DAY TWENTY EIGHT - Sunday April 22
On the way to lunch, we ran into the kids from our show. Aren't they adorable?
We took Patti to my new lunch place. They have a fantastic meringue dessert (think submarine sized) - which I quite enjoyed as you can see below.
The above picture was NOT staged!
Here we are having some silliness with the cardboard sushi girl at the restaurant next door.
Misha
Grisha
Pisha #1 (love the lady observing)
Before rehearsal we always hang and have coffee in my apartment. Well, I participate in the "hang" if not the coffee. Gregg made a funny comment. He was working on his score and had purchased some new pencils at the bookstore next door. But he couldn't find pencils with erasers. "Just like the Russian philosophy – one
man for one job." As in, erasers are purchased separately!
I rehearsed the scene with the kids in the morning - the scene into the song that Patti had choreographed yesterday. ADORABLE kids. There are three teams - I can't even keep track of who is on what team. We have three girls and three boys in each team - all playing little princes. Here's a video of the rehearsal:
On the way to lunch, we ran into the kids from our show. Aren't they adorable?
Here we are having some silliness with the cardboard sushi girl at the restaurant next door.
Pisha #2
Since we have these four hour breaks between rehearsals I have begun to appreciate the value of a little nap.
In the evening, I worked scenes and song with the character who is the billionaire father of the title character. It is a comic number where two ministers of Prince Sandor are trying to get Lloyd (the billionaire) to agree to sign on the dotted line to finalize the sale/purchase of the Palace. Since Patti has such a huge amount of material to choreograph, I agreed to try this one on my own - which she will finesse later. I think I did ok. The odd thing, however, is that I can never get both ministers in the same rehearsal. NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: So for the next couple of days, I taught this number three or four times over to make sure all absent performers got it at some point!
One of the actors who plays Lloyd was there for one scene and when it came time for him to do the second scene – he was gone. He dismissed himself! And one of the actresses playing Mary who was out of town this week performing opera in Chelyabinsk is now going be out of town for a second week!
One of the actors who plays Lloyd was there for one scene and when it came time for him to do the second scene – he was gone. He dismissed himself! And one of the actresses playing Mary who was out of town this week performing opera in Chelyabinsk is now going be out of town for a second week!
How has this place continued to exist as well as it has with
such odd, complicated scheduling and organization in the stage management department is
amazing to me. I should re-phrase that: the stage manager’s
job here is very different. As is the
director’s.
The stage manager calls the shows eventually (I assume) OOPS! NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: it was not until tech week (the final week leading up to opening night) that I learned the Stage Manager does NOT call the show - is in fact not on headset and every crew person takes their own cues!
BACK TO THE PRESENT: In rehearsal the stage manager deals with props and LITERALLY reads the script aloud at every rehearsal until people are off book. As in, she reads just a bit ahead of the actors so they can catch their lines from her. Like they are her echo. It’s very odd. And more than a little distracting. She also sets up the rehearsal room. But she has nothing to do with communication (I'm not exactly sure who communication central is, actually) or organization beyond anything but props. There is a scheduler who does just that (the amazing Tatiana M - pictures of her with rifle in earlier posts).
I do miss an American style Stage Manager. The stage manager here said she had not gotten the drawings for the designs for the kids' toy rifles from Slava (the set designer). I told her she should email him directly because that would be faster than me emailing him, him emailing me, me giving her the info, etc. She had one, very simple, reply. "Oh, but I don't have email." You see what I'm up against here?!?!?!
The assistant director (who will re-set the show once it’s in the repertory and I’m no longer here) takes down the blocking – he’s also the guy who doesn’t call people when we change the schedule – he waits until he sees them in the building. But by then, of course, it’s too late!
The stage manager calls the shows eventually (I assume) OOPS! NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: it was not until tech week (the final week leading up to opening night) that I learned the Stage Manager does NOT call the show - is in fact not on headset and every crew person takes their own cues!
BACK TO THE PRESENT: In rehearsal the stage manager deals with props and LITERALLY reads the script aloud at every rehearsal until people are off book. As in, she reads just a bit ahead of the actors so they can catch their lines from her. Like they are her echo. It’s very odd. And more than a little distracting. She also sets up the rehearsal room. But she has nothing to do with communication (I'm not exactly sure who communication central is, actually) or organization beyond anything but props. There is a scheduler who does just that (the amazing Tatiana M - pictures of her with rifle in earlier posts).
I do miss an American style Stage Manager. The stage manager here said she had not gotten the drawings for the designs for the kids' toy rifles from Slava (the set designer). I told her she should email him directly because that would be faster than me emailing him, him emailing me, me giving her the info, etc. She had one, very simple, reply. "Oh, but I don't have email." You see what I'm up against here?!?!?!
The assistant director (who will re-set the show once it’s in the repertory and I’m no longer here) takes down the blocking – he’s also the guy who doesn’t call people when we change the schedule – he waits until he sees them in the building. But by then, of course, it’s too late!
But, then again, judging from the show last night – they do
what they do EXTREMELY well for their audiences and everybody was onstage
looking and sounding amazing and the cues were run perfectly and it was a
truly entertaining show – with such imagination and vision. So… what they do, works. What we do… works. They are just vastly different journeys to a similar end.
Even though “we Americans” believe they could learn a lot
from us in the stage craft and organization department – there is a lot to be
admired about their system here. It
would never work in America because this volume of performers in this many arts organizations could not get paid a living
wage because our government does not support the arts the way they do
here. But to see these performers enjoy
this breadth of roles in such a variety of material – and for audiences to see
30-50 people on stage every night – countless principals, singing chorus of 26,
AND ballet company of 24, AND a 35 piece orchestra – to say nothing of
stage crew and administration – is kind of amazing. All on staff, all year round, all paid, all
with job security for their lifetime. So, I suppose the cultural awareness in America has lots to learn (at least admire) from the cultural pervasiveness of this country. Mind you, this is one of hundreds of cities in Russia who all boast their own opera theatre, musical comedy theatre, ballet theatre, dramatic theatre, children's theatre, puppet theatre, etc.
Grisha, Pisha and I watched a bit of Auntie Mame (Rosalind Russell version - not
musical version) after rehearsal. Patti
and Gregg are determined to catch me up on all of their favorite old movies – most of which I’ve never seen. How did I miss out on all these movie greats?
No comments:
Post a Comment