Ninth BTG post!

On Thursday July 5^th, while the company rehearsed the movement and the coatrack placement of the items of winter clothing they have worn to Ed’s memorial service at the Shubert Theatre in NYC, Ross (the actor playing “Ed”) dressed in his costume and was photographed for a special effect we need for the opening Memorial Service sequence. Ross’s picture will be ‘PhotoShopped’ into a photo of the real Ed in front of the Shubert Theatre marquee of A CHORUS LINE. (At the end of our show, the real version of the same picture will be seen by the audience.) We then worked notes on Act Two up to lunch break and notes on Act One after lunch.

A full run of the show occurred at 3:30pm. Special guests at the run included David and Meg, who were board members of Music Theatre Works which originally produced A CLASS ACT. David fell in love with ACA when he saw the original production, and it was one of the only musical soundtracks on his iPod. Meg started out in entertainment production and became an agent; she is now a talent manager in NYC. They became board members of Berkshire Theatre Group and David will likely become the next president of the BTG board. I spoke with them during our intermission and they were delighted with our refreshing ‘take’ on the show, noting that it wasn’t as dark as they had remembered.

David and Meg invited the company to the Route 7 Grill in Great Barrington for dinner at 8pm. I arrived about an hour early (I had no idea how long it would take me to get to the place, so I erred on the side of caution) and Bob Moss was already there. We sat at the bar and ordered a drink. Michael C and Robbie (“Lehman”) arrived soon after, as did the cast and crew. It was nice to kick back with a drink and enjoy the stage where we were with the production. We were treated to delicious nachos with cheese and scallions and tasty barbequed chicken wings for appetizers, and I ordered a ½ broiled smoked chicken with sweet potato fries and sautéed kale for my entrée.

Meg came over and sat at our table for a little while. She is a graduate of Syracuse University (as is a number of our cast members, plus Bob taught at Syracuse Stage) so we all enjoyed some great conversation. Kate Maguire, the artistic director of BTG, arrived to join us after having given the curtain speech in Pittsfield at one of the first preview performances of A CHORUS LINE at the Colonial.

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On Friday July 6^th, we began the day by giving out notes to the cast about their Thursday performance. Michael C worked with Tessa and Ross on “Don’t Do It Again” and Robbie and Ross on “Don’t Do It Again (Reprise)”. He reworked both of their dances as Argentina tangos. Tessa originally was behind a rolling desk that figured into the action, but the desk idea was scrapped and only a rolling chair remained. It’s been quite fun to see how certain scenes have developed throughout our rehearsal process. I reviewed “I Choose You” with Rachael and Ross since they have been having some timing issues due to a varying, unequal amount of measures when they speak dialogue in between their sung phrases. We also went over the Curtain Call since it was the last and most recent piece we’ve added and there was considerable confusion as to the lyrics to be sung.

At 1pm the cast went over book scenes on stage while I did some music inputting for some additional music I needed to transpose. We ran the show at 3pm. Act One came in at 1 hr 15 min and Act Two at 1 hr 3 min.

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 On Saturday July 7^th, Bob worked with Anya and Ross to tighten a few of their scenes, most importantly the one with “Making Up Ways” when Sophie breaks up with Ed. After notes about Friday’s run, we fixed “Better” and “Better (Reprise)”, the Nightmare sequence, the end of Act One (“Follow Your Star”) and “Gauguin’s Shoes”.

During lunch, I drove over to the Red Barn to the Costume Shop for my fitting (I got to try on the costume that David Murin designed for me). I will be wearing a beige and brown striped shirt with woolen vest, cocoa brown pants and brown leather shoes. David told me that the woolen vest was once worn by Robert Vaughn! I will look very stylish at the piano.

After lunch, we worked notes and then ran the show for the final time in Dunlap Center. At 6pm, the crew began ripping the tape and spikes off of the floor as I packed up my gear. It was time for us to move onto the Unicorn stage!

That evening, the company traveled to Pittsfield for the opening of A CHORUS LINE at the Colonial Theatre. It was wonderful to catch all of the ‘in jokes’ (dialogue and musical) that are referenced in our production. The show was pretty awesome in general and the sound of the band was phenomenal. Afterwards at the tent reception, I got to chat with the three Dans (Gabel, Fluery and Hendrix) that play in the orchestra. They have played for me as ringers with the MHC Big Band, so it was nice to catch up with them.        

