Well, dear readers, we’re done with the second staged reading and it mostly went very well. Even though I gave my usual JEF speech before we began, the first scene played at much too low a level, energy-wise, and it’s the first time that’s happened. That continued into the second scene. The audience wanted to laugh, but it’s the job of the folks on stage to make sure they know where those laughs are, and when the energy is low, especially right off the bat, it takes time to recover. By scene three the show began to have proper energy and the laughs began to come. I do think they were interested in the play, but it really needs those early laughs because it’s a very dark comedy and people become confused if that’s not clear right off the bat. And once we hit the first of the songs, then everything was fine. They really liked all the songs and laughed at all the little staging ography I did – just really simple stuff, but it’s amazing how effective that can be when it’s completely unexpected in a reading like this. The cast did great once the energy was up (I also went back at intermission and told everyone to notch it up), and one bit of staging with an actor who carried it off perfectly got the longest laugh of the evening. The biggest single laugh was something I added – it was an obvious thing, but I knew it would get a huge laugh. There’s a line of dialogue where a theatrical impresario says he directed Witness for the Prosecution off-B’way. I had him say, “I directed Witness for the Prosecution at the Group Rep.” And then the judge in the courtroom looks at him and witheringly replies, “Did you.” Both actors delivered those lines perfectly. I think some folks were impressed that this got done in nine hours – hell, I’M impressed it got done in nine hours. The pacing was tight, and even our occasionally hard to understand actor was the best he’s been in enunciation and pronunciation. Not too many comments after, which was fine. I told Doug that he has to do something about the amount of lighting there is for these – the actors have trouble seeing their scripts and it’s just too drab, especially for a comedy. Anyway, I was pretty pleased and we were out of there in two hours WITH the intermission. And I think the biggest lesson learned for all who watched was that you can be creative with only nine hours of rehearsal and, most importantly, how important it is to NOT read the stage directions, which, for me, just sucks the life out of everything.
Afterwards, Doug Haverty and I went for food at the Coral Café. I’d only had a bagel all day, so was hungry. I had the patty melt again, which I enjoyed, along with a little salad and some french fries. And I took home a little piece of their good coffee cake for a sweet, which I’m eating as I write these here notes. And as I write these here notes, I’m listening to Sir John Barbirolli conduct some Elgar – currently Falstaff. Just before that, it was Elgar’s first symphony, which I love and I love Sir John’s performance of it.
Prior to all that, I’d had a really rough night – a combo platter of allergies and some stomach pains – may have been something I ate. I didn’t really fall asleep until six in the morning and I slept until noon, so six hours of not enough sleep. Once up, I had a lot of e-mails to respond to, then I did some stuff on the computer, and then I got everything done for our next two releases – the blurbs, the sample tracks, and got them where they needed to go. So, it was great to get all that done so I don’t have to worry about it and can concentrate on the other stuff I now need to do quickly. Then I shaved and showered and them moseyed on over to the theater.
The cast arrived and we ran the first two scenes and I stopped and started, giving notes as we went. Then I ran parts of other scenes since we were now on a stage we hadn’t been on yet. And then we ran all the songs, start to finish, and cleaned up as much as we could. Then, thirty minutes later, we did the show. And the rest you know because you dear readers take the coffee cake, knowing-wise.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat, I’ll do some writing on the project with David Wechter, and I’ll finish choosing the songs for the Kritzerland holiday show. I’ll also start digging around in the garage and I’ll pray for some miracles.
The rest of the week is more of the same, some meetings and meals and other stuff I’m probably not remembering because I’m just a little exhausted from the past two weeks and doing these two staged reading back-to-back without even a day off between them.
And yes, hard as it is to fathom, this here site was born twenty years ago on November 9, 2001. Born out of great turmoil and drama, it quickly became very popular with the populace and became a safe haven for many people, including me. We’ve lost some beloved dear readers, we’ve had other dear readers depart for various reasons, including making a new home for themselves on that most awful of places, Facebook. But we’re still a very merry troupe and I love this jernt and its denizens large. And who knew that I would have the longest-running daily blog in the history of the Internet? Certainly, not me. But I like having that distinction and someone should put us in the Guiness Book of World Records. So, a very happy haineshisway.com anniversary to all of us!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, hopefully pick up some packages, eat, do some writing, finish choosing songs and get people their music, dig around in the garage, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What movies are you looking forward to seeing this holiday season? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have done the second staged reading.