Given the extent of the attrition and rehearsal conflicts we've had to deal with, I'd say we're in pretty dandy shape, with eight weeks to go until opening. We've pretty well nailed down our cast, and this past week of rehearsals saw a lot of improvement in all aspects of our show, even choreography, which we haven't officially begun to work on yet! Last night after a good hour-and-a-half music rehearsal (pictured are John, our music director, in an early rehearsal with our Annie understudy, Jena), I had to revise our scheduled plan because neither the actor playing Tommy nor his understudy was present, so I invited anyone who was interested in staying for some character work. This consisted of sitting in a circle (my cast is teasing me about circles now, I ask for them so often--"Uh-oh, Rachel wants us in another circle . . .!"), and in their characters' voices we had a long conversation, all about the issues in the show, the issues of the day (1888), the relationships among them--as characters--and so on. Those who participated left rehearsal saying that it had been a big help in learning to understand more about the roles they are playing. We'll see the next time we work on the scenes themselves just how much help it really was. In any case, it was a productive evening, and I came home feeling good about the show at the end of week 7 of rehearsal, almost halfway to our goal of opening night.
