Meet John Doe @ Goodspeed

Thank You Goodspeed!

2006-12-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's tough to compete with Andrew's beautiful post below, but I need to post a big shout-out to Goodspeed for hosting and nurturing Meet John Doe. I can't tell you how many times people came up to me and said "What else do you need?" "How can we help?" or "That was last call, sir, you really need to leave the premises."

Goodspeed was a blast. It's good to be home, and we're looking forward to Ford's where we will most certainly launch MeetJohnDoeBlog, the Next Generation.

See you all then.

Home at last

2006-12-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

I've unpacked, I'm sitting on my couch, the cat has mostly forgiven me, and the past six weeks feel wildly telescoped in both directions. I don't think I have the right mushroom to eat to get me back to where I was before Goodspeed, but that's the whole point, I guess. I'm a little numb; six weeks of constant self-evaluation (because, let's face it, our shows are ourselves) is both draining and strangely addictive. Each time I identified a problem and came up with a solution was a mini-rush, pushing me to look for another problem, etc. But at some point, I began to wonder if I was just making up problems so I could fix them.

And the Feedback, that multi-headed monster who giveth (standing ovations, "strongest score I've heard in years", "a good, old-fashioned patriotic show") and taketh away ("dreck", "this proves that there is no talent left in musical theater", "the composer should be smothered"). What to do? First, I guess, is to realize that there isn't a show, movie, book, painting or sculpture on the planet that someone doesn't hate. Then, we listen to the voices in the middle, who (thankfully) kept saying the same things in one way or another. And we have faith, or something like it: we try to really believe the people who like what we've written, even when we know we can do better, we can always do better, in an art form where there is no perfect.

And we keep writing. Two months from today, we begin rehearsals in DC for our production at the Ford's Theatre. Yesterday, we generated a lengthy to-do list, including some major structural changes, a proposed new song (in addition to the two new songs we wrote during the Goodspeed run and didn't get to put in to the show), and a few last cans of worms we'd pushed to the back of the pantry but finally have to open and address.

But what can't be summarized in a blog or captured on a list is the experience of working with such a beautiful, creative and generous group of actors, designers and staff as we had at Goodspeed. The support and camaraderie through good times and hard is what got us through and maybe is what will keep us writing when, on a daily basis, we think, "There's got to be an easier job." Well, of course there is, but I guarantee there's nothing like it.

See you in Washington!

Final performance

2006-12-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

A sunny day with a great crowd. Nice way to go out.

Tori's handiwork

2006-12-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

Cast member Tori Huston-Elem's inspired tribute. Click to enlarge!

One show left, and we've officially Made It

2006-12-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

I've been awfully radio-silent for the past couple weeks, and I do have some final thoughts which I'll share tomorrow, but until then, I had to announce our arrival into the annals of Theatre History: our Goodspeed playbill has shown up on eBay. Yes, you heard it here-- but don't all rush to the site at once, you know they can only handle so many million hits per minute.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Playbill-Meet-John-Doe-Andrew-Gerle-Eddy-Sugarman_W0QQitemZ170056245046QQihZ007QQcategoryZ2365QQcmdZViewItem

What makes it so sweet is that they spelled Eddie's name wrong.

1 more week!

2006-11-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

So it's Tuesday, the second of two days off. We're not going to be putting any major changes into the show for the rest of the run, which is nice for a lot of reasons. The cast and crew can enjoy the rest of the run and continue doing what they've been doing brilliantly, and Andrew and I can focus on some slightly more long-term changes we've been wanting to get at.

In other news, big Pot Luck tomorrow night at my place featuring Chicago-Style Hot Dogs. Jess is making Broccoli-Cheese casserole and Andrew's baking a Coca Cola Cake. It doesn't get more exciting than this, folks.

A 10 Show Week and Thanksgiving Break

2006-11-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

So our stellar, tough cast made it through the 10 show week which ended with three 2-show days in a row (Sat, Sun, Mon). I don't know how they do it. Quite a few people got out of Dodge right after the second show Monday to dive right into the break. I hopped into a car full of Pirates of Penzance daughters at 6:30am to hit the airport. 2 hours sleep, no sweat.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Rest up and we'll see you soon.

A little press

2006-11-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

So we got a couple nice write ups (not reviews!) we think are nifty. Here are the links:

http://www.connpost.com/coverstory/ci_4638762

http://www.ctnow.com/stage/reviews/hce-nha-ctn-meetjohndoerev-artnov16,0,5878024.story?coll=hce-headlines-theaterreviews

Pot Luck, Boggle & Rewrites

2006-11-14T12:14:00.000-08:00

Well it was a nice long stretch of off-time yesterday in East Haddam. After the second show on Sunday (which was wonderful!) the vast majority of the cast took off for NYC for a break from CT and to catch up on this and that.

