ARS Day 15

January 15

Surprise, surprise: I'm tired.

I got to the theatre early to hammer out a solo horn section for Belafonte's "Jump in the Line." I believe the original is a trio (?) of screaming trumpets. We're working with two clarinets and two trumpets. I divided it into three parts. The tricky part was modifying the rhythms. It's a calypso-y song that works on a lot of up-beats and syncopation. (Not my expertise). Anyway, I got it figured out, and we were able to plug it in during music rehearsal.

Working on music is really what fries my brain in these rehearsals. We work at a pace that is faster than what I'm used to. I'm also not a theory/composition master. And most of the musicians in the troupe play by ear. Or they're able to print off guitar tabs and just roll with it. I can sing out parts till I go blue in the face, but the trumpet music needs to be written down, and I often have to work on it by myself (not always), which means getting more homework done with the music. For whatever reason, working on chords--even when I'm playing piano on the occasional song--is so much easier. I'm not sure why. Well, part of the reason is I don't have to transpose with the band when I'm on piano...

Anyway, I'm underestimating the time it takes. I think for the future shows in the Ren Season, I'm going to have to re-adjust my prior standard of "only working on music during rehearsals." Plus, I've got a lot more stage time in Timon and Epicene.

When I have the notes figured out and written down, I can fly (it's very similar to knowing lines). Okay, enough about that.

We had about 2 1/2 hours to get through the back half of the show. A big debate among the troupe is when our interlude will take place. We're considering having two, even. This play is structured in three acts, and the end of act 1 and 2 is really clean. Our proposed interlude is clocking in at well over an hour (which is asking a lot of an audience). I think we may lean toward two ten minute breaks (or maybe a 15 and then a quick 5). We'll see. Another option is to have the interlude end right after the dinner scene, but it's still pretty late in the play.

Dress Rehearsal Time:
We're quite the marvelously eclectic bunch. You'll have to wait for pictures next week. I'd post a selfie (I have no shame), but I honestly look like any waiter at a modern restaurant. Black pants, white shirt, a white apron thing, and a maroon-ish tie. I experimented with parting my hair down the middle (because Josh, playing the innkeeper Brighella is). My hair's pretty short (and thinning...) but I did what I could.

The big fun in the run was Greg and I managed to jump a fair amount in the Dinner Scene. It had never happened before, but we had also never run that scene with the whole front half of the play before us. (Truffaldino is a GIANT responsibility, and Greg's doing a great job.)

I was SO CLOSE to improvising a bit to get us back on track, but went ahead, dashed offstage and told everyone back stage that we jumped. This is the closest I've ever felt to what I think it must be to be a quarterback--making snap decisions. I don't claim to have any athletic propensities whatsoever (especially football), so this is a risky simile.

Thankfully, it turned out A-OK. I think I made the right decision. If a major collision to happen in this scene, I'm not sure what would happen. I'll just be light on my toes and be ready for anything (and trust in the precision of my scene partners).

We've got our first preview tomorrow night. This is the first time this play has ever been done at the Blackfriars.