Diary of a Music Director - Part VIII - "Easy Street"

It's over. The final performance was Sunday afternoon, and none too soon.

The cast had a bad case of "Lastshowitis", in which some of the actors took advantage of the last performance to either use some of the bits they'd been saving, or just ham it up one last time. As a result some of the scenes became much more about them than the plot or the main characters. Ah well, it happens. It's a shame for the audience who pays just as much as any other performance and expects a controlled show, but most of the performers are amateurs, so what can you do. You get what you pay for :)

Speaking of audiences...one of my huge pet peeves in any crowd, whether it's a play, a movie, a church service, whatever. If you're in a situation where everyone is trying to listen to one source of sound, if you have a crying child or a misbehaving child...or even a babbling baby, take them out. Or better yet, don't bring them. There's nothing more distracting to performers or other audience members than to try and concentrate on what's going on when someone's little darling is raising the roof, crying for juice or just being a general nuisance. Now sometimes these things can happen - kids get cranky, upset, whatever. I know, I've been through that. But before it escalates, take them outside. Sure, you paid as much for a ticket as the other folks did but you have a responsibility to ensure your party doesn't disrupt the event. You temporarily forfeit the right to see that part of the show if your child is raising a fuss - they have to be removed until they're calmed down. And if your child is too young to come to the show anyway, find a sitter and leave him or her behind. It's that simple. Your right to bring your kids with you wherever you go ends when they affect other people's rights to enjoy the experience without distraction.

Ok, rant over. I have several church-related productions in the next couple weeks, then it's Christmas and New Years - typically those couple of weeks are fairly relaxed as we visit my wife's family out of town for a few days, then come home to a big New Year's Eve party at our house with some good friends.

Looks like "Easy Street" from here on out. :)

I don't have any upcoming theatre plans at the moment, but next time I do something I may do another Diary, if there's interest. What did you think about this particular series? Let me know...

Diary of a Music Director - Part VII: "It's a Hard Knock Life"

We're three performances into the show and things are going smoothly. The band's hitting a groove and most numbers have become fairly routine. When you first start running a show there are a thousand little details the musical director has to pay attention to, such as cues, tempos, fades in/fades out and such. When the show has begun to run though, those things become common knowledge to everyone in the group and I don't have to be as precise - everyone knows what's coming and reacts appropriately. That's what makes the first couple runthroughs and opening nights rough, until you get used to the flow of the show it requires a lot more concentration and you can't really enjoy yourself a lot. Now I find myself being able to watch some things on the stage I haven't been able to see before, and also to really enjoy myself on some of the bigger numbers so it's worth it.

Interestingly I seem to have become both a friend and a menace to local wildlife. Tonight's show (Saturday) saw poor doggy Sandy get loose during the final bows and run off stage. After the curtain closed and we began our exit music I saw the mutt run out of the curtains, jump onto the floor of the audience and begin running amok - much to the delight of the children in the front row. I hopped up from my spot in the band, ran over and cornered the confused canine, scooping him up and handing him off to Annie who with a few others had run through the curtain looking for him. Disaster averted.

Not such for one of the woodland creatures hereabouts - driving home last night from the show, I was broadsided in a particularly dark part of the Pellissippi Parkway (the route home) by what appeared to be at least a 4-5 point buck. The deer appeared out of knowhere in front of my car and to the left - he had apparently been trying to cross the highway left to right - and didn't quite beat my car. He plowed into my left front fender, scrambled and rolled down the side of my car and smacked into the drivers side passenger door before vanishing. I saw a car behind me swerve to avoid him as well, and that's the last I saw of him. If he actually survived the impact I'm certain he couldn't have lasted the night. I don't know how much damage was done to my car - my brand new (to me) 2005 Ford Focus, that I bought back in June, incidentally - and I'm afraid to find out....

It's a Hard Knock Life for us. For sure.

Diary of a Music Director - Part VI: "Tomorrow"

Well, you probably saw that post title coming.....

"Annie" opens tomorrow at the Oak Ridge Playhouse and runs this weekend through next weekend. I'd like to invite any local Knoxville bloggers to come see the show and enjoy a couple hours of fat-free, low-cal musical theatre during and after the big Thanksgiving holidays...

Our final dress rehearsal is tonight, and the band continues to gel. Actually, my friend Michael the Bass Player is chronicling events as well so you can visit his site to get a play-by-play of how last night's Dress went.