Eighth BTG post!

Prior to our rehearsal on Monday July 2^nd, the beginning of our final week of production in the Dunlap Center, I sent a message to our stage manager and production assistant that I might be a little late. The problem was that I needed to go purchase a new spare tire to have in reserve once again. The first order of business for the day was “Table Work” which didn’t involve me anyway. Table work consists of a session around a table where the actors use their scripts and read their lines. It’s a good way for the actors to refresh the lines they might be missing and the intent for each line that may be lacking. This was to continue until our 12:30 lunch break, so I was able to do score work. At 1:30 we worked more notes up until 6pm. We cleaned up a lot of dance items. Although we didn’t do a full run of the show, it was good to focus on specific sections of the show that needed tightening.

If you don’t know the typical procedures of a theatrical production, the Stage Manager files a report of each day’s activities. This report gets sent to all of the people and all of the departments involved. That way, everyone is on the same page when it comes to knowing what needs to be done. Here’s a sample of that day’s report:

A Class Act

Rehearsal Report

Monday, July 2, 2012

*please respond to notes by e-mail

General:

1. We are planning on having an actor crossover backstage between the set wall and the theatre wall.

a.     Sets – is this a problem with cross-bracing? Is there anything at “person” height attaching the set to the architecture?

b.     Lights – will we have a problem run-lighting this?

c.      Lights – will there be any lighting booms in the way of this?

2. As of right now, we’re planning on running the show at 3:00p Tuesday, 3:30p Thursday, 3:00p Friday, and 3:00p Saturday.

3. We will have a production meeting in Collins House on Wednesday at 12:05p.

Sets:

1. See General #1.

2. You can take the mirrors after our run on Tuesday (5:30p – 6:00p). We would like them back for our run on Thursday (3p).

Props:

1. The Louis Vuitton bag needs a framework of some kind so that the bag stays “up” when it sits on the ground unsupported. The Urn still needs to fit inside of it.

2. Please ADD: a small suitcase/overnight bag for Marvin (pg 91).

3. Please ADD: Sheet Music for Marvin’s pocket (coat pocket?) (pg 91).

4. The sample version of the accordion-style contract is too long, but that’s the image we’re looking for. It should be fabric reinforced in order to not rip apart while being manipulated like a scarf.

5. The carton of cigarettes is never opened.

6. Please ADD: a Small Tray for the Cup & Pill (pg 12).

Costumes:

1. Please see Props #1 – 3.

2. Will Marvin have a jacket for his entrance on pg 91 (“I came in on the red-eye from L.A.”)?

3. Fittings for Tuesday are as follows:

a.     Robbie @ 10:45a

b.     Marie @ 1:30p

c.      Anya @ 2:15p

Sound:

1. The “Paris” sound cue (pg 79) needs to be trimmed. The intro is currently too long.

Lights:

1. See General #1.

Company Management

None.

Press & Marketing:

1. Margaret will be joining Bob on his lunch break at 12:30p tomorrow (Tuesday) for an interview.

***End of Rehearsal Report

The only other noteworthy thing that happened was that our choreographer Michael C reminded me that he would like to have a dance break in “Broadway Boogie-Woogie” for Rachael (“Lucy”) and Eddie (“Michael Bennett”) to perform and wondered if I could supply him with some music for this.

I thought that the music should be dictated by the dance moves, so I suggested that he come up with whatever moves he would like the actors to do and I would come up with music to support it. After lunch he came up with a combination and I video recorded it onto my iPhone. So my assignment for Tuesday was to compose the music.

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On Tuesday July 3^rd we began with a 45 min cleanup of some of the little musical things that have been resistant to my fixes. These included endings of words like ‘t’ and ‘s’ that weren’t occurring together, missed harmonies and wrong lyrics. It’s not unusual for such inaccuracies to crop up as the actors merge their choreography and stage movement with their vocal performance. At 10:45 we worked on “Broadway Boogie Woogie”. I came up with the music for the dance break. I tried to keep it simple because I didn’t want to overshadow the original music that Ed Kleban wrote- I just wanted to complement it. Michael was pleased with the additional music. At 11:15, Anya and Ross worked on “Making Up Ways” and “The Next Best Thing To Love” with Bob and myself while Michael took the others outside to clean up the choreography to “One”.

