The Incongruent: Beyond the Curtain with the Musical Theatre Group Dubai

Join the cast of Grease at....

Where: Hartland International School, Dubai
When: from June 12 to 15, 2024
Timings:  7:30 PM daily and a 2:30 PM matinee on Saturday, June 15
Tickets: https://ticketslover.com/dubai/events/mtdxb-presents-grease.

In this episode Katheryne Nicole Alday and Stephen King interview James Mitchinson and Talya Mitchell as they share the magic behind Musical Theatre Group Dubai's upcoming production of the timeless musical "Grease." Ever wondered why "Grease" has remained a beloved classic for generations? Discover how this 1950s favorite gets a fresh, vibrant twist with local Dubai references and a diverse cast, making it a must-see performance for both theater aficionados and newbies alike.

Talya and James recount how the bonds formed during rehearsals, especially in challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic, translate into palpable onstage chemistry that enchants audiences. From personal anecdotes to the joy of seeing family members participate, this episode is a testament to the enduring power of community and the arts.

Peek behind the curtain as we delve into the dynamics and demands of community theater. Get insights into the rigorous audition process, the balancing act of juggling full-time jobs with theater commitments, and the sheer dedication required to bring a production like "Grease" to life. Katheryne and our guests emphasize the cultural significance of classics like "Grease," underscoring the importance of keeping such vibrant pieces of art alive for future generations. 

Also, whilst lisenting can you spot all the iconic songs we slipped into the conversation? And can you tell which of Steve or Kathrynne won the challenge? (Just for fun!)

1. Summer Nights
2. Hopelessly Devoted to You
3. Those Magic Changes
4. Beauty School Dropout
5. Tears on My Pillow
6. Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee
7. Alone at a Drive-In Movie
8. Rock N Roll Party Queen
9. Prowlin (Grease 2)
10. Charades (Grease 2)

Tune in and celebrate the spirit of musical theater with us!

Transcript

Stephen King: And welcome to another episode of the Incongruent and I am joined by Kathrynne  Nicole Alday from our graduating year group. Katherine, hi.  

Kathrynne: Hi, lovely to see you. It has been a while.  

Stephen King: It has been a while. But tonight, what have we done tonight? What did we do? Who did we speak to today? 

Kathrynne: We spoke to Mr. James Mitchinson and Ms. Talya Mitchell, who are both lovely human beings and keep the art of acting alive. And next week, actually, they will be on stage performing the classic Grease.  

Stephen King: Super super. And we did something fun, didn't we? We tried to fit in as many song titles from  

Kathrynne: Which I was very nervous about initially. 

Stephen King: You did very well. Into the conversation as we went. And do count and come up with us to see who wins.  

Kathrynne: Tell us who won.  

Stephen King : We don't know. We have to, when I re record it, I'll edit it, and then if you beat me, I will delete a couple of your comments. 

And anyway, on that note, I hope everyone enjoys this episode. And here we go!  

Kathrynne: Hello, lovely audience. We are delighted tonight, one summer night, to be joined by the co founder of the Musical Theater Dubai G roup, Mr. James Mitchinson, and one of his talented cast, Talya Mitchell. And we are looking forward to learning more about their highly anticipated production of Grease, which will be at Heartland International School from June 12th to the 15th with performances at 7. 30pm daily and a 2. 30pm matinee on Saturday. 

 Welcome, both of you. Before we learn more about both of you as individuals and your careers and maybe why you're both perhaps beauty school dropouts, could you tell us, and for the listeners who are not as big of Olivia Newton John fans, please enlighten us on what Grease is. 

James Mitchinson: Grease is a kind of timeless classic in the musical world. It is a tale of friendship, it is a tale of kind of love set in the 50s. So you've got this interesting kind of backdrop of the music and the era and the sort of the community of that time. Yeah. And it's essentially boiled down to those two themes. 

