Well, dear readers, it is late and I must write these here notes in a hurry because I only got about four or five hours of sleep and I’m very tired because it was a very long but very fruitful day, although, ironically, I had no fruit and I wasn’t full because I didn’t eat until eight-thirty in the evening. I got up around nine-thirty and answered e-mails and had a telephonic conversation, then got ready for the first Kritzerland rehearsal.
First up was Brittney Bertier – she hasn’t been with us for a while and it’s great to have her back. She ran her two solos – Simple Little Things from 110 in the Shade and Happy Working Song from Enchanted, both great. Then Amy Gillette arrived and we did their duet, which I call Dueling Elizas – both Brittney and Amy JUST played Eliza in My Fair Lady at the exact same time – one up north and one here in Glendale (the production I saw recently). So, I thought it would be fun for them to do a put-together of Wouldn’t It Be Loverly and Show Me and it is indeed fun and funny and really good. Then Amy ran her two solos – Will You from Grey Gardens, and Cole Porter’s I’m Going in for Love from You Never Know.
After that, Kerry O’Malley arrived and we did her three numbers – first The Black Dahlia, a song from our LA show – I wrote the music and Adryan Russ wrote the lyric. Kerry does an amazing job with it. Then she did a song called The Wall – very powerful, from an unproduced musical. And then it was the wonderful Home Sweet Heaven from High Spirits. She’d make a great Elvira. After Kerry it was Sami Staitman – she’s doing two songs – Pulled, which she sang in The Addams Family – I’m having her do it a little differently with a cute bit of staging and more subtle stuff than in the production she was in. Then she sang one of my songs from the LA show called Once Upon a Time, which is a fun lament about all the movie theaters that have disappeared in LA. She sounds great on it.
Then came Damon Kirsche. First he did a really cute put-together of The Lusty Month of May and June is Bustin’ Out All Over, then it was Hurry, It’s Lovely Up Here from On a Clear Day, and finally a great Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn song called I’ve Heard that Song Before. Finally it was John Allsop, who’s new to us, but very talented. He did No More from Into the Woods, Everything in the World I Love from The Yearling, and Beautiful City from Godspell. As soon as he was done, I got in the motor car and hurried down to LACC, thankfully beating the traffic. I’d called a few people early so they could go over their solo songs – we’re going to do that from now on. At four, the helper ran the two big dance numbers and spent an hour cleaning them up. At five we had a ten minute break, then I gathered the cast together and told them we’d attempt a run-through and to try and be on their toes so we didn’t have to stop too much. At five-thirty we began. And lo and behold we damn well got through it and not too roughly at that. I was amazed, frankly. Yes, there were rough patches, and plenty to finesse and clean, but they got through it and full props to them for doing so. The first act played very well and when the pace is right it will run around fifty-four minutes, just right. The really rough spots were the second number, which is a trio – that one needs work in the staging but most importantly in the vocal, and we’ll do that today before our run-through. Some of the sketches need tightening and I have one actor who likes to embellish stuff that absolutely cannot be embellished, so I’ll get him to stop doing that. And one other song needs a lot of work on the musical aspect of it, but you can already see it will be really good when it’s learned completely and done with confidence.
Then we took a break and then did act two. That had some very rough spots, too, but it all seemed to play well. Our new cast member isn’t up on her song yet, but I know she’ll get it and do a good job with it. The sketches were all way too lethargic, so we’ll work on the timing of those. The long monologue was REALLY long because the actor has just committed it to memory and is struggling to remember the lines – it’s three pages long. I think once he gets it under his belt and gets confident with it it will be fine, time-wise. Not mentioned yet is the fact that we were missing an actor (one of our shared actors) who called in and said he had a fever. I really like this kid and would really like him to be in the show, but in order for him to continue we’re going to have to have an absolute assurance that he will never miss another rehearsal or be late. I think he’s enjoyed the process so far so I’m hoping he’ll understand he must do the right thing – if not, we’ll replace him today. Some energy was down for act two so we’ll have to address that, but mostly it played really well and of course will play much better when the pace is right.
But – act two ran sixty-five minutes, which, for me, is ten minutes too long. Now, we’ll probably pick up four or five minutes in pacing alone. Which means I have to find another three to five minutes to come out. I have earmarked a two-part sketch, although I think that would only be under two minutes. I have a potential song cut that would buy me four minutes. Even if we keep the song I think we’ve pretty much decided it’s getting cut down by forty seconds. So, I’m not quite ready to cut anything – I want to get the pace right on the sketches and monologue and maybe we can just shave the time in sheer energy and pacing.
After, the musical director and I went to Jerry’s so we could talk about potential cuts. I had a patty melt and some sweet potato fries and he had a pastrami sandwich that actually looked really good. Then I came home, answered a lot of e-mails, had some telephonic conversations and never had one minute to write more of the commentary.
Today, I shall write more of the commentary. I have to do some banking, I’ll hopefully pick up packages, then I’ll head over towards LACC and stop for a bite to eat, after which we’ll finesse and clean up stuff, then at five-thirty begin a complete run-through again.
Tomorrow is more of the same, and then Thursday is our second Kritzerland rehearsal and that’s a matinee day for our shared actors, so we’ll use our time to drill numbers wherein we have the people who do them. Friday we have our entire company all day and we’ll do a designer run at some point, and spend the rest of the day doing clean up work. Saturday we’ll just work two hours in the morning, and mostly on musical things, but also on staging and choreography. Then we have our stumble-through at five and some of us will eat afterward. Sunday is our sound check and show.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the Canadian calypso, for today is the birthday of our very own dear reader Jennifer. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own dear reader Jennifer. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN DEAR READER JENNIFER!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write commentary, bank, hopefully pick up packages, eat, and rehearse. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the longest play or musical you’ve ever had to sit through? What was the longest film? And what was the longest book you’ve ever read? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a fun Kritzerland rehearsal and a complete run-through of the LA show.