Speaking of “One”: this is not generally known, but when one requests the rights to perform A CHORUS LINE, one must also purchase Michael Bennett’s original dance choreography. Well-known material like “One” has specific choreography that must be used in order to maintain the integrity of the show. We are fortunate that BTG’s sister production of ACL is using this choreography already, so our actors will also look very authentic.  Linda Kline had mentioned to us at dinner that Michael Bennett’s estate attorney had to agree to the usage of ACL material in A CLASS ACT. Linda felt it was necessary to include this material in the show since it was Ed’s big break.

After lunch, the stage movement for scenes between Lehman Engel and Ed was fixed. We also worked on the “Nightmare” sequence that takes place after Ed wins the Tony for ACL. Bob and Michael decided to take advantage of the mirror walls on stage following “One” as Ed’s hopes for his own musical projects go spiraling downward. We ran the show once again at 3pm.

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You’d think that Wednesday July 4^th would be a day off- but we were a production that would be starting previews in one week. So no holiday for us!

Just what is a ‘preview’, you may ask? Previews are basically the way to provide a show with a soft opening. Openings occur on Saturday evenings. Previews begin several days in advance of opening. (On and off-Broadway, a show may be in preview for a significantly longer period of time.) The show is performed in front of audience with the understanding that it is still getting its legs. There may be a technical glitch, a forgotten line, an unforeseen problem that occurs. The ticket price is lowered for the preview period.

Here was our busy schedule for the day, which lasted 30 minutes longer than usual due to a lunchtime production meeting:

SCHEDULE (7/4)

10:00-11:00: Work "Scintillating Sophie", "Next Best Thing to Love" (Ross, Anya)

10:50: *ADD FULL CAST

11:00-12:00: Work Show Notes (FULL CAST)

12:00-1:30: Lunch Break, 

                    Production Meeting at Collins House

1:30-2:15: Work the Nightmare (FULL CAST)

2:15-3:00: Review "Charm Song" and "Friday's at Four" (FULL CAST)

3:00-4:00: Review and Work Act I Scene 1 "Light on My Feet" (FULL CAST)

4:00-4:30: Stage Curtain Call (FULL CAST)

4:30-6:30: Work Show Notes (FULL CAST)

We had a lot of dance/stage movement cleanup planned because Michael Callahan would be leaving us once we began tech. There was no run planned for the day, but we will definitely run the show on Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoon.

One of the items that came up during our weekly production meeting was my reminder to David Murin (our wonderful costume designer) that he had planned on costuming me since I was appearing on stage during the Act One BMI Lehman Engel Workshop sequence. He had forgotten about it, so he set up a costume measurement appointment for me for the following day. (It will take place at Dunlap since David and his staff will be present at 10am for an actors rehearsal with the winter clothing which they wear at the top of Act One.) I also would be choosing an appropriate bench for my piano with the Props department on Thursday morning. 

Seventh BTG post!

On Saturday the 30^th we worked all of the notes from Linda (as well as our own notes) from 10-12:30. After lunch, there was a cast rehearsal with the two large rolling mirror walls that appear during the A CHORUS LINE section of Act Two. (The actors move them on stage, dance in front of them and then roll them off stage.) It was important that they know how to maneuver them as they travel out from the loading door space, and there is only so much room between the door and the real back wall of the stage to work with.

At 3pm we ran the entire show. Again, it is important for all of us to get into a ‘rhythm’ with both acts, so that everything in the show becomes so familiar to us that it becomes regular. The show is currently running 1hr 14 min for Act One and 1hr 1min for Act Two. That is not unusual for musicals: most first acts can run 90 min in length. We have also added two extra songs to the piece (although it comes to about 3 min of extra music) and some additional dialogue.

At this point, it felt like we were in a really good place. 

