Three men who performed the role of Joseph in the KV Players version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will perform together during the group's inaugural virtual production on July 23, 2020. (Photo: Submitted/KV Players)
The KV Players return for their 37th season Thursday night, but things will look quite different because of the pandemic.
Artistic director Suzanne Doyle Yerxa says they held out as long as possible with the hope they might be able to do an in-person show.
But when it became clear the entertainment group could not make that happen, they opted for a virtual season instead.
Doyle Yerxa said they reached out to current and former performers of the group, and more than 130 of them jumped on board.
“What I don’t think we thought about initially was the offshoot of this. We can bring together people from all over the place and from generations past and we can bring them together and they can perform together. That’s not something that could be done if we had to bring everybody to the stage,” said Doyle Yerxa.
The first online production will feature musical numbers from KV Players favourite productions and a salute to the 2020 graduating class from seven different local high schools.
Fifteen high school prospect will perform the number Fame during the KV Players’ inaugural virtual production on July 23, 2020. (Photo: Submitted/KV Players)
“We decided that we would have people tell stories about their experiences with KV Players and we’ve got some dances and we actually decided to use some videotape from past shows,” said Doyle Yerxa.
The two people opening Thursday night’s show are Jo-Anne MacDonald and Dan Mackay — the same performers who sang the lead roles in the grou’s 1988 production of Leader of the Pack.
Putting together a musical production is challenging under normal circumstances, so the pandemic did not make the workload any lighter.
Doyle Yerxa said one of their main concerns was making sure all of their performers stayed safe and followed physical distancing rules. That meant filming from thier homes, their decks, their yards, and even a rooftop garden.
“What happens is they submit themselves singing and that is put together so it becomes an actual vocal number that you would hear within the theatre,” she said.
Their first online production will be streamed Thursday, July 23, at 7:30 p.m. on YouTube. The show is free to watch Doyle Yerxa said but they encourage people to make a donation to the KV Players.
The group is planning a second, new production for Aug. 13. It will be a similar show but have different performers, she said.
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