Rehearsals for the show have been continuing in the piecemeal way that have to date, but we are starting into the final stretch and things are getting more regular.  Last Thursday we had our first full cast rehearsal in a while.  It was the first one in the theatre, and we ran about the first three quarters of the show.  It went pretty well, considering, and we all found it good to go over so much that hasn't been done for weeks.

From here things ramp up.  Tomorrow I will finally go over the Knight of the Mirrors scene, the only one of mine that hasn't been done yet.  From there it will be up to full speed, rehearsing Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday, and then into tech rehearsals.  About time too - the show opens in just under four weeks.

Tags: man of la mancha

Rehearsals for Man of La Mancha have been underway for a few weeks now, but so far have been pretty low key.  The director has been very organised and divvied the show up into its different scenes, then scheduled rehearsals such that people come to rehearse when their scenes are done and not otherwise.  Only a few people are in all or most parts (Cervantes/Quixote, Sancho, Aldonza/Dulcinea), the rest of us have been able to skip many rehearsals.   This week for example I only have one (later this evening), then nothing more for a week.

This makes the show seem a little unreal as yet - I'm used to getting into a show and going straight into the intense, three times a week schedule.  This one is easing us in gently, though it will be stepping up pretty soon.

That said, everything is going well and progress is good.  Not long ago we were up to running scenes one to eleven, lines down (for all but the major characters).  On the other hand there are gaps - while I've covered most of my scenes some have only been done once, so I've not had the reinforcing to drive them home.  Worse, my biggest scene (the Knight of the Mirrors) hasn't been covered yet, and won't for another fortnight.

I guess that puts the onus on me to be learning my lines up front.

Tags: man of la mancha

I am doing a new show - Man of La Mancha with the Brisbane Arts theatre.  This being Brisbane (and Arts Theatre) there a few familiar faces (if no daughters) around.

In the cast are Shane Daly, who has the role of Sancho Panza.  I've worked with Shane in Rock Nativity, Santa Spell and Treasure Island.  I'm looking forward to seeing him in action - it's a good role, and he should do a good job of it.  The other person I immediately recognised is Emily Klapper, who was the musician for Santa Spell, and I have an idea she stage directed something else I was in, but can't remember what it was. 

Everyone else in the show (including the director) is new to me, which is probably not surprising, since I've mostly been doing children's shows. 

Which this one definitely isn't.

Tags: man of la mancha

MOLM - the spinoff and spin-on
(I, Don Quixote; Quantum Leap).
Since getting involved in Man of La Mancha a few people I've talked to about it have told me about other related works. The most obvious is of course the story of Don Quixote itself, which (as mentioned in a previous post) is the story told by Cervantes within the wider story of his trial in the prison. It was Daniel Blundell who told me about the earlier telemovie "I, Don Quixote". It seems that the musical is based on the older movie, which also shows Cervantes in the prison mounting his defence by telling the story of Don Quixote. Man of La Mancha takes this way of telling the story and adds music, with a few nods along the way - the first song that Cervantes sings has the line "I am I, Don Quixote". The 1972 movie of Man of La Mancha draws on it as well, in addition to the musical, and apparently includes some dialog from the older movie which is not in the stage musical. I must track down a copy.

When I told my friend Brad Rosser (hi, Brad!) about the show he mentioned that the song "The Impossible Dream" featured in an episode of the SF series Quantum Leap. I managed to track this one down (series 2 episode 10). In this episode (Catch a Falling Star), the time-jumping hero finds himself backstage, waiting to understudy the lead in the a production of Man of La Mancha. The episode is set against the musical (not just the famous song), and deals with the backstage interactions of the cast members, making good use of many of the songs in the show. Well worth a look.

Tags: man of la mancha

I'm a little behind on this, but am prompted to write an entry through having told various friends about being in a new show, who expressed surprised that I hadn't blogged it. I had no idea I had such an enthusiastic reading audience (hi Jonathan! hi Tony! hi Brad!), and so will address the balance for my legions of fans. :^)

Back at the beginning of the month I auditioned for a part in a production of "Man of La Mancha", to be staged at the Brisbane Arts Theatre from the end of July and into August. Auditions were held on Sunday the 3rd, just before the Red Dragon cast went off to Cherbourg. I booked myself an early afternoon slot and auditioned with three other people. We each had to sing a song and perform a monologue; three of the four of us took monologs from Shakespeare. I sang the song "Stars" from Les Mis instead of my usual "Poisoning Pigeons", and found a monologue from Two Gentlemen of Verona.

