Well, dear readers, my feet are sore, my legs are sore, my Brain is sore, but you know what? We got all of act one blocked including the musical numbers AND finished thirty minutes early, which enabled us to actually run some music. Of course it doesn’t hurt when you have a superb cast who are prepared, focused, work hard, and yet have fun. That just makes it easier. I will admit to shouting three times because I was trying to stop a number and the MD couldn’t hear me – I did explain to everyone that that was just me trying to be louder than everyone and failing. Of course, it’s rough but hopefully everyone will do their homework and get it all in their skin before Monday. I was actually laughing out loud a lot during rehearsal – the show is genuinely funny. And how much fun is it to have Alet Taylor, Cason Murphy, Lauren Rubin, and Barry Pearl back – the first three recreating the parts they created, and Barry back as the Brain after doing the part in New York. The other new cast members are great – Robert Yacko as the Narrator/Professor Leder, John Massey as General Mills, Sami as Donna, Marc Ginsburg as Fred (by far my favorite Fred out of all we’ve had), and LACC student Kole Martin as Rod – he was wonderful in L.A. Now and Then. And we have a wonderful six-person ensemble. I really didn’t think we’d make it through and the fact is we still have to go back and do two scenes that we skipped because Cason hadn’t arrived – but they’re coming in early tomorrow and we’ll get those done.
In other news, we actually sold eight seats yesterday, so that’s heartening. We really need to sell another hundred and then I’ll be okay – clearly we won’t sell out, but it sure would be nice to fill the house. Prior to rehearsal, I only got about seven hours of sleep, did all the usual morning stuff, did some Brain work, got everything together that I needed to bring to rehearsal, then we had our short rehearsal for two of the Kritzerland singers. As soon as that was done I went and had yet another omelet and an English muffin. Then I picked up one package and came home. I did more Brain work, then got ready and moseyed on over to LACC. When I got there I found that nothing had really been pulled for us, so we went about getting some of that done before we rehearsed. The car I was hoping they’d be able to do isn’t happening. They did build something but it’s not going to work so we’ll do what we did at the Chance, which is use a bench and maybe stick some headlights on it. It’s such a shame that someone at some point made the really silly decision to destroy or undo the car we used in the original production – it was fantastic and I simply will never understand when you have something that works so well and looks so good why you wouldn’t save it. Then a few people came early to run numbers and then we began right at four. It was a crazy day, but very productive. Afterwards, I stopped at Gelson’s and got a couple of tiny chicken tenders and some melon balls for my snack.
Today, I have to be up by eight-thirty as I have a nine-fifteen haircut. I would NEVER have booked anything that early but it was the only time I could do it and my hair is very unruly right now. Then the helper is coming by to get invoices, after which I’ll do some Brain work, hopefully pick up packages, perhaps have a snack, try to do a jog of some sort, and then we’ll have our second rehearsal, starting early with the Brain, Zubrick, and Yoni so we can get those scenes done. Then at four we’ll begin act two. It’s slightly shorter than act one so I’m hoping we can finish early and drill musical numbers, as I’m really not concerned with most of the scenes. After rehearsal, a few of us are going to House of Pies, so I may just have a really tiny snack so I can eat something fun there.
Tomorrow we’re rehearsing at ten. My plan is to spend the first hour drilling all the musical numbers, then at eleven we’ll start a full run-through – I’m hoping that while it may be rough that we’ll get through it without stopping. That will leave us about an hour to run the trouble spots, scene changes, and whatever else we need to work. Then I come right back here to have the Kritzerland stumble-through at four. After that, I’m having a nice meal with or without people. Then I’ll spend the evening relaxing and clearing my Brain. Sunday I can hopefully sleep in, jog, and then we have sound check and show. Monday I’ll be at LACC all day and well into the evening – sound load in, band rehearsal, sound check, full on run-through with all elements and no stopping, and then we’ll have about a ninety minute break before the call time. And then we have our show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, get a haircut, do Brain work, hopefully jog, hopefully pick up some packages, and then have our second Brain rehearsal. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player, and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, lots of Brit classical music. Blu-ray, can’t even think about that until tomorrow night. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, so happy to be revisiting the Brain.