Well, dear readers, this month is flying by, like a gazelle riding sidesaddle whilst drinking vermouth and smoking a cigarillo. That darn gazelle. Meanwhile, we had us a pretty excellent second Kritzerland rehearsal. It began with our replacement replacement’s replacement’s replacement coming and running her two solos – well, learning them and getting a recording she can now work with on her own, and she learned the two group numbers she’s in. Then everyone else arrived and we ran the group numbers and our new gal left, while the rest of the cast then ran the show from start to finish sans the two solos. We did a bit of minor staging, assigned everyone to whatever mic they’ll be at and it all went very smoothly and they’re doing a great job with the great material. I’ve been very concerned about this show and I breathed a whole lot easier after yesterday’s rehearsal.
Prior to that, I was up at ten after seven hours of sleep. I answered e-mails, had telephonic calls, dealt with a few things, then went and had a cup of tomato bisque and a turkey sandwich. Then I went to the mail place where the pension check had still not arrived, only the second time it’s not been there the day before or on the first. Hopefully it will arrive today because I don’t need the USPS to have screwed up and lost it or for it to be floating around somewhere in the ether. Then I came home, shaved, and got ready for our two o’clock Kritzerland rehearsal.
We were done around four-fifteen, and I did some work on the computer, had more telephonic calls and, of course, listened to more music. Then it was time to mosey on over to the theater for our evening rehearsal. I was blindsided by the absence of a second person, something that I was not informed of, so that wasn’t too pleasant, but since the same person was gone on Tuesday, we knew how to cover him. Set designer Tesshi had been there for many hours with his assistant Chie, and they’d painted all the moving panels as well as the big walls of the set – makes all the difference in the world and looked great. He’d also planned to paint the floor but didn’t get to it – but unfortunately he’d pulled up all of our spike tape so we spent the first thirty minutes of the evening re-spiking everything. I think we got it all pretty close and when he does paint the floor he’ll cover the spikes with masking tape so they’ll be there when the paint dries. That will be happening next Thursday, the day before tech.
Once everything was spiked, we began our run-through. It was actually pretty smooth, or as smooth as it could be with two people missing. One person who struggles with coming in on time in one song (it’s a four-bar vamp and really easy to count, but not if you say the dialogue that’s within it so slowly that you miss your entrance), and the energy wasn’t right, but some nice things happened and I took mental notes along the way. I think the show has been running around ninety minutes, which is fine. We have to hone the interior pacing within scenes, we have to sharpen the comedy timing, and everyone has to figure out what the energy level of this show is – on the occasions when it’s been there it’s really fun to watch the show. I gave some general notes about energy, style, and stuff like that, and then let some folks go. I then worked a couple of things – I’d thought of a couple of new little bits that I thought might be fun, so we tried those and they were, and I worked on part of the long ending scene, in which there’s a lot of technical verbiage that needs to be there, but just trying to get the actor involved to have the proper energy and conviction in relaying that information to a ten-year-old child.
Then I stopped at Gelson’s and got a bit of mac-and-cheese and some dishwashing pellets, came home, ate the pellets and washed the dishes with the mac-and-cheese. Oh, wait… that can’t be right. I ate a few little Halloween leftover candies, listened to music, had a long telephonic conversation, and that was that.
Today, I really must write some liner notes, then I’ll eat, hopefully pick up packages and the pension check, listen to music and relax, and then mosey on over to the theater for our six o’clock rehearsal. That will wrap at nine or before.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye will arrive but that’s fine because I have an early rehearsal at ten. We’ll do one run-through and, depending on how it goes, I’ll either work stuff or do a second run-through. Then I come right home and we have the Kritzerland stumble-through at four and then I am going to have a nice meal somewhere nice. Sunday we have another ten o’clock rehearsal and again we’ll either do one or two runs of the show. Then I come home and get ready, then I mosey on over to Vitello’s for sound check and show. We have a decent crowd so far and I think we’ll probably pick up another ten or twenty people. Then we begin our final few run-throughs before we hit tech on Friday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, eat, hopefully pick up packages and pension check, relax, and then rehearse. 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 – lots of CDs from the garage environment, and I have no idea what’s on the viewing horizon. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we continue the endless cycle of rehearsals followed by more rehearsals.