After Andrew and I worked our butts off on rewrites all day (new stuff coming, everyone!!!) I hosted a pot-luck at my place. Andrew brought some sweet sausage, I made a tomato, garlic, onion dip for the bread and cooked up some pasta with vodka sauce. Rachal brought some yummy potstickers, Ron made some wonderful rice with butternut squash in it and Keegan brought some quality beer and cookies. We all ate our faces off before clearing the table for some serious Boggle. Andrew "the Android" Gerle cleaned up, of course, but a good time was had by all.

Today (Tue.) was more rewrites and a bunch of orchestration work on Andrew's part. We've got rehearsal from 6-11 tonight to put in the changes. Some really good stuff, I think.

Later.

Ghost light

2006-11-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

A successful opening

After party 2

2006-11-12T13:50:00.000-08:00

Donna Lynne Champlin, Nicole Mangi, choreographer Karma Camp, costume designer Alejo Vietti, Mark Sanders

After party 1

2006-11-12T10:25:00.000-08:00

Patrick Ryan Sullivan, Andrew Gerle, Donna Lynne Champlin, James Moye, Eddie Sugarman

Where we've been

2006-11-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

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.

11:30 PM, tech night 2

2006-11-08T20:35:00.000-08:00

Donna Lynne Champlin

Ann and John after the Rally

2006-11-08T20:33:00.000-08:00

Donna Lynne Champlin and Jim Moye

John finishes his national tour

2006-11-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

Recognized!

2006-11-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

Eileen (Monique French) spots John (Jim Moye) at her diner, as the Colonel (Joel Blum) watches.

Does at the diner

2006-11-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

John speaks to the nation

2006-11-08T11:08:00.000-08:00

Jim Moye as John Doe

Real headlines!

2006-11-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

By The Numbers

2006-11-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

Number of days of rehearsal before we moved into the theatre – 16

Number of sets of new pages distributed - 31

Number of songs cut – 3

Number of new songs added – 2

Number of pages first day of rehearsal – 122

Number of pages today – 112

Number of bits Joel Blum added – 97

Number of games University of Michigan football has lost since rehearsal began – 0

2006-11-02T20:19:00.001-08:00

The Set @ Chester

Long shot of set. Cool.2!!!

2006-11-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

Set Designer and Set

Set @ Chester. Cool!!

Please keep your arms and legs inside the musical at all times

2006-11-02T10:17:00.000-08:00

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.

Eddie Checking In

2006-10-31T16:36:00.000-08:00

Hi Cyberspace.

Yesterday was our day off, and D.L. Hilton told us to relax so we only worked for 10 hours. We had a run through on Sunday for designers and co. and it was our first opportunity to see a lot of the new stuff we've been piling on the cast in sequence. On the whole, we're quite pleased with the way things are going, but there's always more to do, of course.

Today was a really great day. We had a break-through of sorts with the character of the Colonel and added a bit to his entrance that really nailed down his relationship to John. It was really nuts, and I was nervous to try it, but it paid off. We could tell as we passed new pages around that it answered a lot of questions everyone had been asking. Also, the new bit, which is musical, happens about halfway through a rather long scene which lacks a "real" song, so I think it'll act as a tentpole in the structure to help move us along. I know it sounds strange, adding something to make things feel tighter, but that's how it works out sometimes.

In other news, we cut a song and are writing a new one. I'll tell ya all about it in my next post. Gotta go eat.

Feeling it

2006-10-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Just an update on "Inside the Writers' Minds": we're Tired.

Having spent 11 days straight doing nothing but rewriting, we have to say we're a little crispy. We're very excited about everything we've done (even the big dance number that I spent the better part of a day writing that we've pretty much now decided to scrap), but each morning, it's a little harder to leave our cozy apartments and head back to the rehearsal hall. We're just now tackling some final bumpy patches, getting rid of clunky, old-fashioned transitions, newsboys yelling headlines (please stop, already, I have a headache), identifying places we need underscoring, etc. Nothing major, but it's hard to accept that the end is in sight, that we won't actually be rewriting this show until we're 50.

Today we staged the only new number we've added since we've been here, and it's making everyone cry, so I'm pretty sure it's a keeper. And, more exciting yet: I spent much of the last two days making the orchestra parts up-to-date with all the little changes we've made, and they're 95% done and being printed to give to our players this weekend! We'll be using a four-piece band: piano, bass, drums and mallets (xylophone and vibraphone), which is a combo we've used before and gives just enough period color without trying to sound like a full orchestration. We'll be adding six more players at Ford's, which is when we'll pull out all the stops.

