Opening Weekend

Opening night and Saturday evening were a blast. We had after-parties both nights at La Dolce Vita, and it was a great way to blow off steam from the hard work of tech week.

Friday night was good. Minor things went wrong, things that only a cast or crew member would notice. The ad libs blossomed a bit more than I'd like. My family loved it, particularly the kids, which is big return on investment for me. With the exception of a few audience members, the crowd was somewhat reserved in their response. It was a good, solid performance.

Saturday was off for several people, but again, only to a degree that cast or crew would see. Ad libs that had occurred on Friday suddenly grew legs and had children of their own, so that will be my first note to the cast on Thursday's brush-up.

Noah joined us in the audience. He'll replace Arryck next weekend, and then again two weekends later. Sara's final performances are this coming weekend as well, so we'll hopefully have a little send off for her.

So here are a few things to ponder, rolling into Thursday's brush up rehearsal:

• Review your lines. Lines that were delivered perfectly for three weeks suddenly evaporated or became weird mutant dialog both Friday and Saturday.
• Stop ad libbing. You lose faith in yourself and your fellow performers by adding extra crap that wasn't done in rehearsal. Please stop. Most of it isn't the least bit funny.
  
• Trust my direction. As a director, I'm able to see the whole picture, things that you as one person cannot. Don't go off in another direction because it suits you.
• Don't polish a turd. If a line stinks, it's not going to get better by drawing attention to it and making it bigger than it is, or worse, by ad libbing to milk it. PLEASE DON'T.
• Review your choreography. We drilled and drilled and drilled the choreography to make it look effortless. Saturday in particular was not a pleasant sight for many of the numbers, choreography-wise. Going bigger is NOT the way to compensate. Personalize the steps and don't tense up.
• Review your music. Most of the LOVELY multi-part harmony we rehearsed with Bill has become little more than two octave melody. Let the music pull the show together for you.
• Sing your part. There are three HUGE voices in this show: Lorraine, Spanky, Todd... oh, and Erin once she joins us. Remember when you're singing back-up or chorus, and allow those other soloists to be heard. In the recording I made on Saturday night, I heard a lot of the three people mentioned, and not enough of the rest. Balance your voices, please.

Finally, continue to let the events of the play wash over you and affect your characters. That is the most astonishingly wonderful thing that HAS happened as the show has embraced the audience. Let them in to witness your joy and pain as the character.

Great job, and see you on Thursday. We'll be rehearsing with the recording I made on Saturday rather than the rehearsal CD.

- Sean