rehearsals « Memphis Lives In Me

Holy Run Through Batman!

September 20, 2009

I’m not sure what I expected to happen tonight.
I expected to be entertained, but I was rocked.

Having only caught glimpses of the show during tech, to see it play out in front of me, with a full band, fully lit, fully staged, fully costumed=fully blown away.

How could I not be with Danny Tidwell d oing things like this?

Photo by Chris Owyoung www.onelouderphoto.com

I know what it is like to have expectations be built up and get to a show and have it not deliver. So I am not going to use the blog (much) to tout the fierceness, or rattle on about performances that break my heart a little each time.

It’s time I encourage people to embrace the idea of not knowing a lot about this show.

Forget about not having the recording (yet) and knowing every word to every song before you walk in the theater doors.

Stop reading this blog if you have to (not really) and embrace the surprise.

There was a time you wen to the theater just because.
Not because it proved you were able to get a ticket, or saw this person in that show.

Take a friend. Buy a student rush ticket (or a full price one). I want you to love it, but I won’t have my feelings hurt if you don’t (well, maybe just a little).

But now is the time that you can have an impact on musical theater by going to the show during previews. The creatives and producers are all around: seeing what lands, what doesn’t, what’s clear, what needs clarification.

If/when you go, email me your thoughts.

Post them on our Facebook page.

Heck, if you can keep it under 140 characters, tweet it.
(in my mind, I heard “Just Tweet It” to the same tune of Michael Jackson’s “Just Beat It.”)

Memphis Blog Shout Out: Thanks to all who tweeted us during the Broadway League Tweet-Up today!

Oh, and if you leave the theater and feel like I did tonight, feel free to shout it from the rooftops.

Filed under: General — Tags: danny tidwell, rehearsals, twitter — Carolyn @ 8:37 pm

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Hit the Wall Wednesday

September 16, 2009

Welcome to Hit the Wall Wednesday. I’m not sure if it is because of the change in weather or the lack of sleep or the fast paced nature of producing a Broadway show, but, whatever the cause, I was not having the most productive day. Sometimes the art of making art involves no art and that can be hard on one’s soul.

I’m happy to report that the show saved the day! Being over at the theater today for tech was exactly the cure I needed. Even though the technical rehearsal process is a stop/start, hurry up and wait, fix the lighting cue, reprogram the set change, kind of experience, watching it come together is ridiculously reinvigorating.

There is magic around every turn, like taking a trip to the restroom and finding August (dance arranger) and Edgar (Associate choreographer) using the piano in the downstairs lobby working out some new ways to pump up the “Stand Up” number in Act II.

You see scenes like this in the PBS documentaries they do of Broadway shows-capturing an idea at the moment of creation. It’s pretty awesome to bear witness to these moments all over the building. The creative electricity in the Shubert is overflowing and was exactly the jolt I needed to get over the wall.

Plus, actors are fun to watch during tech as they find ways to amuse themselves during the “holds.”

Chad and Derrick, acting:

Chad and Derrick during a hold:

Still holding:

Yup, still holding:

Plus, I will never tire of Derrick Baskin’s smile.