First dress rehearsal

From Eric Hale:

As promised, last night brought many new things. We were wearing costumes for the first time and some, though not all, of the cast were wearing makeup. The set was in place. The number of props exploded. Wayne was conducting from the pit. And so forth and so on, etc., etc. All that being said, being on the real stage and in costume pumped the energy way up. It’s really feeling like a show now. Here are some observations:

For me, the biggest surprise was in the physical layout of the set. The big set pieces are angled, which adds a lot of visual interest. However, at times, we actually had less space front to back that we were used to. This was especially true in act 3. However, Thomas said he is going to be making some changes to the set. You may not see exactly what I saw last night.

The stage is no less wide, however, and we were singing out into a much larger space than we’ve been rehearsing in. Choruses which sounded thunderously loud in a room now need to be much louder. They will be. Things also just generally sounded differently. I asked Kevin about it at one point and he assured me that the tuning was fine – but that we were about half a beat behind.

Generally, we adapted to the new space pretty well. During the notes, Thomas said that the show got better and better as we got used to the space.

There was a charming moment when Wayne was explaining to the children that they needed keep their heads up while at the same time watching the man in the pit. To sing out and look down is not a natural thing to do, but the kids caught on pretty quickly. One thing I have not commented on before: This is a very, very well behaved group of children. It’s hard on them to have to sit and be quiet for an hour or more, and still keep their energy up on stage. They are doing quite well and I’m sure their parents are very proud. Kudos also to Anne, who taught the children their parts, is responsible for them back stage, and sings in the chorus.

Tonight’s rehearsal is a Wandelprobe. It’s the first rehearsal with the orchestra. The meaning of wandel is roughly the same as the English word stroll, while probe means to rehearse. It means to sing with the orchestra while doing your blocking. As to why it has a German name, I have no idea. This is a working rehearsal and we will be doing a full run. The sound of the orchestra will be very different and we have to get used to it quickly.

Just for reference, there is another type of first orchestra rehearsal, where the cast sits on the stage during the rehearsal. The German name for this is Sitzprobe.

This is a good time to acknowledge Kate, our rehearsal accompanist. She has added so much to the rehearsal period. We can’t thank you enough.