First day of rehearsals
Ben annoys his musical director during the first day of rehersals. But otherwise, plenty of things to look forward to.
Kudos to our hearty cast for braving the first day of rehearsals.
This is a hard show. Every time we do it it's hard, and, frankly, probably harder. This time the major focus is on adding dance, but we haven't taken away anything - and, in fact, we've bumped up the energy (and tempi) on many of the songs.
We read through the show today at the first rehearsal. Twelve brave, beautiful actors realized that they are wearing hip waders in a swamp full of notes, lines and dance moves. They rose to the occasion, learning the hardest song in the show musically (Promise) and working on a couple of other doozies as well. Ryan Williams ("Lucifer") put a brave face on it, but I know he's got some sticker shock - Lucifer has a big, gnarly part. Danielle's roll ("Sophia") is bigger and tougher, but she's done it a few times... Ryan gets to learn Lucifer from scratch. And, once he thinks he's got a grip on the music, we're going to make him dance. And then we're going to take away his friendly piano accompaniment and put a rock band underneath him. To Ryan, and all of the cast: Good luck to you. May God have mercy on us all, because we've all opened a wicked can of worms.
Once we clean the worms out, though, the can will look and sound like a million bucks!
K, this worm thing has gone on long enough.
Mary Ann was nice enough to put up with me answering note questions and grouching about musical issues during rehearsal today, but she knows I'm going to be disappearing after a few days. I'm going to hit the streets and the inboxes, sending emails and preshing the flesh with schools and concierges in NYC to try to get people into the show. My game: Sell this thing out in early September so we can extend.
Rob has the easy job... he gets to waltz in on September 18th and see a finished product. BUT, he's hosting a fundraiser in San Fran this Saturday, so be sure to go visit him and give him grief if you're in the Bay area!
That's it from me for day 1. Go team!
