Name That Moment

I have been inspired to invent an email game, "Name That Moment," for the Annie Get Your Gun company to play between now and May 24, exactly five weeks from today. The following is an excerpt from the email I sent this morning.

"Here are the rules: Every day a different person in our company must offer a favorite moment from the previous rehearsal. If your assignment were today, for example, your comment would be due tomorrow. You can write about one or more actors, a director or a crew member, a scene, a song, a bit of choreography, a line or a move, or even something that happened during rehearsal that did not involve the actual action (for example, 'I loved when Rene' unveiled Dolly's hat with the bird that Annie will shoot off'). You must refer to a moment that everyone present either did or saw, and you must include at least one other person besides yourself in your comments. For example, if my assignment were last night's rehearsal, I would say, 'My favorite moment from last night's runthrough was the opening. The singing, dancing, energy, and character have never been better, and I thought, wow, we have ourselves a show!' Or, I might say, 'That moment when the whole company sang, 'I've-Got-the-Sun,' with the rhythmic punching in the air, after the patti-cake section, raised goosebumps on my arms!' A third example might be the moment between Sitting Bull and Annie about her chestful of gold and medals, which was riotously funny. These are examples, but you must pick just one moment to describe, your very favorite, for whatever reason."

Then I assigned a rehearsal between now and May 24 to each person, followed by this:

"At our cast party, after the close of the show, there will be (really good) prizes for the following entries, in no particular order: funniest, most poignant, most keenly observed, best written, and most original. As director and inventor of the game, the decisions are mine and are to be considered final.

"If you have any questions about the rules for this game, please ask me, especially before it's your turn! I look forward eagerly to your entries, and hope that you will have loads of fun playing Name That Moment!

"Reply code: 'Oy, not another game . . . well, OK!'" (I always include a reply code in my company emails, so I can be sure everyone has received my bons mots.)

Four times better

After last night's runthrough, I sent an email to the company, urging more energy and commitment to their work from here on out, and I'm very happy to report that tonight's runthrough was immensely improved over last night's; it was like a different show! How pleased am I! Afterwards, I told the cast that they are all stars to me, and that I am enjoying myself tremendously working on this show. The music, choreography, blocking, line retention, and spirit were all amped up like crazy for this runthrough, and for the first time I felt as if a real audience could have watched the rehearsal and gone home smiling. I'm pretty jazzed about how things are going, and I think all of the cast feels the same way.

We had a productive meeting about the sound in the theatre this afternoon, as well, and John and I both came away from that feeling that we're in pretty good shape, and will be able to work with the existing setup without too many adjustments. That was a huge relief.