My day (and the rehearsal week) ended with an unexpected issue: a flat tire. :( Unfortunately, I didn’t notice it until the end of the rehearsal. As I pulled out from the campus onto Rattlesnake Mountain Road, something was amiss with my front end. I quickly pulled into the lower parking lot and stopped in front of the Art Barn. When I got out, I noticed the right front passenger side tire was blown. I attempted to change it myself, but I couldn’t get my tire jack to raise the car. And then I realized that I had a AAA Plus membership… my own ‘duh’ moment. I called them and a mechanic arrived about 30 minutes later and had the tire changed in about 5 minutes. So it caused me to be about an hour later in returning home than I anticipated, but at least no one got hurt, thankfully.

Sixth BTG post!

On Friday the 29^th we worked notes of small fixes to Act One up until 11am, at which time we ran the act. We took our lunch hour at 12:30pm. We then did more fixes off of notes from 1:30-2:30pm. As the day wore on, the atmosphere became somewhat electric as we became more and more excited with the anticipation of Linda Kline’s arrival. As I mentioned in previous posts, Linda is one of the librettists of the show (along with Lonnie Price) and is the official authority on ATE (“all things Ed”). She has been extremely generous to us and provided numerous small script changes for our production as well as two additional songs (“Making Up Ways” and “Harold”).

Linda arrived circa 2:45pm and Bob showed her the set model and the drawings of the cast’s costumes. We performed the entire show for her at 3pm and (with a 10 minute intermission in between) finished circa 5:30pm. She spoke with us afterwards and her praise was pretty effusive and very genuine. She loved the youthful energy of the cast, felt that the show really moved much better than the original, the choreography was the best she had seen in a ACA production, and the music was well-rehearsed and performed. We were all delighted to hear she enjoyed it and very pleased we were definitely on the right track. She said even though things were looking wonderfully, there was obviously still an opportunity to make the show even better, and she was looking forward to seeing it again at previews.

Afterwards, Bob, Michael and I had dinner with Linda at the Red Lion. I hadn’t planned on having a drink (it’s a 40 minute drive back to Holyoke), but Linda ordered a martini, Bob had a Bloody Mary and I figured what the hell, I’ll probably have digested my drink by the time I get on the Pike. (This was true because our dinner lasted two and a half hours.) I have to say I wasn’t expecting a great meal at what looked to be a typical New England styled inn, but was I ever surprised. There is an executive chef at the RLI and the cuisine is fabulous. I started with an appetizer that was a house special that evening: a polenta wedge that apparently weren’t supposed to arrive on a bed of ratatouille, but I was glad it did. It really was incredibly delish, local and healthy tasting. Then I went with a ½ broiled chicken that was served with shitake mushrooms, garlic, swiss chard and a variety of small potatoes. Again, it was absolutely fab.

Linda gave us great notes, and everything she said was so helpful. She recognized that a few members of the cast needed to work on their personal characterizations a bit more. She knew we were still roughing some things out, and one thing she said was that the Marvin Hamlisch/Ed scene where they are working on “Chorus Line” music needed to be more ‘piano driven’. Our big problem with that scene is that Marvin is supposed to play piano, and our “Marvin” does not really play (although our “Ed” does, but of course he can’t play for the scene because he is the lyricist in this particular musical marriage). We have been doing the scene near my piano, and Marvin hands me music and I interact with him and Ed, which is fun for me- but again, this is not a really good solution. We will have to think about how we can fix this and hopefully something inspired will surface.

The conversation turned to “Broadway Boogie Woogie” when Michael (our choreographer) bemoaned the fact that the script called for a little dance moment between Lucy and Michael Bennett, but the music in the song doesn’t provide any underscore. Linda looked at me and said ‘well, go ahead and write something’. [!] That was a pretty awesome moment.

Much of the evening, however, Linda offered us a number of tantalizing tidbits about behind the scenes (and in some cases, never before heard) information about Ed. For instance, “Mona” was written for/with Linda in mind. She totally HATES the song, and Ed used to tease her by singing it to her. That said, she knows that it is a great song. Lonnie Price wanted it in the show, and she didn’t… but she gave in. And really, we are lucky that she did, because it is a funny song. Linda also doesn’t like “Making Up Ways” (I am wholly responsible for it being in our production because I pushed for it). She feels it is a downer of a song, and since the next song “Under Separate Cover” is also a downer, it’s two downers in a row. But my feeling (and Bob Moss’s feeling) was that “MUW” really fleshes out the two different directions that Ed and Sophie are going in, and sets up “USC” (which describes an ultimately failed marriage) beautifully. This was Bob’s stroke of genius: “USC” comes off as an epiphanal, triumphant moment as Ed turns Sophie’s break up with him into a moment of composition invention.

