I did indeed go to Carroll Studios, whose spelling I never remember, and spent a wonderful afternoon listening to Loesser's wonderful, playful score to WHERE'S CHARLEY? We cleaned up some things from noon to 2 pm and made sure the cuts worked, broke for an hour, and then the cast arrived to sing with the band. We got through everything in three hours, doing a couple of numbers twice through and breaking some numbers into sections to be worked and then running the whole thing. Rob Berman's conductign is fantastic and Ben Whitely's choral direction really sterling; the title song, which is a great choral piece, had lots of color and variety. The cast, most of whom had never heard the orchestrations, laughed and applauded throughout everything. Surprises, like the brilliant out-of-tune orchestrations for "The Ashmolean Marching Society" made them laugh and cheer, but everyone was amazed at the combination of class and humor in the scoring.
Jo Loesser and the gentlemen from Loesser Enterprises sat with me and we all had a great time kvelling over the score; I think they were all quite happy with what they heard. Rebecca Luker, Howard McGillin, and the chorus knocked the great number of the score, "Lovelier Than Ever," out of the park and had everyone weeping over its beauty, Rob McClure proved that he will be a very fine Charley with "Once in Love with Amy," and Lauren Worsham, Jill Paice, and Sebastian Arcelus all had beautiful moments in front of the orchestra. The concert master and his stand partner seemed to be at complete odds - he can be an ass and she's a total bitch - all day, which I found quite interesting as she veered for power position and he had the control. Their behavior led to their giving Joshie an undeserved hard time. He was very unhappy over their treatment. I think she was making Joshie the outlet for her anger at the concertmaster. Bob Zubrycki is playing in the section, and I think he should have been in charge.
I gave Joshie a pep talk before I left; he's too talented to put up with diva behavior from two unhappy dueling violinists, who should have to deal with the musical demands Encores! throws at him every day in the short time it takes to put one of these things up.
Still, I think we all have much to be very happy aboout, and I think it's going to be a good show.