We have the kind of stock characters, which a lot of people are very familiar with. If they've seen the film or they've seen the musicals themselves with the kind of the cool jock type character and the kind of wallflower type female character. and how they both end up falling in love through the course of the musical. 

So essentially it's that and of course along the way we've got some fantastic songs, some upbeat songs, some emotional songs, and it's always a classic for the crowds. They often sing along, they take over the mic themselves in the audience, but overall it's a feel good family friendly musical. 

Talya Mitchel: I was gonna say, James, you've given away the story completely that they fall in love. And I guess the teabirds are the cool dudes. Everyone wanted to be a teabird with their flick combs. So it's basically the bad boy and the nice girl falling in love with the bad boy, which as a girl is what every girl wants. The era that it's in is the fact that it's based in a a U. S. high school. So you have all of those kind of elements I'm from the U. K. So we didn't really have the lockers and the jocks and the cheerleaders and the pep rallies. But Grease brings that all in. It brings just the fun element of the US. 

And in that time period as well it was when Coca Cola was like a big deal, and they had Twinkies, and all the foods and the drinks, and it's all referenced, and it's fabulous because It's kind of stuff you know growing up Kathrynne, I know that you know the show as well. It just, it has everything in there and the songs they're, you can't help but sing them but it ends up you're in a supermarket and you'll end up singing them as well so that sometimes can be slightly embarrassing when you're walking down the aisles singing the hand jive. 

So yeah, it's not always the best.  

Kathrynne: Oh, I agree. One of my favorite soundtracks to put. As such a phenomenal production, which is so well known because of its classic how are you putting a Dubai stamp and mark on your show?  

Talya Mitchel: Yeah, I think the thing with us at MTDXB is first of all, we are the first and only non profit adult musical society. 

So this has never been done here in Dubai before. Last year we had our first big kind of scripted musical, which was Addam's Family. And this year, obviously, we're going ahead with Grease. And we've the talent that we have, you've got to understand that the guys in our cast, we've got a cast of, what is it, 47, I think, James?  

Everyone is so talented. And no one is actually a pro at this. You have ex pros that have done it in the West End and stuff like that. But everyone that's performing is doing it for the love of it, the sheer love. And there'll be some nice things in there I won't say. There is a moment where we have a fluffy camel in a scene. We have these little elements in the props that we've used to bring in you'll, I'm sure if you come and see it, you'll see some little props that have got Dubai references. We tried to stay as close to the script as possible because The writing in it is hilarious and heartbreaking in moments. 

So we've tried to do other things to bring that UAE Dubai experience in, into the show itself.  

James Mitchinson: think the Dubai element, straight away you've got a cosmopolitan place we've got people in the cast from all over the world. And even our director, who is actually American she's taken on the role for the first time. 

We've never had her involved in our society before. And a fantastic asset she is. She brings her own kind of experiences to that, but of course everybody who's been involved in a musical have grown up in places other than Dubai. There's very few cast actually who have been in Dubai longer than a period of say five, five years. 

Would you agree Talya? 

Talya Mitchel: I'm probably one of the longest.  

 I came in 2008. So I'm literally an old school Dubai ike. But yeah, and do you know what, I think what, from what Mitch is saying, that we get people that have been here, they came in August last year and now they're with us. And I'm sure like if you speak to them, they all said in their own ways that they found their kind of family, their Dubai family here.  

So it's, that's I think really important as well, is that kind of community side of it as well. 

Kathrynne: That sounds like a tremendous show. Even just hearing bits and pieces here and there. I would love to come and see it myself along with my friends. 

Talya Mitchel: You have to! For sure. You have to come!  

Kathrynne: Even hearing about the camel scene on set. So as someone who has also performed one of the roles on Grease, I understand how much passion and even just love for your fellow cast members it is. 

 On that note could you tell us about your role and how excited are you to be playing that?  

Talya Mitchel: James, I'm gonna let  you take this first because we have our very own Vince Fontaine in the house.  

