DAY TWENTY ONE - Sunday April 15
This is officially the end of week three - since we got on the plane at JFK.
I was greeted at the morning rehearsal by Vova (one of our romantic leads) with a smile, a hand shake and, "Christ has risen." Russian Easter is apparently a week behind American Easter. He asked me I say in American instead of "Christ has risen." I explained that I don't say anything like that because I am Jewish and we don't celebrate Easter. He looked at me very curiously - like I had two heads (not two horns). I don't know if he had ever met a Jewish person before. He then asked if there were any Christians in America. I said, of course - many many many Christians. And that Jewish people were an ever-shrinking minority. I further explained that Jewish people thought Jesus lived and died as a Jew and was never resurrected - that we didn't believe in the New Testament. He found all of that fascinating - but, oddly, had never considered that point of view before.
There is a tradition here on Easter to give three kisses. Big, burly men, greeting each other with cheek-to-cheek kisses - first right cheek, left cheek, right cheek. One of our translators gave us an "Easter Cake" and we got lots of decorated eggs from different people.
The letters on the cake stand for "Christ has Risen."
We started staging scenes with some of the older character men - not the middle-aged category I have spoken of earlier. One, in particular, is a huge bear of a man who, whenever he sees me, slams both hands to his heart - as if to say "Moi Droog!" (My friend). He is a member of the older character guy category and there are many of them and they are delightful, wonderfully over the top - but not too much - performers. Staging these scenes was some of the most fun I've had here because of how hilariously they executed what I was asking them to do - and even more hilarious - when they didn't understand what I was asking - then we laughed through their process toward understanding.
Somewhere around here - maybe a few days ago - I visited Patti in the rehearsal studio and watched three teams of dancers do the pas de deux - which is a dream ballet for one of our more romantic numbers.
Here's a video:
Japanese for lunch - and a nap before the evening rehearsal.
In the evening, more staging. I can't remember exactly what.
Every night after rehearsal, Patti, Gregg and I hang out - usually in my living room - sometimes upstairs in Patti's. Remember, this is literally just through a door to the lobby of the theatre - the easiest commute ever.
We chat about politics, the show, old movies our families/friends - y'know. They drink wine, I eat ice cream - a very nice social aspect to this excursion. I am very thankful that we all get along so well. And all have pretty much the same artistic vision for the piece. It's been a great collaboration.
This is officially the end of week three - since we got on the plane at JFK.
I was greeted at the morning rehearsal by Vova (one of our romantic leads) with a smile, a hand shake and, "Christ has risen." Russian Easter is apparently a week behind American Easter. He asked me I say in American instead of "Christ has risen." I explained that I don't say anything like that because I am Jewish and we don't celebrate Easter. He looked at me very curiously - like I had two heads (not two horns). I don't know if he had ever met a Jewish person before. He then asked if there were any Christians in America. I said, of course - many many many Christians. And that Jewish people were an ever-shrinking minority. I further explained that Jewish people thought Jesus lived and died as a Jew and was never resurrected - that we didn't believe in the New Testament. He found all of that fascinating - but, oddly, had never considered that point of view before.
There is a tradition here on Easter to give three kisses. Big, burly men, greeting each other with cheek-to-cheek kisses - first right cheek, left cheek, right cheek. One of our translators gave us an "Easter Cake" and we got lots of decorated eggs from different people.
We started staging scenes with some of the older character men - not the middle-aged category I have spoken of earlier. One, in particular, is a huge bear of a man who, whenever he sees me, slams both hands to his heart - as if to say "Moi Droog!" (My friend). He is a member of the older character guy category and there are many of them and they are delightful, wonderfully over the top - but not too much - performers. Staging these scenes was some of the most fun I've had here because of how hilariously they executed what I was asking them to do - and even more hilarious - when they didn't understand what I was asking - then we laughed through their process toward understanding.
Somewhere around here - maybe a few days ago - I visited Patti in the rehearsal studio and watched three teams of dancers do the pas de deux - which is a dream ballet for one of our more romantic numbers.
Here's a video:
Japanese for lunch - and a nap before the evening rehearsal.
In the evening, more staging. I can't remember exactly what.
Every night after rehearsal, Patti, Gregg and I hang out - usually in my living room - sometimes upstairs in Patti's. Remember, this is literally just through a door to the lobby of the theatre - the easiest commute ever.
We chat about politics, the show, old movies our families/friends - y'know. They drink wine, I eat ice cream - a very nice social aspect to this excursion. I am very thankful that we all get along so well. And all have pretty much the same artistic vision for the piece. It's been a great collaboration.
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