Well, dear readers, perhaps it is time to reveal a bit about our new production of Li’l Abner. I have been loathe to reveal anything about it, due to some prying eyes who read these here notes. I did not want to see anyone doing anything we were about to do, and I’ve been thinking about this show for too long to have it ripped off prior to opening. Do I think certain aspects of the way I’m doing the show WILL be ripped off in the future? You bet. I have had a way of wanting to do this show for over two decades. Several years ago I kept recommending the show to Musical Theatre Guild and they kept not doing it. When they finally did do it, they did not invite me to direct it, even though I’d been the one to continually suggest it. From all reports, it was not a stellar evening. I also recommended it to Reprise. They, too, did it without me, and from what I heard, while some liked it, more didn’t. In both instances the show itself was blamed – with many jokes falling flat and not landing at all. It was said to be hopelessly dated and not all that funny. Well, sorry, it IS all that funny. It, in fact, doesn’t get funnier than Panama and Frank, who were brilliant writers of comedy. Were there dated things like people said – why yes there were. Did I figure out how to deal with it – why yes I did. And that is the difference between me and others who have taken on the show. I get the jokes and I know how to handle the ones that are problematic almost sixty years later. The show, as it stands, can never really be revived – it features a cast of fifty-four people and a band of around twenty-six. Not in today’s world, thank you very much. Only I have figured out a way that it IS very doable in today’s world, and part one of that was getting the cast down to a much more reasonable thirty-four, without hurting anything.
For the look of the show, I wanted to do something a little different than has been done before – for one reason, we would be doing the show in a much more intimate space, but I also wanted to be very true to the Al Capp look of the daily panels. So, I asked our designer to design the set in black-and-white and flat. On Broadway and in the film, the sets were, of course, color and three-dimensional, but I just wanted the feel of the panels themselves. And our designer did a great job. I also wanted no real set changes that would require any time to do. Of course, the show does not only take place in Dogpatch, but in Washington. The designer solved that exactly as I was hoping he would. I then let our costume folks know that all the color would be coming from them.
I wanted a show that would literally never stop for one second in terms of its flow, and that we’ve achieved. Li’l Abner usually runs anywhere from two hours and thirty minutes to two hours and forty minutes. It’s a very long act one, with really long book scenes – act two is shorter, of course. Our production runs exactly two hours, maybe even five minutes less than that. The other thing I knew I wanted to do and that I’ve known from the beginning was to do the show with what is basically a jug band – piano, bass, drums (not a full kit, and frequently on washboard and pail), guitar/banjo and fiddle. To that end, I hired the wonderful David Siegel to create a new orchestration. I hear that for the first time next week and I know it’s going to be great. And then I had certain things that I wanted to do visually and those have been very fun to realize. In any case, my hope is to show some producers that my concept and way of doing the show makes the show really viable for revival – with me at the helm, of course. Here are a couple of photographs from last night’s rehearsal. We’ve been in the big theatre while our set was loading in, so it doesn’t look anything like it does in our actual space, but here’s a little shot of the opening of the opening number – that’s Sami on the right feeling all American Gothic.
And here’s one of Jubilation T. Cornpone with our little statue in its place for the very first time. That’s John Massey as Marryin’ Sam and Sami as Zsa Zsa.
Yesterday, given some of the turmoil that’s been going on, was actually a terrific day top to bottom. I got eight hours of sleep, had a few telephonic calls, had a cup of soup and a ham and Swiss on rye, picked up no packages, and then moseyed on over to LACC for a meeting with the president of the LACC Foundation. I’d met him only once before, but we really hit it off and are planning to do a few things together. Most of the meeting was about the Richard Sherman event we’re doing on May 30. But then I told him what’s been going on for the past week, how it was being handled, and he sat there and listened and was not happy about what he was hearing – in fact, he was kind of appalled, so much so that I think he’ll probably make some calls about it. Talking to him made me feel ever so much better, as have all your super-strength vibes and xylophones. So, we’ll see how this all shakes out in the end, but I’m a lot more comfortable after that conversation than I was before it.
Then I moseyed on over to our theatre and watched them installing a lot of our set, which, even in that rough stage, looks fantastic. Then it was time for our rehearsal. We began by working on scenes – just cleaning up the blocking, working on the internal pacing of the scene, and tightening the timing of the lines. I love doing that, and the actors seem to love it, too. Then we ran most of the big scenes (our Daisy Mae was out and so was Barry Pearl – both will be back for today’s rehearsal) and did them several times, again tightening the dialogue mostly, and finding the rhythm of the scene. I’m being maniacal about the rhythm because I just don’t want any dead spaces in the show. The actors are all getting used to that style of playing and it’s fun watching them have it click for them. People are finally remembering their lines, although there are still rough spots, but the more we drill the better they are. We did the ballet and cleaned up one part of it. We did the humungously long Jubilation T. Cornpone scene – it’s really endless, but for the first time the pace was right and it moved really well. The scene comprises a little scene that leads into the very long Jubilation number and built-in encore, then there’s more scene that leads into Rag Offin’ the Bush, and after that there’s yet more scene. We ran Druthers – we had the fishing poles finally – a bit bigger than we were expecting – we’re finding out if they can be cut down a bit, if not we’ll make the larger size work. And we had our statue of Jubilation and that was fun. Then we ran the scene, song and scene that comprises the Put ‘Em Back number, and that was SO much better than the night before. We still have to work on the pace of the scenes that bookend the number but we’re getting there.
Today, I have some stuff to do prior to rehearsal, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up to Fed Ex envelopes, one from my close personal friend, Mr. Stephen Sondheim, and one from my other close personal friend, Mr. John Kander. Both have donated signed musical quotes for the STAGE benefit on Saturday. I arranged for that to happen, which I also did for them last year. Then it’s our rehearsal. We’ll do the finale several times just to make sure that’s smooth, then we’ll do the other long act one scene that has Unnecessary Town in it. Then we’ll drill scenes and numbers.
The same thing will happen on Friday, our eight-hour day and more of the same will happen on Saturday for four hours. Then I’m seeing the STAGE benefit. Sunday I may or may not attend the opening of a show at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do stuff, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and rehearse. Today’s topic of discussion: What thing always makes you smile or be happy, whether it’s looking at something or hearing something or whatever. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, and this evening there will be more revealing Abner.