Feb 15-16, 2005
Monday was my first day on the job, but Tuesday was officially my first day in New York City. The first time to really feel that familiar energy, that spring in my step, the social ease and the synchronicity. That's the New York I know and love. It started sunny and cool and stayed that way all day, the first sunshine I've seen in over a month after many overcast weeks in Austin.
We dove headfirst into rehearsal, learning vocal arrangements with Lon Hoyt and starting choreography with NY dance veteran Joe Malone. The time actually spent with Don has been about bonding, really, mental ensemble exercises and script reading. Yesterday's initial read-through has proven to be a bit long on running time, so a lot of text, and at least two songs, have been cut. During the process, Don tells a lot of Lennon stories and often looks to me for embellishment. I'm the only cast member who's as avid a Lennon/Beatles fan as Don is, so we can throw obscure references to each other, but to the others we may as well be speaking a secret twin language!
After rehearsal I zipped down to the East Village and grabbed my pal Chris Maguire. Turns out that Jeff Osborne, my agent in Austin, is in town tour-managing Raoul Malo and running sound for tonight's engagement at Joe's Pub, and he got us on the guest list. Malo gave a mindblowing performance as always, and took my breath away with a closing encore of Harry Nilsson's "Remember". After the show, Chris split and I hooked up with Raoul, Jeff, manager Danny Heeps and, to my surprise, producer Peter Asher, who had flown in from L.A. just to catch this gig. We walked down the street to the Temple Bar for a martini or two and Raoul and I found bonus intoxication singing our way through a Bee Gees binge. I was invited to come back to the hotel and jam, but sadly I declined. I had to look sharp for Wednesday's photo shoot. Slight headache the next morning, but well worth it.
Wednesday's promo pic session kicked off promptly at ten, and Yoko returned to participate. Her and Don's birthdays are back to back this week, so someone broke out a cake. I could've mentioned to Ms Ono that we have a mutual friend in Austin (KGSR's Jody Denberg), but I totally forgot. Where was my head?? The rest of the day was strictly business - vigorous warmup with Joe, vocal rehearsals with Lon, and more choreography. A template of sorts has been set for at least the next couple of weeks until the show is assembled. We got a brief visit from Denzel Washington, who is rehearsing Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in the room next to ours. He's just a normal dude like the rest of us. In an atmosphere like this, virtually no one is larger than life. Most people dress down and women wear little if any makeup. Everyone is at the very least cordial and respectful to one another, and an atmosphere of professional courtesy prevails. Just like any other workplace, only here you never know who you might find riding in the elevator with you.