Sunday, November 12, 2006
Ghost light
After party 2
Donna Lynne Champlin, Nicole Mangi, choreographer Karma Camp, costume designer Alejo Vietti, Mark Sanders
After party 1
Patrick Ryan Sullivan, Andrew Gerle, Donna Lynne Champlin, James Moye, Eddie Sugarman
Where we've been
Yes, I know we've been silent for a few days, because... WE OPENED! After an incredible final push, Thursday night was our first performance for a paying audience (see pic), and it was terrific. Seeing it with real people in the house highlighted the parts that consistently work, and the parts which are consistently a little soft or hard to put across. Now it's our job to sharpen all those moments and make everyone's lives (actors, musicians and audience members) a little bit easier.
Gotta run to a matinee-- more thoughts later, especially after the two full days of writing that we get tomorrow and Tuesday.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
11:30 PM, tech night 2
Ann and John after the Rally
John finishes his national tour
Recognized!
Eileen (Monique French) spots John (Jim Moye) at her diner, as the Colonel (Joel Blum) watches.
Does at the diner
John speaks to the nation
Real headlines!
Keegan Michael Brown and Victoria Huston-Elem
The headlines we wrote two weeks ago appear in a real newspaper, thanks to the incredible props team here at Goodspeed.
Sandwich board
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Please keep your arms and legs inside the musical at all times
Quite a ride for writers three weeks into a developmental production.
Last Saturday: two weeks of work all paying off; changes all working, show running great. UP!
Sunday: design "run-through", with producers and staff in "audience". Goes well, then Goodspeed AD Michael Price gives his patented notes session. Always the gentleman, but let's just say no punches pulled. Problems we thought we'd solved rear their ugly heads again, Hydra-like, and torment us in our dreams: "What made you think you could write a show? You have no talent! Get a real job!" DOWN.
Monday: day off. Substantial cuts, and a plan for a great new number. Paring comedy bits down just to the funniest jokes, get in, get out. We're so smart! What great fixes! UP!
Tuesday: Working on the new number, plus triaging all the cuts we've made so we don't lose any information and the flow still makes sense. Confident we're on the right path. STRAIGHT AHEAD.
Wednesday morning: new number that was so funny yesterday is suddenly not at all. Moment is extraneous, song is clunky, and now we hate the number we cut so we can't go back to it. Babies, bathwater, all pouring out the holes of our sinking show. WAY DOWN.
Wednesday afternoon: song is finished, and we sing it through with great trepidation for Karma and Michael. They love it! Everything we were trying to accomplish is there in buckets, the song is funny, heartwarming, adds just the moment we were missing in the story, we're geniuses, How did we write it so fast? WAY UP.
Thursday (today): staged the new number, still funny, still the right moment. Other cuts are being staged, also to great effect. Still geniuses. I'll let you know tomorrow.
Last Saturday: two weeks of work all paying off; changes all working, show running great. UP!
Sunday: design "run-through", with producers and staff in "audience". Goes well, then Goodspeed AD Michael Price gives his patented notes session. Always the gentleman, but let's just say no punches pulled. Problems we thought we'd solved rear their ugly heads again, Hydra-like, and torment us in our dreams: "What made you think you could write a show? You have no talent! Get a real job!" DOWN.
Monday: day off. Substantial cuts, and a plan for a great new number. Paring comedy bits down just to the funniest jokes, get in, get out. We're so smart! What great fixes! UP!
Tuesday: Working on the new number, plus triaging all the cuts we've made so we don't lose any information and the flow still makes sense. Confident we're on the right path. STRAIGHT AHEAD.
Wednesday morning: new number that was so funny yesterday is suddenly not at all. Moment is extraneous, song is clunky, and now we hate the number we cut so we can't go back to it. Babies, bathwater, all pouring out the holes of our sinking show. WAY DOWN.
Wednesday afternoon: song is finished, and we sing it through with great trepidation for Karma and Michael. They love it! Everything we were trying to accomplish is there in buckets, the song is funny, heartwarming, adds just the moment we were missing in the story, we're geniuses, How did we write it so fast? WAY UP.
Thursday (today): staged the new number, still funny, still the right moment. Other cuts are being staged, also to great effect. Still geniuses. I'll let you know tomorrow.
