July
23, 2005
Wednesday
night, as I was blending into the crowds flowing out of the theatres on 44th
Street, I walked alongside John, the lead guitarist for the Lennon band.
"Get some rest," he warned me. You're gonna be working tomorrow night.
"Ya think so?" I retorted, half condescendingly.
"Mark my words," he replied, completely serious.
When I checked in for Thursday afternoon's rehearsal, Don informed us all that I would be filling in for the rest of the week. A total of five straight performances! There was no time to waste. We had a lot of work to do. There were some fresh changes that were being made, most of them very subtle, but I still took a lot of time to make sure it all stayed in my head. When performance time came, I just kept things simple and stayed focused, and it went fine. Not perfect, but pretty good.
The next day was intense. New changes were being made to the show, and they were fairly big ones. A piece of Lennon literature known as "Wonsaponatime", which had been in the show since day one with mixed results, was cut. A couple of other scenes were re-staged. Fortunately for me they didn't involve any new lines (okay, one tiny one), but there was a ton of new stuff to keep track of, and additional time was spent with me addressing some performance issues. The biggest of these was a ladder, which is made up of six people holding four pieces of wood. It's only two steps, but they have to be climbed in a precise way to make it safe for everyone, otherwise any number of people can get hurt (I nearly fell off in my third show). I continued to work through dinner, brushing up on some songs with the music director and going over acting details with Julie. We have few scenes together, but they're some of the most important in the show and it was necessary to take the time to get it right. It was probably the most information I've ever taken in in a single day, and I was determined to remember it all. On top of that, my dad had come up from Texas and was going to be in the house. Pressure? Nah!
The dinnertime session with Julie paid off. After she was through with me I gained a lot of confidence and carried myself differently. The newfound energy and wisdom made its way into Friday night's performance and I never looked back. My old man was prouder than a champion coach.
Today was a two-show day and a good test to see how my voice and body would respond to a double-header. They both held up fine. My dad had such a great time the previous night that he and his girlfriend Gerrie decided to go again to the evening show. This time they were seated directly in front of Yoko, who has attended the past three evenings, and they talked briefly. This was a huge thrill for Dad, who is the same age and sign (Libra) as John would've been, and very much shaped by the life and adventures of those two.
The worst thing I can say about tonight's show was that I banged the hell out of my shin during a dance number and bled through my pants. Besides that, the night went off without a hitch. It was by far the smoothest and most relaxed performance I've given yet, and even Will agreed.
It's extremely rare, I'm told, that a swing gets this much time to get it together. In fact, some might say it never happens. But that's been the story from the beginning, hasn't it?