Today marks the third day of rehearsal on the next show in the rotation. It's the show that I was most excited about as I got ready to come here this summer! And let me preface the below comments by say that I think it will be VERY GOOD!
We have a guest director in town for this show, we'll call him Truvey. Now Truvey has been an actor here before and I've worked with him the past two summers. This year he is just coming from a job where he was actually in the show that he is now directing here. so he knows it quite well! All of that is good stuff except for the fact that he's driving me crazy. If I hear the words "having just done the show...." one more time I might go mad! Yesterday Truvey was actually reading in lines for the guy playing the role that he just played and using the characters voice to do so. (RUDE!) At one point in rehearsal he approached me at the keys and said, "What was just going on with the music right there?" My response at a later moment was something to the effect of you do your job and I'll do mine.
Oh gosh...I see a long week ahead of me. The thing is that I've been working with The Man at my side as the director for the entire summer so far and I'll be doing one more show with him at the end of the season. I guess you don't realize how easy it is to work with some people until you aren't working with them. I'm taking deep breaths and hoping to get through the week.
Until next time...from the Mountains of Music Madness.
CK
Friday, July 27, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Opening
Show #4 opens tonight (third musical). I have mixed emotions about it. I really like the show!!! It's a great one. But I have a little bit of a problem doing it with such a small band as we're using. It just doesn't sound right without all those saxes and horns in there. The show was written by my favorite composer and I really just think that he is brilliant! Unfortunately he thought it was a good idea to change keys every page of music and to write songs that gave the singers lots of liberties. These two factors make it so that I have to work REALLY HARD throughout the show. There is a lot of room for error (or messiness I suppose).
BUT, when the hardest part about it all is that the set designer decided it would be a good idea to build a platform above my head. There are two main problems with this. #1 it makes it hard for me to hear the singers! #2 it makes it impossible for me to see the singers. At one point there are curtains drawn underneath this platform which makes it so that I'm sitting inside a tent. Now really?!?! Who in their right mind thinks it a good idea to put the pianist/conductor inside a tent and expects them to keep the pace of a show moving. And really thats how it works. Once the show begins it's the job of the stage manager and the conductor to keep it all moving.
So needless to say, there is some anxiety there! I'm sure it'll go off just fine but I'm expecting today to be a very stressful day! The good news is that tomorrow we start working on the show that I've been looking forward to most for the summer. And that opens next Thursday and then I HAVE A WEEK OFF!
Keeping my cool in the Mountains of Musical Madness...
CK
BUT, when the hardest part about it all is that the set designer decided it would be a good idea to build a platform above my head. There are two main problems with this. #1 it makes it hard for me to hear the singers! #2 it makes it impossible for me to see the singers. At one point there are curtains drawn underneath this platform which makes it so that I'm sitting inside a tent. Now really?!?! Who in their right mind thinks it a good idea to put the pianist/conductor inside a tent and expects them to keep the pace of a show moving. And really thats how it works. Once the show begins it's the job of the stage manager and the conductor to keep it all moving.
So needless to say, there is some anxiety there! I'm sure it'll go off just fine but I'm expecting today to be a very stressful day! The good news is that tomorrow we start working on the show that I've been looking forward to most for the summer. And that opens next Thursday and then I HAVE A WEEK OFF!
Keeping my cool in the Mountains of Musical Madness...
CK
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Looking Ahead
I've reached the point in the season now where I am looking forward to my first day off. That'll happen in a few weeks when they go into rehearsal for the comedy that's being produced. No music in that one so I'll be free! In general, I am really enjoying the people here still. I know what you're thinking, "wow that sounds kind of harsh." I mean it does, but you gotta understand what theater folk can be like.
In years past there has been a lot of issues with people being respectful and kind to each other. I mean it's hard to work together every day and then come back to a house where everyone lives. For instance, yesterday my roommate, let's call her The Mrs., she really upset me in rehearsal. I left the room and she changed something in the music with my assistant while I was gone. Not cool! I came back into the room, found out what had happened. Took a deep breath and approached her on the next break to say, we're not changing that. I don't change your dances when you leave the room so you're not changing the music when I do. You know, these things happen when you work with people. You have to communicate...no big deal. But then you have to come back to the house and live with that person. Now The Mrs. and I have learned how to deal with things like that because we're great friends but that's not the case with everyone here.
So the moral of this story....I'm looking forward to a day off!