As he mentions, this is the first time I've really played lead piano in a show before - I hadn't considered it that way, but it's actually true. When I lead a band I typically play supplemental keyboard, which is using an electronic keyboard to simulate parts that aren't present - trumpets, strings, that sort of thing - and which are needed to create that full orchestral sound. In this summer's "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" the other keyboard player and I switched around a bit, one playing lead sometimes and one playing other, while we also alternated on supplemental.

But I continue to find my own performance skills leave a lot to be desired - I'm not that technically proficient, and I tend to try to play about my skill levels at times. For one thing my hands get sweaty a lot, and trying to play intricate melody lines on piano can generate a lot of wrong notes - especially in parts I'm not quite as familiar with. The folks backing me up are a lot more experienced in actual performance than I am, so I hope I'm not holding us back :) That may just be my paranoia talking, but it exists and I have to deal with it.

Otherwise we sound fine, the cast sounds fine and a splendid time is guaranteed for all.

Come see. Tomorrow - it's only a day away.

Betcher bottom dollar...

Diary of a Music Director - Part V: "You Won't Be An Orphan For Long"

Yesterday was a marathon rehearsal for "Annie", at least for your humble host. Well, it was a marathon in and of itself...

Right after church was over, I had to head out and be in Oak Ridge at 1:00 for our first band read through. I didn't have time to grab lunch since it's a half-hour drive from Bearden to the Oak Ridge Playhouse, so the race was on.

Our band consists of:

Michael - Bass
Greg - Guitar
Kerry - Drums
Beckie - Keyboard, trumpet
Patty - Flute, clarinet, sax

And myself on piano. The read-through was a great success, better than any I've participated in so far. I attribute that to the professionalism and experience of all involved. A number of times I've used student or amateur performers in shows, and what they had in enthusiasm they sometimes lacked in overall skill - which occasionally caused some headaches. But not this time - each of our band members has done a number of shows before, and are experienced musicians. It's really important when putting together an "orchestra" to get people who don't just know how to play a horn or beat a rhythm, musicianship is key because of the constantly fluxuating requirements of the musical stage. A cut here, a key transposition there, can be really confusing to those not accustomed to playing a show. But there's no problem this time. I plan to keep all these folks on my speed dial for future shows :)

But overall it's nice not to be the orphan piano player out there - now I've got family coming in :)

Oh, and Kara, our Annie, is much better now - strep seems to be mostly gone, though her throat still sounds a bit scratchy... She's a trooper, and one of the most visually engaging young actresses I've seen in a while. She has a sweet smile and infectious enthusiasm for the part, as well as good stage presence.

Typically on Sunday before opening (which is on Thanksgiving, by the way) we run what's called a "Dry Tech" - which is basically zombie-walking through the show mainly to nail down scenery changes, lights, props, etc. However, this show is different - yesterday was a quick review of scene changes in the second act, then a complete Act 1 run-through. Something normally reserved for the next couple of days. So that means we're really ahead of the game, compared to normal musicals. And that makes life a little easier for everyone - cast, crew, and assorted directors :)

Tonight's a Dress Rehearsal and we put the band to work for the first time with the cast. I have a tradition of inviting interested cast members who want to come to the band read-through and sing along, and several took advantage of it. I think it's helpful for principals (Annie, Daddy Warbucks, etc.) to hear the real music in a more relaxed setting for the first time, rather than cold up on the stage on First Dress Rehearsal night. It's my responsibility to make sure the actors are comfortable with their singing parts, and sometimes adding a full band when they're used to just a piano rehearsal accompianist can be jarring. I don't anticipate any problems in that regard tonight, but it pays to be ready.

Costumes will be added tonight for the first time, as will more extensive lighting, props and scenery. The house will be dark, and we'll be in a mostly performance mode from here on out.

So far, things look like they're on track. Knock on proscenium arch... ;)

UPDATE: By the way, take a look at articles about the show from the Knoxville News Sentinel and the OakRidger (both sites require registration).

Diary of a Music Director - Part IV: "Little Girls"

You Know It's Going to Be a Bad Rehearsal of "Annie" When:





You find out your 13-yr-old lead actress has strep throat, a week before Opening Night....

Diary of a Music Director - Part III: "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here"

Mid-way through rehearsals for "Annie". This combined with the theatre conference last week have put me into serious stage mode. This kind of work is what I would love to do with my life, if, you know, I actually had enough talent to make a living at it. I've been a zombie at work because yet another day of updating work hours for the pathology lab on the website, or changing "Breast Cancer Screenings" to "Alzheimers Screenings" on the home page just lacks that certain creative energy flow...

