Well, dear readers, there were several times at yesterday’s eight-hour rehearsal where I thought my head was going to explode. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, there were several times at yesterday’s eight-hour rehearsal where I thought my head was going to explode. But after four hours I had staged the Sadie Hawkins’ Day “ballet.” In the original Michael Kidd production it was indeed a ballet and a clever one, but I had something else in mind for our production. In the end, we cut about ninety bars of music and whittled it down to a very tight five or six minutes, rather than the almost eight minutes of the original. There were certain things in the original that I’ve never understood, so I got all those out of there. I’d come up with about four visual gags that I knew I wanted to do. I began with the little scene that precedes it and then just dove into it, section by section. I literally had to go over to the piano about sixteen times because I couldn’t believe how much music I was hearing and how many more pages there were to go.
Part of the problem for me was we are dealing with music that was created for a very specific dance. So, I would listen to each section, come up with a plan and stage for that music. Then I’d listen to the next section, decide it wasn’t anything we needed and pull up to the next fun section. So it went. My problem is I’m not a real choreographer and I don’t usually think in counts, but everything got so confusing occasionally, that I finally did everything in counts and that surely helped straighten things out when I was cleaning everything up.
But the performers were focused and even had some good suggestions along the way. I think the storytelling is very clear and the gags seem like they work well (won’t know that, of course, until the audience tells me so, although there is one absolutely sure-fire laugh that I know will land). I came up with a fun running gag for Sami and one of our LACC kids, Alaric. It happens three times and then has a payoff on the fourth. We have to still tighten and get it in the performers’ bones and the musical director’s bones, but boy is it great to finally have that off my plate. And I roughed out the entire finale, which is very long – we have to tighten and finesse it, but at least that’s done and with the exception of about eight pages in act one, basically everything is blocked. It was a tiring day – I was absolutely exhausted by the end of it, partly because I am fighting a scratchy throat that I’m praying won’t get worse – I REALLY don’t need to be sick right now, with a full week of Kritzerland and Abner rehearsals, so please send excellent vibes and xylophones for a not-sick BK.
After rehearsal, a few of us went to House of Pies and had a meal. I had a salad, a BLT-A, and a short stack of two pancakes, all excellent. Then I just came straight home, sucked on Cold-EEZ, popped some Airborne and sat on my couch like so much fish. I turned on some documentary I knew wouldn’t be interesting and it did the trick – I nodded off for about thirty minutes. Just after I post these here notes, I’ll take some Ny-Quil in the hopes that it will help me get the very necessary good night’s beauty sleep I need. As always, the scratchy throat is probably the result of nine hours of sleep in two days – not good.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep and I am praying I will feel better and that the scratchy throat is on the mend and gone. If not, I’m going to have to think about going to an ENT doctor and getting swabbed or something. The good news is that other than picking up about five days’ worth of mail, I have absolutely no plans, so I can just stay in and relax and watch motion pictures and nod off every now and then.
Tomorrow is the same – no plans, so I can just stay home and relax and eat chicken soup. Then on Monday the craziness begins. We have our first Kritzerland rehearsal, after which I go straight to an Abner rehearsal. Tuesday and Wednesday are Abner rehearsals, with Wednesday being a designer run-through, rough as it will be. Thursday is our second Kritzerland rehearsal followed by an Abner rehearsal. Friday we have another long day’s rehearsal.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the Swim, for today is the birthday of our very own delightful dear reader Jennifer. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own delightful dear reader Jennifer. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY TO OUR VERY OWN DELIGHTFUL DEAR READER JENNIFER!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep, hopefully feel better, pick up packages, eat chicken soup and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could have me produce and album of any songwriter/songwriters, who would it be and why? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall hopefully arise feeling better, although I feel great about the day’s work we did.