Ciao from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
In years past there has been a lot of issues with people being respectful and kind to each other. I mean it's hard to work together every day and then come back to a house where everyone lives. For instance, yesterday my roommate, let's call her The Mrs., she really upset me in rehearsal. I left the room and she changed something in the music with my assistant while I was gone. Not cool! I came back into the room, found out what had happened. Took a deep breath and approached her on the next break to say, we're not changing that. I don't change your dances when you leave the room so you're not changing the music when I do. You know, these things happen when you work with people. You have to communicate...no big deal. But then you have to come back to the house and live with that person. Now The Mrs. and I have learned how to deal with things like that because we're great friends but that's not the case with everyone here.
So the moral of this story....I'm looking forward to a day off!
Ciao from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
Monday, July 16, 2012
Blunder #2
Professional Blunder #2
So here's the situation. Some of you may know that I've been working on an original show that was written by The Man. Apparently, he did this show here several years ago and it went over quite well. So he decided that it would be a good idea to revamp the show (add some new songs, modernize some pop culture references, etc). No that's all well and good except that he really is not a trained composer. By that I mean he never was really trained in the structure of music and harmony. For instance, it is not okay to have a G sharp in the melodic line and harmonize it using a B flat major chord. (I know that at least of of you will know what that means.)
The problem exists when I am spending large amounts of time re-writing music that is not appropriate to give to singers or a band. Now certainly, the person who wrote the song, played it over and over again as they created it audibly, can get through that but not another singer or instrumentalist who has never heard the song. So basically for the past three weeks since I got here the show has been reworked and re-written to make sense. Now it's very daunting because I really have compiled, arranged, composed, purchased more than half of the music for this show. Unfortunately the composer (The Man) does not think that I've "composed" anything, he thinks that I've merely been an "arranger". I call that bologna!
All I'm really asking for is just to have some recognition. This marks the third original musical that I've helped to create here. In all of those shows, I've never been credited with any artistic ownership on the shows. Maybe just a little shout out as a "collaborator" on the project. Each year audiences come to see the show and in the end of the curtain speech that welcomes the audience the person giving the dialogue says, "so now enjoy 'The Man's' original musical, _________________!" I just sit there and sigh, knowing that half the material is mine. I just suck it up, but this year I've begun to voice my opinion and will continue to do so. The show opens tonight and I think it'll be good.
Cheers from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
So here's the situation. Some of you may know that I've been working on an original show that was written by The Man. Apparently, he did this show here several years ago and it went over quite well. So he decided that it would be a good idea to revamp the show (add some new songs, modernize some pop culture references, etc). No that's all well and good except that he really is not a trained composer. By that I mean he never was really trained in the structure of music and harmony. For instance, it is not okay to have a G sharp in the melodic line and harmonize it using a B flat major chord. (I know that at least of of you will know what that means.)
The problem exists when I am spending large amounts of time re-writing music that is not appropriate to give to singers or a band. Now certainly, the person who wrote the song, played it over and over again as they created it audibly, can get through that but not another singer or instrumentalist who has never heard the song. So basically for the past three weeks since I got here the show has been reworked and re-written to make sense. Now it's very daunting because I really have compiled, arranged, composed, purchased more than half of the music for this show. Unfortunately the composer (The Man) does not think that I've "composed" anything, he thinks that I've merely been an "arranger". I call that bologna!
All I'm really asking for is just to have some recognition. This marks the third original musical that I've helped to create here. In all of those shows, I've never been credited with any artistic ownership on the shows. Maybe just a little shout out as a "collaborator" on the project. Each year audiences come to see the show and in the end of the curtain speech that welcomes the audience the person giving the dialogue says, "so now enjoy 'The Man's' original musical, _________________!" I just sit there and sigh, knowing that half the material is mine. I just suck it up, but this year I've begun to voice my opinion and will continue to do so. The show opens tonight and I think it'll be good.
Cheers from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
Friday, July 13, 2012
Seperations
Each year at this theater we reach a point where things start to pull apart a little bit. Those people who have been around for several years (I guess I'm one of those people now) have a forecasted amount of time that will pass be fore this starts to happen. We've reached that point about 3 weeks early this year. It's starting to happen now....let me explain further.
By separation I mean that in a few different ways. The first is that The Pros and The Cherubs begin to separate from each other. This actually has been happening all along which is really too bad. I mean in a way it makes sense because They start rehearsals working completely isolated from the other group, one working on one show and the other group working on another show of their own. But then we do a big (and usually up beat/fun) show where people are integrated into one group. This didn't seem to fix grouping issue for some reason this year.
