Shrek VIP PEOPLE

Everyone craves greatness.

Everybody likes a winner.

But success isn't a one-man show.

Order! Order!

Behind every star is a team,

immensely talented, powerful in their own worlds

but invisible to us

until now.

These are the stories of the stars

and the teams who strive to make them shine.

This is the world of the VIP people.

The West End of London in Convent Garden

is home to an area called Theatreland.

Here, hundreds of performances of plays and musicals

take place every year.

It's on these stages that many stars began their showbiz careers.

We're going to meet the people

who turn children into stars of London's world-famous West End.

We're going behind the scenes at Shrek The Musical

at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane

as the VIP people begin their search for a young girl

to play the part of Princess Fiona.

A team of VIP people will come together

to transform a schoolgirl with a dream

into a polished West End star.

First off, a casting director will organise and run auditions.

Next, the musical director will improve her singing,

an associate director will work on her acting,

then it's over to wardrobe and wigs for fittings and dressing.

And finally, the stage manager

will get her used to performing her moves on the huge stage.

But first, who will they choose to skilfully hone into a West End star?

Shrek The Musical is about a princess

who agrees to marry an evil king

but ends up falling in love with the ogre who is sent to rescue her.

Part of the story shows the lives of the princess and the ogre

when they were little children.

It's the part of the child princess

the show's VIP people are now auditioning for.

It's the morning of the auditions.

Opening up the ballet room

through the winding corridors of the Theatre Royal

is the first of our VIP people,

-casting director Jo Hawes.

-Hello!

As a casting director,

Jo helps productions to find the right actors for roles,

and having invited girls to audition, she'll work closely

with the musical director and the associate director

to whittle down the perfect candidate

with the potential and the pizzazz to succeed on the stage.

Obviously, the usual thing applies.

If they come out with a letter, they've got a recall.

If they don't, they haven't.

-Ssh!

-Jo wanted to be in showbiz from the age of seven.

By 15, she was working in costume

and later moved into casting.

She's cast children in Oliver, The Lion King,

and Finding Neverland.

'It's not like casting adults.'

Smile. It's not the dentist!

'But they do have'

all the emotions that adults have, of course,

the nerves, the uncertainty, the fear.

I'm a bit nervous.

She's just excited to be part of it, really.

Going to try and get it.

Even after years in the business,

on audition day, Jo still gets nerves.

I love days like this

unless, of course, we get to the end of the process

and find we haven't cast it. Then it's a bit of pressure.

-Guys, can we start signing you in, please?

-Here, sweetheart.

Jo's being helped by Danny and Cherry. As full-time chaperones,

it's their job to look after the children

every second they're away from their mums and dads.

We don't have parents in the audition room

because we want the children to perform to us, not to their parents

and also because I never want to hear a parent say to their child,

"You could have done that better."

But before Danny and Cherry bring the girls into the audition,

there's a difficult job to be done.

I'm just hoping she's small enough to get in.

This is the stick, so-called chipstick.

It's five foot.

It's very rare to be able to cast a child for theatre over five foot

and in fact, in this case, we're looking at four foot six.

-Uh...just over.

-Oh! She's just over?

We measured at home, properly.

I know, but this is our Bible.

We have to go by this, I'm afraid.

I'm really sorry. OK?

Do I have to go home?

Yes, sweetheart, I'm afraid.

Aw, never mind.

-OK. Let's go and get a treat, shall we?

-Bye.

If you'd like to go to Danielle if you've got a label on, please.

The girls who are short enough are brought in to sing

for the show's musical director Alan Williams

and associate director Ben Wolf.

-Hello.

-Come in.

-Hello.

-You might need to make two lines.

Jo needs to impress Alan and Ben with the girls she's brought.

So if we could do it one by one,

this is your chance to do a solo.

One, two, three...

# So I know he'll appear

# Cause there are rules and there are strictures...

Jo and the directors will be seeing 100 girls

in groups of 20 over six hours.

The aim in this audition is

to get through to the second round of auditions in a few days' time.

They sing...

They act...

They find out if they're through to the next round of auditions.

So thank you all very much indeed for coming.

Well done! What was it like?

What we're looking for is a very super voice for the number.

It's a really important moment in the show, which gets huge applause.

Then the next group of girls come in to do the same thing.

-OK.

-So it's, "So I know..."

# So I know he'll appear

# Cos there are rules and there are strictures... #

'The best way to impress at an audition'

is for the child to come along absolutely prepared.

'They needed to know it by heart, really well.'

# Will look just like the pictures... #

The song they sing is about a young princess

locked in a tower awaiting rescue

but after seeing 100 girls,

neither Jo nor the directors are sure

they've found the Fiona they're looking for.

So, that was really hard.

There's just four possibilities here we should keep in the mix.

Out of 100 girls,

around 20 have been asked to come back for a second audition.

