Danny Teeson is a director and choreographer for Princess Cruises, where he mounts musicals, opera-style shows, and Vegas spectaculars for vacationers. Teeson talks about the benefits and challenges of creating theater on a giant floating stage.
How long have you been dancing?
I started training when I was 14, professionally since I was 17, so about 24 years. I remember seeing dance on TV. I went to a local dance class that was more like Jazzercise after work for women. The teacher told me this was probably not what I was looking for, so she directed me to other classes. I attended Laine Theatre Arts in England. I trained in the full bit: acting, singing, dance. I worked London’s West End for four years. I started choreographing for artists. That brought me here to America.
How did you get involved with Princess?
My neighbor, Amy Tuvo. I think dancers just recognize dancers. I was moving in and we got to chatting. She was a teacher at Princess. At the time, I was craving getting back into musical theater. She said, “We do those sorts of shows at Princess.” She ended up being my assistant and one of my best friends. We’re going on eight years now.
You’ve been at Princess for a while; why do you like it so much?
The ship’s theaters are incredible. We have much more available than many Broadway theaters because those can be small [and] limited for technical aspects. But you’re truly building something for a huge theater. You can design anything; you can do opera shows, Vegas shows, “Fiera!,” which is a musical I wrote.
There must be added challenges.
You see these $1.5 million shows, but you forget you’re at sea. You think you’re in a theater that can house a carousel or a World War II plane. But it comes through an 8-foot-by-10-foot dock door. It’s not what you put onstage that is a challenge—it’s how you store it. How do I fit a fairground in something that is the size of my bathroom? When you leave the ship, the smallest problems people worry about in theaters are a piece of cake because I made this fit in a crazy-small storage area. Plus, the ship moves. What do we do if it’s a rocky night? It makes you think ahead and outside the box. It’s a really helpful place to learn.
Tell us about one of those learning experiences.
My very first ship, we were doing a 14- or 10-day run through the Mediterranean. I got on board and they came up to me and said, “Big problem: Half the costumes and the chairs for the party scene didn’t arrive.” There’s no run to the local store or “We’ll get it tomorrow” when you’re on a ship. Then I understood why everyone was panicking, so now I ship everything ahead of time. I think we got chairs out of the wedding chapel in the end, and costumes showed up, so it all worked out.
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