The director (Lyn Wright) called me the following evening when we were all in Cherbourg to offer me a part in the chorus (understudying the Governor). I thought it over - I'd been after a main role after all - then called her back the next morning (Tuesday) to say no. I've been in a string of shows without much break (Snugglepot, Rock Nativity, Red Dragon) and though this is an interesting show I decided that I wanted more than just a chorus role to tempt me. I thought that was that, and started getting myself sorted out to just what is it that people do who have lives of their own, when Lyn rang me on Wednesday evening to ask me again, this time offering the part of the Duke. Having got used to
the thought of not being in the show I then had to reconsider my notions over again. Finally & after much discussion (Sylvia wasn't keen for me to do another show) & soul searching I called her back on Thursday morning to accept the role.

Part of my reason for accepting is that Man of La Mancha looks like being a very interesting show (of which more later). Another reason is that it is the first show I've been in for quite a while purely on my own account. The first show I did in Brisbane (Treasure Island, in 2005) I did by myself, but everything else (Joseph in 2005, Santa Spell in 2006, Snugglepot & Cuddlepie and Rock Nativity in 2008, Tale of the Red Dragon 2009) has had one or the other of my daughters taking part as well. This one is an adult show again rather than a kids show, and not a daughter in sight.

So, I'm in another show. Rehearsals are Sundays & Tuesday & Thursday nights, but so far things have been fairly light on. The director has been very well organised, and has split the show up into sections. Rehearsals have been organised so that people only come to what they need to. We are early days yet and have a lot of learning to do, but by dividing thing up like this people don't have to come along & then have nothing to do. So far, after three weeks of rehearsals, I have only been to four rehearsals. A nice way to ease people into it, though of course we will pick up later.

Tags: man of la mancha

The Tale of the Red Dragon had its final show in Cherbourg at the beginning of this month (Tuesday the 5th). The show's director, Jo Pierce, has had something to do with the communities out there, and hatched the notion.

The plan was to go up on the Monday (Labour day) and rehearse at the school, overnight in Murgon, do the show on Tuesday and return home that day. Accommodation was paid for my McDonalds. Accordingly we made the trip. On Monday morning I took Felicity & Acacia and collected Tim Gawn along the way, and we met the rest of the cast at the McDonalds just south of Caboolture. Jo had all the props & costumes, and Kiel had Tiff, Sarah & Maddy. we made a leisurely way up, stopping several times along the way (Kilcoy & Blackbutt, lunch in Kingaroy) & checked in the motel in Murgon.

Our first glitch surfaced there as we were unable to get in touch with the folks at Cherbourg. Jo had rung our contacts mobile & left messages, but no reply. We drove out to Cherbourg to see if anyone was at the school, but no luck. Instead we went back to the motel and were able to rehearse in the dining room there. For dinner we returned to Kingaroy.

Tuesday morning Jo finally heard from the folks at the school. Performance was to start at 1:30. To fill the morning we visited Kingaroy again (I visited the peanut caravan), then made our way to the school after lunch.

The show was in the school hall. This turned out to be very basic indeed - no stage, no backstage area. We decided on one corner of the hall to be our stage, and upended a ping-pong table to screen off our changing and "off stage" area. No lighting changes were possible, except that in the mist scene Tim flicked the main lights. Sound effects & such were pretty basic - Kiel had his bells & gong, and Tim had some big metal plates for thunder effects.

The show was very well received by the kids - they certainly got very taken up into it. The cramped space was a problem - we didn't have too much space, and the kids kept encroaching into it, so that we had to make do with less & less space. In the scene where the Queen passes out from dancing the kids were crowded right up to her, and poked & pulled at her costume.

Scheduling was not too well coordinated either. We started at 1:30; what we didn't realise is that school usually finished at 2:30. The bell rang at the end of act one & many of the kids went home; most stayed though (The vice principal told us afterwards this was an oversight; they meant to not ring the bell, but the message didn't get through in time to stop it). We continued with act 2, but things were getting too hectic and we cut the show short. This was done at the point where the Queen was turned to stone and the rest of us left the castle; instead of having her shake off the spell and chase after us, Tim came on and gave an improvised epilogue, to explain how we all lived happily ever after.

Then tidying up, packing up & heading home after a very memorable experience.

Jo made some remarks about writing up a report for the theatre, with a view to other touring shows. I know that Princess and the Pea are thinking of doing the same as we did, but if so other arrangements would have to be made. They have a much larger cast, and really would have to had a proper stage. Will have to wait & see what they do.