James Mitchinson: Main brain, Vince Fontaine. Yeah, so I've got a small part. I am Vince Fontaine. He's a kind of the radio guy who presents on TV also, if you're familiar with the film, you'll know the character, probably. 

Obviously due to my role outside of, I'm actually producing, helping with the production side of things as well. So I've got my hands full. outside of the rehearsal room. So I'm gladly only taking a small part and the irony is being one of the founders, I'm probably one of the least talented members of the cast, so I'm happy to have a smaller role anyway. 

But no it's. It's been fantastic and you really I think Grease, I've done it a couple of times before. Once actually, my first time was in school about 26 years ago, if you believe that. And I played Eugene actually, and even then, and I played it again in 2014 in a society in Newcastle Upon Tyne. 

And both times I've been involved, there's a real sense of togetherness with the cast.  

Talya Mitchel: You do go together, Mitch, right? We go together.  

James Mitchinson: You do get this kind of separation as well between the T Birds kind of migrate towards each other. The Pink Ladies kind of migrate towards each other. And you get this, you see this natural bond of friendship developing just because they've got to be friends on stage. 

And they're naturally hanging around each other, practicing their lines. And it's been lovely to see this kind of natural, bond that the developing and strengthening with each rehearsal and I think you know You can't it's hard to fake that even no matter how much of a good actor you are if you've got natural chemistry on stage Through your interactions off stage it's quite plain for the audience to see and I think the audience get extra enjoyment from that as well, and seeing that natural camaraderie. 

Now, I've been involved with West Side Story before, and a similar thing, I've seen a similar thing happen with the jets and the sharks. And when you do get that  

Talya Mitchel: We're turning into gang members!  

James Mitchinson: Yeah. But when you do get that but when you do see that it's so lovely, and and if you zoom out a little bit, and you've, like Talya said, we've got 47 in the cast, and what's been lovely, again, over the past six months to see, is this natural kind of friendships developing networks being made and that is really the heart of what we do that is aside from the wanting to perform aside from the love of performing, the other main thing that we do this for is friendship, yeah, community. 

And know and I heard Steven talk earlier on about how he first set this podcast up. It was during a time when we all needed a bit of extra community and covid we lacked that. And that was that, how, that was how M-T-D-X-B started from that need and want to be involved with the community to fight off loneliness. 

Talya Mitchel: And also because we love doing jazz hands. And it's really sad to do it in your own house on your own, yeah. So we needed people, each other, to do jazz hands. Yeah, for sure. I think the other thing, just to add on to what Mitch was saying, is, This is a family, and by that I mean that Mitch's talented, incredible wife is our choreographer and also playing Marty in the show. 

So that we have that my brother is actually Knicky my mum is now involved as well in the behind the stage side. So we actually have a husband and wife team in the ensemble. It's quite cool now that we It's not just us as a family, but our actual families are now coming as well. So no one is safe. 

Once you're in MTDXB, you're in for life. And no one is safe from getting away from us because we drag all the rest of the family in as well. So that's really important. For me this time, I've actually taken some time off the stage, even though I am getting very envious at every rehearsal, but I'm actually stage managing this time. 

I'm doing something completely different. I wanted to do something on the production side this time. I really enjoy being organised doing the stage management side, and it's a completely different experience for me. But I have warned them, I'm going to be honest, that on the comms that I'm going to wear, I will be singing every ensemble song, and they're not going to be able to stop me I think I'll have to do it. 

You can't help it. So I think our MD and probably the guys up in the tech box are gonna be probably annoyed with me by the end of the week, but they just have to  

James Mitchinson: Yeah, they're muting you up, really.  

Talya Mitchel: I don't care. They can mute me as much as they want, but I'm singing, so they can do what they like.  

Kathrynne: As someone who is hopelessly devoted to  

Talya Mitchel: Oh! 
 

There we go.  

Kathrynne: Right after, I would say that right after the production, when everything was done, we had to wrap up everything. There were quite, quite the tears on my pillow.  

