Be A Lady. Sit Down. Be A Lady. Sit Down. Be A ... you get the idea...

   We had already been warned that tonight we would be auditioning repetiteurs and we certainly began to understand the similarity between the word 'repetiteur' and the word 'repeat'.  However, on with the blog!

   First, a quick welcome to Simon, here to audition as repetiteur. (Joe was equipped with a smart phone for the duration: texting? Angry Birds? He was busy while Simon played, anyway.)

   Straight on with Follow the Fold for the whole choir, all harmonies present. Sounded quite convincing.  Then the ladies only had a go at A Bushel and A Peck.  The gents were then challenged to sing the 'doodle oodle oodle' in a more girly voice than the ladies. At their own pitch.  And then falsetto.  They were so good (worryingly so!), that Martin is thinking of adding them in from the wings for the final 'doodle oodle oo'.  But time for Adelaide to practise her lines with the chorus backing her.  The men still aren't sure if Martin means it about making them join in.

   An opportunity now for the men to demonstrate their skills.  Luck Be A Lady, as rehearsed last week.  Once they remember how they did it last week.  Sky did his solo lines with the male chorus joining in as appropriate. 'Remarkably abysmal' was the MD's verdict. Back to the tricky bits around 'roll 'em', several times, basses first, then with tenors joining in.  They all got a bit carried away and had to back up again, but it was improving each time. Still a little lacklustre, though. Standing up might improve it further. Because singing in the sewer is always such a wonderful thing!  4 out of 10 for excitement, Martin said, and 6.5 for accuracy. But the ladies applauded - are we too easily pleased? 

   On to Sit Down.  Partly to put the new chap through it instead of Joe, but partly to see if we could remember what we did last week.  Had to pause at 'and as I laughed at those passengers to heaven' because we'd all got a little too ahead of ourselves. Otherwise, not bad.  So obviously we had to do it all again, standing up.  Verdict at the end - good. Did we hear that correctly? Of course now we need to do it without books (but Martin was feeling kind - only the last three pages). Turns out we do know that bit, even without books.

   Round of applause for the repetiteur, and our next victim, Ali, arrived, ready for us to do the same songs all over again.  Literally.  Starting with Follow the Fold...  Less boring for the repetiteurs, I suppose, though each song was done at least twice for each of our auditioners.

   Follow the Fold went well, even trying it without books, though Martin had to shout some of the words to ensure that everyone knew what they were supposed to be singing.  Then on to A Bushel and a Peck. Not without books yet - Martin is saving that for later in the evening.  But it has to stay really really girly.

   Luck be a Lady.  The biggest challenge seems to be not being the last person to sound the t at the end of 'tonight'.  Then without books, Andrew having to demonstrate that his hands were empty before they started singing. All you need to do is arrange the book of the person in front of you carefully on their seat (and hope that Martin isn't reading this)!

   Ladies then, doing the oo section of Sit Down.  With a combination of people finishing early, late and on time, the overall impression was of a lack of coordination.  Once this had been pointed out ,of course the ladies perfected it.  Time to add the gents.  Martin was temporarily lost for words.  Even the tenor part was nearly correct.  With Martin's support, they were better, though there was some frowning at the quality of 'to resist', and not just from Martin.

   Pause for coffee since the urn is on, and announcements at the end. No rehearsal next week as logistics for auditioning a new MD haven't worked out.  Instead, it will probably be 14th September, when Ali is unable to be with us anyway, so it won't lose a week to rehearsal in the same way. Rehearsals otherwise will restart on Wednesday 31st August.  Amanda also put in a plea for subs to be paid - if you don't pay your sub for the show, you're not covered by the insurance - and a reminder to new members to complete their welcome packs.  Andrew then asked for assistance with the set - building it, painting it and storing it. Farmers or people with spare barns in particular might like to volunteer.  There was a veiled threat of people being volunteered forcibly if no one has come forward by September.  Please, someone, volunteer and spare the rest of us!

   Then on to the next audition, with Paul.  Strangely familiar structure to the proceedings, with Follow the Fold to begin with, although even parts of that had a slightly dodgy rhythm until Martin had singled out the person he thought responsible for doing Pavarotti impressions.  A Bushel and a Peck, and it seems likely that many of the words are known by heart by now.  We've only sung them about a zillion times this evening.  Just for variety, Martin asked for one phrase - about you - to be more butch, even though the rest needs to be incredibly girly. Cue fits of giggles, girly, butch and otherwise.

   Luck Be a Lady. Twice with the book, then once without.  Unfortunately, the gents didn't even seem to manage the first two phrases with the book. Deep breaths all round, start again.  This time it went slightly better.  By the time they were trying it without the book, there was more confidence generally, with instruction to sing blaa di blaa, with an American drawl, if they weren't sure of the words.  It wasn't quite enough and Martin had to pause them and restart after a minor collapse of crapshooters, though even then they were not far short of a 7 out of 10.

