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Royal treatment for 'The King & I,' an old favorite

01.01.70

VIRGINIA BEACH

Greg Ganakas shushed the chatting youngsters on the other side of the rehearsal room.

"I need the kids to be quiet," the noted New York stage director called out in a booming-but-nonthreatening voice. "We've got to set this scene tonight."

Ganakas was engaged in what he called "building" - a process he used with Radio City Music Hall's Rockettes for the most recent Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and last month on local youngsters in a musical.

He's been in Hampton Roads to direct "The King and I," a Lyric Opera Virginia production opening Friday at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts.

Last week, he sat behind a table in a large rehearsal hall at the Sandler. With his purple-framed glasses resting down on his nose, he pointed with his pen as he told dozens of youngsters where and how to stand or sit and what to do when. In theater, that's part of building a scene - or setting choreography for dancers, like the Rockettes.

Source: The Virginian-Pilot