Theater
I'm counting 3 more rehearsals before opening night. Lock 'n' load. Plus there's that preview during the 4th of July celebration (on the 3rd). It's all coming up quick. Good rehearsal tonight? Don't ask me. I can't tell the good from the bad. But we're a week away from opening night and no rehearsals Friday or Saturday. (None Monday either, but that's more a result of the facility being unavailable.) Who can interpret the signs? Come the dawn. Quoth the raven.
Dan on 06.30.06 @ 01:08 AM CT [link]
There's a noticeable change in today's on-set picture. It's getting close. One week away is the preview at the 4th of July celebration (on the 3rd). That's when we'll be doing the "Kansas City" song and dance to promote the show which starts a few days after that. Ooh. We made it through the whole show, start to finish, in less than 3 hours tonight. That's something. Actually, it really is.
Now that rehearsals have stretched out to 11 (or so), it makes for some very sleepy days. I'm well rested after the weekend, though, ready no doubt to begin a repeat of last week starting tomorrow. Last week included 3 nights of 5 hours sleep and one of 4. Why one less hour that night? That's the night I ran over something on the expressway that ripped some panel underneath the engine compartment away from its attachment to the frame. I don't know what it was -- small enough to not hit the bumper, but too big to pass cleanly under me. This part was bolted on and keeps things like gravel from bouncing up into the engine or whatever else is important under there. And after it was ripped loose, I couldn't go more than 25 mph without it bending down and scraping the road. I had the brilliant idea of trying to tie it up, but I didn't have anything like string or twine or rope. I stopped at a gas station and they didn't have anything either. That left me with a much longer drive than usual. Made even longer when a cop pulled me over. I told him why I was going slow and had my hazards on and he let me go. I was able to tie it up with some twine to the grill when I got home. I was even more amazed when it held up during my drive to work the next day. I suppose I could have left it tied up, like some hillbilly, but no, I left it to get repaired at great expense. It's never a simple repair. I believe they're replacing the bumper or something bumper related, where this thing gets attached to the car. Good as new, it better be.
Whew. Rehearsal went until 11:15 tonight. I would say, sweet -- if I didn't have to get up for work in the morning. You know what? I'll say it anyway. Sweet! When it comes to doing something you like, too much is never enough. Here's what the set looked like around 7 pm today (well, the 19th). It's basically the same as Thursday, but a slightly different configuration of the buildings for a different scene.
This is how the Wallace Bowl at Gilllson Park is looking as of June 15th. In less than 3 weeks, "Oklahoma!" opens there. We just started rehearsing at the site this week. When I first got there, it was like, whoa, this is familiar. I'm pretty sure I was there 30 years ago when I came to Chicago to visit my uncle for a week. I found my brochures and ticket stubs and I even had a piece of paper where I'd typed out things I'd seen or done. It would have been a free concert, so I didn't expect to find a program, but I didn't mention it on the piece of paper, even though I included things like "Lake Shore Drive". Even so, I feel pretty confident I was there one evening in 1975.