Back from a very productive meeting with Kay Cole. Had eggs benedict, but mostly yammered and out of the yammering came some great ideas, so I'm on my way now. There is one issue that is bugging both Kay and myself but I don't know that there's any way to win it, although we're hoping we can. The theater has been clear from the beginning that they wanted company members in the show and to that end three of the five that are firm are. But there's another person who'd come in from NY to do it - and I really don't like the idea of six people - it throws the balance off and it's not what I will ultimately try to license or do elsewhere, so to try to shoehorn this sixth person into the show seems very wrong to me and I've just left a very strong message about it. Also, after having a long telephonic conversation with the person, I just don't feel she will be the kind of team player necessary - there will be several ensemble numbers with the full cast, with complicated harmonies and everyone has to want to do that - the others, of course, do, but I'm not sure this person will be thrilled doing that aspect of the show. As of yesterday, it still wasn't firm and I'm hoping and praying that after my message today that this issue will just go away and we can proceed as Kay and I think we should. If not, we'll make it work, but I just hope we don't have to do all that work that will ultimately be discarded after this run. We shall see.
