Rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals

At the moment, my life seems like one never-ending rehearsal of revolving shows, casts and production teams. I’ve just finished an excruciatingly painful week of rehearsals and run-throughs with what amounts to basically a 90-minute piece of fluff (High School Musical). The truly sad part of it all is that it isn’t in better shape, considering we started rehearsals in SEPTEMBER! Granted, there have been some breaks and it’s not like we rehearse everyday, but still, three months is an awfully long time for what amounts to a cheesy after school special. Hamlet it ain’t.

I might get busted on this one, but I think a lot of the blame goes to the rehearsal schedule. Of course, I should have spoken up. But hey, what can you do? I mean, 30 seconds of choreograph can potentially take half an hour to teach while a corresponding 30 seconds of dialogue may take five minutes. That’s a 6:1 ratio that wasn’t remotely reflected in the rehearsal breakdown. But then again, how many cast members have a nearly 2 hour commute each way to rehearsal? Anyone…anyone? No one? Well, me, for one. So I wasn’t exactly begging to have additional rehearsals added to the schedule. For perspective, Val schedules an hour or two of initial rehearsal time per ensemble number for our operas. Operas! And believe me, there ain’t a lot of full out dance breaks in Puccini.

A lot of the HSM “songs” - and I use the term loosely - straddle the line between requiring blocking and/or musical staging. Here’s where some major miscommunication took place. I really think we (the director and I) assumed the other was “blocking” certain numbers, so when we finally got to the run-throughs it was like, “Oh, I thought you were doing that?” Big time, “oops.” Anyway, it looks as though it will all work out.

This is the director’s first big show at the helm, so she seemed a bit stressed out when some dance numbers seemed a bit shaky. And by shaky, I mean fell apart completely. But, hell, It’s not uncommon for a Pineda Production to have its first full run-through on opening night. So compared to that, I guess we’re way ahead of the game. Wait until I decide to re-choreograph the entire opening number before the final run-through. Kidding - well, only half-kidding.