overdrive.
“Once we had all of the set pieces and the props, we needed to populate the stage in the Patrick Studio and, because it’s new work, things didn’t slot in as easily as when a show is coming here on tour,” Deirdre explains. “So we had to figure out how to make everything work in practice particularly with big pieces coming in. “We also tested lighting and sound. During technical rehearsals you can come up against certain issues and need to make choices and changes. And sometimes you also find there are things you can do which you hadn’t realised, so you want to add more and really make the most of those moments.”
Final dress rehearsal took place on the Friday evening ahead of the first performance on Saturday morning - which is when the vital piece of the jigsaw, the audience, completes the show.
“Your audience is your final collaborator in musical theatre because when audiences clap or don’t clap or however they respond in different moments, is very important to how a show feels and runs,” Deirdre says.
“Every audience is different but what we hope to do is instil a love of musical theatre in everyone that comes.”
Part of the Hippodrome’s My First Musicals programme, the hope is that many of these children will discover a lifelong passion for live performance.
“We want to make sure that people grow up and come and see, and come and help us make, the amazing musicals in the future,” says Deirdre. “And that relationship is started with shows like these.”
No Such Thing As Wolves cast.
Creating Motionhouse’s Curtain Raiser Performance From rehearsal room to main stage:
of 16 young people took to the stage to perform a Curtain Raiser performance ahead of Motionhouse’s latest thrilling dance-circus production, Hidden
50 young people in our Hippodrome Education Network (HEN) and wider college outreach auditioned for the Curtain Raiser at the Hippodrome back in September. Taking part in a 90minute workshop-style audition, dancers showcased their skills and talent through a series of repertoire, choreographic tasks and team building exercises before the final company was chosen by Motionhouse’s Creative Learning Team, Harrison Yafai and Hannah Marshall.
young company spent two days learning choreography by Harrison, whilst also implementing the young dancers’ own ideas and choreography into the piece. Working in alternating small groups, the company were able to choreograph their own work using ideas from skills class or a prescribed element or theme, such as a lift or jump. Then working with Associate Director, Daniel Massarella, the next two days were spent cleaning and polishing the five-minute piece ready for Friday’s performance.
Much like Motionhouse’s style, the piece had moments of strong group choreography that broke out into smaller groups, creating a concoction of contrasting movement and patterns. There were lifts and tricks throughout the piece, showcasing the talent of the next generation of performers.
rapturous applause and cheers, providing a goosebumps moment for both audience members and young performers.
Reflecting on the performance, Craig Randle, Education Manager (Secondary & Post 16), said:
“To work alongside Motionhouse and this incredible group of dancers was pure joy! The work ethic, professionalism and talent that was showcased across the week was second to none, doing both themselves and their respective schools/colleges proud!
“The Motionhouse team, but particularly Harrison and Danny, always bring out the best in young people, providing a safe, welcoming space for experimentation and exploration. I couldn’t be prouder of what this young company created in such a short amount of time!”
Greening
At Birmingham Hippodrome, our mission is to bring you that goosebumps feeling every time you attend something in our programme. We all love the magic of live performance, and with the climate changing around us, it’s important we play our part in protecting our environment.
In the last few years, we have committed to following the sustainability guidance provided by Theatre Green Book, as well as keeping up the high environmental standards we have held ourselves to for more than a decade. This means we’re looking to make improvements to our building, food and drink, travel impact, energy, and the shows we produce.
Solar panels, English wines and beers, and recycling our old uniform are just a few of the ways we’re acting to reduce our impact on the environment. You can also spot other environmental projects around our spaces - like water fountains, staff separating food waste, and reusable plastic cups (please return at the end of the day!).
By coming to our productions you’re supporting an organisation that is making a healthier, cleaner, greener Birmingham a priority. You’re reading this booklet because you’ve chosen to travel to us in a more environmentally-friendly way today, which reduces emissions pollution and congestion in the city centre for everyone. Thank you for supporting us to become more sustainable!
We’d love to hear what you think! Email us environment@birminghamhippodrome.com