Well, dear readers, my voice is trashed and I’m a little congested, but definitely feeling much better. Keep those excellent vibes and xylophones coming because I really need my voice to come back to full strength and sooner than later. Due to the nature of events yesterday, I had to talk way more than I should have and I even had to sing a little bit. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to talk too much at our first Kritzerland rehearsal, but alas, that was not to be the case, due to arrangements that were worked out not being remembered or remembered incorrectly, which means I had to yak incessantly and get them to have at least some semblance of what they had when we did them. It was very distressing and I do believe I was probably a sourpuss for much of the afternoon. Still, the songs are swell and so is our cast.
First to arrive was Jean Louisa Kelly and as soon as we began to run her first number I knew we were in trouble – not a thing we’d done was in evidence, and it was really frustrating for both she and I. Eventually we got the keys sorted out and it will be fine now – it’s a put-together of After You, Who and Dream Dancing. Then we did Every Time We Say Goodbye, a beautiful song – she had a very specific tempo in mind and while it took a while to find the feel, it’s fine now. We never actually got to her third song because the first two were such time-wasters in terms of getting them right and she had to leave – but we set the key for My Heart Belongs to Daddy, and we’d already laid out the arrangement and hopefully it will be remembered.
Then came Allen Everman. We ran his first song, Let’s Not Talk About Love, which is really funny, then Don’t Fence Me In – again, the feel we’d set wasn’t remembered at all, but it was easy to fix. Then we did his third number, which was a duet with Lisa Livesay – Let’s Misbehave. Then we moved on to Lisa’s two other numbers – the first was my arrangement of Too Darn Hot, which she’s done several times now. I’d sent the MD a video of her doing it and asked him to make sure he played exactly what was on the video – but that didn’t happen, so he’s got some homework to do on that one. Then we did a put-together of You’d Be So Easy to Love and True Love – very pretty.
Next up was Mark Whitten, someone who is completely new to me – we took a chance on him – Adryan Russ had seen him in a reading and liked him. He’s very good and we ran his three numbers – Night and Day, Ridin’ High and a put-together of I Love Paris and It’s All Right With Me. No real disasters there, other than a couple of forgotten feels and endings.
Then our three youngsters showed up. First Sami Staitman did Anything Goes – it’s not quite right yet, feel-wise, so she’s sending the MD a track to hear. Then she and I did You’re the Top, which is pretty straightforward until the encore lyric, which I wrote for us to do. It will be fun if I actually have a voice. Then Brennley Brown did her solo, a put-together of Take Me Back to Manhattan and I Happen to Like New York – she’s doing great and once we found what we’d done, it was fine. Then she and Jenna Lea Rosen did Friendship, which has a whole tap section and is really fun. The latter two things I’d actually recorded, and therefore if either had been screwed up I would have been able to instantly play what we’d done – naturally those were the two that were fine. Go know.
Then I left immediately and drove to LACC and there was not a lick of traffic and I got there in about seven minutes. I was not expecting to be there until seven, but had left instructions for what needed to be done for the first hour. But I walked in at 6:10. Rehearsal was rough but one can see the glimmer of the show I want. We ran several big numbers and the ballet, cleaned things up, and then began at the top of the show. I finished restaging the opening number and we went on from there. Despite my asking for people to run their blocking apparently no one had bothered doing so, which was kind of irritating. So, several scenes that we’d blocked early on were a shambles. I’ll clean them up later in the week. For now I’m just trying to have something we can do at the designer run-through, but it’s going to be very difficult. There’s no sense of pace yet, and things are just taking too long to play out in the long book scenes. We got through the first four scenes, and then I jumped to the first General Bullmoose scene and we ran from there till the end of the act. When people remember what they’re doing, it’s actually fun to watch.
Then I stopped at Gelson’s and got some snacks, came home, ate them, and that was that. Prior to all of that, I’d slept until ten-fifteen (about nine hours or so), then went and had a cup of chicken soup and a ham and Swiss on rye. And that was my day and that was my night.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep feeling ever so much better with a stronger voice. I have a few errands and whatnot to do and I’ll probably eat something and I’ll hopefully pick up some packages. Then I have to think about finessing some of the ballet bits and we’re adding in four new people to that, so I have to figure out what and where those new things will happen. Rehearsal is from four to eight – I’ll begin with the ballet additions, then go back and do whatever we didn’t do from act one, plus block the damn seven-page scene that remains unblocked. Then we’ll move on to act two and do as much of that as we can.
Tomorrow we have our designer run-through, which I have no doubt will be rough as can be. Why they do such a thing I really don’t know – in my day at LACC and in all my years of professional theater I have never once done a designer run-through save for the past three shows at LACC. But we’ll get through it. Then on Thursday we have our second Kritzerland rehearsal, and then an Abner rehearsal – at that rehearsal I’m going to start being maniacal about timing and pace and setting things exactly. That will continue on our long Friday rehearsal, which I’m hoping will culminate in a complete run-through. Saturday is our stumble-through and Sunday is our sound check and show.
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 Monkey, because today is the birthday of the adorable The Vixter. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to the adorable The Vixter. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO THE ADORABLE THE VIXTER!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands and whatnot, eat, hopefully pick up packages and rehearse. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite opening sentences from your favorite books? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall arise and greet the day (with hopefully more voice) and hopefully the nature of events today will be much more pleasurable.