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 6th, 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.
- - - - -
On Saturday
July 7th, 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.
