Well, after 3 weeks of rehearsal for ARE WE THERE YET? at The American Heartland Theatre we were finally confronted by our first preview on July 10. There is something about rehearsing a musical comedy... after about 2 weeks, nothing seems funny, nothing you or anyone else is doing seems like it’s working and overall there is a general sense of uneasiness amongst almost everyone involved.
To be honest, I was experiencing a bit of Heartburn when we received our “half hour” to curtain call from our Stage Manager, Bill Christie. Now my heartburn could have been caused by nervousness or jitters, but I think it was most likely caused by the Bison Burger and French Fries with Truffle oil that I ate at around 4:30 at Blanc Burgers & Bottles in Westport. Yes, perhaps a poor decision. Regardless, that is how I was feeling at that particular moment of that particular evening.
Fortunately, on the evening of July 10... the audience laughed. Whew... close one. As is the case of every show you work on, there were certainly things that needed to be tweaked and/or ironed out. For example, BERNIE’S BUFFET, one of my numbers late in the 2nd act needed to be re-worked... again. This poor fella had been through the ringer it seemed. The number is about an 85 year old man who has recently lost his wife and is rediscovering his... how shall I put this... “Social Relevancy”.
Anyway, this poor bastard started out with a walker ~ DIDNT WORKThen we moved to a cane and tried to make it a “song & dance” type number ~ NOPE
And after the 1st Preview we landed on a hybrid of a “Song and dance” number and a lyrical story song.
I think that’s the ticket. People seem to be responding quite well to him.
Our official Opening Night is Wednesday, July 15 and we run through August 23. You can visit http://www.ahtkc.com/ for details on the show and you can also purchase ticket online as well. Hope to see you there!
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