When I stood up, my nerves were, like, going...

Yeah, same!

-Feeling so amazed.

-Amazing!

"Many congratulations. We would like to offer you a recall."

And that's on Monday.

Jo can only hope one of these girls is good enough

to convince musical director Alan

to give them the part of Princess Fiona.

Those that can sing it, that got the notes,

they've got through to Monday.

-Hopefully, they'll practise over the weekend.

-To say at this stage

that we've got a Princess Fiona...

I can't say that just yet.

It's the second round of auditions.

Everybody know me?

The worst thing that could happen today is that we find no-one.

You never know. I could get the part.

Well done for getting here today.

The man who will ultimately decide who gets the part

is the next of our VIP people, musical director Alan Williams.

You're great and we like you.

Alan's in charge of everything musical,

from conducting the orchestra

to perfecting every note from every cast member.

Alan will work closely with the associate director Ben

and ensure his shows meet the highest musical standards.

Alan followed his childhood dream

and trained as a conductor at music college.

# I believe the story books I read... #

When he left college,

he used the contacts he'd made in theatre to get work

and now he's the musical director of this show.

# He, hee, ha, ho, hoo... #

The thing I love about my job

is being able to make live music every night.

Every day of the week, I get to play with talented people.

As well as the girls who got through last time,

Alan's asked two girls who are standbys in the show to audition.

# Oh, my gosh... #

The standbys never get to play the role of Princess Fiona

so in this audition process,

we decided to hear those and audition them too,

to give them a chance to be promoted.

# Like someone else I know

# As years go by, she sits and waits

# As years go by? Uh-oh!

# There's a princess

# In a tower

-# Oh, my gosh!

-That's just like me... #

-Alan knows exactly what he's looking for.

-Today is not only

about the singing, it's about their performance

the whole package, what they bring to the role.

Unfortunately, most of these girls

-won't get to be a princess this time.

-Uh-oh.

OK, Thank you very much indeed, girls. Thank you.

Straight across the corridor.

I am a little disappointed.

Oh, well. There's loads of other auditions.

The girls who have impressed now have a nervous wait

to see if they've got the part.

You can all now go. Thank you very much indeed. And I will be in touch.

That doesn't mean no, it doesn't mean yes,

it means I'm not saying anything now.

A week later,

and it's time to reveal who will be our Princess Fiona.

This job goes to another of the VIP people, associate director Ben Wolf.

Do you want to just sit down?

Ben's in charge of the show's acting, and directs all the cast.

He collaborates with musical director Alan and the stage manager,

and is the key to helping Princess Fiona to understand her character,

how to walk, how to act and how to stand while performing her songs.

Let's go again from the top.

After going to drama school, Ben started writing plays,

which he directed himself in small theatres.

This led to him getting jobs directing bigger plays,

and now he is working on his first big West End musical.

The scale of the production is something

I have never experienced before,

So one of the exciting things for me is to go on that journey

with all these amazingly talented actors and dancers and singers.

# You must be my lucky star... #

It's now time for Ben to tell one lucky girl she's got the part.

Of all the kids, we found that the one we liked most we already had,

but she was a standby in the company,

a girl called Hannah Girling who we've asked to be our young Fiona.

When Hannah arrives for another night on standby,

chaperone Cherry takes her to Ben's office.

But Hannah's got no idea why.

We'd really like to give you the part of Princess Fiona.

(SHE LAUGHS) Oh, thank you!

-Will you accept it?

-Yes!

-Brilliant.

-I got the part!

-Oh, that's brilliant!

Now Hannah's been given the part,

it's the job of the VIP people to turn into a fairytale princess

capable of lighting up a West End stage.

It's a step up for Hannah, having had this part

as a standby, to now step up and be Princess Fiona.

I haven't done anything in the West End before.

But I've done local shows.

It's now up to Ben to help Hannah through the first steps on her journey.

The challenge for him is he only has ten days to do it.

Time is really ticking for us, and because of the way the theatre works, we can't be on stage

most of that time, so the time we have on stage is precious.

In this rehearsal, Ben's telling Hannah

and two other new girls in the show about Princess Fiona's life.

Her parents, and it's a bit weird,

have sent her away to some tower in the middle of nowhere, guarded by

a dragon, only so that at the end of the story she gets rescued by a prince.

-What do you think it's like being locked away in a tower?

-Horrible.

-Boring.

-Horrible, boring, yeah, really boring.

They need to know why their parents sent them away,

and then what it's like when they are in the dragon's tower.

There's a princess in a tower. Oh, my gosh, that's just like me.

To help Hannah understand what it feels like to be locked in a tower,

Ben asks her questions about the words in the song.

What do we know is happening in that first verse of the song?

-She's locked in the tower.

-Like Rapunzel.

Yeah, and the witch won't set her free.

And Fiona's parents won't let her go.