I should get back to doing something useful, like keeping an eye out for leaks: it's raining in such torrents, the gentle babbling brook that runs under the rehearsal studio has turned into a class 5 rapids.

-Andrew

Halloween's Coming!!

2006-10-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well everyone should know that Donna Lynne is a Halloween freak. She has worn about 10 different Halloween outfits so far. Not full-on costumes, just lots and lots of orange.

A bunch of us went last week to a BIG haunted forest thing. Waited in line for almost 3 hours to get in. Here's the fabulous Mark Sanders with someone he met there...don't be too scared.

2006-10-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Y'all. Well we had our first "day off".

Most of the cast headed back to NYC to catch up on life and I slept in! We all really worked our behinds off this first week, so it was good to have a little breather. (I know, I know, Andrew worked 27 hours or somesuch craziness, he's a far better person than I.) Late in the afternoon, Michael, Andrew and I drove out to Gillette castle, which is a crazy, beautiful castle that was built by an actor who made a career out of playing Sherlock Holmes.

It was a very productive first week for the show. Two of the many changes, cuts & rewrites we did resulted in adding movement and dance to the piece, which I'm super excited about.

There's this number in act one called "What a Man" in which Ann sings about the two men in her life: John Doe and D.B.Norton. Originally, it was a 'writer's block' moment in which Ann is unable to write the big speech and her thoughts drift. It was good on paper, but very hard to play. Over the course of rewrites, it had lost the writer's block part and turned into more of a celebration of Ann turning around her hard luck. It played much better, but wasn't quite there yet. Now, we've turned the first section of the song into a street scene in which Ann is surrounded by images of John Doe and advertisements for the big speech on the bridge and it really moves and dances and sings. And it gets us out on the street, opening up the world. Karma and Donna Lynne are having a ball with it.

In other dance news, Andrew wrote a hot dance number for the top of Act Two. Curious? Come see the show!!

The little things

2006-10-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

It's the morning after our day off, and I'm exhausted because I decided to do almost nothing but work yesterday. A glimpse into the difficult and weighty decisions that plague us today: coming up with some new material for the Colonel, including a long discussion about what's a funnier item in a list of things he disdains: tie pins? tie tacks? tie clips? bow ties? Of course, the answer was: poodles. Poodles definitely funnier.

Cybercast

2006-10-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

Rehearsal break in the green room.
Clockwise from top left: Victoria Huston-Elem, Mark Sanders, David Anderson, Nicole Mangi, Monique French, Jaron Vesely, Rachel Clark.

Ann & Beany

2006-10-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

Keegan Michael Brown and Donna Lynne Champlin

Work space

2006-10-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here's Eddie at one of about a dozen "workspaces" we've created around the rehearsal complex. This bar has a "Bergdorf Goodman" logo on the front, for some reason. Other workspaces include the back "Waterfall" room (not soundproof, so hope the chorus isn't singing anything loud), the stage management office, the green room, and the music offices across the street.

2006-10-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Jim Moye

Jim Moye finally speaks out.

Andrew's day

2006-10-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy day, and pretty representative, so I thought I'd lay it out:

Got to the rehearsal room at 10AM, put in the changes to the new number we're working on for Mother ("What Could Be The Harm?"), so that it could be copied and distributed to the actors for a read-through at 11. Then I put in the rewrites to the reprise that I discovered I had never written at the initial read-through, so that could be taught in the afternoon.

We got a few actors together to read through the new Mother scene a couple times, and we agreed we'd talk about it over lunch. After that, we realized we had a problem with "Money Talks".

"Money Talks" is a number for Colonel and Beany that Eddie and I wrote last January at our writers' retreat at TheatreWorks Palo Alto. It's a fun uptempo number that has gone through a couple versions, and that's where the problem comes in. The original version of the song was written in 3/4, which we discovered the first time we heard it in CA was not funny. So I reset the entire number in 4, with the exception of a slow 3/4 strut section near the end. This was the version we used at Carousel and at the Hartt School. In August, however, the consensus among all the other creative staff (except Karma, who wasn't at the meeting) was that even that much 3/4 was too odd, too off-center, and the number wasn't landing. So I gave in and spent several days coming up with a rock 'em sock 'em straight-ahead ending that was VERY show-biz-y. This was the version our actors here have learned.

Just before staging the number today, however, we realized that Karma had never heard the new ending, and was about to stage the number based on the old version. I played everyone the new, 4/4 ending, and.... everyone wanted the old version back. The show biz ending was too much pizazz, and they missed the "edge" and "quirkiness" of the original. Of course, now I had no idea what I thought, because I had given up my attachment to the original and moved on, and now I was hearing all my arguments for the original given back to me. So, after an hour of beating my head against the wall, I had written a version that incorporates both the 3/4 strut and a squarer tag, hopefully having my cake and eating it. People seem to like it... for now...

