Yeah, I love doing ensemble pieces. You get to meet so many new people and make new friends. {Devon Sawa}
Today has
been a very looooooong day!! All the
principals were in at 10 to work through Act one, which, although it ended up
taking longer than expected, did prove to be very useful. We walked through the act slowly, picking up
any bits that needed clarifying or cleaning up with Gerry, which continued into
the afternoon after lunch, and then did a full run of the act, with all the
songs and dances before the Juves arrived.
The run was worth the hard work of the morning, getting to see the act
as a whole. It highlights the sticky
points, which inevitably are present – but at least Gerry now knows what needs
work, and we have plenty of time before we open. There are some things though that we won’t be
able to work on properly until we’re in the space and working with the set and
props. The laundry scene for example,
lacks the pace and timing it requires at the moment because we have no choice
but to mark it through. I can’t wait to
practice with the mangle!!!
We had a
surprise visit from Jamie Barber yesterday afternoon, who popped in to say
“hello” and check on how things are progressing. He even turned his hand to making me and
Royce a cuppa… “forget our pay boss” I thought… the world’s alright as long as
there tea, coffee and preferably an ample supply of biscuits.
The evening
session, with the babes was spent completing the finale number and practising
it a few times. It’s so much fun – I can
hardly believe that I’m enjoying DANCING!!!
What has happened to me?! In all
seriousness, the reason I can enjoy it is because of Jill’s choreography. She knows (from my GSA days) that I’m not a
superb dancer, but she really makes me feel at ease, she laughs with me rather
than at me, and is always on hand to help and go through things, if she can see
I’m struggling. I don’t know how they do
it (Gerry & Jill), they work so well together!! The pieces are so well put together, very
entertaining and everybody gets featured.
Jill is also an expert at dealing with the babes; I can imagine it’s
hard not to patronise when teaching children, but she doesn’t and she gets so
much out of them in such a short space of time!
Despite all
the fun and laughter we’ve been having, I think everyone was feeling it yesterday;
coming towards the end of the second week, a busy tech week ahead of us and with
other things going on for people such as radio shows, auditions and families
etc, you could tell that we were feeling tired.
What better way to chill out then, than to go for a company shindig –
or… dinner at TGI’s! Myself, Joe and
Lucy along with all the ensemble (minus James who wasn’t feeling well) went for
a bit of grub and then on for a drink or two.
I really enjoyed myself, and as I predicted, it was a perfect way to get
to know “the gang”. We were sharing some
funny stories, after Amy instigated “never have I ever”…. which I couldn’t
possibly repeat for fear of offending or embarrassing; Suffice to say I’ll be
looking at certain people in a different light today! I’m already looking forward to the next time –
and I can see the Brit is definitely going to do a booming trade when we get
into the theatre! Hic!
I mentioned
this a couple of days ago, but I’ll repeat, how pleasant it is to have such a
comfortable atmosphere with good banter amongst the cast. Things can be a tad awkward and unsettling if
people don’t get on and mingle with each other… a separation between, ensemble,
principals and crew is the last thing you want; after all “we’re all in it together!” Thankfully that is not the case here, and
there’s no diva-ishness and snobbery. [Lifts
head from screen and shouts…. “Gordon get me a coffee!!!!”]
On that
note, I’ll bid you farewell and see you shortly on “DAY 10” – go on…. You know
you want to!
PongoX
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