Onstage, as in any performance, if you can imagine something,

you can tell the story more clearly.

By getting Hannah to imagine Fiona's life,

Ben has helped her become a better actress.

I believe the story books I read by candlelight.

My white knight and his steed would look just like the pictures.

That's really good. You got a clear idea,

I think, about what the story of Princess Fiona is.

# It's not about the money, money, money... #

When she's not practising to be a princess, Hannah and her theatre friends

sometimes play pranks on their chaperones.

They had jam doughnuts, and they slurped all the jam

out of the doughnut and put ketchup inside them.

Having checked her doughnuts for ketchup,

chaperone Cherry takes Hannah to meet the next of the VIP people,

head of wardrobe Alice Fitzgerald.

The thing I love most about my job is that it's never the same.

It's always different.

Alice is in charge of costumes, and once Hannah's Princess Fiona

costume is fitted, she will work with her team to clean, repair

and keep this and all the other amazing costumes worn by the rest of the cast

as stunning and sparkly as they were on the first night.

Alice began a career in costume by studying fashion at University,

and then got jobs in wardrobe departments in theatres.

# Don't need to make up to cover up... #

Eight years after getting her first job,

she's in charge of over 200 costumes for this show,

which features a lot of famous fairytale creatures.

# The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed

# But when you smile at the ground... #

Pinocchio costume. It's all printed to look like wood.

# You don't know... #

This donkey costume is the most expensive we have in the show.

Each individual suede thong is hand-knotted.

Donkey is played by comedian Richard Blackwood.

And it takes about a month just to do this one costume.

Some of the costume changes in the show have to happen in under a minute.

It's the job of Alice

and her team of dressers to make sure these go smoothly every night.

Our quickest change in the show is from a guard into the wolf,

and it's incredibly fast.

He's got to change complete costume and make-up and wig,

and he has about eight people attacking him at one time to change him.

Amazing. Thank you.

Luckily for Alice, Hannah's Princess Fiona costume

is nowhere near as complicated.

-Is it tight anywhere?

-No, it's fine.

-Lift your arms a bit.

I think I will get more into the character

because I will be wearing the costume.

So far, the VIP people have whittled 100 girls down to the one

who will play Princess Fiona.

She's been taught to act and been kitted out in the costume.

Still to come, they have just five days to teach her to sing, dance,

get her hair right and help her get to grips with the enormous stage.

Also, we see the VIP people turn a young girl into an ogre.

It was the second of our VIP people, Alan Williams,

who gave Hannah the part of Princess Fiona.

Now it's his job to make sure

every note she sings is absolutely perfect.

She's learned the song in auditions and by seeing the show.

But it's very approximate. She needs to get to grips with the real detail.

The way Alan does this is by practising the song word by word.

But, just hold on - buuuut... But don't carry on.

GIRLS: # Buuuut... #

Well done.

Alan may love his job, but it doesn't come without its dangers.

GIRLS: # Twenty-three... #

Hannah, I got absolutely drenched then.

A lot of girls do this "tuh" thing,

which sort of means that you could get spat on.

And when you've got a microphone on, which the girls will on stage,

the "tuh" explosive sound can really pop in the system.

-# Twenty-three... #

-Practise it a few times. That's better, perfect!

There are three days left until Hannah

sings in front of 2,000 people at the Theatre Royal in London.

Today, Hannah and the other girls in the show are rehearsing

on the stage for the first time.

Yay! Yay, we're on stage.

It's not bad, is it?

This is one of the biggest theatres in London.

Right now I feel a bit nervous and a bit excited at the same time.

-She learns some funky steps with a dance supervisor.

-# Oh, yeah... #

She practices her song with Carley Stenson, who plays the adult princess.

# (FIONAS) Look just like that picture... #

-Yeah, that is better.

-And works on her acting with director Ben.

That's a very good question, where do you look?

Do you see where that middle circle is?

It is all getting more technical now, exciting.

We've got the clouds flying in. They've got the tower cloth in. There's the balcony.

There's lots of big bits of stuff.

In charge of all this stuff is one of the VIP people,

stage manager Chris Hesketh.

Can we stand by, please?

As stage manager, Chris, or Heskey as he's known,

makes sure that everything director Ben and musical director Alan

want to happen happens safely.

From flying clouds to moving bridges,

it's his job to teach Hannah

and all the cast members how to be on stage without getting hurt.

If Heskey's not happy, he can stop a show, even during a performance.

Heskey wanted to work in theatre since he was eight years old.

He used to do sound and lighting in his school plays,

and went on to study it at drama school.

Since then, he's run some of the biggest West End shows

like Hairspray and Dirty Dancing.

Make sure you are on there all the time. Never step off it.

I love being in the theatre.

And at the end of the night, when you hear the crowd, that's not just

for the cast on stage, that is for everybody that works on the show.