Anyway, back to the dish:  Ed and Linda were introduced by Tom Topor (the writer of the 1980 play NUTS which later became a movie starring Barbra Streisand). Tom and Linda were dating, but she ended up dropping Tom and dating Ed instead. We heard about Michael Bennett and the infamous parties held during the run of A CHORUS LINE, and one particular one where Donna McKechnie tried to get Ed to dance with her but failed. We heard about the background of Bennett’s musical workshop project called SCANDAL, for which Ed was supposed to write. The musical had a book by Treva Silverman who was a writer for TV’s “Mary Tyler Moore Show” and created “Rhoda”. Ed hated the libretto: a woman whose marriage has gone stale goes off to Europe to experience orgies and other sexual adventures after she discovers her husband has cheated on her… and returns to him after discovering herself through said adventures. He only wrote one song (“The Next Best Thing To Love”, which appears in Act Two of our show) before leaving the project. Jimmy Webb (“By The Time I Get To Phoenix”, “Wichita Lineman”) took over as songwriter. (Only one of Jimmy’s songs from the musical score has been recorded: “Only One Love” by Michael Feinstein.) The project eventually was shelved not only because of its own controversial topics, but also because such sexual adventures appeared too risky as the global AIDS epidemic worsened. In addition, Michael Bennett’s own health issues worsened and all of his directing projects came to halt.

At the end of the evening, Linda told us she felt we were really taking the show in a highly original, uplifting direction. The show was considered to be somewhat dark and we have softened the underlying issues Ed suffered with, lightened the tone of the show and brought the focus more on Ed’s music. Upon getting this kind of wonderful validation from the librettist, we knew that we were on the right track.

One more thing: we may have a big announcement as to a special performance in a very special location, if all pertinent details are worked out in favor of it. More on this to come!

Fifth BTG post!

On Monday June 26^th it was time to turn our attention to Act Two. The second act of a Broadway musical is usually shorter than the first, so we were hoping that we might be able to finish staging the act by Wednesday afternoon and do a rough run at 4pm. Then on Thursday morning we could do fixes, run Act One again, do fixes on Friday morning and then run the entire show at 3pm. Linda Kline would be an invited guest to critique and give us some suggestions. Following the run, Bob, Michael, Linda and myself would be going out to dinner.

Today would be a long day of work for me… 10am to 9pm. So I began going over Act Two music from 10am through 12:30pm. At that time, much of the cast was released for a three hour break while two interns from the Marketing Department picked up Robbie (“Lehman”), Rachael (“Lucy”) and myself to whisk us off to Albany to do a publicity interview on WAMC which will eventually be broadcast on “The Roundtable”. On the way into NY State, we passed through a large and dangerous thunderstorm with wind and pouring rain, but we made it. (It happened in the area between Austerlitz and B3, that magical stretch of road which I used to refer to as the Bermuda Triangle of the Northeast, as it seemed many times when I traveled it to and from Skidmore during my college years, I would hit bad weather.) The recording session went very well and we recorded Rachael’s song “Broadway Boogie Woogie” and Robbie's "Charm Song"- except the announcer kept erroneously referring to it as “Charm School” which secretly amused us all. After a brief stop at Subway to get lunch, we got back to the Levan Campus for 3:30pm.

Upon our return, we staged “Scintillating Sophie” and “The Next Best Thing To Love” with Anya and Ross. (The former was originally called “Scintillating Susie”, and Linda Kline revealed to us that Ed wrote it for his friend Susan Stamberg, a well-known correspondent/anchorwoman for National Public Radio!) After an hour dinner break, we staged the opening of Act Two from 6-9pm. This includes the song “Better” which starts in a tap studio and ends up in Ed’s apartment when his friends throw him a surprise party.

