Week One

Whelp, one week down or under your belts or wherever you like to put things after they're completed.

Congratulations to all--I hope you're none too lonely with some evenings off...or off from YTN at least.

I found that, even though I was watching the run of another show I directed, I was wishing I was watching this one. (But, shhh, don't tell anybody because those actors will get so sad and they have to tour all over the place.)

Two things you should all know about:

• our photo shoot will likely be Saturday, February 4 and split before and after the matinee
• Erin and I are working on a time when all the singers can get together with her to record all of the songs with your voices so we have a little soundtrack-y!

I'd love to hear how the shows went for the rest of this weekend...and I can't wait to see it again next week!

(Speaking of photos...I know some of you have, like, one million photographs of this little play...would it kill you to post some of them here? Jeez. I mean, "please.")

The Place Where I Was Born

Hello, all--just a little shout from the mile high city...DENVER! So far today I've seen the hospital in which I was born, a huge blue bear peering into the window of the convention center (okay, like, not a real bear, but it was about 60 feet tall and had the look of "hey, what're you guys doing? do you have any fish?"), theatre folk from all over the country, and hours and hours of sunshine. (Although it's supposed to snow tomorrow.)

I hope finals are going well for everyone. I definitely miss being in rehearsal, but I got to talk about it with folk tonight, so that was a little something.

I also hope, of course, that you are finding time to allow the images of your characters and our show to creep into your head (perhaps the songs...) when they will and that those images are inspiring and not distracting.

I may well have new thoughts for you all as the days progress--though we're in workshops pretty much from 9:30am-9:30pm, so I might hit Starey Joe mode before I hit "I think I'll post some tips and tricks to my dearest ensemble cast" mode.

Know that you are all missed and that I am very proud of the work you're doing in Magic.

(Yes, Gagliardo, even you.)

Wallflower

Now with 50% less spike tape.

Dear non-squirted kittens,

Just another little thanks for keeping it all together today. I know it's no fun shifting from being real boys and girls into seemingly wooden puppets manipulated by a "hold please" here and a "take it again" there, but y'all sure are looking good under those lights and it's only going to get better. (And we at the tech tables really are sorry that there's no way to gage exactly when we'll need you during a Q-to-Q.)

As mentioned, Act II will be completed on Monday evening and then we'll move into a work-through (between which we'll do song/fight call).

As a reminder, Heather will be in on Monday and Tuesday to pull each of you at varying times for costume fittings. (Costume fittings!)

Watch your in-boxes tomorrow for love notes in the form of notes from Thursday's run!

And now, for your previewing pleasure, here are my Director's Notes for our program:

Director's notes, huh? In my own words? Oh, I've got 'em. Too many of them, sometimes: isn't it important to figure out what you think and say so?

What I'm thinking is everywhere in this production: how I feel about theatre, how I feel about storytelling, how I feel about magic--imagined and real. Those thoughts are there for you to interpret. They can also be found within Geoff Ryman's notes about his excellent book Was (a re-imagining of the worlds of The Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum, and Judy Garland):

I fell in love with realism because it deflates the myths, the unexamined ideas of fantasy. It confronts forgotten facts. It uses past truth--history.

I love fantasy because it reminds us how far short our lives fall from their full potential. Fantasy reminds us how wonderful the world is. In fantasy, we can imagine a better life, a better future. In fantasy, we can free ourselves from history and outworn realism.

Oz is, after all, only a place with flowers and birds and rivers and hills. Everything is alive there, as it is here if we care to see it. Tomorrow, we could all decide to live in a place not much different from Oz. We don't. We continue to make the world an ugly, even murderous place, for reasons we do not understand.

Those reasons lie in both fantasy and history. Where we are gripped by history--our own personal history, our country's history. Where we are deluded by fantasy--our own fantasy, our country's fantasy. It is necessary to distinguish between history and fantasy wherever possible.

And then use them against each other.

And that's the world and spirit I hope we have created for you with Magic. I hope it is silly and frightening. I hope it is giddy and beguiling. I hope its flowers and birds and rivers and hills are alive...even though it's just a play.

And I hope you find your own words to describe it all.

Hey, everybody!

I don't think you all realize how much I love tech. See, because I know it's a lot of standing around, but it's when we finally get to move from "pretend really hard that the play is happening" to "ooooo, stuff!"

Y'know, stuff: like spike tape and glow tape and gaff tape. (Oh, my!)

But really, it's when you can be a theatre bad-ass (a what?) and solve problems that make the whole show better.

If you start getting antsy just know I'm looking at you and thinking "you shur look purdy under them lights."

And, just as a reminder, please remember: the squirt bottles are aimed directly into your ears, you little kittens.

Swallow You Whole

Hello, superstars.

We've got a new song to use for Belly of the Beast: Erin is arranging Johnny Cash's The Beast in Me. Here are the lyrics:

The beast in me
Is caged by frail and fragile bars
Restless by day
And by night rants and rages at the stars
God help the beast in me

The beast in me
Has had to learn to live with pain
And how to shelter from the rain
And in the twinkling of an eye
Might have to be restrained
God help the beast in me

Sometimes it tries to kid me
That it's just a teddy bear
And even somehow manage to vanish in the air
And that is when I must beware
Of the beast in me that everybody knows
They've seen him out dressed in my clothes
Patently unclear if it's New York or New Year
God help the beast in me

The beast in me

Heather and I met this morning about costumes: you all are going to look freaking awesome.