Running a Show

Once a production exists, this is your home base. The production page has tabs across the top — Overview, Cast, Scenes, Schedule, Attendance, Messages, Playbill — and each tab is the operating surface for that piece of the show.

The Cast tab of a production in MusiCal, showing roles down the left side and assigned performers, with controls for adding double casts and understudies

The shape of a production

Every production in MusiCal is built from the same parts, whether it is a 30-person high-school musical or a two-hander in a black box.

Characters and roles — the named parts in the show. Roles can be single-cast or double-cast.
Scenes and numbers — the structural units of the script and score. Each scene knows which characters appear in it, which carries through to who is called when.
Cast — the performers and the role each one plays. Cast members may also be assigned to ensemble.
Staff — directors, music directors, choreographers, stage managers, designers. Each staff member holds one or more hats, which control what they see and do.
Schedule — the calendar of rehearsals, tech, and performances. Each rehearsal has a type (music, blocking, choreography, run-through, tech, performance) and a list of scenes worked.
Calendars — generated PDF and ICS files for each cast and staff member, showing only the rehearsals they are called to.

Cast

Open the Cast tab to assign performers to roles. For each role, type a name or pick from your company's performer roster. If you ran auditions, the casting board lets you drag accepted offers directly into roles — see Casting and Offers.

A few patterns worth knowing:

Double casts — a role can have two performers. When you set this up, both performers receive separate calendars showing only the performances and rehearsals they are called to.
Understudies and swings — assigned to a role with the understudy flag. They appear on the playbill and get their own calendar.
Ensemble — performers who do not play named roles. You can assign ensemble to specific scenes so they only get calendars for the rehearsals they are actually in.

Scenes

The Scenes tab is where the show's structure lives. Each scene has a name, the page or measure range it covers, and the list of characters in it. The catalog ships with a scene breakdown for many common shows; for a custom show you build this yourself.

Scenes drive the calendar. When you call a "Block Act 1, Scenes 3–5" rehearsal, MusiCal automatically computes which performers are in those scenes and adds the rehearsal to their calendars. You do not maintain per-rehearsal call lists by hand.

The Scenes tab of a production, showing scene names, page or measure ranges, and the characters who appear in each — used to compute who is called to which rehearsal

Schedule

The Schedule tab is the production's calendar in editable form. Rehearsals you scheduled when you created the production are pre-populated. Click a rehearsal to:

Set its type (music, blocking, choreography, run-through, tech, dress, performance) — this controls which staff are called by default.
Pick the scenes worked.
Add or remove specific people beyond the automatic call.
Add rehearsal notes that go out with the calendar.

The same view also shows what each cast member's week looks like, so you can spot conflicts before a parent emails about them.

The Schedule tab of a production, showing rehearsals with their types, scenes worked, and the performers automatically called to each

Calendars

Once a rehearsal is on the schedule, every called performer and every called staff member can download their own calendar from the production's home page or from their personal portal. Calendars come in two flavors:

PDF — printable, one page per month, with every rehearsal and performance the person is called to.
ICS — subscribe in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook. The subscription auto-updates when you change the schedule.

Cast members see only their own calls. Staff members see calls for the rehearsals matching their hats — a music director's calendar shows music rehearsals; a costume designer's shows fittings and dress runs.

Attendance

The Attendance tab lets you check performers in at the start of each rehearsal and produces a grid report across the whole rehearsal period.

The Attendance tab showing a grid of performers across rehearsals, with check-in marks and counters for tardies and absences This is useful for finding patterns — the ensemble member who has missed three Tuesdays in a row, the lead who has been late twice this week — and for documenting attendance for school credit if you run a high-school program.

Closing night

A production stays in MusiCal after closing. The schedule, the cast list, the playbill — everything stays available for reference. Future productions can reuse the same performers from the company roster without re-entering them.

To archive a finished production, set its status to Closed in the production header. It is removed from your active dashboard but remains searchable.