Double checking your work

The Music Man opened last night at APA, the performing arts high school in Union County, NJ.  This is the first fully-staged musical the school has produced.  Ever.  Can you believe that?  A performing arts school that's never done a musical?  Anyway, for some background, when APA decided they needed to produce a musical, they hired Juan and Val as guest artists.  Of course, hiring one Pineda means you've basically hired the staff of Pineda Conservatory, so Señor Chris and I were jobbed in for choreography duties and Trish was lassoed to do hair, make-up, costumes, photography and any other random crap that might get overlooked. 

Happily, the students acquitted themselves nicely.  For a first effort, it was actually quite impressive and the sold out crowd seemed to enjoy themselves.  There were no major flubs or disasters and the show timed in at a reasonable 2.5 hours even with the intermission.  I mean, the cast shaved about a minute from "Rock Island" alone given the craz-azy tempo they set.  Seriously, it was like they all did lines of coke before boarding that train.  But they pulled it off and we didn't even have to stab anyone in the heart with adrenaline. 

Given the show's extremely limited rehearsal time, I just barely finished choreographing "Marion the Librarian" the week before tech.  In fact, I had to leave it up to the cast to finish up the number since I literally ran out of rehearsal time.  Since I was also recruited to play keyboard in the pit, I hadn't really watched the show (I was trying sight read the damn score during the last two run-throughs) until last night.  And thus the title and moral of today's blog:  Always double check your work. 

Looking up to admire my brilliant choreography during last night's performance, I realized that perhaps I hadn't explained my concept for the library scene quite as clearly as I had thought.  Suffice to say, there will be an early dance call before the matinee on Saturday.  Sorry kids, art isn't easy. 

Of course, we haven't even closed Music Man yet and we're already rehearsing our next project, Die Fledermaus, with Pineda Lyric.  I've adapted the script for our kids and hopefully I've made the convoluted plot and dialogue a bit more palatable.  I mean, it's still cheesy, but at least I was able excise some of the more dubious jokes. 

It's fascinating to see how political correctness has aged both Music Man and Fledermaus.  Both shows literally use disabilities for laughs - Music Man has a lisping child and Fledermaus has a stuttering lawyer.  At yesterday's performance, you could feel the audience squirm uncomfortably when Amaryllis first makes fun of Winthrop's lisp.  I could see the communal thought bubble rise above the audience's head, "Do not laugh at the lisping boy." 

I guess it's all in the set-up.  I mean, the audiences at Book of Mormon are convulsing with laughter at the line, "F*ck you, God, in the ass, mouth and c*nt."  In comparison, lisps and stutters don't seem so bad.

I'm now off to see my accountant.  Hopefully I'll get a nice juicy return this year.  Then three more Music Mans this weekend and I can collapse on the couch with a pizza, a pint of Ben & Jerry's and my DVR remote.