So first, tomorrow we open Rats, the 3rd and 4th grade mini musical that has been in rehearsal since early September. Miraculously, the kiddos turned a corner last night and started hearing the story, feeling the beginning, middle and end and having a little bit of fun! I say "miraculously", but really I was expecting and hoping for it--I even called an extra rehearsal yesterday because we were so close. There are still things to fix, but at least they are moving forward under their own steam....and they are so flipping funny and dear!
Every group of kids that I work with --whether it's high school, middle school or elementary school--turns that exact corner sometime in the last week of production. It's pretty predictable for middle and high school if you know what to watch for (less so for elementary students!) For older kids, it usually happens as a giant leap in the length/speed of the show, the "gelling" of the performance of the numbers and the feeling of driving it forward that they can create. It usually happens after a particularly horrible run-through where I despair of them ever "getting" it, and have to say things like "You know what to do." or "Where ARE you guys?" or "I can't do it for you. You are going to be the ones that the audience is watching." or "Come on guys, grab hold of this and dive off the cliff!" or "I'm out here, waiting to hear your story! Step it up! Give it to me!"
With the littles, it's definitely less obvious because even as I am "growing" the show, I still have to deal with littles' behavior: needing to pee RIGHT NOW, needing to eat RIGHT NOW, a splinter, a tease, a friendly tussle on the rug, needing to run RIGHT NOW, the complete self-absorption of the very young, worries about missing the bus, a poop accident, a very low tolerance for rehearsal or anything repetitious, a huge developmental age range from one child to the next, the gross motor, physical busyness of littles, kids who can't read, someone who just needs a hug--and those things happen even as the kids are starting to "gel"!! Part of the challenge is picking the right show--one with enough to do for the more developmentally advanced kids and also for the younger ones. We should have scheduled more rehearsal time for this one--or another two weeks of rehearsal. I'm pleased that my instincts were right about needing just a liiiiittle bit more to get us to a level of competence that I'm comfortable with, though
Anyway, I've put together gift bags for my little rats and made a simple thank you poster for the parents. They should be very proud of their Rats!
In other news, Jane and I had a LEGO play date today--thanks to Spencer and Michael's LEGO men!(son of our make-up designer and husband of my assistant!) We had an extremely productive session about blocking the first scene--talking , creating shapes and patterns, moving the legos to music. In fact, we've decided that we need a LEGO retreat before rehearsals start--so we can focus on getting huge chunks done! Jane and I seem to work well together--I am very comfortable with her. She thinks in the most fluidly spatial way--not patterns necessarily, but moving patterns. She has a great sense of how things will look while moving. VERY COOL!
We both purchased the book "Musical theatre Choreography by....Shoot , I'll tell you later How did I not know about this book??? It's so immediately useful!! I think I've mentioned this book before but really, both in the sense of describing the choreographer's job, his/her tools and how to use dance steps to tell the story of the script. it's great hands-on stuff and great analysis stuff. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!.
Have I mentioned that I am leaving to go on vacation in 48 hours??? To the Beach! I am bringing a lot of blocking stuff to work on, as well as the novel to flag and re-read. Also, Wally Lamb's new book. Juat because!
To the Barricades!
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