“If nobody's going to cast me, how about I just do something on my own and sell tickets,” says Heidi on our recent Zeitgeist Radio interview. This is what I love about her: she knows what she wants and she goes and makes it happen. “Then other people were like this is cool, I want to do this too.” And Torchsong Entertainment was born! Torchsong has a unique niche: it only produces shows with a dark flair. Heidi’s aesthetic, which she has poured into Torchsong, is “sci fi, fantasy, horror, anything gothic related.” “It’s spooky 24/7!” she says.
Listen to the episode on Spotify (it’s also on any other platform including youtube):
We talk about the many elements that go into running a music theater company… and there are a LOT!
Write a song or 10
One of my first questions to Heidi was: how do you decide what to perform?
Heidi doesn’t do covers. She does write and perform musical parodies and original work, along with a very small and dedicated team. And again, Heidi’s authenticity drives her decisions on content. Her first question is “What do I personally want to do? What do I enjoy?” She knows if she starts there she will put her all into the project. “What am I excited about, what thing right now do I feel like if I start writing it's just going to flow?”
And because Torchsong is unique, the fans love it. “Everybody always loves vampires, everybody loves pirates. They're never going out of style. they will always be iconic and topical,” she says.
Build an audience
So now you have a spooky musical: how do you get people to your show? “The second show we did, we had 2 people in the audience,” she says. “It was horrible.”
While she’s now at a point where some of her shows sell out, she still works hard to put butts in seats. I loved hearing all the creative things she’s done, from costumed karaoke, to busking at ComiCon, to making music videos. “My secret weapon is putting children in the shows,” she says. People will come out of all kinds of woodwork to see a kid have a big role in a musical!
Perform!
There’s so much more that goes into a show! Other things we cover:
Location (“found spaces”)
Lighting (“vibrant and pretty”)
Costumes (“hot glue and a prayer”)
Choreography (“I love my dance breaks”)
Sound (“one of the hardest jobs in the whole crew”)
Casting (“The chillest auditions EVER”)
Rebooting old projects (“that’s a banger”)
..and so much more!
Follow Torchsong, they are very fun: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/torchsongentertainment/ @TorchsongTheaterCompany Website - https://www.torchsongentertainment.com/ Instagram - @torchsong_entertainment Youtube - @torchsongentertainmentllc6957
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