Opening Night
Finally. The third of the three shows I'm Musically Directing this spring is opening. Hopefully. This one is in the amphitheatre at Silver Dollar City, so if it rains tonight (40-60% chance of Thunderstorms according to weather.com) we won't actually open. But I'm still hoping it will hold off long enough for us to do our show (or at least let up for a few hours so we can dry out the stage, perform and go home.) Anyone who has ever been to Silver Dollar City is probably expecting another Country Music Jamboree. Not this year. Ain't gonna happen. This year it's "Hot Rods and Hair Do's." All music from the late 50's and early 60's! No Gospel quartet! No country music. Not even a steel guitar. And they've completely refaced and redesigned the set. No more country barn housing. Now it's a representational 50's town, with a High School front, Malt Shop, Garage, Beauty Shop and giant radio for a bandstand. Very cool, very colorful. We'll probably get letters. Oh well, I think it's great that the park is doing something different for a change. At any rate, it will be fun and interesting to gauge the audience response tonight.
Rick came over last night to review The Prison Musical. I wasn't there for most of the time (he discussed with Ned, since Ned's done most of the writing) and it seems to be in better shape than we thought. The best thing is that I think Ned now sees that it has a life beyond a local one-night reading in Springfield, MO: He mentioned to Rick that in an ideal universe, John Tartaglia would play Daniel. I still think John is a little young for the part as I read it, but it's Ned's character so what do I know? Well, I do know that Romelda T. Benjamin (Sister Chantelle in BARE) must play Jocelyn. She must. I told her that when I saw BARE. (I don't know whether she thought I was serious or a stalker, but she must.) I have to get Ned to the city this fall when BARE re-opens at Dodger Stages so that he can see her. The part of Debbie, I'm not so sure about. I would love to see Ann Harada play this role, but Kaitlin Hopkins would be really incredible in it too. Argh. Of course, if John Tartaglia plays Daniel, John Hill could play Skylar. And he could do an incredible job of it too. Not that any of these people would have the slightest bit of interest in doing a reading of this thing even if we DID get to NY with it. But it's nice to dream.
We also discussed the pain of making a transition from Springfield to NY (or anywhere) as one half of a couple moves ahead to a job while the other half tries to catch up. How you can do that when you're 20, but by even 30 it becomes much harder to just pack a trunk and go somewhere with $300 in your pocket and no job. And as Rick pointed out, even if you have a job lined up, it doesn't mean you can afford to make the move - hiring a truck, security deposits, etc. It takes so much money to start over these days. Ugh. But I also know it takes a giant leap of faith. I've done it before, I can do it again, and whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, right?
So for now I'm going to go off and arrange an exit music medley for tonight. Tomorrow I get back to working on the musical with Ned. Well, maybe Friday. I deserve a day off. =:@}
Rick came over last night to review The Prison Musical. I wasn't there for most of the time (he discussed with Ned, since Ned's done most of the writing) and it seems to be in better shape than we thought. The best thing is that I think Ned now sees that it has a life beyond a local one-night reading in Springfield, MO: He mentioned to Rick that in an ideal universe, John Tartaglia would play Daniel. I still think John is a little young for the part as I read it, but it's Ned's character so what do I know? Well, I do know that Romelda T. Benjamin (Sister Chantelle in BARE) must play Jocelyn. She must. I told her that when I saw BARE. (I don't know whether she thought I was serious or a stalker, but she must.) I have to get Ned to the city this fall when BARE re-opens at Dodger Stages so that he can see her. The part of Debbie, I'm not so sure about. I would love to see Ann Harada play this role, but Kaitlin Hopkins would be really incredible in it too. Argh. Of course, if John Tartaglia plays Daniel, John Hill could play Skylar. And he could do an incredible job of it too. Not that any of these people would have the slightest bit of interest in doing a reading of this thing even if we DID get to NY with it. But it's nice to dream.
We also discussed the pain of making a transition from Springfield to NY (or anywhere) as one half of a couple moves ahead to a job while the other half tries to catch up. How you can do that when you're 20, but by even 30 it becomes much harder to just pack a trunk and go somewhere with $300 in your pocket and no job. And as Rick pointed out, even if you have a job lined up, it doesn't mean you can afford to make the move - hiring a truck, security deposits, etc. It takes so much money to start over these days. Ugh. But I also know it takes a giant leap of faith. I've done it before, I can do it again, and whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, right?
So for now I'm going to go off and arrange an exit music medley for tonight. Tomorrow I get back to working on the musical with Ned. Well, maybe Friday. I deserve a day off. =:@}