The show continues to roll along, as we're approaching the end of blocking. So far the music on this show is, overall, the easiest of anything I've done as far as complexity goes. "Annie" is no Sondheim, and although the songs are catchy they're not very complex.

Still hanging around my neck is the search for a drummer. What is it with drummers in this town? I've had the rest of the ensemble set for weeks now: bass, guitar, supplemental keyboard and myself on piano. I've had two guys that I contacted decline due to prior commitments, and have had trouble getting in touch with other candidates. I may end up using my boss's son, a middle-schooler who - while talented - is inexperienced and may require some heavy coaching. But I would imagine if there was any show an inexperienced drummer could succeed, this is the one.

The biggest drawback of amateur/semi-pro theatre is the time I spend away from my family. This past week, through opening weekend, my typical day means seeing the kids for about an hour in the morning (plus the drive to school). That's about it, since I go to rehearsal before Laura brings them home and they're in bed when I'm finished. I'm trying to pencil in something Saturday afternoon with them, but no promises...

Diary of a Music Director - Part II - "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile"

Week one of rehearsals for "Annie" is done. Just vocal instruction so far, where I teach and work with the cast on all the songs - choral, solos, whatever. Blocking starts tonight and I'll be there, plugging away on the piano whenever a song is being choreographed.

Period shows like these often use names, places and events from the past that have little resonance with today's audiences. I remember we did "Bye Bye Birdie" in high school, and at one point in the show the main character, Albert, is talking on the phone to someone from the media about his client, superstar Elvis-clone Conrad Birdie. It turns out the caller is not "Mr. Loos" as Albert first thinks, but he's corrected by the caller and repronounces it...um, well, "Mr. Luck". He hangs up the phone and we go on, the audience not have a clue what the whole bit was about. Except even the director (who should have known better) get it wrong. It wasn't "Mr. Loos" or "Mr. Luck" it was Mr. Luce, aka Henry Luce, the legendary creator and publisher of Time Magazine. But since nobody in the cast knew who Henry Luce was (why would we?) and apparently the drama teacher never bothered to look it up, it was mispronounced and the joke fell flat. Later I looked it up myself and figured it out.

So a little research is sometimes pretty important when you're presenting a historically set piece in the present. Sometimes it doesn't have to be a historical play to trip you up - when I did "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" this summer, not only was the show several years old, the songwriter that the work is based on was a Belgian/Frenchman churning out popular tunes in France in the 1960's. So there were a number of cultural and temporal anachronisms I had to research and clarify to the cast before we could go forward.

Which returns us to Annie, and an amusing story I found online of an actor who ran into a similar problem when they were learning a routine from the show in a revue. Well, read about it here and you'll see what I mean.

Oh, and you may need this link to help you out: Beau Brummell.

Enjoy.

Diary of a Music Director - Part I: "Annie"

The first week - actually, only two days - of "Annie" rehearsals are over. For those of you who might be curious, we've now gone over about 3/4 of all the songs in the show.

The way that it works is certain members of the cast come to the rehearsal at different times and I go through each some with them. I teach them the notes if they need it, work out parts, and generally work out the tone and feel of each song. In the case of soloists, we work together to find the easiest way to sing certain passages or work on breathing and phrasing. A big problem doing music in East Tennessee is the dad-gum Southern hills accent we have here. It's more prominent in women than men, that I can tell, and is tough to work around.

(Basically, the "ahs", "oohs," and "ehs" are very flat and drawn out, to create a drawl. Since few musicals outside of L'il Abner are set in the South, it's very noticeable when you hear some young East Tennessee girl sing, "To-Mahr-ah, To-MAHR-ah, ah'll love ya, To-Mahr-ah...." I have to get them to consciously round their "ohs" and make more pure sounds. I'm sure this is just terribly interesting to everyone :) But it's something I have to work with folks on.)

We also work through the big company numbers, assigning individual parts to members of the chorus and working on dynamics and such.

I'm lucky, because "Annie" is a fairly straightforward, simple musical. The music's fun, but not complicated and we knocked it out pretty quickly.

One section features an Andrews Sisters-esqu trio that will probably be the toughest thing we work on, due to the tight harmonies. But even after just working yesterday and today, the trio of young women is about 75% of the way there. They just need to be familiar with it, and confident. It's a kick watching and helping people learn music, mold it and eventually make it their own. I love it.

So next week we'll finish the learning process and review with memorization. Then blocking will be ready to start.

-- To Be Continued