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'tis done

I couldn’t feel more ecstatic about, or proud of, last night. I feel completely fulfilled today.

The show opened with 250+ people in the house (which holds 309) and the actors and band just blew the roof off. What a great opening night. 10 p.m. in Arlington Heights is like midnight in the city, so to have an audience that large is fantastic. The show was definitely at the point where it needed an audience – and the audience taught all of us a few things we didn’t know. That’s the greatest phenomenon of opening nights – things you thought were hilarious, sometimes aren’t; moments you’ve been breezing by are apparently comic genius.

I had wanted to update this journal more in the past two weeks, but the schedule had become pretty insane. Let me tell you a bit about what we’ve been doing.

March 18-20 was spent running through the show from top to bottom. We tightened up cues, ran musical numbers, worked more on the actors’ performances and characters. I think at some point there, we changed some choreography and cut a few more lines.

Things got interesting on Saturday the 22. That was the first day we had an entire band. Micky York, my Musical Director, also played piano/keyboards in the band, which also consisted of guitar, bass and a full drum set. The sound department wired the actors with wireless microphones and we ran through all of the musical numbers in the show. It was AWESOME to hear the music (again) as it was written, with full rock band. And in the same way that an actor’s performance changes completely by putting on a pair of glasses, singing the same songs with a full rockin’ band behind them took the vocal performances to an even greater level.

Tech Week
This is usually a long, dreaded week in theatre. It’s the week before the show opens and involves rehearsals where the actors run the show from one light or sound cue to the next, stopping between each for the tech staff and designers to fix/adjust things. Often you run things over and over, and often the actors sit on their rears for 5, 10, 20 minutes. I have to say, besides one actress developing a bad chest cold on top of her asthma and having to spend the night in an emergency room, it was a pretty smooth tech week.

And she made it back by Saturday.
 
The thanks
First goes to the actors.
Jane Allyson, Debbie DiVerde, Micah Fortenberry, Joel Gross, Stephanie Herman, Jon Landvick, Amy Steele, Matt Whalen and Carrie Wickert (soon to be Buetow!). Great performances – singing, acting, improvising, timing, enthusiasm, energy. I can’t say enough. They worked very hard, adapted to many script and music changes along the way (it was a new work, of course) and brought their incredible talents every day and night.

We also have four very talented understudies that were absolutely essential in this rehearsal process: Kansas Battern, Mik Dempsey, Jim Kozyra and Becky Shallert.

The band
John Stoesser on Guitar, (yes, also the composer), Brian Murphy on Bass, Kevin on Drums. I don’t know Kevin’s last name. Sorry Kevin. The band has a finesse sound, lots of skill. And the composer gets to recreate his work every week on stage. Cool.

I reserve a special slot here for Micky York, the pianist and Musical Director. It’s a huge task to take a totally new score for which there’s no performance precedent and teach the parts, make the modifications necessary to serve the characters and make it stage-ready. He’s done an incredible job.

And next for my choreographer, Kristen Gurbach Jacosbon. Talented, passionate and energetic. She injected earnestness and humor into the dancing – at the same time. The effect was right on the mark.

Rachel Thiltgen, my Stage Manager. A very hardworking young woman who is earning her due. This is often the most surprising thing for outsiders to learn – that when a show opens, it is no longer the Director’s. It is the Stage Manager’s (and the performers’ of course) show to manage and execute and to protect and her job to keep the actors sharp. 

There are so many others to thank, and I’m sure I’ll miss some. kClare Kemock designed costumes that were spot-on, Bill Franz created a great sound design and mix. Mike Wagner worked up the perfect light design. So many other people worked hard to make this thing happen. Production Manager Joe Mohamed, Casting Director Robin Hughes, Executive Director and Producer Matt O’Brien, and the former Executive, Tim Rater, who hired Scott.

And of course Scott Woldman. He’s written three full-length shows. I’ve been in two of them and now directed the third. He creates characters, dialogue and storylines that are charming, sweet and emotional, vulgar, hilarious, inappropriate, shocking, and also romantic. Audiences love his stuff, and people love working with him. I think the dude’s pretty cool. I can’t wait to work with him again.

Spirits were soaring at the post-show party. My wife and I left very late, and it seemed far from over.  The actors should be proud of their performances. The producer expressed his happiness and I received great feedback from a member of the Metropolis Board of Directors, friends and friends’ friends. I couldn’t ask for a better first experience as a director.

Thanks for reading.
Brad Dunn

Milestone Week

Today was full of interruptions, sitting around, and was very productive.

The last several days/nights were devoted entirely to music and choreography – which were needed, since we didn’t have the solo numbers choreographed at all, and some changes had been made to the music. It was like full on workouts for the actors. One of my actresses was having mild flu-like symptoms – not feeling well at all. She said afterwards that the best thing was probably that she sweated it out for 4 hours, because she felt a lot better after rehearsal.

So today was the day we finally were able to stop and tweak every single little moment, every step, joke and pause, as well as deal with a series of hilarious face slappings, and a hair-pulling fight between two of the female characters. It was great. It made for a long day, but it was what we needed to do to shore up lots of little loose moments.

