Theatrical Thoughts

MUSICAL ANNOUNCED

It had been a long while. Not since the last show at 3 Crosses, but since I’d done this musical. I guess just one time for Pleasanton Playhouse. It was…mostly fun. Insane director, but some nice cast mates and I had always wanted to do it again, just with a better role.

A few other times auditions appeared, but I really just wanted to play the lead, and places would mainly only offer Cosmo. A great role, sure, but for the amount of volunteered time, it needed to be the main man.

3 Crosses perhaps would offer that chance.

PREPARATIONS

This would be tough, but I had a few months to prepare. The first step was to work on steps—tap steps to be precise. So much time had passed since any tap dancing musical that I wasn’t even able to do a time-step any longer. But I headed to Home Depot and got some plywood, boards and wood screws. Several hours later, I had a place in my garage to work on my tap dancing. First step (sorry) was done. I contacted some friends that were tap instructors and got advice and demos. I also bought some online videos to follow and train with. Basically, I would spend time in the garage on weekends and practice while following the training videos. Over time, I got the time step back, and many others, even the toe stands!

Now it was time for voice training. It had been many years since I’d taken private lessons, but I knew a professional friend and hired him for lessons. This helped greatly. He was an opera singer by trade, but could still teach solid foundation and techniques. I met for lessons and worked on the audition songs, potential callback songs, and basic singing techniques. I believe this helped considerably.

AUDITIONS

I attended the first audition evening. A fair number of people were there. If I remember correctly it was a group audition, where you do your song in front of the full group. More stressful that way, but one can look at that as just another chance to perform for your peers. I was called back to attend more singing rounds and the dance audition. Both went fairly well. I had practiced the callback songs with Ricky, my vocal coach. He was there for callbacks too.

After callbacks, I’m not sure when I heard about the casting, but it wasn’t too long. We had even got Ricky, Jenna, Jordan, and me together to go wine tasting, so it doubled as a time to celebrate the casting. Good times indeed! And all the stress was now over.

REHEARSALS

Our first rehearsal was the read through, so we all met in the main auditorium and sat in the seats and people went up on stage to read for their characters. It was a fun experience. It's always exciting to have that first read through and to see who you're going to be working with.

After that, we just met a few times a week to work on scenes, songs, blocking, and dances. It was nice being able to rehearse on the same stage that the performances would be done at. It just helps for getting your sense of location and bearing. One challenging thing was just limited time. With work and my long commute, I didn't really have time at night to rehearse after the rehearsals. And on the weekends, I tried to fit in rehearsal time, but it was still kind of tough. I think it mainly just affected the iconic “Singing in the Rain” dance, which I would have liked to improve upon, but I did what I could. If I had been unemployed, I think I could've added a lot more to it. Don’t get me wrong: overall, I think it turned out great. I just knew it could be better if I had more time to practice.

I also recorded anything I could so I could review it later. With modern technology, I could slow down the dances and observe them more closely. Also to help, I downloaded the real ones from the movie and was able to observe that for ideas, although it was also tough because zooming in and slowing down, things made a kind of grainy and hard to really figure out what was going on.

I appreciated any and all rehearsals. The more the better.

I was thrilled we would have real rain. Always seems lame when theatres just use lighting effects, though yeah, most have little choice. Here, we were used to rain on stage as it was frequently used for other productions. On the first rain rehearsal during tech, it was wonderful to experience. Though I also kicked quite a lot of it towards the orchestra pit. Yeah, got some strict and unhappy feedback about that. Luckily, we got to keep the rain, but I knew better about directing any of that water towards the pit.

I also had created special tap shoes for the rain scene. My professional pair was used in general, but I bought a cheap pair of tap shoes for that scene. I refitted the heels with special material to avoid slipping. I kept the taps on the front, but just modified the back. Never slipped one time. After the run, I did finally toss them. I mean how often does that ever come up. And if it ever did, I’d be more than happy to make another pair. Although my main tap shoes started falling apart months after the show. Nice they held out that long. I think they were around since “Crazy for You,” so 17 years. Not a bad run for them.

COMMUTING

Oh boy! Here is where it got tough. I lived in Pleasanton. The location was Castro Valley and I worked in Mountain View. The distance itself wasn’t the issue, but rather the commute traffic. Weekends would not be so bad, but weekdays were a nightmare. Getting from Mountain View to Castro Valley during evening rush hour was just a very long process. On the other hand, it was time to practice the songs and lines. So I used it well.

One crazy moment was that during tech Thursday, I was very low on gas even before leaving home. I meant to fill up the tank but forgot until I reached work, where I saw it was pretty much empty. I wasn’t even sure if I could reach a gas station. It was time to see how good my insurance was. I called them and they sent out an assist vehicle. I think they charged about $6 per gallon and three gallons max, so I got that and then went to a gas station. An expensive day for me, but I was able to calmly just drive straight to tech rehearsal after work—through 90 minutes of traffic of course.

WORK ISSUES

One huge issue was bad timing. I’d been hired back in March for this huge project on Intuit’s website for QuickBooks support. We’d been working months on this, but the launch date got pushed back once or twice and landed right on…tech Tuesday. Oh great. I just could not skip out on this key rehearsal. Plus, with my role, it would be extra bad. But workers, even contractors, were expected to be in the post work meeting to support the launch. So yeah, a dilemma. I did speak to coworkers and let them know the situation. I would be leaving when I needed to leave. If that cost me the job, so be it. But no one consulted me about staying late for that date. And again, I was just a contractor anyway, and my contribution to the release would be small if unimportant.

