I also completed a 3 year Bachelor of Music Degree Majoring in Music Composition at the Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW, Australia in 1999. By combining my Theatre & Composing knowledge & skills, I realised my dream by completing my Script & Original Musical Score on the 22/11/03. I observed the best shows had very distinct colourful characters,costumes,& backdrops. An easy to follow storyline with a happy ending, used plenty of visual comedy & melodrama rhyme, & had songs with actual tunes.Combining all these best bits, 'Cp' was created.The Musical 'Cryogenic Princess' was then performed over 6 nights between the 16/7 & the 31/7/04 at the Ballina Players Theatre with a cast of Northern Rivers Finest Actors.

Rehearsals took place in living rooms, outdoor paddocks & sheds as the Theatre was only available 5 days before opening night. To open an untried show with so little time to setup was amazingly stressful, especially with the major props, backdrops, sound & lighting planned for the show to be setup, not to mention the anxious cast who had to get used to their stage movements in such a short time.They say you must be onto a good thing when no matter how hard certain members of the local Theatre company attempted to disrupt the show, nothing stopped its progress. 'Cryogenic Princess' opened on time, 16/7/04 to riotous applause & I thank the Cast (.jpg list) & Behind the Scenes Crew(.jpg list) for their heart, belief & support throughout.

The Audience Comments of Cryogenic Princess

'I loved it because it was so very different & the music was of exceptional quality';'This is the 3rd time I've seen it, this show grows on you, the music gets better every time, I can see it playing at 'West End'!; 'The show had everything:- good comedy, great songs, great characters, great pace, a feel good story, so much to see!';
'I enjoyed it more than 'The Lion King'!; 'My kids loved it, they've never enjoyed going to see a Theatre show as much, they want to see it again, they now know all the words to their favourite songs'!

Getting The Cast: It started with myself & a couple of close friends, Tom Lane & Gary Baker reading all of the parts. I then approached the many talented people I had the pleasure to have acted with over the years to be part of my show, they all said yes. A few new faces were introduced by other cast members & the very strong cast was formed. They were Mark Warwick, Fiona Clarke, Bill Graham, Neil Ireland, Belinda Spears, Narelle Hayter, Megan M. Young, MoyaTelfer, Tom Lane, Gary Baker, Nola Lucas, Craig Evans, Sandra Jackson, Helen Murphy & Gavin Hayter (myself).

Costume, Props & Other Bits: The overall design of everything was firstly sketched out by myself,
Gavin Hayter. Extra initial help & ideas came from my good friend Debbie Marczan. We then took these ideas to the experts & they helped form our vision into reality. This extremely talented group of people include Libby Stock (costumes), Wendy Dunger & Gwyn Osborne (creative makeup), & Joan & Tracey Johnson from Extravagant Designs Sydney (Props & Backdrops, who also travelled 800+ klm.s' each way from Sydney to help).

Creating The Music: Some of the songs were composed by myself over 20 years ago. Most of the lyrics of the songs were completed more recently. What was great about this, was I had a wealth of over 20 years of musical material to pick from, that's why 'Cp' has such a quality list of catchy songs, no 'fill in' songs required.
(Not like other Musicals that rely on 1 or 2 good songs that hold the whole show together).
The music was composed on Cubase. I (Gavin Hayter) put down the keyboard part.
I then travelled 9 hours to Sydney to add the guitar solo sections, this done by an exceptionally talented guitarist &
good friend, Dave Thirgood (check his site here). Bass was added later by Fiona Clarke (acted the Princess in 2004 show) & Hec Creary (also a talented guitarist & golfing friend). All the original cast members then lent their voices to the recording. Drums & mixing was done last by the very talented Stuart Black. Recording started November 2003 with final mixing completed the day before opening night 15-7-04. A very tight schedule, but we just made it!

Final Word:I need to also thank a few other very special people. The wonderful Dance Movements were co-ordinated by the extremely talented Margaret Clifford. The fantastic stage sound & backing track co-ordination was faultlessly looked after by the wonderful Debbie Warwick & Rudi. Many thanks to Daniel & Jarrod for their help in the lighting box. An extreme thank you to Tom Lane, who re-soldered 30 damaged parts on the Theatres' so called 'nothing wrong with it' sound desk between 12 -5p.m on opening night 16/7/04. He finished 3 hours before our opening night performance at 8.00 p.m. & we had perfect sound for all 6 performances. An Amazing Effort! Another mention to the makeup ladies, dear Wendy & Gwyn (who celebrated her 89th birthday during the show), who had that many makeup changes to do. Also dear Libby who came down when ever needed to fix up a costume or 2, even though she was 6 months pregnant. Particular thanks to Bill Graham at Channel 7 & Sandra Jackson at Paradise FM 101.9 for their assistance with promotion. Gary & Neil for the use of their house & shed to practice in. Finally, but not least I have to thank the 2 workaholics in charge of props, the super reliable Rita Graham & my dear dear Debbie.

Many Thanks, Best Wishes Gavin. Contact Email: cryogenic_princess@yahoo.com.au

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