But the interesting thing is--I am NOT the oldest person on this tour! Hooray! I know, you're all asking yourself, "How did that happen? Isn't Andrew just by definition the oldest person EVER?" Well, shockingly enough, it is not true. There are people out there doing children's theatre older than I, and I have 2 of them in my cast! Both of the other men are older than I am. It's amazing, it's astounding, it's GREAT! Finally, other people who will ache in the morning! I feel more optimistic about the tour already. One of the guys has already done tours with Chamber on several occasions, so that's helpful. We all met this morning and this time NOT everyone and their brother is from NY! The two girls live in NY, though only one is a native. The other is from Arizona. (Which is perilously close to New Mexico, but it doesn't seem to have affected her quite like our last southwestern lady...) One of the guys is from Georgia, and the other gentlemen is from Boston itself. Ahhhhhhh.....I can just hear the lack of talk about Meisner now. (Sigh) So after introductions and such, we went in to be coached by Pat on the readings Spring would want to see. It was a little odd doing the lines I'd done for so long with different people, watching them do the readings, knowing kind of what Spring and Pat were looking for. It felt all foreign to me, even as I also felt completely comfortable and not at all stressed. I mean, after all, I knew they obviously liked what i did, since I'm back and I also already knew what my roles were going to be, so I had none of the heart-pounding terror a visit from Spring used to engender. It also helped that Spring walked in and actually said hello to everyone. I shall now pause while my gentle readers pick themselves up from the floor. It's true, my friends She was smiling and friendly. Well, by friendly, I mean she said hello to us all before falling into the silent talking she does that only Pat can hear. Sort of like a dog whistle. We did the reading so she could determine the casting for the girls, who are not quite such obvious types as last time, so I guess there was more question. But the readings all went well, with Spring even laughing during some of it. I really should lay down some padding if you're going to keep falling down like that. By laughing, I mean she made a sound when something that should've been funny happened. Since she was smiling when she made the sound I assumed it was laughter.
When the readings were over, we adjourned to the green room to await the decision. The new cast members asked the two of us who had done this already questions abut what the tour was like, and I tried to be as truthful as possible without scaring them all away. Spring said goodbye to us all and thanked us when she left. Okay really, now I have to wonder if you're just clumsy. Let me help you up. I'm serious, gentle readers. It was like she was in a completely different universe. She seemed.....personable. Maybe she had just come from cutting some Broadway hopeful's career short, so she was in a good mood, I don't know. Anyway, once the Grand Dame had left, we got the castings, and then the ladies were sent off to the costumers to get fitted while the rest of us blocked Tell-Tale Heart.
This was the first time I had actually done the role of the Narrator without desperately hoping not to be given the role, and we were really just trying to zip through it for the blocking, so there was little to no acting direction, but it actually went pretty quickly. And Pat wasn't anywhere near as annoying or condescending as she was before. Or maybe I just don't notice it as much. Though she did tell the guy playing the old man to do things this time that were in direct conflict with the way she told me to do them last time, so it's nice to know that not EVERYTHING changes. The one guy, who had done the shows before told me he's not the swiftest study when it comes to learning lines, which isn't too big of a deal since he's done the show before, but is a kind of problem since he's doing different parts than he sometimes does. But at least he realizes it, so I think there shouldn't be any big issue there. So all in all, the first blocking rehearsal went very well. We'll see how tomorrow with Sleepy Hollow goes, once we have the whole company together. I smell LONG DAY.
Once we had finished blocking Tell-Tale, they sent me and the other returning actor to the costumers to get fitted, and sent the new guy off to take the highly useless and completely unnecessary DOT physical. Can I just say one more time how much I love working with Costume Works in Boston? They are wonderful people, and completely dedicated to making things as easy for the actor as possible. Since this time I'm playing the Tell tale Narrator, I can't be underdressed as ichabod, like I was when i played the Old Man, so now I have a hellacious costume change to look forward to, involving changing pants, shirt, jackets, cravats, shoes, and wigs--along with adding a big fake nose, with no more than a minute or so to do it. They had some kind of fast-change version of my Ichabod outfit but it was still a lot of stuff to try to force into a minute, so they actually asked me to think about it while they fitted the other guy. When they got to me, I suggested putting the vest and pants together in like a jumpsuit with a zipper up the back, with a fake shirt and cravat sewn into the vest (that part they already had) and then add the jacket with fake shirt sleeves sewn into that. (They also had that) They went for turning the vest/shirt pice and pants into a jumpsuit, even though that was going to involve a crapload of work, and others had done it the other way before me. But they wanted the change to be as smooth as possible and that's why I love these ladies. They really are all about what makes everything go easy AND look good. So huzzah to them.
That was pretty much the day. We went through all the costumes, and everything fit really well. The best part as having to get some different costume pieces or take in the old ones since I had lost such a substantial amount of weight from the last fitting to this one. You gotta love that. Then, when I made it back home (which took way too long. Believe me, friends, no-one should ever complain about the El in Chicago at rush hour. It beats the hell out of Boston's T when it comes to delays and slowdowns.) I saw a news report that a plane had gone down in the Hudson River shortly after taking off due to being struck by a flock of geese, which had caused the engines to fail. First off, don't you think the geese would see a plane? And isn't there some goose grapevine where news of these huge fast-flying things might have reached all the geese so they know to get the hell out of the way? I mean really! But seriously, the good news is, the pilot made a controlled emergency landing into the Hudson river, which resulted in everyone getting out alive and with only minor injuries. In fact, most of the cases the hospitals are dealing with are cases of mild hypothermia, from standing in the frigid water of the Hudson until water taxis and rescue boats got to them. There were some fractures, but nothing major. So it's a wonderful, uplifting story about a pilot being able to control a plane after an emergency and everyone getting out safely--with the pilot even going through the plane twice while it was floating in the water to make sure everyone was out. You would think that's enough of a story, wouldn't you?
Not for our intrepid news media. I've never seen so many people try to make a story where no-one died into a harrowing tale of life or death. Thanks to 24 hour news, a story that would probably only run for about five, ten, maybe fifteen minutes under other circumstances (especially considering no-one official had been able to make it out to the site where the plane was slowly sinking to do any investigating) was drawn out ad nauseum by networks trying to wring every last ounce of tension, pathos and tension out of it. We had to listen to the idiots at MSNBC talking in tense tones about what COULD have happened had the pilot tried to head to another airport, or if he hadn't made the landing the right way, or if the passengers had panicked. You know, all that stuff THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN. It's ridiculous. And watching the guy from the NTSB giving a news conference telling the reporters who would be the person in charge of the investigation once everyone from the BTSB got on site, and then being asked to answer questions as he was trying to leave so that the team who would be doing the investigation and getting the answers to the questions the people wanted to ask could get going. Why ask the man questions he doesn't have answers to since NO-ONE has any answers? They, at that moment, know just as much as you do, you idiots. Once the do the investigation, THEN they have answers. Anything before that is speculation or regurgitated old info. There has been no greater detriment to the quality of US news than 24 hour news channels.
Anyway he good news is everyone in the Hudson River is alright. Unless, of course, you're a member of PETA and are really pissed that jet hit those poor defenseless geese. But if you are a member of PETA (and for some strange reason reading this) just console yourself with the knowledge that those are a few less geese for Chicago to turn into fois gras....
Stupid PETA.
1 comment:
No, PETA was ALWAYS stupid, I merely meant that if PETA'S going to stick their noses into something it should be something important, like keeping clothing off dogs instead of outlawing fur coats.
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