Well, dear readers, we actually managed to assemble act one last night. There’s a really fun show waiting to be birthed, that much was clear even last night as we stumbled through things, assigned scene shifts and all that. It wasn’t a time for notes or to work things, just to assemble. I think for the first time the cast got a sense of the shape of the show. Some things actually worked really well, while some scenes need to be drilled and, as I told everyone very strongly, as of Tuesday, off book. I do wish our musical director wasn’t disappearing from our lives until March 10 or thereabouts and that we’ll be working with tracks and therefore never going to have a truly smooth run-through until then, as he leaves after the March 1 rehearsal. Just a little frightening but we don’t really have a choice in the matter. We began with showing Cheryl Baxter Today Is a Day for a Band to Play and its reprise, and she thought it looked great and she just got them used to some of the steps. Then she did the very end of Wild and Reckless. We began running the show at around seven-forty and finished at nine-forty. I think when the act is running smoothly it really should be much more than an hour, but that’s just my gut feeling. After rehearsal, I stopped at my Ralph’s and got some tortilla chips and seven-layer bean dip – a first – I’ve never bought such a thing before. I must say, it was pretty good. I didn’t eat too much, and then I had a cup of Panera’s creamy tomato soup, which they sell at Ralph’s. It was pretty okay, but not nearly as good as Gelson’s. Prior to all that, I got eight and a half hours of sleep, answered the usual lots of e-mails, had a telephonic call, proofed the Playbill for Drat! The Cat!, proofed the post card that’s now going to the printers, had a medium sized Eyetalian thing from Firehouse Subs – not bad – relaxed for a bit, showered, and then I moseyed on over to the theater and the rest you know because you know the rest. I do hope these daily dribbles about the show aren’t boring anyone too much. I could, for example, intersperse them with songs from Whoop-Up or I could tell the tale of The Randy Vicar and the Shish-kabob. That’s a corker, that one. Oh, I’ll tell you something interesting. An older gent and his wife came in – the wife has written a musical she wanted to pitch to Doug. The older gent, her hubby, said, “You know, I was Drat! The Cat! on Broadway. Say what? But true – Dan Siretta, who’d go on to be a choreographer and occasional director/choreographer. Amazing. And unsolicited in any way, he told me, “You know, that damn Kabuki ballet never worked.” His opinion was the whole show was overdone and certainly we’re not going that route. And he was delighted when I told him I’d cut the Kabuki thing, and he loved what I came up with as a replacement. Anyway, that was fun and unexpected.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I will have me a ME day, I’ll eat something fun, perhaps out rather than in, I’ll go to the mail place to see if the two important envelopes have arrived, but mostly I’m staying in and will watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, we’re back from two to six and we’ll assemble act two. I think that won’t take more than a couple of hours and we can use the other two to work on acting scenes, while the ensemble can drill numbers. Then Sunday and Monday are off, back on Tuesday to begin our run-throughs, which will continue until tech. I think we’ll be having a rough designer run-through a week from tomorrow. I don’t like doing that to the cast, but they really want one, which is fascinating since I don’t believe we’ve ever done an official designer run-through for any show I’ve directed there. Yes, the lighting designers would watch a few rehearsals and take notes but that was it.
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, have me a ME day, eat, go to the mail place, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray/streaming player? I’ll start – I have no idea. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have assembled act one.