Sunday, August 27, 2006
Glimpsing Underneath the Towel: Performance Number Thirteen
Nobody died tonight!! (although we may have scarred a few audience members, but more on that later...) Energy was up, the orchestra was on fire, and the tunes were particularly tuneful this evening... Jim, Mark and I got to warm-up a little at the Red Chair event, which was a lot of fun. Then Jim, Keith and I rushed back to SAK for our 10:00 show.
There was some good onstage chemistry tonight. Charles played John, a daycare worker who tried to provide healthy alternatives for his students, Blaire and Sharon, with the help of the somewhat suicidal Mr. Snackman. Robyn was an adult student, Jackie, who hoped to get ahead of her friends, Roger and Veronica, with the assistance of her former gradeschool teacher, Miss Bray (whose motivation techniques oddly resembled an avalanche of demeaning blather!) Ron was a "Mouse Town" worker, Joe, whose dreams to make it big seemed almost reachable upon the unexpected arrival of Donald Trump (perhaps the most painful impersonation I've attempted on the SAK stage in quite some time!) Finally, I was Audrey, a beach-loving girl with a secret hidden under her towel, whose nude sunbathing addicted friends, Samantha and Rebecca, tried to push her into her crush, "Hardhat Jeremy." Oh dear. I don't usually take on the identity of a woman as my audience-inspired character, but there were only young woman sitting in the un-solicited section of the audience, so why not?!? (Mark has made this choice on several occasions to grand effect, and I still remember James Newport's fantastic "boy named Sue" character from the original run last year.)
Apparently, the audience wanted to know the secret lurking under Audrey's towel as she was selected to lead act two. (On a personal note, I really liked this whole family of characters and was glad that we had a chance to explore them all further.) Robyn's Samantha, while seemingly beautiful and all together on the outside, revealed her darker nature as she plotted to discover Audrey's deep secret. Enlisting the help of her father, Mr. Snack, she vowed to steal Audrey’s towel in order to find the truth once and for all. Meanwhile, Jeremy revealed that under his hard hat there was a soft heart (in beautiful song, of course). Finally, Audrey confronted her rival, in the full light of day, and proudly uncovered what had been hiding under her beach towel all along: a tattoo bearing the name (in black and white) of her long-kindled love, Jeremy.
The band was sizzling tonight. Fun parodies were flying left, right and center, with Charles getting more than his fair share but characteristically stepping up bravely to hit them out of the park one at a time with that effortlessly soaring voice of his. He was undeniably scorching tonight too. I got to Grease it up at the end of the second act as Audrey (no Little Shop parodies for me, although maybe that’s a little cerebral!) Robyn went gangbusters creating many a memorable moment as the villain, and Ron’s Mr. Snack gave a great parody of “Mr. Sandman” towards the close of the second act with the rest of us in support. (This character also served as the subject of one of the more memorable exchanges of the show: Charles as Audrey’s protective brother, John—“Where do you want me to punch him?” Me as Audrey—“Punch him in the snack maker.” Does that even make sense?!?!)
We weaved together some fun story elements tonight, with a reveal that was a little more fulfilling artistically and less bloody than last night. I feel slightly redeemed personally! Act two, in particular, zipped by almost effortlessly and was a great deal of fun to play in.
I start my rehearsals for Lost Comedies in earnest on Monday, so I’m going to start feeling slightly schizophrenic jumping back and forth between the lands of musicals and Shakespeare! We’ve passed the halfway point with this run though, so it’s time to look ahead…
Your towel-touting Director, David C.
Nobody died tonight!! (although we may have scarred a few audience members, but more on that later...) Energy was up, the orchestra was on fire, and the tunes were particularly tuneful this evening... Jim, Mark and I got to warm-up a little at the Red Chair event, which was a lot of fun. Then Jim, Keith and I rushed back to SAK for our 10:00 show.
There was some good onstage chemistry tonight. Charles played John, a daycare worker who tried to provide healthy alternatives for his students, Blaire and Sharon, with the help of the somewhat suicidal Mr. Snackman. Robyn was an adult student, Jackie, who hoped to get ahead of her friends, Roger and Veronica, with the assistance of her former gradeschool teacher, Miss Bray (whose motivation techniques oddly resembled an avalanche of demeaning blather!) Ron was a "Mouse Town" worker, Joe, whose dreams to make it big seemed almost reachable upon the unexpected arrival of Donald Trump (perhaps the most painful impersonation I've attempted on the SAK stage in quite some time!) Finally, I was Audrey, a beach-loving girl with a secret hidden under her towel, whose nude sunbathing addicted friends, Samantha and Rebecca, tried to push her into her crush, "Hardhat Jeremy." Oh dear. I don't usually take on the identity of a woman as my audience-inspired character, but there were only young woman sitting in the un-solicited section of the audience, so why not?!? (Mark has made this choice on several occasions to grand effect, and I still remember James Newport's fantastic "boy named Sue" character from the original run last year.)Apparently, the audience wanted to know the secret lurking under Audrey's towel as she was selected to lead act two. (On a personal note, I really liked this whole family of characters and was glad that we had a chance to explore them all further.) Robyn's Samantha, while seemingly beautiful and all together on the outside, revealed her darker nature as she plotted to discover Audrey's deep secret. Enlisting the help of her father, Mr. Snack, she vowed to steal Audrey’s towel in order to find the truth once and for all. Meanwhile, Jeremy revealed that under his hard hat there was a soft heart (in beautiful song, of course). Finally, Audrey confronted her rival, in the full light of day, and proudly uncovered what had been hiding under her beach towel all along: a tattoo bearing the name (in black and white) of her long-kindled love, Jeremy.
The band was sizzling tonight. Fun parodies were flying left, right and center, with Charles getting more than his fair share but characteristically stepping up bravely to hit them out of the park one at a time with that effortlessly soaring voice of his. He was undeniably scorching tonight too. I got to Grease it up at the end of the second act as Audrey (no Little Shop parodies for me, although maybe that’s a little cerebral!) Robyn went gangbusters creating many a memorable moment as the villain, and Ron’s Mr. Snack gave a great parody of “Mr. Sandman” towards the close of the second act with the rest of us in support. (This character also served as the subject of one of the more memorable exchanges of the show: Charles as Audrey’s protective brother, John—“Where do you want me to punch him?” Me as Audrey—“Punch him in the snack maker.” Does that even make sense?!?!)
We weaved together some fun story elements tonight, with a reveal that was a little more fulfilling artistically and less bloody than last night. I feel slightly redeemed personally! Act two, in particular, zipped by almost effortlessly and was a great deal of fun to play in.
I start my rehearsals for Lost Comedies in earnest on Monday, so I’m going to start feeling slightly schizophrenic jumping back and forth between the lands of musicals and Shakespeare! We’ve passed the halfway point with this run though, so it’s time to look ahead…
Your towel-touting Director, David C.
