Accentuate the Positives

Music rehearsal last night was pretty good, but having been away from Bill for so long, most folks started to peter out vocally in the second full run-through. The vocals were still very strong. Erin has consumed her music nicely, and it's nice to have a different take on the vocals from Sara. They're both great, don't get me wrong, but their phrasings and delivery of the notes are pleasantly diverse.

Arryck is also coming along quickly. I feel bad because he has one of the harder songs in the show to sing, We Beseech Thee, and there is a LOT of blue-noting and "American Idol" stuff that is needed to execute the song satisfactorily. And his ideal range is about a third an octave lower than Noah's. Regardless, he's getting it down nicely, and it's a pleasure to have him with us.

The masks are all wrapped in muslin/glue, and two of them are primed with white latex paint. I noticed a couple of spots of bare foam on two of them, so I'll have to touch them up before painting. I have an obsessive tendency to want to pull the strings off of them, but I have to resist, as that leads to peeling up the muslin strips. If I cut them, it works better. The insides are still a little ragged, and I don't want to poke anyone's face, so I'll need to figure out how to them out. I'll patch and prime the rest on Friday, paint them on Saturday, and then hopefully lacquer them on Sunday. Then I can add hair and the velcro straps. One unfortunate side effect of the process so far is that I had to cut the elastic strings off. Between the foam, the carving/sanding, and the glue, they just got in the way. I hope they turn out as well as I've envisioned them.

I have one menhir platform completed, but I need to get another sheet of plywood to make the tops. I've already pre-cut the framing pieces. They are a variety of 30 and 60 degree angles, so the compound miter saw came in handy. I beefed it on the 30 degree angles, though, as the default notch in the miter saw is for -31.5 degrees, not -30, so the boards I have are a bit more acute than they need to be, making the finished angle more like 57 degrees, which isn't quite right. This is important for the tops, as I won't be able to use the plywood on top to screw it to for stability. The frame will have to be aligned on it's own. I'll also need to pick up another countersink bit and some spare 3/32 pilot bits to go with. I've gone through two so far, and I anticipate more, as the countersink on all of these is at an angle.

The intelligent lights are in and working. Once Agnes of God strikes this weekend, I can move the existing lights around the way I want them. I have brought in my own DMX dimmer packs to replace the MMX ones they are currently using. I'll wait until Godspell has been running for a few weeks and ticket revenue is flowing before I order the replacement ones for the Petit.

I also need to have the electrician come back and wire in the front floods to the work light circuit. The goal was to replace the need to use stage lights for rehearsal lighting, and we've not accomplished that yet.

Choreography tonight (7:30 PM call). Photos Thursday night along with some individual scenework. No rehearsal on Saturday. And Monday, we'll start to fine tune this thing, hopefully with menhirs and masks.

- Sean