Well, dear readers, we had our one and only preview last night and it was all kinds of wonderful for many reasons. What a treat to watch everyone step up to the plate. All our little nitpicky notes have done wonders and the show is getting tighter and having an audience was very helpful. I think there were around thirty people or so – had they only let me know this or any of the other houses’ fullness, I could have done something about it, but that wasn’t communicated to me until this evening. I’m being told we’re at forty-five for tonight, which didn’t make me happy, although I am also told they usually do brisk walk-up business. Again, had I but known it’s easy for me to fix problems. I was told that our only really light house is Thursday night, when we have a whopping five reservations – so I am on that case and we’ll end up with at least half a house or more. Saturday night will be sold out, and I think we have decent houses thus far for Friday and the Thursday matinee.
We had a situation with our fiddle player, who didn’t allow himself enough time to get to his six o’clock call and who then ran into traffic. He called and said he would be fifteen minutes late. I wasn’t happy, but I knew we could still get in about forty-five minutes of rehearsal for the band. At six-thirty he was still gone and his ETA was STILL fifteen minutes and at that point ol’ BK went to the bad place. He was very lucky they kept me from calling him back, and one he arrived (at 6:50) I purposely stayed away. He did play much better so by the time the show was done I’d calmed down.
The show itself played very well. I realized the minute the first light cue happened, which is two minutes pre-overture when the band comes on stage, that I’d made a mistake and that they needed to come on and tune up in the dim preset lights, because the minute you turn their light on the audience thinks the show is starting. So, they’ll be in preset until after the cell phone announcement, and THEN their light will come up and the overture will start. Sami’s gag at the end of the overture worked great. Typical Day was great and the pace of the entire show was really good. The actors are still learning about the kind of energy this show takes – it’s really unlike any other musical I’ve ever done. It requires energy on every line – there are no throwaways in this show and a few of our actors have been struggling with how intense that can be. So, I gave one last energy pep talk at the notes session and hopefully that will really sink in. Because the bottom line is if anyone says a line under energy the entire scene drops and has to be energized anew. There were a lot of laughs, and some of them were stepped on, and a couple of times someone stepped on applause, so I gave those notes. In something with this much comedy, the cast has to let the audience know strongly exactly when they should laugh, and that happened with some frequency last night, but needs to happen even more. The huge highlights were Jubilation T. Cornpone, Rag Offin’ the Bush and The Country’s in the Very Best of Hands – all got huge applause, and the latter also got many laughs because it is still so relevant today. And Put ‘Em Back also scored heavily. There were a few rough spots for the band, but it was MUCH better than the previous night. At the notes session, I also told everyone the curtain call had to speed up by thirty seconds. I had a few friends in attendance and they absolutely loved the show, the cast and especially what we’ve done with the production. So, now it’s on to our opening night.
Prior to the preview, I’d slept ten hours, then had a ham and Swiss on rye and no fries. Then I wrote some of the Kritzerland commentary, added more names to the Richard Sherman event, which is now at 250 reservations, so only another sixty and we’re sold out, which will probably happen today. I also got the news that Billie Hayes, the movie Mammy Yokum, won’t be able to be with us on opening night – she’s doing voice-overs for some show and can’t get out in time. Then I wrote some Richard Sherman questions for the interview we’ll do at our event.
After the preview, a few of us went to House of Pies, where I had a salad and a BLTA with a few fries.
Today, I shall be up by ten, then I have a 12:45 hair appointment with our very own Teddy, after which I’ll come right home. I’ll get ready and then leave for LACC around two-thirty. The band call is six, so we’ll be able to run the overture and entr’acte with the adjusted light cues and just a couple of little scene things. And then – opening night and I’m sure hoping we sell the other fifty tickets by show time.
Tomorrow, I’ll finish the commentary and the Sherman questions, then we have a matinee and evening performance. Friday I’ll relax and write liner notes right up until show time. And then Saturday is our final two shows. And then we begin the Kritzerland week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a haircut and attend our opening night. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy with our preview, and ready for opening night.