Monday, July 28, 2008

Les Mis pics

Brian Hart (Jean Valjean) and Billy Geltzeiler (Javert)

Catalina Gaglioti (Eponine) and Bobby O'Rourke (Marius)

Katy Cockrell and Dan Berman (Thenardiers)

Women's ensemble and Anna Dugan (Fantine)

Up all night

This may have been the most painful set change-over to date. Having added an extra performance of Les Mis on Sunday night due to outrageous ticket sales, we literally had less than 24 hours to turn over the stage for our middle school production, Cinderella. Though mostly painting, we were all exhausted from running a six show weekend of Les Mis.

Trish and I were in charge of painting the flats that would stand in for a generic European city - a cross between English Tudor and German village with a dash of Dutch detailing. Though pretty, it was certainly an odd middle European amalgamation albeit with an intense identity crisis. Oh well, the kids liked it and it was certainly colorful. And at 3AM, we really didn't care about ethnic authenticity anyway.

Note to self: never ask students to help paint! I know I'm generalizing, but when did they stop teaching kids to paint inside the lines? I'm all for artistic expression and all that good sh*t, but how hard is it to color in the friggin' lines? It's not brain surgery, people. And while I'm on the useless teenager rant, some of our lovely students stopped by late that evening (or early that morning, depending on how you look at it) to "visit." OK, fine, that's sweet and all, but if you're just going to stop by and say "hi" - then say "hi" and leave. These lovely students instead watched us work, then proceeded to go downstairs and try on costumes and generally f*ck around and never offered to help us. Did I also mention these same students had also just come from a cast party? So while we're busting our asses for them, they go and party, "visit" us, stay and goof off and then don't even offer to help. Of course, even if they did offer to help I would've said "no," but it's the thought that counts, right? To quote the great Fred Ebb:

"And even kids'll kick your shins and give ya sass Nobody's got no class!...
Jesus Christ, ain't there no decency left?
Nobody's got no class!

-Lyrics from "Class", Chicago


Since Juan, Val and Trish had to be up at the crack of ass the next morning for rehearsal, I forced the team to vacate the premises by 4:30am so they could at least manage a healthy hour or so of sleep. We'll definitely have to plan better for next summer. Perhaps a built-in show extension?

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Totally unprepared

So I took the Les Mis conductor's score home this week to practice and write down some cues. I can play the score fine and I can conduct it quite well, if I do say so myself. But play and conduct at the same time? - not so much. I should have spent way more time practicing conducting with my left hand and playing with my right, and less time inhaling paint fumes over the weekend. I totally suck at conducting with my left hand. Oh well, perhaps the audience will be so dazzled by the gorgeous lobby that they won't notice my spastic arm waving. My hope is that the accompanist Val hired to play run-throughs the last few days is good enough to cover most of the piano score and I can really just devote myself to conducting. Fingers crossed. Oy, and don't even get me started on Cabaret Night next week. There are going to be some stressed out kids memorizing music over the weekend.

Monday, July 21, 2008

High on the fumes, dude...

I've definitely been shirking my blogging duties as of late. Between working Morgan Stanley and getting Les Mis together, I've barely had time to take a dump, let alone write. That's actually not really accurate, as I can always make time for a good bowel movement. And yet I'm forcing myself to take some time out from my spoiled bankers and initiating some "me" time.

Well, I definitely woke up this morning with that familiar "I've partied all weekend in the dorm" feeling. Although I had to dig way back in the memory banks for it, since it's been decades since I've even stepped foot in a college dorm. But I spent the weekend painting (and inhaling the accompanying fumes) in the lobby of the CDC Theater in NJ. I (and Trish, too!) literally spent Friday night, all day Saturday (with one movie break) until 2AM, and all day Sunday trapped in the tiny lobby without air conditioning and with barely any ventilation. I've surely sustained some form of permanent lung damage, but I'm old and I'm sure to kick it at any moment anyway, so I thought, "What the f*ck?" Once again, forsaking health for external beauty. The lobby is gorgeous. And quite honestly, CDC doesn't deserve its beautiful new space after the hassle they gave us about trying to improve it. I mean, it was painted gray with gray trim and a gray carpet! Could you have picked a more monotonous, boring and unimaginative color scheme? It's a theater, for God's sake. A temple to creativity and the arts - and it was all gray. Did they not have a gay in the house to say, "Girl, what are you thinking, you need to sass it up!" And could it get any gayer than the color choices Trish and I made? - Iced Chai, Custard Cream and Cranberry - Why am I so hungry all of a sudden?

