Well, dear readers, first off, let me just inform you that it is June. Can you believe it? Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is June and it is my fervent hope and prayer that June will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. Let us hope that June will be busting out all over, in a good way, of course.
Last night, we have had our one performance workshop of Welcome to My World. For something we threw together in five days – and that would be three-hour rehearsal days with one day of six hours – and only three complete run-throughs of the show, I have to say I was very pleased. There were lots of laughs, some folks were particularly moved to tears by the song He Was Grandpa, and at the end of the show the entire audience was instantly on its feet, not that I put much stock in that sort of thing. There were a few fumfers, some forgotten lyrics, some incorrect movement, but Sami handled it all like a pro, and what was most interesting is that she actually addressed all the notes I’d given about mistakes from the run-throughs – she got all that stuff right. She said one line an entire monologue early, but the line does come out of nowhere and it was really funny and then she just went back to where she was supposed to be. I saw a few little line things that I’ll be changing and/or adjusting, but I thought the structure felt good and it did move right along, even with the rough spots. I’m sure everyone will have their ideas of what worked and what didn’t, but unless someone points something out to me that is something I completely agree with, I’m not ready to make any big changes until everything is exactly the way I want it in terms of the timing and the acting and the staging. Once all those elements are in place, then I will assess whether I want to adjust things, move things around or whatever. Sometimes I don’t see things right away, so I’m always happy to hear what people have to say. But you have to ultimately do what you believe is the right thing. I had so many different kinds of comments, for example, after the staged reading of The Brain from Planet X, but I really didn’t need any of them because I knew exactly what worked and what didn’t and then we set about fixing those things that didn’t. There were some things that fell flat for me and the audience, but again until those things are performed with the right rhythm and timing, I’m not ready to make changes to them. If it still falls flat when it’s done just the way I want, then you will not believe the speed at which I will make changes.
But when Sami was firing on all cylinders she really did get all her big laughs. And she was stellar on all the songs. The big work is just owning the stage and the show and understanding how to get from the end of a song into the next monologue – how to bring us new energy so we’re all involved instantly – but that takes time and work and we’ll soon have a full three weeks to play, discover, try things, and all that stuff that happens with a proper rehearsal period.
But let’s go back to Sami. The amount of work this show is, the sheer amount of material to learn would tax anyone, let alone someone who’s just turned fifteen. It’s not only learning a huge amount of dialogue and twelve songs – it’s not only learning staging that we did in two three-hour rehearsals, but it’s assimilating all that, holding the stage, making the audience care, being self-assured and keeping energy high. And Sami stepped up to the plate and while we’re not in home run territory yet (for obvious time reasons), she hit that ball pretty far, baby. This young girl has come so far from when we first began our working journey three years ago. When I first met her there was no way she could have ever done a show like this. But over the three years, mostly in the Kritzerland shows, I’ve thrown her some really difficult material, and she just grew and grew with each show. Then there was Pure Imagination – that was tough for her, but in the end she did exactly what I wanted – she became the heart and soul of the show. In Li’l Abner, I basically kind of created a role for her by combining several things and she was just adorable in the show and did a great job. But this show is something wholly other and I’m so proud of her and how far she’s come. And it will just keep getting better. I suspect that she’s as much a perfectionist as I am, and that’s the kind of person I like to be around and work with. And while I do occasionally have to be strong with her I know that she knows that I do it because I simply want her to be the best she can be.
We had about thirty – THIRTY – no-shows and I find that reprehensible. When we got up to eighty people I stopped asking people. So instead of eighty, we had about fifty, but they were a great audience. Mostly friendly faces, both family and friends, but a few folks who weren’t, and so I was happiest with those comments – from people with no knowledge of Sami or the show or even this side of me. Two gentleman, one of whom was a singer for the David Wechter recording we did the other night, were amazingly complimentary about everything. They loved the script, and they had no idea I even wrote music and lyrics, and they loved the songs. And they thought Sami was great. My friend, Howard Green from Walt Disney was there and he seemed to have a really good time, and he was with the wonderful historian/author Greg Ehrbar (Mouse Tracks – The Story of Walt Disney Records). Greg ended up being the audience participation guy who takes part in The Dissection of the Frog and he was a lot of fun. That’s a number that won’t reach its full potential until we really have the right prop that does everything we need it to do. One of my pals wrote and told me she didn’t like that number because she’d had to dissect a frog and I’m sure didn’t want those memories. To me, it’s an integral part of the high school experience and I really like it. Plus we get the audience member involved, plus there will be a lot of humor coming from the frog prop itself – I’m sure you can imagine what I have planned. And Sami can’t really give the performance I want until all of that is in place. Plus the monologues that precede and follow it involve that, so for now it stays and it’s just something I kind of know will work and it’s completely different than anything else in the show. Our very own Grant Geissman and his ever-lovin’ Lydia was there – his darling daughter Greer was our assistant for this part of the process and she was incredibly helpful and did a great job. Sami had some family there, and there were a few youngsters – Jenna Lea Rosen and her mom, Hadley Miller, one of the stars of Barry Pearl’s production of 13, and a few of Sami’s young friends. Adryan Russ and Doug Haverty were there, as was Shelly Markham. Anyway, it was a wonderful night and now it’s ever onward to our full production.
After the performance, a bunch of us went to Little Toni’s – Sami and I split a plate of rigatoni in butter. I also had one slice of pizza and a salad, my first food of the day. Then I came home.
Prior to all that, I’d have a wonderful ten hours of sleep, and then I was just lazy until it was time to leave for the theater. Once there, we just drilled some stuff and that was that. Here’s Sami and her proud writer/director.
Here are The Three Musketeers – Alby Potts, Sami and me.
Here are Adryan Russ, Doug Haverty, Sami, Shelly Markham, and Grant and Lydia Geissman.
Finally, here are some of the youngsters, Jenna, Sami, the eternally young me, and Hadley.
Today I shall be up early to greet the helper, then I have to go to the theater to clean up and leave the key, then I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’m relaxing and watching something or other.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, our two Kritzerland rehearsals, then I’m seeing a screening on Friday morning of the new Pixar movie Inside Out, then we have our stumble-through and then show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, go to the theater, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: There was some food discussion yesterday so let’s make it a food day today – share with us some recipe you love, or tell us about dishes you love to cook for people. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had what I consider to be a very successful one performance workshop of our show. And it is my fervent hope and prayer that June will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.