Secondly by separation I mean that the actors begin to question the staff and the way the theater is run. This is happening very quietly this year in comparison to other years... never the less, it's happening and quite early. Yesterday in a rehearsal some of the actors decided to take a new mentality of rehearsal etiquette out for a spin. It was quite a transition from how things have been going but in general it was just a very silly and unproductive time. Which is not so great because the show we're working on right now is far from the point where that can be happening. The Man and I just had to kind of keep working the best we could and be productive.
The last bit of separation is that from society and our lives at home. We start to feel homesick and disconnected from the world outside of this place. I think this is happening already with many of the people here. Visitors are being talked about quite regularly. Which is a great thing!
I guess that's all for today. Trying to stay cool in the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
By separation I mean that in a few different ways. The first is that The Pros and The Cherubs begin to separate from each other. This actually has been happening all along which is really too bad. I mean in a way it makes sense because They start rehearsals working completely isolated from the other group, one working on one show and the other group working on another show of their own. But then we do a big (and usually up beat/fun) show where people are integrated into one group. This didn't seem to fix grouping issue for some reason this year.
Secondly by separation I mean that the actors begin to question the staff and the way the theater is run. This is happening very quietly this year in comparison to other years... never the less, it's happening and quite early. Yesterday in a rehearsal some of the actors decided to take a new mentality of rehearsal etiquette out for a spin. It was quite a transition from how things have been going but in general it was just a very silly and unproductive time. Which is not so great because the show we're working on right now is far from the point where that can be happening. The Man and I just had to kind of keep working the best we could and be productive.
The last bit of separation is that from society and our lives at home. We start to feel homesick and disconnected from the world outside of this place. I think this is happening already with many of the people here. Visitors are being talked about quite regularly. Which is a great thing!
I guess that's all for today. Trying to stay cool in the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The Next Step
Last night we had our first "performance" for the advertisers of the theater this year. I call it a "performance" because they are told they're watching a dress rehearsal and that if need be, we will stop. We didn't! It was honestly, an outstanding show! I was really pleased. And the good news is...we do that same show again tonight and tomorrow night! That is truly rare here...doing a show three times in a row without a different one mixed in...no way! It's going to be great!
So will the performances happening today is the first day of the next step for me here. Because "The Pros" are governed by such strict rules it means that my work here is essentially governed by their union as well. Sometimes it's a beautiful thing, sometimes not so much. One of the rules is that if they have a performance on a given day they can not rehearse for more than 5 hours in addition to that performance. Here are some of their union produced rules:
1- They have to get a break during rehearsals every 55 minutes (a 5 minute break) or every 80 minutes (a 10 minute break)
2- They have to have a shower and a cot available in the performance space
3- They can't start a days rehearsal until 12 hours has elapsed since they walked off stage the previous night.
4- When housing is provided they have to have their own rooms with a sink in the room.
5- No pictures or videos can be taken during rehearsal or performance unless a waiver is given by their association
6- During a photocall (a session where photos are taken to document the show's existence, waiver provided by their association) they have to have snacks and beverages provided
7- If their feet leave the ground during a performance a "flight or lift call" has to take place before the show. If a hand or object is quickly moving towards their face or body a "fight call" has to take place before the show to practice the routine.
This is just some of the routine. So today my rehearsal doesn't start until 1:00 and that's a great thing. "Crazy P" (who jumped up on the bed this morning) and I are on the porch (getting devoured by mosquitos) and relaxing. It's a great day.
Ciao from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
So will the performances happening today is the first day of the next step for me here. Because "The Pros" are governed by such strict rules it means that my work here is essentially governed by their union as well. Sometimes it's a beautiful thing, sometimes not so much. One of the rules is that if they have a performance on a given day they can not rehearse for more than 5 hours in addition to that performance. Here are some of their union produced rules:
1- They have to get a break during rehearsals every 55 minutes (a 5 minute break) or every 80 minutes (a 10 minute break)
2- They have to have a shower and a cot available in the performance space
3- They can't start a days rehearsal until 12 hours has elapsed since they walked off stage the previous night.
4- When housing is provided they have to have their own rooms with a sink in the room.
5- No pictures or videos can be taken during rehearsal or performance unless a waiver is given by their association
6- During a photocall (a session where photos are taken to document the show's existence, waiver provided by their association) they have to have snacks and beverages provided
7- If their feet leave the ground during a performance a "flight or lift call" has to take place before the show. If a hand or object is quickly moving towards their face or body a "fight call" has to take place before the show to practice the routine.
This is just some of the routine. So today my rehearsal doesn't start until 1:00 and that's a great thing. "Crazy P" (who jumped up on the bed this morning) and I are on the porch (getting devoured by mosquitos) and relaxing. It's a great day.
