We've finished staging the show and have had one full run-through, which went great. The leads were 85% off script (which is pretty good for the first run-thru), and the show was already really funny and high energy. It's always so nice to get to see the whole thing put together -- even in its unpolished state -- so we can get a glimpse of what the end product will be.
The cast is just terrific. Everyone's working really hard, getting the choreography down, memorizing, finding cool, new, little moments all through the show. And the four lovers are really finding the emotional content of this story. Though most of the show is pretty wacky, there are some serious, very emotional moments, and we have to make sure we set those up right so they pay off at the end.
We also got the set up over the weekend and painted a base coat on everything. Todd has come up with one of his trademark jungle gym sets for this show. So many places to play, to hide, to hang out (throughout a lot of the show, the ensemble watches from the sidelines). The floor of the stage is going to be a wild, psychedelic swirl of purple, pink, red, and cream. There's fake stonework here and there, plus some cool backdrops, lots of twinkle lights, and much more. This is going to be a more involved set than most of our shows have.
Last night, we had a kind of rehearsal we usually never have time for. Even though we lost two nights to the snowstorm, somehow I managed to squeeze out some time. All we did last night was place the four dance numbers on the set and then run them; then we had a microphone run-through. As we've done before with period rock shows (Hair, Forbidden Planet, Grease), we're using hand mics. There's something about holding a mic that both helps establish the period and also makes it feel a little bit like a rock concert, which is a great kind of energy for this show to have. The actors hated using the mics at first, but they've gotten used to them. Same thing every show...So tonight is our first run-through on the set and with most of the props. Last night's work will make tonight so much easier! And from here on out, all we do is run the show and polish it. Since we only get one preview, we've learned over time to schedule a lot of run-throughs, so the show is really clean by the time we open it. We usually have nine full run-throughs before we put it in front of an audience. All that time is a real luxury and we love it.
The work -- and the fun -- continue...
Long Live the Musical!
Scott
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