Hey everyone!
Today’s my first day off
in a while. And by “off” I mean it’s my only day without rehearsal, so I have
to get all my “human stuff” like laundry, grocery shopping, etc. done today, in
addition to going over my material, sending some faxes, and returning e-mails.
So not really a day off in a relaxing sense, but I did manage to squeeze in an
episode of “Dr. Who.” J
Last week we staged the
whole show – which is actually much less daunting in a reading situation then
it sounds. For those unfamiliar with the development process of a musical, the
way it works (at least these days) is:
After you’ve finished
writing the show you sit down with a combination of really good actors, and
really smart theater friends and do a table read and talk back. You do table
reads as many times as you need to to get to the place where you honestly feel
like you can’t learn more about your show until you get it up on its feet. Then
you do some version of a Staged Reading (which is what we’re doing.) A staged
reading means that the actors have learned the music, and rehearsed the
dialogue. Usually there are music stands set up at the front of the stage, and
actors, using their scripts and scores, perform the show for an audience made
up of everyone from industry, to potential collaborators, to friends, to the
public. There is at least minor staging to assist in visualizing the show – all
things the actors can do with script in hand (or on a music stand as the case
may be.) Stage directions are read aloud to assist with visualizing the show as
well. The music is performed either with just a piano, or a band. From there
the show may move on to a workshop (a workshop is somewhere between a reading
and a full production. I like to think of them as readings where the script and
score are memorized so more staging can be accomplished. Possibly with some
sets and costumes.) From there the show hopefully moves to a regional try out
(a full but smaller scale production) and then a no holds barred production.
So our blocking basically
consists of standing up, going to a certain music stand, and doing the scene.
There’s certainly more to it then that, but that’s the basic idea. This reading
actually gets a bit more physical then usual especially in one of the clowning
numbers where our resident clown Shereen Hickman (seriously – girl’s worked
with Cirque) gets to actually do some physical comedy in the number, and for me
in act 2. Surprise spoilers! As in “The Little Mermaid” Lyra loses her voice –
which means I get some really fun moments where I get to communicate completely
physically and not worry about my script. There’s some other physical moments
in there too but I don’t want to give too much away…
Madeline O’Hara is our
director and I absolutely love working with her. Both she and I have worked
very closely with director Gabriel Barre (Maddie was our A.D. on “Forever
Deadward”) and this is the first time I’ve worked with her where’s she’s
completely taking the reigns. She reminds me very much of Gabe when she directs
(probably the highest complement I can pay to a director,) while still having a
very unique, confident voice and I’m just having the best time working on this
show with her. This is probably the hardest musical you could ever have to do a
staged reading of (seriously, a huge part of the storytelling is completely
physical, and circus related – the opposite of the vocabulary you have for a
staged reading, not to mention the locations in the show range from a circus
tent, to an ethereal limbo, to two characters literally standing amongst the
stars. YOU try directing those moments with ten actors on a tiny stage stuck
behind music stands.)
This show is a beast.
Speaking of that, we had
our first band rehearsal last week!
First band rehearsals,
unless you have a multi million dollar budget, ten assistants to your composer
and M.D. who can do all the copy work (meaning imputing music into a computer
program called Finale, or simply transcribing – not copying the music at
Kinkos…) and weeks to rehearse your musicians, band rehearsal is both
incredibly exciting, and utterly terrifying. There’s simply not enough time.
But hearing the music
with all the arrangements for the first time is a truly glorious experience –
and the arrangements Evan has come up with are stunning. I know it sounds very
trite coming from one of the writers, but this is a cast album I would listen
to every day (seriously – I already do so with the rough demos, and not just
because I need to learn my songs, but because I really love the music.) C. S.
Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien said that (forgive me for horribly misquoting) one
of the reasons they wrote the Narnia Chronicles and the LOTR books was because
no one was writing the kind of books they wanted to read, so they just wrote
them themselves. I feel similarly about “Lyra” in a way. With “Lyra” I’m
working to write the show that I’ve always wanted to see – I guess it means
we’re at least coming close if I want to listen to the music incessantly.
But there is a flip side
to that. And the flip side is that in order for the music to be as unique and
complex and beautiful as it is, it’s also has to be hard as hell. It’s the
rules. The musical circle of life lol. (That’s not to say that all beautiful
music has to be hard, but usually unique and complex do go hand in hand with
hard.) Even I, who wrote the lyrics and have been living with some of these
demos for over a year, am being challenged by the music, and am drilling it on
all of my off time. It’s subtle. There are parts that when you listen to them
you think they’re a piece of cake… then you try to do it. Not so much. And that
can be compounded by the fact that songs always sound totally different when
you hear them with a band instead of a piano. For example, I have a song in the
show (it’s a brief moment) that opens with a cool little vamp. It’s one thing
on a piano – it’s another thing when it’s on a bass. Sounds freaking fantastic,
but you just have to kind of mentally readjust.
Our band is ridiculous.
Seriously, these guys are amazing. I doubly admire instrumentalists for their
ability to sight play a chart. You would never send singers into a full music
rehearsal just expecting them to perfectly sight read their parts – but that’s
exactly what’s expected of instrumentalists every day. All of our musicians are
awesome, but personally I’m very excited for my good friend Robin Lai to be
working with us. Robin and I met when he came in as our drummer on “Forever
Deadward.” Since then we’ve formed a band together, and Robin even produced
(and played on) the spiffy “Lyra” demos you can listen to on our website (www.lyrathemusical.com.) It’s just
great to have talented friends in the room. And I’m looking forward to getting
to know the rest of the band better.
