Racing By
I feel like I have to start updating this blog twice daily or more: too much happens on any given day to record it all in retrospect.
One week into rehearsal and we are already on the point of assembling and running the first three acts of Shakespeare’s text and the first three dumbshows that precede them.
Today, we had the whole cast (all twenty-seven!) in the room together for the first time. We hammered out many the kinks in the opening number that will establish the setting, set the mood, introduce most of the characters, and provide some major storytelling points… all packed into five minutes… without words… and set to music.
There’s a kind of magic that settles on the room when the music starts and all twenty-seven members of the cast spring into action: jumping, dancing, tumbling, contorting, knocking each other down, and picking each other up, all in a way that is at once tightly choreographed and completely open to individual expression. There’s a mixture of fun, wonder, and joy in watching it all happen that never diminishes, no matter how many times we run through it…
And this is just the opening five minutes of the show! There are so many massive transformative elements to be added: the set, costumes, and lights, and most critically: the audience! Because if this is already an amazing experience to share with a few dozen people, one can only imagine what it’s going to feel like when we are sharing it with five thousand of our closest friends.
Tags: comedyoferrors, rehearsal