# Today... #

In the show, Hannah magically leaves the stage behind a cloud.

Heskey is showing her how to do this.

You go a little bit quick just to make sure you clear the clouds,

and just let that touch the back of your legs.

And then stop, and you will be safe.

You are going to follow it off that way, OK? Does that make sense?

-Do you want to give it a shot?

-OK.

# Day number twenty-three... #

So, now she needs to remember how to sing, where to look,

and maybe she needs eyes in the back of her head.

Oops! Try again.

It sounds easy, but when you're thinking of different

other things at the same time, it is quite hard.

You're just wobbling about everywhere.

Is one of the VIP people, Heskey uses his stage knowledge

to make it easy for Hannah.

You'll see the marks in front of you. When you get to about here,

just slow down and you can slowly walk back.

# I know it's today. I know it's today. #

Magic.

If that feels like a lot to deal with, one thing Hannah won't

have to do is sit through massive make-up sessions.

While Princess Fiona only needs a bit of blusher for her part,

every night, the girl playing the baby ogre has to sit

very still in a chair while head of make-up Lolly Goodship works her magic.

It is a heavy, heavy make-up show.

Most of the characters have prosthetic make-up.

That involves putting on a bald cap,

the foam latex cowl, and then all the silicone pieces.

After the nose and eyebrows go on,

the final touch is to give baby ogre some cute freckles.

Let's go.

Before the big day of her performance,

there's one more of the VIP people Hannah has to see.

His name is Stefan Musch...

Hi!

..and he is head of wigs.

Stefan is in charge of over 150 wigs

that are worn by the cast of the show.

He'll work to the director Ben

and needs to make sure Hannah's wig's perfect

for every single performance, cleaning, restyling and prepping it

so it looks more Princess Fiona and less Prince Harry.

Stefan comes from a family of hairdressers in Germany.

During a childhood trip to see Starlight Express,

he discovered a passion for wigs and went on to study wig-making.

OK, this is Hannah's wig.

The wig is made of human hair.

You have to love hair and wigs.

So, at one point this hair belonged to a person.

They give it to the wig-maker.

While Stefan enjoys fitting the wigs...

-Shiny!

-Very shiny.

..he also has to look after them.

After every performance we undo the ponytail, we brush it out,

we give it a little bit of a shine spray.

That's it, Princess.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

And that is it.

After being chosen from 100 girls to play a princess

in a West End show, there's just one more sleep until curtain up.

The work of the VIP people is almost done.

Thanks to casting director Jo who helped get her the part,

to Alan, who helped her sing, and Ben, who helped her act,

to the wardrobe, wigs and stage manager,

Hannah's now ready to sing on a West End stage for the first time.

It's the day of the performance.

In less than an hour, Hannah will be singing in front of 2,000 people.

Mum and Dad are sitting in that box, box B.

Hello!

We're really excited, and nervous.

We feel like we are going to be doing the show, as well.

To pull it off, she'll have to remember everything

her VIP people have taught her.

When I went to bed, I was thinking about it all going wrong.

Everything went wrong, like everything!

This is the big day, it's really exciting.

-How you feeling, Hannah?

-Good.

'Hannah's worked so hard,'

and hopefully it's all going to pay off.

It's now time for Hannah to become a fairytale princess.

Woo!

I think Hannah will be really nervous,

but she's very professional,

so she'll be keeping calm.

I think she'll be more excited, and I bet she can't wait

to get on that stage, and I can't wait to see her on it.

Yes, she will be nervous, you know, because when the audience is there

it's very real and it's you and the audience, but she's got what

it takes to take it through, otherwise she wouldn't be here.

There we go!

There's a couple of minutes now until the show starts.

The audience is behind that big screen thing.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

In less than 30 seconds, Hannah will sing her solo on a West End stage.

Smile, enjoy it, OK?

MUSIC

# There's a princess, in a tower

# Oh my gosh, That's just like me... #

'The moment I turned around on stage'

and the gauze had just moved,

and I saw the audience for the first time, I felt...

I was freaking out, in my head!

# It won't be long now, I guarantee

# Day number...23

# I know it's today

# I know it's today... #

As soon as I started singing the song, I felt...

all right, but a bit tense in the back of my neck,

because it's a scary thing, cos it's like the first time to do it.

Whatever she was feeling, it doesn't affect her performance.

# I know it's today. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Hannah leaves the stage to huge applause.

That's it, she's done it!

Well done.

she did brilliantly, she did so well.

She absolutely nailed it, she did the ending perfectly.

That was fantastic.

Thanks to the hard work of the VIP people,

another star of the West End stage is born.

# I come home in the morning light

# My mother says "When you Gonna live your life right?"

# Oh, Mama dear, We're not the fortunate ones,

# And girls, they wanna have fun

# Oh, girls just wanna have fun... #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd