Who needs music for a musical?

If you were to think about a new musical going into production, what would be one of the first things to come to mind that you'd need for rehearsals? Would it be sheet music? How about a composer? Or a music director who knew the songs? All of these would be good...we have none of these.

I'm assisting in rehearsals for a mini production of Snapshots: Life in the City which will be put on as a full production in February. Its about living in the inner city and most of the stories are written by school kids from St.Paul/Minneapolis. Kinda interesting, kinda cheesey. Grat for schools, but who knows if it'll be a good long run production. So far it seems "after school special-ey". That's the term I'm choosing to use.

So yeah, to the shows credit, the composer isn't even in the country right now, so its hard to consult with him, but no sheet music? These actors are supposed to learn the music without seeing it or having an accurate CD??? A lot of it is sorta jazz/hip hop freestyle, but still you need something to go on. And so often when the director says lets work on the this one, the music director starts playing and then: "Crap. I don't know how that one goes. Shoot! Which one is that?" I couldn't believe it. He's getting paid for this! Needless to say, the rehearsals are frustrating.

So yeah...that's what I'm doing at the History Theatre right now. I guess I can't complain...they're paying me $10 and hour to sit on my butt and make to occasional copy. Why can't they pay me that much when I'm actually working my butt off???