Overture. . .House lights down. . .

Hello cast and crew, this is Chris O'Brien. This blog will document our experiences as we produce a new musical: Crystal.
Today I got most of the material for the lyrics to one of the key songs: "Traditions." It's a song that is sung by Lucinda, Crystal's mother. It introduces key points in Romani ("Gypsy") history and culture. I'm really looking for a strong alto singer for this character!
I'm working on cuts for the script now; I know it's too long as it is in its draft form, so I'm identifying what can safely be cut without disfiguring the story.
I calculated the song lengths and I estimate that there'll be about 58 minutes of songs in the show. I hope to keep the entire show down to 90-110 minutes, so there may be some cuts necessary in the songs as well. I'll see what I can do.
Otherwise, most of the script is done and most of the songs are in a full draft form--with the vocals more or less finished, though the instrumentation is still in development.
I'm preparing for auditions these days, too. I've got MIDI files for all the different parts--with and without accompaniment--for the two choral song fragments that we'll be using, and I'll finish posting that material real soon.
Best to you all!!
Chris