ABSTRACT
As directors of musicals, we are, ultimately, invisible. While we can suggest, implore, bully, inspire and beg actors and collaborators to take our suggestions, the choice of whether to do so and how is theirs. If you’ve done your job well, by opening night you are useless. Attend your premiere if you like the ceremony of it. But, your presence is irrelevant to the actual performance. The lowest-paid stagehand has far more utility in guaranteeing the success of that particular evening than you. Yet, you are clearly responsible for something essential about the production. Stage pictures and blocking aside, the director leaves indelible fingerprints all over the production. So, how does the director of a musical matter and why does he or she make such a difference in the long run? The simple answer is that the director is a guide to everyone involved in the production. Your obligation as central interpreter of the texts is the essence of the job.
