Friends will ask me how I like going out-of-town so often - that's the parlance for an actor who leaves their home base and goes to another city to work. Are you kidding? I love it! A chance to go away for a few months to a new city and do what you love and get paid to do it? What could be better? The stressful part though is getting acclimated to new surroundings and new co-workers. Just imagine starting a brand new job every few months!
In some ways, perhaps that's why the first few days of rehearsals can be the scariest. Beneath the warm smiles and hearty handshakes of the first day cast members who have nothing in common beyond the play at hand, try to bury their fears that they don't get put in a dressing room with someone they quietly loathe, size up which actors they get to kiss onstage versus those they HAVE to kiss onstage, pray that no one else is questioning why they were cast as much as they're wondering themselves, decide 'I've never met these people before but I'm going to at least try to pretend I trust them!', and then hope for the best. For our first day we smile and shook hands, sorted through administrative business, took a tour of the theater, and before long we were laughing and chatting like old friends who'd agreed to get together to do a play called GLORIOUS by Peter Quilter.
The actors in the company include Deb Bluford as aspiring opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins. Bruce Roach as Florence's love interest St. Clair Bayfield. Marilyn Lynch as Florence's best friend and biggest fan Dorothy. Katie Kalahurka tackles two roles - Maria, Florence's somewhat aggressive Mexican maid and Mrs. Verrinder-Gedge one of Florence's more outspoken detractors. And then there's yer man (Jonas Cohen) as Cosme McMoon - Florence's piano accompanist. With the exception of Deb whose terrific work makes her a fan favorite here in Kansas City, this is the first time these actors are working at the American Heartland Theater. So thank you to Paul Hough our director for bringing us all together and for not hitting us in the face when we misbehave.
One of the challenges of the play is the significant amount of live music that is performed. You'll get to hear Deb/Florence put her unique stylings on songs from Mozart to Cole Porter. Yep she's just that versatile. Towards the end of our first rehearsal day Deb and I spent time with our musical director Anthony Edwards (come hear him play piano in It's A Wonderful Life!) and set to work on all things music. The real challenge for Deb is that the part requires the actor to play a character who sings badly but tries EARNESTLY to sing well. On top of that, the character believes she's succeeding... and does she? Well, not so much. I looked on bemused as Anthony and Deb figured out how and when to sing badly.
Another challenge for us is staging the play in just such a way that the audience sitting on three sides of the action can see us all clearly at any given moment. Paul's got the right eye for that. No easy feat that. How DO you get two people to stand next to each other and have a conversation in such a way that everyone in the audience can see? Audience members have sometimes asked, "once you know the lines and know where you're supposed to go, what do you do in rehearsal?" The answer is that the rehearsal process is like creating new habits. How does this character walk, talk, stand, sit, move, when DO they pick up the cup, etc? You decide which habits you want to create and spend as much time as possible practicing them until they become like, well... like a habit - you don't have to think anymore. As I write this we've just finished our third day of rehearsal. We've accomplished a lot (the entire first act is staged) but we still have plenty to go. We went back and reviewed what we've accomplished so far - making tweaks and adjustments along the way - and so far ... not too shabby. Things aren't quite a habit yet, but they're getting there.
Have I mentioned our stage manager Bill Christie? Bill keeps things running, notates the staging, sets the props and furniture in their proper places, makes the schedules, files rehearsal reports, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. The biggest challenge for him though must be keeping us on task. We're a playful group. It's like being on vacation and getting paid. What could be better?
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