As I write this I just
finished “assembling my book.” Basically that means combining your script and
score in the manner most helpful to you for whatever reading you’re doing.
Usually you take out the pages that have lyrics on them and replace them with sheet
music for that song, but sometimes it can be complicated if there is dialogue
overlap, etc. Evan’s done a beautiful job incorporating the dialogue into the
score proper, so that’s not as much of an issue on this show. Personally I like
to keep my book as minimal as possible for a reading- esp. a staged one. I like
to be so familiar with a show that I can really be out and acting, instead of
feeling like I always need to look down to keep on track. Also, because for a
good portion of the show I can’t speak, I don’t really need my book for a
decent amount of it, but then when I do I suddenly have to flip a bunch – so
the more I can minimize that the better. I tried doing the run through
yesterday without my score at all, and it went fine, so what I decided to do
was just use my script, and write in what my intros are just in case I need
them (several of my songs transition between 12/8, ¾, and 4/4 which, depending
on how they’re played, can sound very similar so writing something like: 3 and
¾ measures of ¾ is actually really helpful, and all I really need.
Now you might be
thinking: “Hey! She wrote the book and lyrics, why does she need to use her
script at all?!” Well, sort of yes, and no. I actually have most of the show
memorized – but for uniformity sake I need to take my book up with me for every
scene I do. However, sometimes memorizing your own work is HARDER then
memorizing something by someone else, because in addition to the draft you’re
performing, you also have every other draft you’ve ever written in your head.
Seriously – yesterday at rehearsal I said a line without glancing at my script
only to be corrected by our stage manager. The line I said was totally the
right line – three drafts ago. Sometimes muscle memory can actually screw you
up. Not to mention I don’t want to accidentally forget my blocking, which part
of the music is a vamp vs. a hard entrance, etc. without a lifeline. And I
actually use my script as a prop in places.
We did our first full run
through yesterday. I’m actually pretty impressed with how tight Evan and I have
gotten the show at this stage of the game. A typical musical runs about 2 hours
and 45 minutes with an intermission. Currently “Lyra” is (give or take) about 2
hours and 20, 25 minutes with an intermission. Typically at this point in
development you’re desperately trying to figure out how to get your two-hour
second act down to an hour fifteen. But then again the fact that we’re so tight
now could mean that there’s an important moment we haven’t realized we’re missing
yet…
Speaking of that,
especially since this is the first time getting the show up on its feet we’re
still very much doing rewrites. A couple days ago I did a big cut on a
monologue one of the characters had and this morning I suddenly realized that
there’s a big dramaturgical moment that we’re missing in act 1. Ultimately I
think it maybe needs a bigger rewrite, but I rewrote one of the early scenes
today and I think it at least does a decent patch job for our purposes (with
only a week to go we don’t have time to write whole new numbers, teach them to
the band and cast, and restage them before our first performance on Thursday.)
But a few lines in a scene isn’t a big deal. It’s actually one of the reasons
for actors carrying scripts with them – so that the writers can keep making
changes up until the last minute and the actors don’t have to be stressed about
memorizing new material at the eleventh hour.
I’m trying to take care
of myself and deal with my exhaustion much as possible. It’s hard because the
creative team literally doesn’t get breaks during the rehearsal of a new
musical. Every time the cast goes on break it’s time we desperately need to
have a meeting, do a quick rewrite, etc. Our stage manager is having to make
sure we all remember to eat. Food kind of ends up being the last priority on
the list (poor Maddie had her lunch sitting next to her for hours yesterday and
literally only got like two bites in.) Between physical exhaustion (despite it
being a reading my body is actually getting really tired – come see the show
and you’ll understand why…) and my mind not turning off I’m not sleeping great
– sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with the song playing in my
head (lol wanting a soundtrack I was obsessed with – be careful what you wish
for…)
We’re having lots of
laughs in rehearsal. Which is actually really important when you’re working on
a dark, primarily serious show (there are comic moments, don’t worry…) It’s
helpful to counterbalance the drama with silliness. For example nothing breaks
the ice the first time you run a kissing scene like accidentally banging your
chin into your partner’s shoulder. (If anyone asks, I totally planned to do
that to break the tension in the room. It was planned. IT WAS PLANNED!) I’m also still cracking up over an accidental
misreading of the line “…and apparently some restructuring of my employees” as “…and
apparently some resurrecting of my employees.” The hilarity was that, given the
person speaking, the line still totally made sense.
Someday, after “Lyra” has
won all the Tonys, I’ll become ridiculously wealthy writing a parody of my own
musical…
Tomorrow officially
begins “Hell Week.” We have to kind of just hang on to the speeding train until
we close on Sunday. And then it will be over. For now. I’m sad already.
Next Monday is my first
rehearsal for “Hamlet.” Oy.
I really hope you can all
come to “Lyra.” It’s going to be a great show. I love it so so much, and am
having a blast getting it up for the first time!
Also, we’ve been
uploading interviews with the cast and creative team. Check the one that are up
already below. And Thank you Dana Goldberg for the stunning animation!
Shereen Hickman, Judy
Ilana Gabrielle, Nymphet 1/Amelia
Craig Sculli, Pierrot
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