   As with the previous auditioners, next up was Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat.  This time Martin took the choir through the mmms and aaahs, without the soloist, which made it considerably more challenging.  It seems that watching the conductor, i.e. Martin, is required under these circumstances! Who'd've thought it?!  By the time we were on to singing it right through without books, Nathan knew all his lyrics and could also do it without the book.  He has sung it about a dozen times tonight so perhaps not so surprising.  It sounded pretty good and Martin wouldn't be drawn but also decided not to punish us by making us walk around the room singing it at the same time, so we must have done something right.  Once more standing up without books, must be the charm.  We all clapped at the end (except Martin, doesn't do to let us get complacent!). 

   Applause to Paul, and finally an opportunity for Joe to play the piano instead of Angry Birds.  Strangely, Martin didn't want to do Sit Down with us again.  Instead, on to the finale number Guys and Dolls.  But at least four times, so that we become as sick of that as we are of all the other songs we've practised tonight.  The excitement with which this was tackled, being a wonderful change, nearly lifted the roof off but the school will be relieved to know that it was only nearly.  We even managed it without the book, sort of.

   Parting instruction, to listen to the CD all summer so that we know the words of the songs by the time we come back.  (But not the Paul Nicholas version!  And I would also say, not the Frank Sinatra version I've got, because although the Rat Pack are good as gamblers, Debbie Reynolds is surprisingly awful as Adelaide.)  The version with Nathan Lane is apparently very good, and looking on Amazon I see there's even a version with Bob Hoskins as Nathan and Julia McKenzie as Miss Adelaide.  Lots to choose from, then.  Happy lyric-learning!

Acting Up. Or, at least, Around.

   In any musical, whilst the singing is very important, even the Musical Director would agree that the acting is quite important too. So last Thursday, the key cast members gathered at the producer's house for a read-through.  The weather was lovely at that point, so in fact we gathered in his garden, amongst the sheep, geese and ants (most of those could only be heard in the background, to be honest).  We were offered wine, coffee, elderflower cordial, and Lou arrived with a selection of nipples (something to do with autocorrect, I was told) that was transferred into bowls and taken outside for all of us to partake in when we weren't reading our lines.  And she brought her tambourine.  Collection of personal props is a key skill and Lou has clearly decided to master it early.

   There was to be no singing today, all of us sitting in a circle, along with Martin, Ali and your blogger, eavesdropping for England, or anyone else who happens to be reading this.  Sister Sarah started us off with a lengthy speech, full of interruptions from stage directions, though she had to be halted quite early as her accent was drifting, possibly into Cornish.

   As the reading continued, Ali observed that we didn't have an Angie the Ox yet. But wait - we do, Andrew steps into the breach - one of the perks of being the producer!  There's been no-one cast for Brannigan yet, either, so Luke read that part.

   Having said there would be no singing tonight, Follow the Fold was sung by some of the cast, with background drone tastefully provided by Martin, Lou and Neil.

   Then there was a query over the American pronunciation of certain words, mostly Biblical ones.  Ali is going to have to do some research.  Also on the nature of a Studebaker, to make sense of one lyric.  Perhaps a picture in the programme?  Tim provided a gravel-voiced Big Jule, pronounced Julie, which simply added to the amusement value.

   A few errors were spotted in the script - typos, mostly, although in one place the speaker hadn't changed though it made no sense unless the speaker *did* change!  There was also a two-page piece of dialogue that appeared to be there purely to include one joke, but eventually we reached the end of Act One, with additional background noises provided by tractors and bicycle bells; not very New York, but we coped.  Does the action make sense to everyone so far? Good!

   Brief pause to top up glasses before we start on Act Two.  There was some discussion about the usefulness of the role of the waiter, especially given that we are short of men.   The scene in which Arvide sings his song was whisked through, although the song lyrics (no, we didn't sing them) were mentioned.  No-one seems sure what the bit about sheep's eyes and a lickerish tooth was all about.  Would this be another opportunity for programme illustration?  It was suggested that Loesser included them in the script as part of a bet (memo to self: must check that on wikipedia, that fount of all knowledge).

  Then on to the crap game, where Big Jule and Nathan growl their way through some double entendres punctuated on this occasion by a very English 'if you'll pardon my saying'.  I know the musical is meant to be funny, but the cast spent quite a lot of time rehearsing the laughing!  Still, best to get it out if the way now, rather than corpsing on opening night.

   Nine o'clock was marked, as usual, by Andrew's phone chirruping.

   Because of the singing range required, we are actually having our Nicely testify in a spoken fashion, and then Nathan doing the sung version.  This makes some of the lines a little off and Ali is going to have to tweak them a bit.   Martin suggested that we could sing Sit Down at this point, being such a fan of the way we can sing it at the moment, but Ali said not, on the grounds that it was getting cold by then. Which was possibly true.  However, she did want to discuss the look of some of the characters, which had us in fits of giggles, particularly when Sarah and Adelaide have visions of what their chaps will be like. Nathan is likely to have moustache, though Ian has been forbidden from growing one.  More giggles.