Ciao from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
Friday, July 6, 2012
Crazy P Updated
A lot of you have been asking me about "Crazy P" and I really appreciate that! He's doing pretty well. Recovering from whatever it is that was going on. I've been calling him "The Tri-pod Dog" for the past week. But he's beginning to favor the leg a lot less. I'm continuing to monitor him and at this point we will wait to see if he recovers or if he tweaked something and it continues to be a problem. He still will not jump up on my bed at this point....which is NOT normal for him! Although, I must say that not having to find a corner of available bed because my 30 pound dog is hogging the whole things has been quite nice. I guess the long and short of it is...I'm still worried about him (of course I am) but I think he is making a slow recovery.
In other news the theater really has come together in the past few days. It's been rough getting things turned back on. When the fire happened the electricity to the building had to be shut off for safety measures. Additionally, they had to turn off the sprinkler system once the fire was extinguished. Once both of these things are done, proper authorities and crews have to come back in and rewire the systems and inspect them. So we've been working all week on trying to get electricity turned on so that lights can be focused and aimed, microphones can be checked, vacuum cleaners can be run. In the process, however we have lost a few things that we're accustomed to.
One of the things we lost has been a vital part of our performances. We have a cue light system which is controlled by the stage manager in the booth at the back of the theater. There are a series of colored lights back stage which he can turn on as a warning and then when the light goes out, that's the "go" sign. Well electricians told us that be cause the system for those lights was run cable that is not safe (I don't know the specific terms) we are not able to use them. BUMMER! This means that all of our cues from back stage might be a bit off. The lights were used for things as simple as starting the overture before the show. I guess we'll have to work on another system.
Well I'm off to another day of rehearsal on a show that is coming along quite well. Thanks again for all of your thoughts about "Crazy P".
Happy Friday from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Counting Down
Yesterday I suddenly realized that the countdown to the first show begins. Scary! Monday night we have an audience for the first show. Though the performance is billed as an "Invited Dress Rehearsal", lets be honest, when people are sitting in the seats watching that is not a rehearsal. So the pressure is on. The actors are feeling it, directors are feeling it, designers are feeling it.
The problem now is that the actors (most of which have never been here) are starting to realize that their brains are already full of information from the show they learned last week. Now they're adding to it with this show, the one that needs to open first. I'm not sure how actors do what they're doing. It's really quite admirable. I could never make that work.
Thankfully, the first show is really central around 3 ladies in the lead roles. Those three are VERY poised and seemingly confident in rehearsal. But every 5 minutes the show breaks out into another show stopping number which showcases the ensemble singing and dancing around them. These numbers take time to rehearse and so for the last two days we've been behind in our rehearsal schedule, almost from the moment we started. Well, because of that fact it feels a little bit like we're playing catch up for the next few days so that on Monday when we get into the theater (which hopefully will be completed in time) we can have a show that is ready to open.
I've been telling this to everyone but it seems like this cast and this show particularly have the potential to be some of the best work that I've seen and worked on at this theater. That's exciting!!!
Wish us luck in the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
The Schmooz Fest
As promised, the topic at hand today is the Schmooz Fest. This event took place this past Sunday. The basic gist of the event is that people who give money and serve on the board for the organization come to our residence and provide a meal. The thing that sucks about it, is that they basically come for one reason....to meet actors from New York. Star-struck locals! So a conversation at the event might go something like this...
"Hi I'm [insert wealthy donor's name here]. And you are?"
"I'm "Maestro", the Music Director."
"Oh very nice to meet you. Any idea where the professional actors are sitting?"
Now you may think that I'm kidding...but I'm not! I suppose that over that 4 years working here some of these people have gotten to know me and are actually quite complimenting of my work. But the other staff members here (costumers, stage managers, technicians, designers, etc) are literally ignored at the event. It kind of sucks. So we've been brainstorming some options for next year.
Option 1- How about if they all sit in separate places and we get the opportunity to move around in a rotating manner and introduce ourselves. Then when their conversation sucks or they say something rude can just get up and leave.
Option 2- We could just all come up with alias names and say that we're playing made up character names in each of the shows so that they think there are over 50 actors here.
Option 3- CANCEL THE DAMN EVENT!
Well I'm off to start working. Have a great day everyone!
Farewell from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
"Hi I'm [insert wealthy donor's name here]. And you are?"
"I'm "Maestro", the Music Director."
"Oh very nice to meet you. Any idea where the professional actors are sitting?"
