Imagine what it must be like up at the North Pole right now! How are Santa and the elves adapting and adjusting to working virtually during this unique pandemic? Our Learning CONSORTIUM decided to explore how the “naughty” and “nice” lists are coming together in 2020.
As you may know, in addition to my work in the world of learning, MASIE Productions has produced more than 29 Broadway musicals and plays. Several months ago, my theater colleagues suggested creating a musical video that would show the fun and challenging dimensions of how Santa’s crew would approach collaboration if they were all working by video conference.
We decided to “walk the virtual talk” by creating this 40-minute piece with Broadway actors working from their living rooms (and a hotel in Vancouver) — using green screens — while the director, Alan Muraoka (he plays “Alan” on Sesame Street), prompted them via Zoom.
On Dec. 1, we premiered “The Nice List,” a free musical being shared with employees, corporations, families and schools around the world. Here some of the lessons we learned in creating this show virtually, using techniques that may be new to the team and building a story that appeals to people of all ages.
A fun storyline makes an idea come alive. The elves must build the important “naughty” and “nice” lists while Santa is working from afar in the weeks before Christmas. The story, the songs and even the dancing are part of the fun challenge of deciding who is nice or naughty. Actually, this is a great window for a lesson on acceptance in these challenging days.
Build a team that is ready to work digitally. We recruited actors and creative team members who were ready and ripe to work in a totally virtual and digital format. Our motivation was to find world
-class actors and give them much-appreciated, paid work in these tough times — and to build a team ready to create in a different world.
Use closets and living rooms as stages. It turns out that closets provide some of the best acoustic spaces in apartments. So, we shipped green screens, lights and microphones to the actors, who set up their homes or hotel rooms accordingly.
Virtual does not mean synchronously live. While I am doing much of my learning work live in Zoom, WebEx or Teams sessions, some great creation can be done asynchronously using Zoom for prompting and feedback, while capturing the audio or video locally on a computer, tablet or phone for later editing.
Make it more than boxes. As we edited the musical, it was important that we portrayed that the characters (and reindeer) were communicating by video conference, but we did not want to make the viewer watch “Hollywood Squares” boxes for 40 minutes. So, our video editor used illustrations and changing video box sizes to keep the story and songs engaging and moving along.
Imagine songs, videos and every instrument as separate tracks. We had our actors sing their parts of songs with musical tracks playing in the background or earpieces. They were video-recorded saying the same lines over and over again, looking in different directions, allowing the editor to point the characters at each other. Each musical instrument was also taped separately and then blended with seven voices for harmony. Whew!
Tell a story for adults and children simultaneously. Our goal was to create an uplifting, fun musical with positive and touching content and context for both children and adults. Just like when we create learning for the workplace, we should always imagine a diverse and broad audience.
Finally, make it FREE. We decided to produce “The Nice List” for the widest audience and not charge any fees during this holiday season. It is working! Entertainment Tonight featured our show and even had our characters sing its long-running theme song. Corporations and business leaders like Marshall Goldsmith are sending out invitations on LinkedIn to spread the word. I hope you will watch it with your colleagues and family members.
After you watch it, I’d love to hear your reactions and questions. Feedback is so helpful. You can write to me at emasie@masie.com.
Our creative performers are actors from Hamilton, Aladdin, Wicked and other Broadway shows. A special thanks to the writers and musical creators Phoebe Kreutz and Gary Adler, as well as my colleague Telly Leung, co-host of our Empathy Concerts and executive producer of “The Nice List.”
Creating in these digital times will stretch us all and move our learning efforts to Santa’s nice list!
