Stephen Gilberg (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
deckardcanine) wrote2006-03-30 10:50 pm
deckardcanine) wrote2006-03-30 10:50 pm
(no subject)
The first of two night performances of Oliver! is complete. I was at work during the dress rehearsal yesterday, and they say it missed a lot without the synth percussion. (Someone did use it to produce a gunshot, which was barely worth the trouble of setting up the synth.)
I'm glad I agreed to this. Tonight I did better than my practice led me to expect. There were a few times I got cocky and played an underpracticed part which I'd better skip tomorrow, but my sense of appropriate volume has improved and I got the clock chimes dead on. Two or three people, not counting my mom, praised my contribution as I left.
Both the unexpectedly crowded audience and the actors were unusually energized, and the play as a whole went well. Nancy sang like few junior high schoolers can. Fagin's gang, composed primarily of girls in drab, has gotten more convincingly bad-boyish since I saw them rehearse. Bill Sykes finally has a fitfully intimidating presence. Mr. Brownlow, who replaced another actor late in the game, pulled it off with more immediate memory and feeling than ever before. Our bassist braved a fresh illness to perform.
There were a couple delayed entrances, but nobody had to ad lib to make up for them. Fagin forgot to turn on his mike in the first act, but he's one of the louder and more well-spoken cast members and has a lot of visual stuff going on, so I think the audience got the gist. Oliver, who gets pushed around a lot, sometimes dropped the ill-concealed battery pack for his mike, having to grab it as he left scenes, but maybe it wasn't obvious to those who weren't right next to the stage. Besides, unlike in some first-night preformances at this school, we couldn't hear anyone backstage.
The most noticeable error was when a sweeping arm knocked over a teaset and it sounded like something broke. The audience chuckled. Fortunately, (1) whatever broke was not an important prop, (2) the scene was meant to be humorous, and (3) the character who knocked it over was none other than a Mr. Bumble. :)
The band got two gifts each: a $10 Chipotle certificate and a ceramic of a musical instrument (the player's own when possible), generally with at least one animal. My mom worried that the young men in the band wouldn't go for something so cute, but these guys were right for it. Mine is a piano played by a cat with two other cats sitting atop the piano. Open it up and there's a brief ceramic score inside.
I'm glad I agreed to this. Tonight I did better than my practice led me to expect. There were a few times I got cocky and played an underpracticed part which I'd better skip tomorrow, but my sense of appropriate volume has improved and I got the clock chimes dead on. Two or three people, not counting my mom, praised my contribution as I left.
Both the unexpectedly crowded audience and the actors were unusually energized, and the play as a whole went well. Nancy sang like few junior high schoolers can. Fagin's gang, composed primarily of girls in drab, has gotten more convincingly bad-boyish since I saw them rehearse. Bill Sykes finally has a fitfully intimidating presence. Mr. Brownlow, who replaced another actor late in the game, pulled it off with more immediate memory and feeling than ever before. Our bassist braved a fresh illness to perform.
There were a couple delayed entrances, but nobody had to ad lib to make up for them. Fagin forgot to turn on his mike in the first act, but he's one of the louder and more well-spoken cast members and has a lot of visual stuff going on, so I think the audience got the gist. Oliver, who gets pushed around a lot, sometimes dropped the ill-concealed battery pack for his mike, having to grab it as he left scenes, but maybe it wasn't obvious to those who weren't right next to the stage. Besides, unlike in some first-night preformances at this school, we couldn't hear anyone backstage.
The most noticeable error was when a sweeping arm knocked over a teaset and it sounded like something broke. The audience chuckled. Fortunately, (1) whatever broke was not an important prop, (2) the scene was meant to be humorous, and (3) the character who knocked it over was none other than a Mr. Bumble. :)
The band got two gifts each: a $10 Chipotle certificate and a ceramic of a musical instrument (the player's own when possible), generally with at least one animal. My mom worried that the young men in the band wouldn't go for something so cute, but these guys were right for it. Mine is a piano played by a cat with two other cats sitting atop the piano. Open it up and there's a brief ceramic score inside.