Now you may think that I'm kidding...but I'm not! I suppose that over that 4 years working here some of these people have gotten to know me and are actually quite complimenting of my work. But the other staff members here (costumers, stage managers, technicians, designers, etc) are literally ignored at the event. It kind of sucks. So we've been brainstorming some options for next year.
Option 1- How about if they all sit in separate places and we get the opportunity to move around in a rotating manner and introduce ourselves. Then when their conversation sucks or they say something rude can just get up and leave.
Option 2- We could just all come up with alias names and say that we're playing made up character names in each of the shows so that they think there are over 50 actors here.
Option 3- CANCEL THE DAMN EVENT!
Well I'm off to start working. Have a great day everyone!
Farewell from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
Monday, July 2, 2012
...and I'm feeling good!
Sigh! A good Monday morning here in the Mountains of Musical Madness. I'm starting the week feeling great for a few reasons:
1- The sun is shining!
2- I just Skyped with the three cutest littles in the world!
3- Starting rehearsal on a new show today (one that I REALLY like)!
All that is so great. I've spent a lot of time this weekend prepping and getting ready. This is our first show that involved the FULL company. So it'll be nice to have everyone in the same place working on a show rather than in separate spaces working on smaller projects. Everyone here is in full work mode now. The last company member (a musician) is arriving today. The new theater is being prepped and readied very vigorously. A couple days of rain last week set the contractors back a few days but it appears that they'll be able to get everything done just in the knick of time.
The antics have now begun with the company. A few members of the group are really kind of pulling away, by that I mean...wow you're annoying and don't realize that people can't stand being around you. There is one person here in particular, one of "The Cherubs" who just really doesn't realize that his demeanor is aggravating to people. He has one of the personalities where he really likes to hear himself talk and not in a great way! He tends to be a stereotype all on his own, which is really annoying in a community like this! Today is my first day of rehearsal with "The Cherubs" as they've been working on their own projects with their own "Maestro". I'm looking forward to working with them today and am a bit anxious about it too.
Over the past week and a half I've recorded a lot of music to be rehearsed outside of the rehearsal hall...and ideally AHEAD OF TIME! Many people have been taking advantage of this and I'm expecting that the first sounds I hear today will be mostly good. However some of "The Cherubs" (including) "The Stereotype" have clearly not been working on this. Recreation has been a big thing for a few people. Now, don't get me wrong, on your day off you should go to the river and swim, or catch a movie in town, or grab a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant, or go play Rock Band on a big screen up at the theater. But you can really only do these things after you've done your homework! Where I teach homework tends to be 40% of a students grade. That means if you do NONE...you fail! We'll see how this goes.
Tomorrow's topic is one from over the weekend...The Schmooz Fest...details forthcoming.
Here's to a good week from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
1- The sun is shining!
2- I just Skyped with the three cutest littles in the world!
3- Starting rehearsal on a new show today (one that I REALLY like)!
All that is so great. I've spent a lot of time this weekend prepping and getting ready. This is our first show that involved the FULL company. So it'll be nice to have everyone in the same place working on a show rather than in separate spaces working on smaller projects. Everyone here is in full work mode now. The last company member (a musician) is arriving today. The new theater is being prepped and readied very vigorously. A couple days of rain last week set the contractors back a few days but it appears that they'll be able to get everything done just in the knick of time.
The antics have now begun with the company. A few members of the group are really kind of pulling away, by that I mean...wow you're annoying and don't realize that people can't stand being around you. There is one person here in particular, one of "The Cherubs" who just really doesn't realize that his demeanor is aggravating to people. He has one of the personalities where he really likes to hear himself talk and not in a great way! He tends to be a stereotype all on his own, which is really annoying in a community like this! Today is my first day of rehearsal with "The Cherubs" as they've been working on their own projects with their own "Maestro". I'm looking forward to working with them today and am a bit anxious about it too.
Over the past week and a half I've recorded a lot of music to be rehearsed outside of the rehearsal hall...and ideally AHEAD OF TIME! Many people have been taking advantage of this and I'm expecting that the first sounds I hear today will be mostly good. However some of "The Cherubs" (including) "The Stereotype" have clearly not been working on this. Recreation has been a big thing for a few people. Now, don't get me wrong, on your day off you should go to the river and swim, or catch a movie in town, or grab a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant, or go play Rock Band on a big screen up at the theater. But you can really only do these things after you've done your homework! Where I teach homework tends to be 40% of a students grade. That means if you do NONE...you fail! We'll see how this goes.
Tomorrow's topic is one from over the weekend...The Schmooz Fest...details forthcoming.
Here's to a good week from the Mountains of Musical Madness.
CK
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