Talya Mitchel: Show blues!  

Kathrynne: Yep.  
 

Talya Mitchel: Show blues.  

Kathrynne: You're right, I completely agree with what James said about how it's become not just a community, but a family. 

Talya Mitchel: That is the biggest thing, the family element.  

Kathrynne: Yeah, and besides, besides getting into those characters, you get to see each and everybody else's genuine character. Especially during stressful moments  

Talya Mitchel: You know what's nice?   From my side, from actually being, like, not on the stage and watching it. 

Even last night, we were doing a run of one of the acts. And I was just sat back and watching, and I, as James was saying, it's the camaraderie between the T Birds and the Pink Ladies. But what I'm starting to see now is I'm starting to see the real personalities of the people merging into the character. 

And they're having fun. And at the end of the day, we do this for love. We do it for fun. And when you see it coming off of people, and you can see them genuinely laughing at each other. And they're delivering these lines. Naturally, because now it's just talking to your friend. It's not someone you've just met in an audition. 

It's so cool to see, and it's something that I've really enjoyed seeing this time. Because normally I'm so busy trying to remember my steps and my lines, that you don't see that. But actually sitting there and watching it, honestly, I left last night and I turned actually to someone and said, I've really enjoyed tonight's rehearsal, because It was just fun everyone was getting on the personalities are coming out. 

I'm not saying that they're merging into the T Birds, but their own personalities are coming in. That doesn't mean James, I'm saying that you're a creepy radio presenter at all. Okay. I'm not saying that was you, but it's just great to see. And I think the other thing we haven't mentioned is that with our performance, we're actually doing the script plus the movies from the songs from the movies. 

 When you get the Grease script, you are actually missing some of the big songs. Which everyone knows from the movies, but we actually went above and beyond and we were doing Grease is the Word and all of those things. The songs that everyone expects to be in the show. So again, I'm sure if anyone comes along, they will definitely know one if not all of the songs that we are singing for everyone. 

Stephen King: If I just step in here, Kath, a couple of questions. So you've said you're a family, but whenever you're in these sort of dramatic communities, there's always someone who says, Oh, look at me. I'm Sandra Dean. Or who is the rock and roll party queen, right?  

Talya Mitchel: That's my brother.  

Stephen King: Your brother. How do you, have you you've already done a couple of shows so far, but how do you maintain this community spirit where you have the right people? 

Because to get, I imagine, to get the wrong person in can really cause a lot of  

Talya Mitchel: yeah, for sure.  

James Mitchinson: You're absolutely right. With any family, there is the highs, but there's also challenging moments, right? And we, This is our seventh show, I think it is we've got second full scale musical, but we've done seven shows and when we do auditions we, it's very difficult. 

I think we had 88 people audition for Grease and and of course we've got a cast of 47, so there was, we, it was difficult making decisions. And when we, one of the first rehearsals, we try and set out our stall. We try and say that we're here to our aim is to put on high quality theater.  

Through the process, through your dedication and passion, you will have lots of byproduct of friendship, of community. But there will be moments where we will expect you to turn up and there'll be, you'll be tired after work. You'll be cranky, but you'll still be expected to be at rehearsals so we've. 

We've had to really make it clear to the cast that this is going to be an amazing experience, but it needs commitment. And we've tried to repeat that throughout the rehearsal period and have high expectations of people, which is hard because people have got full time jobs and lots of us have got families. 

Sandy, who's playing Sandy, she's got three children and she has a full time job. I have It's  

Talya Mitchel: brilliant to watch her rehearse with the  

James Mitchinson: kids. Yeah. But I know, so it's immensely challenging for people to commit six months, twice a week, sometimes more to, to doing this.  

 That's what community theatre is, and we have high expectations and demands from the cast to do that. But You will really see this next week. This is the kind of the golden moment where everybody shines a bit brighter and we get into the theater. We get into the dressing room. 

