Georama musical in St. Louis

Georama, a musical about the life of John Banvard, will be performed in St. Louis, MO early in 2016.

(by Suzanne Wray)

I was involved with the development of this in New York as a sort of consultant on the moving panorama, where there was a staged reading in April.  The director of the musical, West Hyler,  has been working this for some time, and has tried to make everything historically correct-or as much as it can be in a musical.  In New York we had a panel discussion about the moving panorama:  history, and how one might be done as new scenery.  The staged reading had a moving digital panorama created on a computer, but West hopes to have a real painted or digitally printed one "move" during the St Louis performances.  Peter Morelli, who has worked a great deal with the Saco Museum's "Pilgrim's Progress Panorama" has given advice about how to accomplish this.  (The "Pilgrim's Progress" digital replica of the restored panorama was recently shown at Saco's City Hall, to musical accompaniment, and with a narrator.)  It was great fun to see and hear the very talented performers bring the script to life during rehearsals;  the moving panorama is almost a character in the musical.  

Another tip to look at is an artwork that incorporated a moving panorama. Artist John Buck displays his fantastical, hand-carved art machines at Denver's Robischon Gallery.