Well, dear readers, we had our first Kritzerland rehearsal with only four of our five cast members. The replacement we’d gotten e-mailed us yesterday morning that she’d lost her voice and was on vocal rest. She found us a replacement. That was good news until the replacement said she couldn’t come to the rehearsal or Thursday’s rehearsal and possibly not Saturday’s. Buh bye. ‘Fraid not. So, I’m not sure what we’re going to do at this point. We could cancel the show, but the other four performers have been working really hard learning the material. One of our performers agreed to doing an additional number, a duet, so the choice is find someone who can learn three songs and do the opening and closing number or simply cut the three songs, which will result in a somewhat shorter show than we usually do. The other option is to take it out of the revue concept and for me to write commentary, which would pad out the running time. I really don’t want to do that, however. But the pros who were with us did great – Robert Collins, Marc Ginsburg, Hadley Miller, and Laura Wolfe. We ran through all the numbers, made some decisions, and I realized that I don’t actually have a copy of the final show order we used, so I have to now not only find that, but then adjust it, since I’ve cut some stuff.
Prior to that I got eight hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, had a nice series of e-mails from the composer to whom I’d written the fan letter – he sent me a few other things he’s done to hear, and I’m hoping he actually owns some material that we can issue. He’s a very nice chap and was very happy to have gotten my e-mail. I had a couple of bagels to tide me over until after the show rehearsal.
Then I moseyed on over to the theater and we began our rehearsal at eight rather than seven, which was also annoying. The rehearsal was sloppy, due to the fact that the guy who operates playing the tracks decided not to show up and Doug had to do it without really knowing how or knowing what the audio levels are. And of course we were missing two key actresses and one of our other actresses thinks she lost her voice (it was better today but she didn’t really use it). So, our leading lady is playing scenes with a swing (who does a good job but who had to play the second role without any prep time) and with someone who is whispering and whom she can’t hear. It’s really daunting. So, everything was a bit of a mess for all those reasons. After we finished, I sat everyone down and told them this was not only a difficult week but a dangerous one. Because last night we went backwards and there is no time to do that. We have to keep the train on the tracks and moving forward. So, I’ve asked everyone to keep their energy high, deal with our disadvantages in a positive way so that we can survive until Friday, when we’ll have our full company again and with the exception of one other night, we should have the full company until we open. Our sound designer and his board operator were there and I only wish they’d seen last Friday’s designer run, but alas, they did not. But they got a good idea of the blocking and where they’ll be placing their mics and stuff.
After rehearsal, I stopped at Jerry’s Deli and got some matzoh ball soup, some pickles, and a little thing of macaroni salad. I came home and ate it all up whilst catching up on stuff and listening to music.
Today, we have a music rehearsal for the revue at noon o’clock that lasts three hours. After that, I’ll go eat something, hopefully pick up packages, and then we have our evening show rehearsal, where not only will we be missing the people I mentioned, but one of our guys as well. It’s the never-ending story. Then I’ll come home and relax.
Tomorrow is thankfully an off day and a ME day and I will be happy to have it. I’ll be here to hand out treats to our trick-or-treaters, too. It will be nice to just hang out and not do much of anything. Then Thursday we have our second Kritzerland rehearsal and then show rehearsal, Friday is our full company and full-out performance mode run-through and the same goes for Saturday and I may try to sneak in two runs, frankly. Then it’s our stumble-through, and then Sunday we do a run-through and then sound check and the Kritzerland show. And then it’s run-throughs leading up to tech. I hope I survive it all because not only is all that going on, but I need some pretty major miracles right about now.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a music rehearsal, eat, hopefully pick up packages, bank, have a rehearsal, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite word games to play? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, whilst I can only hope we can replace the replacement’s replacement who couldn’t replace the replacement.