We start having those conversations with all the cast around us. We're getting the buzz of excitements there. That's the kind of reason why we do this. And of course, yes the applause at the end of our show is another reason. But it's it is challenging to run. It's challenging to be a part of.  

 And some people are maybe not ready for it at times and we have to have conversations, sometimes difficult ones with people and say to them Are you sure this is for you? Because we have this amount of rehearsals coming up and we have a huge demand on your time. So yeah it's challenging, but it's it's, it makes it, When you get to that point of the show week and you're starting to pack up after a long week, it's all, it is all worth it. 

It's like cliche, but it is worth it. When you've gone through that kind of process, you've blood, sweat and tears the amount of hours Particularly the production side is huge it's and those people have never done production before and Talya's finding out this time, it is the communication, the emails, the text the behind the scenes stuff that goes on. 

 Is all consuming.  

Talya Mitchel: And to do a real job as well. Trying to do your full time job. Like we obviously all work. So it's just obviously Mitch is constantly on the message and stuff. We're having to reply back to, because we have social media, of course. And we've got a great marketing team, but we're all trying to help each other as well. 

 The only thing I was just going to say there, Mitch, was when we have our first meeting greet with the cast, we set out very clearly that yes, we are a non profit. but we treat this as professionals because we want to give a professional performance to our audience. 

 Our audience is who we're doing this for, not only ourselves. So we do that. We have code of conduct, for example, we are very clear on that of if you're committed to this, then you commit. And as Mitch said, like things happen. I'll give my reasons. I have to travel for my job sometimes because my job in finance, I have to go to different countries. 

And when that was getting more and more, I had to step back and say, guys, I can't commit. to doing the show because I have to be in Egypt or I have to be in Oman on rehearsals. That's why I've come in on the production side. Sometimes as adults, we need to remember that we know you have to look at your life and when it becomes too stressful. 

 When you're stressed because you think I've got to be rehearsed, but I've got this, I've got that. You need to be able to say okay, I need to take a step back. So we do have to have these conversations sometimes and they're awful because we are all genuinely like jazz hand people that don't want to upset anyone.  

But if you're doing the job in real life, if you're doing it as a professional that's how it is. And We're trying we're selling tickets for something. People are spending their hard earned cash. We need to give that level of professionalism.  

Stephen King: Plus there's 30 plus people giving time so you don't let anyone down. On that note I'm a musician. Or I try to be. Katherine has obviously Sean, some singing talents in her past. We have hundreds of our students with over 5, 000 students in the body and over a hundred of them participating in all kinds of creative arts. If they were to apply or to sign up to join you, what kind of roles can they go? 

Cause we have, obviously there's dancers, you have singers, you have actors, you have people prowling doing charades all kinds of activities that you might. I think that  

Talya Mitchel: So with musical theatre, it gets a bit of a bad rep sometimes. And it's a bit of a it's not Shakespeare and it's not this, but actually it's the hardest of all because it's all elements. 

It's singing, it's acting, it's dancing, it's the whole lot. So everyone's like a triple threat in a way. So there is so many different potential avenues for musical theatre that you can look into. Obviously we're finishing, I don't want to talk about it because it might be sad next week when we do finish Grease, then we will all have a very Long, rested break, I think, for a few, for the summer period. 

 And then coming back in September. I'm not one of the lucky ones. I'm not a teacher, so I don't get the summer off. But when everyone else comes back and the Dubai crowd arrive again. We will then obviously be looking to look to the end of the year, what kind of things we're going to be doing at the end of the year. 

There will definitely be something in December. I'm not going to say anything yet. But we will have something coming up in December. We will obviously have another big show next year. So what we normally do is we will put a call out. And it's not just people that have the talent, the musician, the musical theatre side, but people behind the scenes. 

 We've had people come on to us that have, they've made props. Fabulous. I'll grab them. They're in my team now. They're making headdresses for beauty school dropout. For your students point of view even if they don't want to be on the stage, there's the back end of it the backstage side as well. 

