Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and I also must be at the theater very early to begin what, for me, will probably be a nine or ten hour day. So, without further ado (oda, spelled backwards), the notes.
Yesterday was a long but occasionally fun day. I was up by nine after a really peculiar sci-fi kind of dream that was very disturbing, although I don’t remember much about it now. Once up, I did my morning ablutions and then headed over to the theater. I worked on one specific scene a bit, then we began a run-through. While it was extremely rough in terms of lines, I’m beginning to see the shape of the show and the performances, and when things are cooking it’s really fun to watch, especially the musical numbers when they’re tight and firing on all cylinders. What is especially good is how different our ladies are – they are completely different from each other, which is important, plus their vocal qualities are all different, too. The good news is that even in rough form the show is running exactly as I want it – a one-hour first act and a fifty-minute second act. Every rehearsal brings new things and we’ll continue to get better and smoother as we go.
After rehearsal, we did our paper tech whilst eating some Dino’s Pizza. Doug Haverty got us thin crust, which is not my favorite, so a little of the Dino’s magic was missing for me, but it was still pretty great. The paper tech went smoothly and then our lighting guy and our stage manager even programmed the first quarter of the show’s light cues, so we’re ahead of that game a bit, which is great. I finally left and stopped at Subway for a Subway Club, as the pizza with the thin crust really wasn’t that filling and it’s all I’d eaten all day. I came home and answered a few e-mails and then sat on my couch like so much exhausted fish and ate my sandwich.
Last night, I watched a documentary on Netflix entitled And the Oscar Goes To, a surface, but interesting history of the Oscars. There were some lovely clips in it of the older shows, and interviews with some interesting folks. It was just what I needed and, in fact, I dozed off for a half-hour and then watched what I’d missed. After that I just did some work on the computer.
Today, I’ll be at the theater around nine-thirty. The ladies arrive at ten and they will go backstage and do a line-through the play only (no music). The lighting guy and the stage manager are arriving at nine and programming the rest of the light cues. We’ll start the first of our run-throughs at eleven and that will finish around one-fifteen. Then I’ll work some stuff and then they get an hour break. Then we do the second run-through, after which I’ll work some stuff, and then they get their second one-hour break. At that point we lose one of our ladies, but her understudy will be with us and we’ll either do another full run-through, or a work-through where I stop and clean and give notes as we go. We’ll wrap out around eight or nine.
Tomorrow is more of the same. Early start, and we’ll finish somewhere between six and eight. We were going to do Sami’s birthday dinner, but I think we’ll push that to next weekend, when things are easier. Monday is a day off for the cast, but probably not for us – I think we’ll go to the theater and clean up lighting stuff and do whatever else needs doing, so that we’re completely ready for Tuesday’s dress/tech. Tuesday our dress/tech is at 12:30, after which I’ll give notes and work stuff. Wednesday our dress/tech is in the evening. Then we have our two previews on Thursday and Friday, we open on Saturday and play a matinee on Sunday. The matinee has an understudy on for one of our ladies.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a long day of run-throughs and working things, whilst our lighting designer plays with the light cues. I’m sure we’ll all eat something amusing at some point. Today’s topic of discussion: Dreams. What are some of the most unforgettable dreams, both recurring and otherwise, you’ve ever had? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which we shall go into tech.