The Pineda Conservatory's Les Mis will be the first production to make use of the newly painted lobby. Good thing, as we're on our way to selling out all five performances. We actually ended up adding an additional Sunday evening performance because sales were so brisk. We have an audience, a theater and a beautiful new lobby. Now if we can just get the friggin' show together. I'm a little scared considering there are definitely some "under-rehearsed" moments throughout. But I'm sure it will be just grand by closing night.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

[TOS]

I wasn't sure if my "little show that could" would work in a Broadway house. Even in a "small" Broadway house like the Lyceum. Actually, I'm still not sure if the show stands up if you're not in the first few rows of the orchestra (Trish and I were in the third row, center orchestra). It's so intimate and cozy that I'm afraid some of the charm is probably lost in the mezzanine. And the balcony? Fuggedaboutit. When it played the Vineyard Off-Broadway last year, the theater was so small that you could literally make eye contact with all the actors from anywhere in the house. It was like having a bunch of your theater friends over for brunch, hanging out and just shooting the sh*t about life and the biz. Now it's on "The Broadway" and people are paying a hundred bucks a pop! That's some mark-up from the Andrew Jackson I gave up for a Vineyard ticket. For you [TOS] virgins, the show is a meta-musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical. It's full of self-referential jokes, insider theater gossip and obscure theater references - the perfect show for any theater queen or performer.

The first forty minutes are as clever, funny and wacky as I remembered from the show's previous incarnation. The only differences I could spot were a line here and there, originally spoken, now set to music. Frankly, the newly musicalized dialogue wasn't really an improvement as much as perhaps some producer saying, "You need to change something for the Broadway run." Even as a fan, I have to say, the getting-to-Broadway medley section was on the dull side and rather tedious except for the Sutton Foster replacement section. That juicy bit of insider information introduced a darker, more dramatic element that I think the piece was lacking in it's previous run. It also provided some honest to goodness conflict between the "characters" - in quotes since the actors play themselves. It's nice to know that these BFF's can get just as nasty as the rest of us. The performances are still surprisingly fresh considering the long Off- and Off-Off Broadway runs. Everyone seemed genuinely in the moment and nothing felt fake or insincere. My two fave moments remain "Die, Vampire" and "Way Back to Then." Heidi still sound f*ckin' amazing, fresh from her stint at Mermaid. The answering machine messages are still fun, especially the ones from LuPone and Ebersole.

I just wonder how long an insider musical can run when half the jokes are based on theater trivia only us diehards know about? I mean, there's a joke about Mary Stout getting hit by a hot dog cart, for God's sake. How many theater insiders even know who Mary Stout is? And if you do, you definitely are a hardcore theater whore (and the target demographic for this show). I'm sure I'll end up seeing it at least 2 or 3 more times (unless it hastily closes) through TDF or through rush tickets at a more reasonable $30.

FYI - definitely check out the podcasts of the [title of show] Show on http://www.titleofshow.com/. Especially the Christmas special and the episode about replacement casting.

Weekend at the Lake House

Trish and I spent a well-deserved weekend on Lake Harmony. In honor of his 40th Birthday, Chris rented a fabulous lake house in the Poconos and we spent our time eating, drinking and floating on the lake all weekend.