At the lunch meeting, we discussed the new Mother scene we'd read through, and agreed that although it's very sweet and theatrical, it pulls the story away from Ann for too long. Eddie and I agreed to find a way to keep Ann in the mix and shorten the whole thing.

Afternoon was spent with a run-through of everything that's been staged, then I switched hats and did a revisit to the end of the show, adding back some lines from a previous version, writing some new lines, all based solely on the table read, but which I think are smoother.

These rehearsal days, by the way, go by very quickly. I feel like I've just gotten started and it's lunch, then an hour later it's dark and we're going over the schedule for the next day.

See you tomorrow!

2006-10-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Karma Camp

Karma Camp

2006-10-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

Eddie & Jess

Eddie Sugarman and Jess W. Speaker III

New number coming...

2006-10-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Eddie here. It's day two of rehearsal and much of the cast is learning music with Albin. Michael and Karma are preping for staging the opening this afternoon. Last night, Andrew and I started figuring out a new number we're thinking about for act two. Finished roughing it out this morning and are really liking what we've come up with so far. More on that later.

So last night, I tried the Italian restaurant across from the Opera house and it's totally tasty. Pat, Guy and Melanie walked in and joined me, which was awesome. I had to take off for a meeting with Andrew, so I said my goodbyes to walk up the street to the studio. It had been raining heavily and a truck zoomed by and soaked me neck to shins in dirty rain/puddle water. I was 80% mad and 20% amazed that that sort of thing really happens. So nasty.

The set!

2006-10-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

Ann & John

2006-10-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

Our fearless principals, Donna Lynne Champlin and James Moye.

We have props!

2006-10-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

The amazing Goodspeed staff has already started creating our world.

Just add apple pie

2006-10-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

More props

Where the magic happens

2006-10-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

A view of the rehearsal studio, set up for our first read/sing-through. Spot the bagel crumbs.

So THAT'S what we're doing

2006-10-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

From Andrew:
Today was the first day of rehearsal, and aside from the rain, was terrific. Reading and singing through the entire show (which went amazingly well for having had zero rehearsal) reminded us what the show really feels like, and things that need tweaking were (as always) crystal clear; before dinner, I set an entire reprise lyric for the Ensemble which I had somehow overlooked (oops), and Eddie and I cut about 50% of one scene and came up with an idea for a new number for Mother (the lovely Melanie Vaughan).

Another notable achievement: I'm riding back and forth to the rehearsal studio on the bike I found covered in spiderwebs on my little patio area, and I have not yet killed myself. This may not seem like much, but as I ride a bike about once every five years, and there's a treacherous little bridge with no sidewalk on the way, and it was raining (a little), I consider it a major triumph. Eddie tells me it's a girls' bike (something about the crossbar) but I'm not buying it. When I'm on it, it's a boy's bike; no, a MAN's bike. So there.

2006-10-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

Here's one of the van-fuls of Doe-Nuts at a rest stop off the Merritt parkway. Amazingly, everyone hit a dramatic, perfect pose for the picture...in theatre much?

(L-R Monique French, Aaron Lambert, Andrew Gerle, Melanie Vaughan, Nicole Mangi, Jaron Vesely, David A. Anderson, Rachel Clark down front Ronald L. Brown)

The Writers Are Losing It!

2006-10-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, we all head up to Goodspeed to get this thing rolling, and it's a good thing too, cause Andrew (composer and co-bookwriter) and I are losing our minds. Andrew sends me this e-mail the other day sharing that he's taken some of Ann's lyrics and used some website translator to translate them from English to Italian to French and then back to English again. Here's how the first part of Ann's song "I'm Your Man" turns out:

ANN
Wished the fireworks?
I will give you fourth of July.
Lottos of fortune that they find better somebody than.
Simply which crashes to pieces them,
Really, Dick, they are enough crafty ones.
Yours I stop you
And of air ditch your parachutes.

Hmm, maybe I'd finally win the Kleban if I had sent that in instead of my lyrics.

Evidence of my brain decaying? Last night I had an epic dream about the first three days up at Goodspeed where, for some reason, 6 shows were being workshopped - one of them starring Tom Cruise. On day two, during the design team presentations, Andrew got up and did an eight-minute interpretive dance to show the "energy" of the piece. Watch out, Karma, it was pretty hot.

Meet Who?

2006-10-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Cyberspace! This blog will capture the trials, tribulations and hijinx of the developmental production of Meet John Doe at Goodspeed Musicals in CT. I'm Eddie Sugarman (lyricist and co-bookwriter) and I'll kick this off. Cruise the links to the left to get up to speed on the development of the show and, most importantly, COME SEE IT!!