March 27

Lunch time again. In the normal week leading up to a show opening there are highs and lows. Tuesday night was a high. Act One of the Follies was really coming together. Things were clicking and looking and sounding great. Wednesday night was a low. We worked on Act Two and it is always the numbers that get the short end of the rehearsal stick because it is generally at the end of the night when you run out of time and promise to work more on it next time around. In addition our sound system which had been running great somehow was completely different. Some of the band was drowned out by the singers in their sound monitor. Other band members couldn't hear the singers at all. Some instruments were too loud and others too soft. The singers couldn't hear themselves over the band. That took us almost 45 minutes to work through and it still wasn't totally fixed. Thursday we are bringing a sound professional back in to check the sound board.

With all that there were still some really good moments and the cast improved with the rehearsal time last night. Each night is a constant step forward in improvement. But last night was also the time that I had to take a very hard look at the amount of time left in rehearsal and what we were trying to accomplish.

When I choreograph a number I always have an idea in my head of what it will look like. It may not be exact but I have this kind of intuition of what we are trying to accomplish. There is always a moment in every show when you say. This isn't going to work the way I planned it. Sometimes it is a single joke in a show that you think is very funny but just never seems to time out right. Sometimes it is a dance movement from point a to point b and the performers are having a very difficult time mastering the movement...

I remember a director in college who was directing a show I was in and she had a little model of the set in front of her with all of the characters in little stick figures in their places. We worked a scene for about a week and finally she threw up her hands and said it works on my model but it doesn't work onstage.

I learned from that lesson that human beings aren't puppets that you can mold and shape to make fit a certain model. You have to be willing to let go of "your model" and adapt your plans to make it work for the people in the show. Sometimes an actor has to play a character different than you always imagined as a director. It is a colloboration.

Last night I had to let go of some of my choreography in order to help the people onstage move from point a to point b. In a different number we tried something musically but the show kept losing energy. So I had to say lets change the way we have approached this music to help the show be better. My job is to help everyone on stage look natural and to help bring out the talents of each person in the show.

I am very proud of all the performers in the Follies. I'm certain we are on our way to a great show Saturday. It just takes work to get there. Tonight we will run the show starting with Act Two and then run Act One. Wish us luck.

Oops almost forgot. Jim Keeney is working under the stage at the Market House today as we try to make our motorized turntable work. I built the turn table 23 years ago. We used it for several shows in late 80's early 90's and then it haven't used it since. We are trying to use it for Tuesdays with morrie. Our biggest issue is the sound of the balloon tire that rubs against a metal plate that turns the unit. The turntable is 16 feet wide. I've been helping Jim a little as he crawls back and forth under the stage in places that are only 12 inches tall from floor to platform. This is the time you wish for a flexible young person who can crawl to all the different parts of the stage. Instead you have a 50 year and a 40 year old trying to fit their less flexible bodies in tight spaces.