The Home Stretch

A shiver of terror runs down my spine as I type "home stretch" into the title line here. Don't get me wrong: the show is in terrific shape. It's moving along at exactly the right pace, possibly even faster than that. The performances are gaining shape and depth, the choreography tightness, the music dynamics. Everyone is working incredibly hard on every level, from those in the rehearsal room to those on computers and phone lines setting up PR, tickets, and strategy. Stuff is getting done.

The terror, though! Why?! It's simple, actually. As tasks get completed, and full plates get emptied, they get replaced by fewer tasks, smaller plates (for now). It's terrifying because as you have less and less to worry about, you're certain that you're forgetting something. It's not supposed to be getting easier!

And yet, musicians have been hired. Photos have been retouched. Builders have been contracted, spaces rented. E-blasts get sent.

In short, A Grand Night for Singing is happening. It's becoming real.

Last night, we hit a new milestone in rehearsal, as we graduated from work-throughs to run-throughs. The difference is that now the creative team takes a step back and lets the show fly, without stopping. We feverishly take notes instead. Things are tweaked, or even actually changed, but the tools have changed from hammer and chisel to the, I dunno, smaller chisel? Pairing knife? I was never much for the sculpting. From hedge-clippers to little tiny scissors. 

Tonight, outsiders come into the room, as we have our design run, followed by a production meeting.

More to come...

Done!...er, -ish.

We're sitting in the Lab II space at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, rehearsing the number "Don't Marry Me". Section by section, we figure out spacing, movement, acting choice, and with a word from Kurt, the men exit stage left.

And just like that, we're done.

Oh, make no mistake, we've got a long way to go in rehearsal. Costume fittings, orchestra put-ins, tech, cleaning numbers, tech, locking down harmonies, spacing, tech. But, we have now blocked the whole show. It all exists. And with that comes a palpable sense of relief. In terms of show content, there's nothing left to scare or surprise us. It's all a matter of making it work.

Obviously, the show needs the extra work. It'd be naïve of me to say otherwise. I will, however, say that the raw material is of very high quality. Five very good actor/singers have progressed very quickly through a short process for which there's an entire week left before tech. It's a good place to be.

Next week is what we put on the schedule back at the start as "TBA" week. Basically, what that means is we had no idea what we'd need that time for, only that we'd need it, so we locked down big amorphous blobs of work time during which we hit whatever needs attention.

The actors, meanwhile, now get to shift from "learning" mode into "acting" mode, bringing in more nuance, stronger objectives, and sharper, tighter choreographed movements. Like I said above, they're in a  pretty prime starting place.

What it all boils down to is this: now we start the fun part.

Glah-morous Photo Shoot

PR for theatre is important. What's the point of what we do if we don't have butts in the seat to actually see it? As such, we must employ every asset we have at our disposal to show that what we've got here is worth seeing.

Everyone is on the same wavelength.

In other words...photo shoot time! Obviously, the show is not finished, but one of the great things about a show like this is that it largely hinges on the cast and their chemistry. And at the very least, that was on fine display.

Not pictured: riotous laughter between every take.

I snapped a couple "behind the scenes featurette on the DVD"-style photos to give a little bit of an impression of the shoot and what some of our shots will look like.

Emily's favorite setup. And, strangely, Nick's...

Look at how well our cast pretends to gets along!

Fun fact: they didn't even see me snap this photo; this is just how they look naturally.

The real things are gonna look great. Hopefully they contribute to the butts-in-seat-age.

"French-Fried Potatoes and a T-Bone Steak"

You know, Me and Juliet must be a truly awful show, because why else would no one ever produce a musical with so many great little songs in it?

Sitting behind the table, between checking the stopwatch and taking notes on everything from choreography to set pieces and acting beats, thoughts like this one flit through my head. "It's Me" and "That's the Way it Happens" are the two adorable Juliet songs in particular that have made it to Grand Night, and both feature the delightful trio of Emily Levey, Nick Lehan, and Scott Russell. It was just the way the tracks happened to break down; we didn't decide, "These three clearly represent the soul of Me and Juliet and therefore MUST present both songs, together!"

Maria, Nick, and Emily
come downstage center.

This afternoon was our first big day of blocking. Among the numbers we got through: the aforementioned Juliet songs, "The Man You Used to Be", "I Cain't Say No", "A Hundred Million Miracles", "When the Children Are Asleep", "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top", "We Kiss in a Shadow", "Maria", "I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy", "The Gentleman is a Dope", "Oh What a Beautiful Morning", "Love, Look Away", "Something Wonderful", and "This Nearly Was Mine".

So...yeah. We did a little of stuff today.

As an actor myself, I can appreciate the sheer mental overload happening, which makes me admire our cast all the more. Each comes out of the box a remarkable musical theatre talent, but carries as a bonus a very special personal charm. We as a production just have to luck into this and marvel at the magical result, like how the real-life friendship between Nick and Maria Egler informs Nick's performance of "Maria" and makes for a nuanced and fun-filled number between them.

There's still much to do. It's easy to think that doing six hours of blocking rehearsal on a Sunday can exhaust you, but days like today are actually energizing. For the first time you see what it looks like on it's feet, and there's nothing like that.

I can't wait to see the whole thing. Which at this rate will probably be in like three rehearsals.

The Process Begins...

We're three rehearsals into Grand Night, and things are looking pretty cool. I'm standing here listening to Maria Egler, Emily Levey, and Dorea Schmidt sing some beautifully tight harmonies on an Andrews Sisters-eque arrangement of "I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair", and being actively reminded why I'm a huge musical theatre nerd. I live for this kind of clever arrangement, and this kind of talent singing it.

Who am I? I am the stage manager. I am John. I am literally the figurative fly on the wall (if that makes sense), and looking forward to sharing cool stuff as it happens.

Stay tuned for behind the scenes nuggets, featuring these talented ladies, the also-talented gentlemen, and as many guests as can be mustered up in the next 22 days.

They say enthusiasm is contagious. Consider me infected.