Well, dear readers, our long tech day is behind us and a very interesting day it was. I was up at eight-thirty, stopped by the mail place and picked up an important envelope, and was at the theater by nine-thirty. One of our lead actors had to leave prior to noon, so we began as close to ten as was possible and she was with us up until the very last moment of the play. The run-through itself was smooth, but the tech end was a bit rough, as to be expected, although we never stopped. I took notes for both lighting and actors and gave out a few before we let everyone go for a five-hour break.
In that five hours, the lighting guy and I went cue-to-cue, finessing almost everything, adding lights, smoothing out transitions, correcting miscues, and making the changes that are normal to make after having written the show quickly and seen it only once. Mostly we added a lot of subtle color, smoothed out any hard edges to the lights (I wanted everything fuzzed out a bit, like our heroine’s slight sight), and that took the entire five hours.
The actors returned. Peyton was feeling under the weather with what seems like a cold, but because she’s been taking her preventatives, we’re hoping it will pass quickly. We did our photo call, which took a bit longer than usual because there were several costume changes for different looks. When that was done, we began our evening run-through. And I am here to tell you, that it all clicked into place beautifully. Performances sometimes go a bit awry as we add in lights and all that tech stuff, and I’ve been giving notes about that, but all the notes were pretty much addressed, and it just played beautifully. All the lighting adjustments worked perfectly, save for a couple of late or early cue calls. It was the first time seeing the costumes and they’re really great. But it was the acting I was most pleased with, and while I knew it was a struggle for Peyton to do this kind of role while not feeling well, the plain fact was she was off the charts great – best performance I have ever seen her give. Funny, touching, emotional – it was just about perfect. She came to me at intermission telling me she was really feeling lousy and I asked if she wanted to call it a night and go home, but she said no, that she wanted to finish. I was VERY proud of her soldiering through like that.
And we’re still without one major component of the show, the sound and music cues. I wasn’t thrilled that we didn’t have it, but I’m quite sure we will have it today, if not for both runs, certainly the run in the evening. I’m hoping he’s done all of it correctly and that there won’t be too much finessing, and once that’s all in and working properly, whatever rough edges are left will smooth out.
I got everyone out by nine, about thirty minutes later than I’d hoped. I stopped and put gas in the motor car on the way home, stopped and got a chocolate chip muffin, then came home, had a bagel and cream cheese and then the muffin. Earlier, we had Dino’s Pizza brought in. Then I listened to some music and relaxed.
Today, I’ll be up by nine and to the theater by 9:45. The actors arrive at ten to get in make-up and costumes, and I’m hoping I’ll hear some of the sound cues before we being our first run-through at eleven. That will take us until one, we’ll have an hour break, and then we’re back at two for our second run. After it’s done, I’ll run anything I need to, although if my handful of notes from last night are addressed there shouldn’t be. My hope is to get everyone on their merry way no later than four-thirty. That gives them the evening to themselves and tomorrow they have off to rest up for our big lead up to opening night. I personally will eat, then come home and just sit here like so much fish, minding my own business and relaxing.
Tomorrow is strictly a ME day. I only have about forty pages left to proof and then I can start entering my fixes. If there are sound issues, I may have to go to the theater for an hour or so – I’d rather not, but if it’s necessary, I will. Otherwise, I’ll eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and relax with a capital “R”. Tuesday, I have things to do and then I’ll be at the theater at six to run anything that needs it, and then we play our final dress rehearsal with an invited audience. Wednesday and Thursday are our previews, and then we open on Friday and play our first weekend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a morning run-through, break for an hour, then have a second run-through, after which I’ll give whatever notes, run anything that’s troublesome, and get everyone on their merry way by four-thirty, then eat and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a pretty terrific first dress rehearsal.