Now is the time in the process when you can really tighten up the show, fix scene changes and make sure the tempo is what it needs to be. No amount of great writing, acting, singing and dancing can overcome poor pacing and slow scene changes. So the pressure is on (me). The implication being of course, that all these other pieces are firmly in place. So today was full of this:

Me: “hold!”
Actor: “Was that, did I, I was supposed to have my drink glass at this point right?”
Me: “Umm, no. I didn’t account for how you guys would have your drink glasses yet.”
Actor 1: “We could grab them before we come out?”
Actor 2: “No, because we dance first.”
Actors 3-9: “yeah…” “or how about…” “Maybe so-and-so could grab mine and then when I head to the table…”
Me: “Yeah, that’s great. Do that.”

And on and on. The cast has been extremely helpful in solving the major traffic jams we have on stage throughout the show. They’ve also been great about dealing with prop needs. So today was really necessary and productive.

Yesterday we did a designer run. It was nerve-wracking for me. Our producer, Matt O’Brien, was there. He gave some good feedback to us afterwards, resulting in some minor cutting and tightening up of the script, which should help tempo. Other than the producer being there, a designer-run is when the design staff come and see what is pretty close to the final product. Close enough anyway, for them to start on the lighting design and sound design. It’s a big job.

The dates take place at tables. We ‘cut’ (I used to be a video editor) from table to table in some sequences very quickly and need the lighting to help move and focus the audiences’ attention. It was also decided that we’ll need a follow-spot – which helps light the solo numbers, and the sound designer began to see how he’ll write cues for turning off and on mics – writing mute scenes, it’s called. It’s an important aspect of designing the sound reinforcement for a musical. He’s got work to do – Nine actors all wearing mics, and a four-piece band, all have to be mixed together, live, every night of the show.

Stumbling through

Thursday March 6 was our “off-book” day. This is the day the actors are expected to have all their lines memorized and to rehearse without a script. Though they are allowed to call for a line. We also ran our first “Stumble-throughs” during the week.

A Stumble-through is when you first run large chunks of the show – or the whole thing, if you’re lucky. It comes once the actors are off-book and all the blocking is in place. Though I don’t know the actual historical reason this is called a stumble-through, I’m guessing it’s because it’s the first time the actors are working without a script, there are many pauses of unknown origin, and since some scenes are running back-to-back for the first time, unblocked or poorly blocked moments are awkwardly exposed.  So the name seems to be well-conceived.

We also worked on music throughout the week – we have some real rock-star voices in the show and it’s fun giving them some real showcase moments.

Today we recorded the music. With it being a new musical, some tweaks and structural modifications have been necessary to accommodate the way the show has evolved. This recording was to document the pieces as they finally have settled, so the rest of the band can learn the tracks, in conjunction with the actual sheet music.

The best part of this is that one of the original composers is playing guitar in the band, so he’s re-learning parts that he originally wrote.

a productive and exhausting week

We spent three nights solidifying the choreography for the show this week. Kristen (Jacobson) has been doing an amazing job dealing with having nine characters who are all equal in importance. She hasn't had the luxury of having people she could push upstage and get out of the way. Instead, with it being an ensemble piece, all the characters are constantly dancing across, up and down stage, switching partners, and the focus is constantly shifting.

It's been fun to collaborate with her, incorporating their actual characters into different parts - or at least adding the flavor of their characterizations to moments. We had a conversation before rehearsals began where we identified several different behavioral patterns of single people who are actively seeking out mates. We talked about mapping those patterns into the movement on stage. I think it's turned out great. I'm really happy with it.

Yesterday we ran through the whole show and blocked it. We had blocked some scenes previously, but had to switch our table sets around - that is, which girls are at which tables throughout the show, and therefore which tables the guys move to as they switch dates. We actually got through everything in one day, including moving into, and out of songs. 

Today was great. There's this opening number called the Spiritual, which I'd heard the recording of, and which we only worked once in rehearsal. And with it being a new musical, the translation from songs recorded by the composer to the performance on stage by the entire cast, I did not yet have a clear idea of how it worked, structurally. It's got all of my favorite qualities of good comedy - it begins to showcase the talent of the actors, and it's hilarious. It's going to be a great way to open the show.

a live test and a long day

We had a great opportunity today to put scenes and songs up in front of a live audience. Fremd High School in Palatine has an event they call Writer's Week, which Scott had performed at before. It showcases literary works of students as well as published authors, lectures and other arts types.

We were invited to perform at two afternoon sessions. There were about 400 people at each - and when I say people, I mean mostly High School students. Though we had edited some lines out for the younger audience, the show in general has a very adult tone. The anxiety I had disappeared immediately, when afterward several administrators and faculty came up to us to tell us how great it was and that it was great for students to get to see new work written by someone local.

I'm so proud of the actors. With only rough blocking in place, and songs only half-worked out, they took the stage and fully committed. The laughs we got were big, and a few of them literally show-stopping. It was good for all of us to see that.

Then it was off for a big cast lunch at Gino's East, then back to Metropolis for a video shoot. Scott had the idea of video taping testimonials of the daters - sort of like you would have an online dating site. So we shot them on-stage, I acted as the off-camera interviewer, and they improvised their way through the answers. It was great.

Most of the actors had not improvised in years, if ever. They've been improvising in rehearsal like they're regulars at Second City, and today on-camera, they created some amazing material. Really funny stuff, and I can't wait to edit it. Though with my current schedule, that will probably be 3 in the morning at some point soon.


Look for it on the Arlington Heights public TV channel and on this website sometime soon!