April 10, 2005
With the first preview only days away, we are now officially entering crunch time at the Orpheum. It's the time when people are more serious, more focused, and occasionally more fatigued and uptight. But those moments are rare and a spirit of high humor is still maintained overall. And as always, the soothing presence and leadership of our director and his staff keep friction to a minimum.
The full band arrived on Friday and set all their gear up on the stage, on several risers of varied heights behind the main performing area. Within a day or so they had a really good mix going out in the house and began rehearsing numbers with the actors onstage. These rehearsals have taken place during the day without costumes, and plenty of starts and stops. While this is going on, the swings and I found time to disappear. We headed downstairs to the dressing room shared by Mark and me, and ran through the show ourselves from top to bottom, all parts, all a capella. After several days of running lines in hushed tones from the back of the house, this was our first chance to sink our teeth into the material and belt it outloud. Assistant stage manager Justin overheard us down the hall and poked his head in. He thought we were awesome and told his superiors as much. That was nice of him, and we were like, "we'd better be awesome, it's our job!" After that we were convinced we could do the show by ourselves if we had to.
Nightime is reserved for run-throughs in full costume, with piano and drums only. After watching the cast from the house for a week, now was the time to observe them from stageside, up close and personal. For me, this is the most intense part of the preparation process. There are untold numbers of costume changes (some as short as ten seconds) and at least half a dozen clothes racks just offstage. So I have to keep track of each of Will, Terry and Chad's costume changes and note which props they bring on and off. I must also know when I'm supposed to help others with their changes. With all this going on, the actors are also their own stage hands, each with assigned pieces of scenery to handle during transitions between numbers. Sometimes people handle these tasks while they're delivering lines, and it's all timed out to the second. If that's not enough, two of the players, Chad and Mandy, operate professional video cameras in one sequence, and that's a whole other can of worms I've yet to open. It's easy to tell which actors have done the swing thing before. They're the ones who come forward and take us carefully through their procedure without being asked. Will is one of these, and his insight is invaluable.
In the midst of the final lap toward opening night, I have family in town. My mom Hallie and sister Trish showed up this afternoon and I met them for a little dinner in Union Square where they're staying. Afterwards I brought them to the theatre for a lightning fast tour, and they stayed for the first half of tonight's first full dress rehearsal with the full band. They're here for Tuesday's first public preview, an event Mom describes as "historic."
I tend to agree.