Monday, June 19, 2006
Charting the Course of Act One: Rehearsal Number Five
Our numbers were more robust today with seven of the nine company members in attendance (and Dana joining us for a while to take some candid photos as seen below). Today's agenda: can we make it through the first act with some finesse? Act one is book-ended with two ensemble numbers: the first introduces the four obtained characters to the audience in a given emotional state, while the second recaps the four separate journeys and (hopefully) provides little teasers for the audience prior to the voting at intermission. We spent the first hour of rehearsal walking through these song formats and quickly reviewing some others for Charles and Darren.
And then we jumped head first into the act! (Yes, that does say "rehearsal number five" above!) We managed to make it through two runs so that everyone could have a chance to play. We began with Chase, Jay, Kate and Darren. Some great stories and songs emerged. Chase created a slightly beleaguered teacher seeking tenure with a vacuous Dean, dazed student and potential love interest in the form of a fellow faculty member. Jay's verse in a group song as the Dean was particularly clever, while Chase's love solo was typically impressive with some great mathematic puns. Jay's story centered around a young man trying to regain his wife's attention (Chase) away from his mother-in-law (Darren) with the possible help of his favorite waitress at Panera (Kate). Kate then led her episode as Samantha, a hard-to-live-with dormed student with a new roommate, "Duchess" a non-traditional drummer, a helpful mild-mannered advisor, Bill, and a potential love-interest, Toby, who had just moved in next door (but is he engaged to someone else?) There were some nice twists in this story. Finally, Darren took on the role of Brad, a young man with a passion for a particular buffalo-wing-serving restaurant and its waitresses, who had to wrestle with the needs of his cockney exchange student wife, favorite hostess and talented chef friend respectively. In addition to fun characters and interesting plot potentials, the form already moved along with many moments of finesse. A couple of song formats are still nascent in terms of their attack, but we all seem to be on the same page as to how to meet these challenges.
Run two featured Charles, Ron, Kate and myself in the four positions. Again some stories and relationships developed that are worth quickly paraphrasing here. Charles portrayed a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse worker (say that five times fast!) with a hen-pecked manager, slightly stereotypical bus boy, and a low-tipping well-to-do customer. Charles did a particularly fine job of finding the game in his episode while commenting on some of the choices the rest of us pimped him into (well, okay, it was mainly me who pimped him!!) Ron took on the part of newly enlisted Roger who, with his best buddy, Dan, and the slightly nervous (and late named) Duke, had to face off against Kate's great aggressive Drill sergeant. We then followed Kate as Marny, a young woman torn between her beliefs, personified by her sister Jessie and the Reverend, and the keg-tapping next-door-neighbor that she had been listening to with a glass against the wall. Jim noted that I did a good job of making Josh, the neighbor, relatively masculine. Finally, I played Steve, a Star Trek obsessed young man pushed on by his rival, Winston, a pushy and opinionated reporter, and a small-time Trekkie actor who we later learned (not so subtly on my part) is, in fact, his biological father. Jim challenged me on the piano by leading me into a solo with the Star Trek theme! I was pleased, again, to see that this exploration opened up many interesting possibilities for a second act. We struggled a little with the drive of some of the group numbers, but the act held together surprisingly well.
I am really excited about the variety of characters that are already appearing and the positive energy and attack of the company. There is already a growing fearlessness on the stage which is truly invigorating. We had to condense the scenic elements today to guarantee two runs, so I'm looking forward to easing that pressure a little on Tuesday. We need to polish a couple of the group song formats, and further explore and apply the device of the asides, but there has been so much good work over the last two days that I'm anxious not to glow too much for fear that I might raise my readers' expectations too high!!! A particular shout out should go to our new members, Ron, Jay and Kate, who are attacking the show as veterans and as such, are allowing the process to move quickly and with ease.
I've got the first of three musical improv workshops tonight at SAK, so should review those materials.