So they just need to really keep hold and look at our social medias because we announce everything on there, on MTDXB so at MTDXB and on MTDXB. com as well. Everything gets announced on there.  

James Mitchinson: Yeah just to add to tell you as well we also put a call out, of course, for the performance side of things, but also we put call outs for the production side of things as well. 

And often this show we've had students from Spa coming to join us as backstage help. We had students from Spa last. performance. We're always looking out for people who want to be involved. We have in the band the musical director who's, has got one or two students playing in the band. 

 And we've got people helping backstage as well as in the box as well so we're always aiming to not only utilize the talents that they have and share with us, but also upscale them because alongside These positions, there is professional people working on sound, on lighting, who can work alongside the students as well and upskill them and give them experience. 

We've had a lot of positive feedback from, particularly the sports students, who have been involved in our last couple of shows, yeah.  

Stephen King: That's amazing. I don't really have a Katherine. I'm pretty much at the end of what I have to ask. It's I'll let you come in for one finale. But it is there. 

You set this organization up. You're currently not-for-profit. Do you see yourselves becoming more, I don't wanna say the word professional, but you know what I'm saying. Do you see your, do you see there being an opportunity to evolve out of the not-for-profit and into a for profit production company? 

Or is that not on the agenda yet?  

Talya Mitchel: I think this is a watch this space. I think this is a, we will always have the non profit element because the reason we do this is for people like myself. But my family are all basically pros and I love to do it and I want to do it. And I think that's why, that's the reason why James and Beth set this up in the first place. 

Saying that, you never know what's around the corner. And watch this space for future things that happen because we do have some fabulous talent now. Quite a lot of professionals that come in that are maybe just singing in Dubai at the moment, but they are actually trained in musical theatre. 

 So we have pro acts. doing this for the love of just being on the stage. So I'm not going to say anything unless James wants to say anything, but I'm just going to say, watch this space for future.  

James Mitchinson: Cause through our past three years, we've gained so many contacts from either performers or in the industry who are willing to help or to be a part of it. 

I think if there's possibilities for us to utilize that in a different element, then it would be great. We haven't really discussed it in a lot of detail though, but yeah it's something maybe in the pipeline for the future. It's hard as NaTalya because We, like you say, we've got this, we've got this element where we've got a great community set up now. 

 And it's how do we utilize that and take it to the next level without compromising what we stand for. So yeah, this is a  

Talya Mitchel: conversation we have to have after Grease. This is why I'm like, Oh cause I think I'm going to be completely honest. My, my mom was a professional agent for 40 odd years. 

And even she says to me, the talent that we have, and I can say this. is so good. It's such a professional level. Like I was dragged around as a child across all the clubs, pubs, theatres, cruise ships, watching different shows and everything throughout the UK. And I have seen some stuff. And I can honestly tell you that this show next week, I think is going to amaze people. 

the level of talent and how brilliant they are. And I can say it because I'm not in it it's like going to the West End. And I think that we have these brilliant people and to have these people that are just living here at the moment that are just doing it because they, they're bored and they want to do it. 

There is definitely an area that we need to look at because there is potential. And realistically, at the moment we are the only adult society. Everyone else has got kids involved and everything. We're the only one that has that. And at the level that we have, I think it's definitely something we need to look at. 

But please come next week. Tickets are available still at mtdxb. com forward slash tickets.  

Stephen King: We promise not to leave you alone at a drive in movie. Katherine, I let you to close us off. Katherine, please.  

Kathrynne: Oh, everything's been great. All sounds great stuff for next week. I think it's those magic changes that you I I think I would like to end the session by saying thank you to the both of you for telling us a lot more about Grease and informing and educating a lot more of the youth about What the classic really is because I feel so strongly on why we should keep this type of art alive and why we should show more of this type of production and I would like to end by saying that Grease is the word.