Me, Chris and Trish showing the love on the lake house balcony

Dewey making friends with the ducks

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Little Shop of Horrors

Well, the Pineda’s (plus honorary Pineda, Chris Johnson) were ass-tired after spending the day torturing our lovely conservatory students. But I knew we’d need some form of stress relief anyway, so I bought us all tickets to Little Shop at the Paper Mill. All in all, it was an extremely solid and enjoyable production. Probably most impressive were the urchins - holla’ to Montego Glover (Chiffon), a NY acquaintance of mine - those bitches can sing ya’ll. Not to be all racist and sh*t, but it was nice to hear African-American performers not “push” the singing and riffing so much, a la American Idol. All three just sang full and healthy and riffed tastefully but judiciously. It was obvious they were all kick-ass vocalists and didn’t need to have a my-dick’s-bigger-than-yours contest with each other - no jealousy or vocal envy between these three.

The physical production was also quite good. Much more appropriate and interesting than the hideous “modern” empty stage they tried to pass off as a “concept” for the last show I saw there, Baby. The rest of the cast was more than adequate with Jenny Fellner (Audrey) giving a surprisingly moving and funny rendition of “Somewhere That’s Green.” The only disappointment was Asa Somers (Orin) who I’ve seen do great work in Dance of the Vampires and recently in Next To Normal. He seemed miscast and not very distinctive as the sadistic dentist. Maybe it was on off night. Oh well, overall a solid B+. On a side note, there was an extremely loud farter sitting right by Trish and I. Nasty! He/She literally blew their horn twice, quite loudly during the first act. He/She must have downed the tums at intermission because we were fart-free during the second act. Well, unless they were letting loose some SBD’s. Good times at the Papermill.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Summer w/ whores, homeless and chain gangs

The Pineda Conservatory’s summer musical theatre program is finally in full swing! Yeah! After a somewhat controversial (understatement) split from the auspices of NJ Workshop from the Arts’ summer program, the Pineda’s decided to say “screw you” and start our own program. Well, we didn’t actually say “screw you,” but at times I honestly wanted to. Not that I’m not grateful for the opportunity and name recognition that NJWA afforded us, but after quadrupling their program attendance to over 60 students between two programs (an elementary and high school program) in just 3 years, they had the gall to tell us that we were getting paid too much. Too much? What ev’s. Now they’re back down to their original enrollment and we’ve got over 60 kids - and a waiting list - clamoring to get into our new program. I don’t mean to gloat, but all I have to say is don’t bite the hand that feeds because that hand may one day stop slipping you bon-bons. In their defense, I do have to give a shout out to NJWA Executive Director, Ted Schlosberg, who did take the time to try and resolve the many conflicting issues swirling about and also wished us the best on our new program. Props to Ted.

Anyway, we’ve been cranking away at Les Mis with our high school program and it’s going to be fierce. Those whores can sing! And I mean that literally - the gals who play whores in the show are all great singers. My one complaint is that we’re having difficulty getting the kids to relate to the harshness and hopelessness surrounding these characters. I mean, let’s get real, these kids haven’t exactly led the most difficult lives. They live in posh, suburban New Jersey, not the slums of Bombay. But we’re getting there. Maybe I’ll have them imagine life without their handheld devices or parents’ wallets. That would be a grim life indeed.

My only disappointment with the program this year is that I’m not able to be there everyday with the kids. Instead, I have to split my time between NJ and my new day job in the lovely, but currently faltering, financial services industry, sigh. I guess I can’t complain because I do get paid quite a hefty sum to pamper spoiled bankers and write on my blog. But I do miss the daily interaction with the kids and being able to watch the development and growth of the show through to the final performance. Oh well, sacrifices must be made in order to pay off those pesky student loans. I can’t friggin’ believe that I’m in my late 30’s and still paying those damn things off. Moral of story: theatre doesn’t pay, but banking sure does! I don’t want to be all negative and sh*t, but if you’re going into theatre, be ready to eat a lot of spam and ramen noodles.
"I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing thana hundred people's ninth favorite thing."

Jeff Bowen, Lyrics "[Title of Show]"