Bob mentioned to me that he sought more info from Linda Kline regarding the reference to a character in one of his songs named Harold with which Ed says he has an affinity. Linda replied that Ed actually wrote a song called “Harold” that was in GALLERY and is supposed to be sung by a woman. Bob asked Linda if we could include the song in our production, and Linda said sure. She added that the best place for it would be in the Hillside Hospital scene in Act One when Sophie goes to visit Ed. This visit is their first date! (Ed ended up in a mental hospital when he was in high school due to anxiety and other issues.) Linda sent Bob an mp3 of Ed performing the song and he loved it. She is going to send me the sheet music soon. So our version of A CLASS ACT is truly turning into a special production!

On Tuesday the 26^th, we began with staging “Broadway Boogie Woogie”, a song which takes place in Michael Bennett’s dance studio when Ed auditions for Michael’s new ‘dancer project’ (i.e. A CHORUS LINE). This song is so special to me as it invokes thoughts of Tin Pan Alley- in fact, in sounds an awful lot like Gershwin. So to make it even better, I arranged the song for two piano accompaniment. We are very fortunate that Ross, the actor playing “Ed”, can also play piano. So I wrote the first piano part as easy as possible, and I would play the second piano part which has the bulk of the special effects of the song, like barrelhouse tremelo and glissandi up the keysboard. When we practiced it with Rachael (her character “Lucy” sings it in demo style for Michael Bennett), the results were pretty stunning. Bob continued staging the act through the scenes with Marvin Hamlisch and Ed writing music for A CHORUS LINE. We got up to the last song, “Self Portrait”, and then it was time to quit for the day.

We picked up where we left off on Wednesday the 27^th and finished staging the act. At 11am, we began fixing Act Two from the top of the act. After a ‘working lunch’ at Collins House (a production meeting) we continued fixes through 5pm and then ran Act Two. It looks like Thursday will be another early start for me. We must do some sound recording at 9am in advance of the day’s rehearsal schedule.

On Thursday the 27^th, I arrived at 8:40am in order to be ready to record a sound file for the production to use in rehearsal. In Act Two when Ed and Lucy arrive at Michael Bennett’s dance studio, he is playing a cassette recording of Ed singing his composition “Paris Through The Window” (a song we are introduced to in the BMI Workshop scene of Act One). Such recordings were prevalent in the seventies when the cassette recorder was invented. It brought me back to when I bought my own portable Panasonic Tape Recorder (it was black and silver and cost $30) and cheap Certron tapes (later, TDK and Maxell) and recorded myself at the piano! Of course, our sound designer used a portable digital recorder. He also recorded some spoken cues we needed.

At 10am we did another round of fixes to Act Two. After lunch we ran Act One, stopping to do some fixes as needed. This was all in preparation for our special guest, Linda Kline, whom we expected would attend our Friday rough run of both acts.

Fourth BTG post!

On Friday June 22^nd, our schedule was moved from the usual 10am-6pm slot to 1:30-8:30pm to accommodate Bob Moss’s Thursday night speaking engagement in Boston. I worked the cast on some numbers that needed some help (“Gauguin’s Shoes”, “Follow Your Star”, and two reprises of “Light On My Feet” and “Don’t Do It Again”).

As we rehearsed, Bob decided that the end of Act One needed to be reconfigured. Here’s what happens in the libretto: Ed is given a chance to write additional lyrics for a revival of “Irene” starring Debbie Reynolds and directed by Sir John Gielgud. (How about that for a mismatch?) Ed proves to be very difficult to work with and is ultimately banned from going backstage. Before the end of the act, Sophie tries to cheer him by reminding him of one of his songs: the uplifting gospel-tinged “Follow Your Star”. Ed has a fast turnaround in mood that does not seem realistic enough. And then Bobby comes with a note from Sir John: Ed is fired. (Ed would have the last laugh in real life because Sir John himself is eventually fired and Gower Champion takes over the reins.) It’s a cliffhanger that librettist Lonnie Price thought would get the audience to come back after intermission. However, Bob did not like it and thought it was too much of a downer. Ed is actually happy at the top of Act Two so there was a bit of a disconnect between the two acts.

