Our arrival in Denver was less than auspicious. We had chosen to take the budget airline, JetBlue, which had a single flight from New York to Denver (9 pm) and from Denver to New York (1 am). As intimidating as the concept of returning on a 1 am flight with a 3-year-old in tow, we were far less concerned about the 9 pm departure. Unfortunately there were severe fog conditions and the flight got delayed until shortly after midnight. What with extra security concerns that meant we'd been at the airport for six hours, a not inconsiderable time, especially when you're 3. (Sam -- our 3-year-old -- and I had recently survived an eight hour delay in Pittsburgh's airport where we'd been visiting Sarah who was appearing in the PCLO's production of Company.) This put our arrival in Denver at about 3:30 am local time where, due to a communication mix-up, the Denver Center had not provided for our ground transportation, and, unlike in New York City airports where you find lines of cabs waiting 24 hours a day, there were no cabs in sight. Eventually we called for a cab -- which would still have to make the half-hour drive out from the city! And when we gave the cab driver the address of our apartment he asked us how to get there! (How the heck should we know?) Sam had been (mostly) asleep since shortly before the plane had taken off, so our arrival at the apartment at about 5:30 in the morning left us about, oh, an hour before he'd wake up for the day. Well, that's one way to beat off jet lag....
My fears that this was an omen about the future of the project were completely and utterly unfounded. (To skip to the end of the story, our experience with the Denver Center Theatre Company was the most delightful of any production of a show of ours; they are the most professional, accomodating, thoughtful and, well, nice group of people we'd ever come across in regional theatre. Any problems were addressed forthwith, any needs were met with alacrity, any crisis dispensed with. I cannot praise or thank them enough.)
We spent our Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning acclimating, laying in supplies, and catching up on sleep, looking forward to Monday evening's first rehearsal. Word came through that this first rehearsal would have a read-/sing-through of the show, and for the powers that be. Several of us thought that putting everyone on the spot in such a totally unprepared state might not be in the best interest of the actors or the show, and we agreed to make the read-through a much more casual affair.
Kisses and hugs all around. I think everyone was surprised at the huge number of people in the room for the first rehearsal -- after all, this was just a four-character show, with a four-player orchestra. But there were at least thirty people there around four or five large folding tables placed end-to-end -- designers (Andrew Yelisich, costumes and Don Darnutzer, lights -- Ralph Funicello, sets, was tied up with another production at the moment) and their assistant(s) (Lisa M. Orzolek, Robert Morgan, and Heather Brooks, among others, I think), a multitude of stage managers (our regular PSM, Chris Ewing and Erock (ask him to explain the name sometime) who'd be substituting for him while Chris was running performances of A Christmas Carol) and assistant stage managers (Jennifer Havenner and Phoebe Sacks), production manager Rick Barbour, about a zillion people from the different DCTC departments, musical director Kimberly Grigsby, director Randal Myler, the three creators, and, of course, our cast (Jacqueline Antaramian, Walter Charles, Adam Heller, and Cass Morgan).
The set design was shown to much oohing and ahhing, especially over the use of Hamilton, TX native Carl Rice Embrey's painting, "The Road to Ambrose," for the backdrop. The lighting, always short-shrifted because of its inability to be demonstrated, was described and, well, appreciated (from the long view I can tell you that the lighting for this production was one of the most spectacular designs ever seen on the stage -- no hyperbole, it's true). The costume sketches and swatches were explained and passed around oohgled and ahhgled. We all pored over the drawings, sketches and plans, awestruck and anxious to see the actuality, although, of course, we were in no rush to get on the stage before we were ready. Randal, Mark and Sarah talked a little about the history of the show, and we all talked about some of the changes and fixes we had made. Then Randal talked a bit about performance philosophy, rehearsal process and schedule.
Equity business was gotten out of the way, we took a break and came back for the read-through. It was agreed that the cast would kind of struggle through the songs that they remembered. Kim had spent some time in advance with the score and was prepared to play. Adam admirably acquitted himself with the short opening number, "The Stars." (Adam, you remember, is the only actor of the four who is new to the production, the other three having done most of the workshops and the CAP21 production.) Once we got to subsequent numbers Cass, Walter and Jacquie were pleased that they had remember more than they had thought (although less than I had hoped!), but it was decided that rather than have Adam struggle through the unfamiliar material (woe to the listeners) I would do his singing for him (jeepers, Adam! You'd had the material for at least a day already! <---tongue in cheek).
The crowd watching the read-through was very appreciative, applauding and laughing in all the appropriate places. There were even tears when called for. Kim showed a thorough understanding of the material, and I was thrilled that we were apparently on the same wavelength. We writers could already tell at this early stage that the changes we had made would be very effective. The show already seemed tighter and stronger -- and shorter. And several hours later at the end of the night we were all drained, exhausted, and exhilarated at the prospect of beginning the rehearsal process in earnest the following day.
Originally published at Suite101.com Theatre, 2/19/02
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