April 7, 2005
It had taken five days to put the first act of LENNON together with all the light, sound and video cues. The second act only took two. And the cast was using costumes by now. That's how smoothly the second act cruises along. Not that it isn't visually impressive; it is, but not quite as complicated. And it all appears to work well, except for the show's ending and curtain call, which have now been changed. It goes to show that what works in the rehearsal studio doesn't always play in the big theatre. The ending involves a piece of film, and the source we've been using up to now has proven to be below standard when projected onto an IMAX sized screen. The original print will have to be located. We're pretty sure it'll be found, but an alternate version of the ending was staged today just in case. The final bows sequence, which worked incredibly well in the 6A run-throughs, now seemed a bit topical (which we're trying to avoid), and the outfits didn't work out, either. The curtain call has changed several times since the script's original draft, and hopefully Don's latest choice will stick this time.
Up to now I've been giving general information about the show's structure, just to give readers an idea of what goes into a production like this one. I've deliberately held back many specifics so as not to spoil the large number of surprises for anyone planning to see it. But I will divulge one costume detail. Throughout the show, everyone in the cast wears authentic Beatle boots flown in from Liverpool. And man, do they look swank. I look forward to the day I stand in, just so I can wear the things. But as tall as I am, they make me even taller, and I'm already the tallest member of the cast. I could never have been a Beatle. Them lads were short.
As I've said before, once a show moves from the rehearsal room to the theatre, a lot of things change. For the swings, we're out of sight, mostly (and sometimes out of mind). With no place to practice moves, we sit back and continue to take notes, which will come in real handy later on. For me, memorizing all the lines and lyrics is the easy part. The hard part is knowing where to be and exactly when to move there. Too soon or too late and I'm bumping into someone, and that ain't good. Having three color-coded cast members to keep track of, my script looks like a coloring book.
For the cast onstage,
the waiting is the hardest part. Harder still is waiting while well lit. The
obvious discomforts are the brightness and the heat of the lights, but something
psychological happens as well. When one is onstage and lit up, the instinct
for most is to perform, whether they're called to or not. So a lot of hamming
goes on up there between takes. Usually it's quite amusing, but on some nights,
tolerance is short. Tuesday night, Laurie the stage manager had heard enough,
and charming Chad ended up with a face full of duct tape.
He uh, didn't say a whole lot the next day.