Your breathing-a-little-easier Director, David C.
Our numbers were more robust today with seven of the nine company members in attendance (and Dana joining us for a while to take some candid photos as seen below). Today's agenda: can we make it through the first act with some finesse? Act one is book-ended with two ensemble numbers: the first introduces the four obtained characters to the audience in a given emotional state, while the second recaps the four separate journeys and (hopefully) provides little teasers for the audience prior to the voting at intermission. We spent the first hour of rehearsal walking through these song formats and quickly reviewing some others for Charles and Darren.
And then we jumped head first into the act! (Yes, that does say "rehearsal number five" above!) We managed to make it through two runs so that everyone could have a chance to play. We began with Chase, Jay, Kate and Darren. Some great stories and songs emerged. Chase created a slightly beleaguered teacher seeking tenure with a vacuous Dean, dazed student and potential love interest in the form of a fellow faculty member. Jay's verse in a group song as the Dean was particularly clever, while Chase's love solo was typically impressive with some great mathematic puns. Jay's story centered around a young man trying to regain his wife's attention (Chase) away from his mother-in-law (Darren) with the possible help of his favorite waitress at Panera (Kate). Kate then led her episode as Samantha, a hard-to-live-with dormed student with a new roommate, "Duchess" a non-traditional drummer, a helpful mild-mannered advisor, Bill, and a potential love-interest, Toby, who had just moved in next door (but is he engaged to someone else?) There were some nice twists in this story. Finally, Darren took on the role of Brad, a young man with a passion for a particular buffalo-wing-serving restaurant and its waitresses, who had to wrestle with the needs of his cockney exchange student wife, favorite hostess and talented chef friend respectively. In addition to fun characters and interesting plot potentials, the form already moved along with many moments of finesse. A couple of song formats are still nascent in terms of their attack, but we all seem to be on the same page as to how to meet these challenges.Run two featured Charles, Ron, Kate and myself in the four positions. Again some stories and relationships developed that are worth quickly paraphrasing here. Charles portrayed a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse worker (say that five times fast!) with a hen-pecked manager, slightly stereotypical bus boy, and a low-tipping well-to-do customer. Charles did a particularly fine job of finding the game in his episode while commenting on some of the choices the rest of us pimped him into (well, okay, it was mainly me who pimped him!!) Ron took on the part of newly enlisted Roger who, with his best buddy, Dan, and the slightly nervous (and late named) Duke, had to face off against Kate's great aggressive Drill sergeant. We then followed Kate as Marny, a young woman torn between her beliefs, personified by her sister Jessie and the Reverend, and the keg-tapping next-door-neighbor that she had been listening to with a glass against the wall. Jim noted that I did a good job of making Josh, the neighbor, relatively masculine. Finally, I played Steve, a Star Trek obsessed young man pushed on by his rival, Winston, a pushy and opinionated reporter, and a small-time Trekkie actor who we later learned (not so subtly on my part) is, in fact, his biological father. Jim challenged me on the piano by leading me into a solo with the Star Trek theme! I was pleased, again, to see that this exploration opened up many interesting possibilities for a second act. We struggled a little with the drive of some of the group numbers, but the act held together surprisingly well.
I am really excited about the variety of characters that are already appearing and the positive energy and attack of the company. There is already a growing fearlessness on the stage which is truly invigorating. We had to condense the scenic elements today to guarantee two runs, so I'm looking forward to easing that pressure a little on Tuesday. We need to polish a couple of the group song formats, and further explore and apply the device of the asides, but there has been so much good work over the last two days that I'm anxious not to glow too much for fear that I might raise my readers' expectations too high!!! A particular shout out should go to our new members, Ron, Jay and Kate, who are attacking the show as veterans and as such, are allowing the process to move quickly and with ease.
I've got the first of three musical improv workshops tonight at SAK, so should review those materials.
Your breathing-a-little-easier Director, David C.