Tags: cherbourg, red dragon, touring
Current Mood: reflective

Last performance of Red Dragon on Saturday.  The final shows had good audiences - we never quite got a full house, but the Thursday & Friday shows were pretty well full downstairs and we even had some tickets sold upstairs.  Hopefully this bodes well for the future of the theatre.  We still managed a few surprises from the audiences.  On the very last show I managed to get a boo from one person in the audience when I came on stage, and (also in the last show) one of the audience told me afterward that their favourite part was the dancing.  This is the part in the show when the silver flute is played to make everyone dance.  The first time it is the Queen and the Dragon who dance to exhaustion, the second time it is Lee, Jen, Nightingale and Dragon dancing along to save time.  In this second time the others dance down the aisle and back again while I, who can't see the steps too well through the dragon mask, dance back and forth across the stage, trying to make it look as silly as I can make it.

The last show had one minor glitch for me.  My mask is attached to a cloth hood to hold it in place and stop it moving about too much on my head.  After the Friday show it came loose, so for the last show I sewed it on again myself before the show.  Alas, I got it slightly wrong so that the mask was set too high - I could not see the floor at all, unless I either bent my head right forward or surreptitiously pushed it down.  This didn't work though - however much I pushed it down it would ride up again.  I have got to fix that before I wear it again.

I will wear it again.  Jo has organised a special performance in Cherbourg next month (on the 5th), so we have one last show still to come.

This being (otherwise) the last week, we had our farewells.  Jo took us all out to lunch on Friday at a place in Paddington.  On Friday Felicity & I had cards - I had card & little dragon figures for each of the cast members, while Felicity had hand drawn cards for everyone.  These went over very well - Felicity is very good at such things, and drew caricatures of all the cast members on their respective cards.

Tags: final show, red dragon

The final week of Red Dragon is underway, with two shows down and three to go.  Audiences have varied - the Tuesday show was forty or so, mostly younger kids who didn't really get into all this audience interaction stuff.  Today's audience (Wednesday) was the largest to date - the office said there were one hundred and two tickets sold; the largest audience for a kids show so far this year.  Today's show featured a first for me - when I made my initial entrance as the dragon and roared a baby in the audience started to cry.  The same baby cried when the Queen of Midnight made her first entrance also.  A big chunk of the audience was a daycare group wearing red shirts.

Tags: red dragon

Yesterday's Red Dragon performance (the seventh) had a few interesting features.  We were down one cast member - Tiffany had other commitments - so her parts were filled by Acacia and Jo.  Acacia took the parts of Lee's mother and the Jade Spirit, while Jo took the part of the Queen of Midnight.  They both filled the roles creditably, though I found it a bit disorienting seeing them, rather than Tiff, in the respective costumes.

This rearrangement meant that Acacia had five different roles - the mother, the Jade spirit, and Blue, Yellow and Silver spirits.  In honour of this a large contingent of her family came to see the show, which gave us a total audience of about fifty-four.

So what does Macbeth have to do with this?  Before the show Kiel & I got talking about stage superstitions, and Kiel explained why it is that Macbeth is considered unlucky and should never be mentioned in a theatre.  It seems that Macbeth has been considered something of a money spinner - lots of popular appeal, with witches, fights, blood and mayhem.  As such, it was a play that would often be put on by theatre companies that were down on their like - a nice crowd pleaser to boost ticket sales.  Alas, this tended to have the opposite affect, as the play came to be associated with bad acting and companies about to go bust, such that putting on the show, and then even mentioning it, was seen to be unlucky.  (To be sure Arts Theatre is going through hard times, but no one is suggesting putting on The Scottish Play).  Incidentally I don't know if Kiel is right about this, but it certainly sounds plausable.

Anyway, Kiel & I were discussing this, and saying "Macbeth" a lot.  This spooked Tim, the lighting operator, a little - especially when he let on that it was, prompting us to say "Macbeth" even more.  So, when there were troubles with the lighting in act one - spots inexplicably turning off, so that Kiel had to move from one to another - Tim knew who to blame.

Don't methion Macbeth!

Tags: macbeth, red dragon, the scottish play

The sixth show last weekend.  I keep thinking that I've heard every possible audience reaction and keep on finding I'm wrong.  This time around the audience (a decent size, of about 47 I think) joined the cast in the bits where they described the various guardians - all the business of long black tunic, silver hat and grey beard etc.  It gets me wondering - what else can they possibly come up with?

Sarah had an interesting observation when we were chatting backstage.  She noted that her character Lee is the only person who hears the animals talk.  The story starts off plainly enough with Lee selling pies and her mother taking in the washing, but as soon as the mother leaves the talking monkey and nightingale, the various spirits, the evil sorceress and the enchanted prince appear, only to all disappear as she makes her way home again.  Just what will her mother think when Lee returns and tells her story?

Tags: red dragon