DAY FIFTY THREE - Thursday May 17
Well, rehearsal started at 10AM - just as we thought. I wouldn't say that all the actors I was promised were in attendance - but we had at least one full company.
We ran the prologue and act one (1:30 with scene change, by the way) and then did some notes afterwards. Patti did dance stuff and I staged the chorus and ballet into the Epilogue.
Flaming Fajitas at Ratatouille's.
Act Two and Epilogue tonight.
I guess it went ok. Another hour and a half running time. Some people still don't know their lines though. I can understand the new actors from the latest cast shift - but the leads should have been perfectly off book about a week ago - but there's a guy from the chorus - who plays the Major Domo. He has four lines total. ANd they are literally the name of the character who is about to enter. As in the person standing RIGHT BESIDE HIM OFFSTAGE! HE doesn't know his lines! In addition, he carries his little slice of script with him whenever he is onstage. He's got one freakin' line each time he enters! I'm not sure when they all think it's time to pay attention. Many of our secondary role actors were not in place when their scene started so we couldn't feel our scene transitions - kind of important in a musical, no?!
But, the chorus is behaving and focusing much better than they have. And the ballet company has far stronger actors than many of the choristers - they are always focused, always attentive, always playing into the scene. To say nothing of executing Patti's extremely complex choreographically heroically.
Another hang with Gregg's friend Slava. The evening ended a bit funkily amongst myself, Grisha and Pisha - the details of which are not important. Suffice it to say the lack of communication, the lack of organizational structure, the lack of consistency with personnel in rehearsal, the lack of adequate time with full company, the lackadaisical attitude from some of the performers - are all starting to wear on us.
Well, rehearsal started at 10AM - just as we thought. I wouldn't say that all the actors I was promised were in attendance - but we had at least one full company.
We ran the prologue and act one (1:30 with scene change, by the way) and then did some notes afterwards. Patti did dance stuff and I staged the chorus and ballet into the Epilogue.
Flaming Fajitas at Ratatouille's.
Act Two and Epilogue tonight.
I guess it went ok. Another hour and a half running time. Some people still don't know their lines though. I can understand the new actors from the latest cast shift - but the leads should have been perfectly off book about a week ago - but there's a guy from the chorus - who plays the Major Domo. He has four lines total. ANd they are literally the name of the character who is about to enter. As in the person standing RIGHT BESIDE HIM OFFSTAGE! HE doesn't know his lines! In addition, he carries his little slice of script with him whenever he is onstage. He's got one freakin' line each time he enters! I'm not sure when they all think it's time to pay attention. Many of our secondary role actors were not in place when their scene started so we couldn't feel our scene transitions - kind of important in a musical, no?!
But, the chorus is behaving and focusing much better than they have. And the ballet company has far stronger actors than many of the choristers - they are always focused, always attentive, always playing into the scene. To say nothing of executing Patti's extremely complex choreographically heroically.
Another hang with Gregg's friend Slava. The evening ended a bit funkily amongst myself, Grisha and Pisha - the details of which are not important. Suffice it to say the lack of communication, the lack of organizational structure, the lack of consistency with personnel in rehearsal, the lack of adequate time with full company, the lackadaisical attitude from some of the performers - are all starting to wear on us.
No comments:
Post a Comment