The amazing thing about Bob’s direction is that it is always intention driven, and if the intention is not there in the book, he will seek a rewrite. He called Linda Kline (the other librettist of the show, as well as a former girlfriend of Ed’s) to get her permission to shake things up, and she gave it.

It was very important for us to get it right because Ed has an important monologue about his hopes for his musical legacy that is echoed in the second act. I reworked the music so that the awful news of Ed’s firing stops the song (which began in C major) in mid-phrase. Sophie makes an effort to cheer him up as the song begins again, this time in the brighter key of D major. A vamp with a feeling of hope occurs while Ed does his monologue. Then suddenly, the key modulates to Eb and the Company sings  background ‘oohs and ahhs’ while Sophie gets Ed to sing with her. These changes appeared to work much better. We’ll have to live with it for a bit to see if it proves to be the best solution.

The bulk of the rest of the day’s action was in staging “Gauguin” as well as reviewing three of the group numbers that Michael Callahan choreographed: “Light”, “Fridays at Four” and “Charm Song”.

Saturday June 23^rd began with a tour of the Unicorn Theatre so the cast could see the space in which we will eventually be performing. We even traveled in the tunnel  underneath the seating area but we realized it would be ridiculous to have any actors use this crossover since it terminated at a dead end (where my piano would be located). We then made our way back up Route 7 to the Levan Campus to begin our day’s rehearsal schedule. I continued working the actors on “Follow Your Star”.

We then ran the chunk of “Under Separate Cover”, “Don’t Do It Again” and “Gauguin’s Shoes”. After lunch, Michael and Bob finished staging the last twelve pages of Act One. At 4pm we did a stumble through of Act One. It felt pretty nice to have covered all aspects of the act in six days, and morale was very high going into the first Sunday off. Lastly, Bob received a FedEx package from Linda Kline, that contained a pair of red suspenders that belonged to Ed. We all felt like we had received a lucky charm!

Third BTG post!

On Wednesday June 20^th we continued into Act One and worked on the entire BMI Musical Theatre Workshop sequence which includes three musical numbers: “Fridays At Four”, “Charm Song” and “Paris Through The Window”. This is a well-known weekly NYC workshop where budding songwriters get to try out their material in front of their peers. The workshop was originally taught by the legendary Broadway conductor Lehman Engel, and he is a character in the show that inspires Ed Kleban to work hard at his craft. A cool part about this sequence is that in our production I will be on stage as the accompanist of the workshop! After lunch, we reviewed the work we did and got into the scene between Mona and Ed, a fellow songwriter (but not very good one) who attempts to seduce Ed. (Although Ed is the hero of our story, he is only human and certainly not without faults- and one of his big ones was juggling multiple women.)

On Thursday June 21^st we continued working the Mona/Ed scene in Act One and progressed through a scene at Columbia Records. Felicia, a member of the BMI workshop class, becomes a producer at the label and tries to convince Ed to give up his desire to write a famous Broadway musical. In real life, Ed worked as a producer for Columbia, but his assignments were for exotica music titles like “Cha-Cha for Lovers” or for B-list music artists such as Jim Nabors and Percy Faith. This was a frustrating time for Ed; he was making a decent living but he felt artistically unfulfilled. One of his major coups was producing the extremely well received and financially successful soundtrack album of the 1960’s musical JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL.

In today’s rehearsal, we were able to rehearse and stage five tunes: “Mona” (a bossa nova that humorously describes the show’s character as if she were a tourist attraction), “Making Up Ways” (a tender love ballad that Ed sings to Sophie), “Under Separate Cover” (an upbeat rock number about a couple’s separation from marriage), “Don’t Do It Again” (a vampy Billie Holiday type blues that Felicia sings to Ed) and “Gauguin’s Shoes” (a soft-shoe comedy number).

Many of the songs in ACA were originally written for a show Ed was trying to get produced on Broadway called GALLERY (later retitled SAVING THE MUSE). The main character goes to an art gallery and is inspired by the paintings of artists like Chagall & Michaelangelo. Tahitian artwork by Paul Gauguin is the inspiration for “Gauguin’s Shoes”.  Linda Kline revealed to us that “Gauguin” was originally done with hats and canes. Our version will be a Tahitian fantasy. To be sure, it will be very funny!