Well, dear readers, I had such fun yesterday doing the second musical theater workshop at LACC. We had about twenty-six people there, a few of whom had been at the first and wanted to get up again and sing. I keep these things very loose and ramble from topic to topic as things come to me. I talk a little history, I talk about interpreting songs, I liken it to breaking down a scene when you’re doing a play, I talk about opening numbers and I Want songs – I just feel when things have context they’re more interesting to people. The new head of the department was there for a while – we’ve known each other for a some time now and he’s a really good guy and we get along great. When we took a ten he came up to me and said there was too much talk and not enough singing and that the kids’ eyes were glazing over. Well, not from where I stood, which was directly in front of them (he was not anywhere near them) – from where I stood they never seemed anything but engaged and interested – I always do everything with humor, anyway, so it’s never dry. But after, almost every kid came up to me and said they could have listened for hours and loved hearing all of it, and asked if we could do another session. Kay Cole was there for the first two hours and we heard enough to know that I can pretty much cast the entire show from within the department – I may have to bring in only one person from outside and that’s ONLY because of age – there’s one song that should be sung by an older person, but as I think about it, I’m almost willing to find a way to do it with someone younger because 90% of the song is about someone younger – it’s only the last verse that it’s someone looking back at their underage teen years. I’m thinking I may be able to find some theatrical way of having one person do the age change just with posture or body language or whatever. I’m kind of liking the idea of no outside people in this one.
Everyone got up and sang – we were never pressed for time, no one was rushed, I had time to give notes and work things a second time and we still finished a half-hour early. In terms of musical ability, this group of kids is a bit ahead of the kids from Abner when they began the process. There are some good singers and I can already tell there are good actors. But what I’m really liking is that this group not only has talent but is racially diverse, which will be perfect for this show. There’s still some question about the cast size – I think the department would like more than less, but in a revue you just can’t have too too many people or it becomes unwieldy and no one gets to have multiple numbers. Most revues have six people. We’re definitely going to have more than that, but I think anything over twelve will be problematic. What I am willing to do is cast four understudies who are guaranteed all the matinee performances. If that’s attractive to everyone, that may be the way to go.
The energy in the room was really fun and positive and I made sure every single person knew how pleased I was that they at least tried. Then I did my now-standard strength in numbers exercise, which they LOVED. We do Do Re Mi, a song everyone knows. I start off having the weaker folks do solo lines – and they’re always tentative, sometimes pitchy and funky – but then I have everyone sing it and all those tentative people and whatever minor problems they may have been having sing strongly, on pitch, and it’s so much fun – not one person was pitchy when the entire group was singing – it sounded great. Then we repeat the song about six times and I point at people and they do a solo line, then another person does a solo line, then the group, and on and on – and each time we do it, they get more confident on the solos and by the end of it everyone is doing great. They loved it so much that they asked to do it a third time at the end. We had our very own Alby Potts there and he, of course, was a big help, as he always is. He’s supposed to musical direct the show, but I didn’t really have the date options before last week and we’d originally talked about March, so he booked out April and the beginning of May for an out-of-town show. I’ve asked him to think about getting out of that and staying with us and he will. It’s not the money because the pay is the same.
Afterwards, Alby and I moseyed on over to the House of Pies. He ordered what I ordered – eggs benedict and a short stack. This was his first ever eggs benedict and he really liked it. And he thought the pancakes were superb, which they were – they do beat Du-Par’s these days. We had a long chat about stuff, and then I headed on home.
Prior to all that, I’d only gotten about five hours of sleep. I had a little visit, and then did some work on the computer and then at the piano on a new song idea for the new show. And then it was time to mosey on over to LACC.
Today, I have a noon o’clock lunch meeting at a nearby eatery, then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, then come home. I have some writing to do, and I got a notice from UPS that two screeners are arriving, so I signed for them online so they can be left at the door. One of the screeners is Bridge of Spies, a movie I really wanted to see, so I’ll definitely watch that. We also really need much stronger vibes and xylophones for packaging approval, so please send ‘em.
Tomorrow, I think I have a birthday dinner to do, but otherwise it’s just writing. One thing I like to do is write the first paragraph or two of the book I’ll start writing in January, and I’m definitely going to do that this week. That always puts me in a good place when I open the new book document on January 1. Thursday I have a Thanksgiving dinner to attend, Friday I’m not sure what’s going on, and then the weekend is mine all mine. I do think there’s that postponed birthday dinner on Saturday night, so that will be fun.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a lunch meeting, hopefully pick up packages, write, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: I’m sure we’ve done this a time or two, but I always enjoy it – who were your favorite teachers and why were they your favorites? And which teachers made you want to become a serial killer? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that the workshop went well and that my little strength in numbers exercise worked.