What I did do was prep everything early. My backpack and stuff were already in the car and waiting to go. I didn’t want to appear like I was cutting out early. I attended the meeting at a large square table with about 20 people there. Then at the last possible moment, I just took a break (with my laptop) and headed to my car and drove off.

I believe it turned out fine. At one point, the manager asked where I was and a coworker said I had to be somewhere. It was all no big deal really. And I got to keep my job.

ADVERTISING

I was curious if anyone at intuit would come see the show so I put the poster on my cube that was a good start. I also emailed the person in charge of employee events and stuff like that. So she included it in her email blast. Despite that I don't think anyone at the company actually did come see the show, but it was worth a try.

One roommate did attend the show, so that was a welcome surprise. Many others wanted to attend, but missed out, including neighbors that had never been to a show of mine. And that’s fine and all, just silly when people say they really want to go. Go if you want—it’s most welcome. Or don’t. That’s great too. Just skip the promises one does not intend to keep. Gets tiring, to be honest.

PERFORMANCES

Everything went splendid. Parts were challenging. I remember the issue with my hat falling off or my tie during “Fit as a Fiddle.” That was a tough dance followed by a very fast costume change. There were quite a few of those. I think there was a little concern backstage that I had to strip down to boxer shorts to change, but really, there were no changing rooms on the sides of the stage. To me, the shorts were not really any different than swimming trucks—and far more conservative than speedos or what not. Just a requirement of theatre sometimes. Thankfully, the issue was never pursued.

Another hiccup was the film demos, where they are recording the new movie clips and the characters watch them. One time, the wrong one was playing and it was a little surprising. We just improvised through it, so it was a little comedic to those of us on stage and maybe to the audience. Stuff like that keeps actors on their toes. Always be prepared.

In general, the rehearsals prepared us well so no disasters. I will note that on one night, I couldn’t think of the lyrics to a “Lucky Star.” I only sing a few verses, but nothing came to mind. I knew the list of it, but not the rhyming words. I had no nearby script to check either. So, knowing it wasn’t going to come back to me in time, I just invented a new lyric or two. Doubt anyone even noticed. But I knew.

The musical has very little down time for Don Lockwood. Once it starts, the character is in almost every scene and only five to ten minutes away from the next dance. Once the curtain opens, things get busy nonstop for the next two to three hours. And that’s what we sign up for.

Alas, audiences were great, though just not at the sold out levels of other productions. It’s all in the name. With “Mary Poppins” and “Little Mermaid,” you have every seat full because of the titles alone. “Singin’” is an outstanding classic, but it’s more so with adults than children, even though they will likely greatly enjoy all the dancing and the comedy and spectacle of it.

RECORDING

If I could only have a video of one of my many shows, it would be this one. Never before did I have such a wonderful role like Don. I suppose “Carousel,” ”Jekyll,” “Urinetown,” and “Crazy for You” were also wonderful experiences, but this one just had it all. And the video recording was done quite well (we had a screening party post run). It’s just not something made available to actors for copyright reasons. I at least had a few tiny clips of some singing and dancing and rehearsals. But man, I’d pay a nice sum if I could ever get that tape (DVD).

RANDOM MEMORIES

• The thrill of Don, Cosmo, and Kathy finishing Good Morning by tipping the couch. Always worked, but always nervous.
• Lifting Kayla during Broadway Rhythm way too high. But it was fun to show off some arm strength—and how light she was.
• Stretching before that number. All because of one high kick.
• Recording the silent movie scenes. Flying down on a rope was wonderful.
• Taking photos after the show with family, friends, and strangers.
• The moments during Stepped Out of a Dream when Don gets to connect with ensemble members. Just nice authentic moments.
• The excitement just before Don’s first entrance on the red carpet. An epic adventure would then follow.
• The insanity of getting ready for the fast Dancing Cavalier silent movie scene.
• The moment when I said Dancing Cavalier in the first scene when it was still Dueling Cavalier, and then wondering how many caught that. Apparently Cosmo (Jordan) did
• Enjoying the sweet relaxed moments of You Were Meant for Me. Just a nice simple number with a mellow dance.
• Placing digital recorders in the orchestra room to have extra practice music.
• Listening to the songs and orchestra over and over and over during commutes (and sometimes even post run)
• The heart pounding moments in Moses Supposes, in having to remember so many fast steps, and how much energy was needed to reach the end and sing one final note.
• Having it dawn on me at one point that my knees and legs were not going to be strong enough for squatted single kicks like in the movie (though it was cut to ensure we didn’t injure ourselves)
• Watching Beautiful Girl and remembering that decades before, the singer for that got so frustrated during his song that he threw his cane angrily (during rehearsal).
• Everything that took place from the moment the musical was announced until the final curtain closed, especially due to what happened afterwards. These ARE the good ol’ days.

FINAL FINAL CURTAIN

As in the case of all shows, the final curtain finally closed. But in this case it was more than just the show. Little did any of us know at the time, it would be the final musical theatre production at the church. A year later, “Cinderella” had been discussed for the summer musical (a show I detest, but still), but even before auditions took place, Covid occurred and no show would take place. Then, during the cover of Covid, the main paster and some church associates shut down and dismantled the entire program and fired the people involved (frustrating and disappointing so, so many people). A long and epic era suddenly came to an end. But I guess if “Singin’” had to be my last show there (“Beast” was my first), we went out with a bang.