   Some general notes from Ali before we finished.  Accents need to be perfected and consistent, especially since Sky seemed to have a South African connection at one point and Sister Sarah cannot fall back on her Penzance roots even if she did have ancestors who came over on the Mayflower.  Everyone needed to be quicker on their cues, to pick up the pace generally and create a better flow.  Adelaide seemed to have modelled herself on Karen, from Will and Grace.  Amanda has never seen Will and Grace, so this was news to her, but I am lending her the first series so she can at least see what we're all on about.  Holiday dates need to be forwarded to Andrew as soon as possible so that he can work out some sort of rehearsal schedule - when there are 15 people to take into account, this is easier said than done. In the meantime, lines need to be learned now. And for some people, that's a lot of lines.  Next rehearsal for the cast - September!

It wasn't gurning. Really, it wasn't.

There was a slightly more business-like feel to the beginning of last night's rehearsal.  Registers to be marked off on, address lists and contact details to be checked - Ali and Martin probably knew all along, but now that the cast has been announced, there's a greater awareness that this show is Really Happening.  And pretty soon, too, all things considered.
   We started off with a warm-up.  Martin likes to run these himself, rather than Joe, so that he can mess with us.  There's no other description for it.  A lovely pattern of scales and arpeggios gradually getting higher and higher until suddenly - we go down.  And then we go up again.  And then down again.  And then... down again.  I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not so used to the progression of harmonies as we go down, so as I listen, if I don't recognise the sequence, we must be going down.  It's probably not the best way to identify the note to be sung.  Then, having limbered up our listening, Martin honed our counting skills.  Holding the note at the top of an arpeggio shouldn't be that difficult, but Martin had to count us quietly through it, then count us loudly through it, gesture with his hand and finally he resorted to doing a nodding dog impression so that he could keep both hands on the piano.
   Time for some singing.  We had looked at 'Sit Down' before, but that was when most of the altos were learning the Hot Box audition dance, and besides, it was at least a decade ago, so we split into parts again and worked on the harmonies.  Initially, some of the harmonies sounded reminiscent of a Stockhausen protégé, but gradually we modulated into something resembling Loesser.  For a couple of sections, we even managed to sing it reasonably without looking at the music, which considering there are places where, for a bar and a half, the altos and the tenors switch line, is probably easier. 
   Then we moved onto the section of 'ooh's.  Martin wanted to change some of this to 'ah', and had also added in a minim rest, and the combination of this proved strangely tricky.  We had several goes at just saying the oo-ah-oo in rhythm, before trying to switch it back to a musical version.  Then the final phrase was changed to 'oo-to-re-sist'.  More talking practice (not that some people needed it - there had already been threats to separate chatterboxes!) before trying to sing it.  We then moved on to singing it with Ian M singing the solo line above us all.   And then without the music in our hands.  All these progressively harder steps proved so challenging that we needed help, which we received in the shape of Martin.  Or rather, the shape of Martin’s face.  Gibbon impressions? Possibly.  It wasn’t as bad as gurning, and yes, it did help.  But I suspect if he had had to carry on for much longer, Martin’s face would have ached.
   After perfecting that phrase, or at least improving it, we moved on to the phrase that ends with ‘praise the Lord’.  Martin wants a really emphatic 'duh' at the end of the final Lord, a somewhat cheesy sound at the moment.  We actually had trouble making it cheesy enough for him.  I do wonder if he’s just encouraging that so that a few people remember on the night and the audience hear a final consonant, but time will tell.
   A new challenge now.  Singing it through from the beginning, with Ian doing the solo line still.  We reached the very last phrase, in which the rhythm changes for the chorus.  We’d been doing so well!  Martin kept muttering about the possibility of cutting those few bars, but somehow I doubt that will happen.  Instead, we rehearsed it over and over and over and ... even Joe lost his place at one point.  Finally, Martin let us go on to the final few bars but the sopranos were instructed to avoid the top C.  Always. 
  Time for coffee.  Martin has assured us that the tricksy rhythmic bit will be slower than the rest of the song, but after coffee we would be doing it a couple more times, just to bed it in.  Ladies would then be allowed to go!  Other notices: next week is the last week on Guys and Dolls (for now) but we will be auditioning new accompanists, so it could be interesting.  The week after, all being well, we’ll be auditioning new MDs, so everyone is encouraged to attend and give feedback.  The power!
  The post-coffee sing-through was ... not that bad, actually.  So Martin allowed the ladies to go, although there was a word from Ali first.  She had made a list of everyone she thought was taking part, whether they were there last night or not, and had assigned a role to everyone.  A few were tourists, a couple shopkeepers, but the main words I heard were ‘hooker’, ‘gambler’ or ‘member of Salvation Army’.  A lot of laughter ensued any of those, particularly when someone had to be, for example, a tourist and then quickly change to become a hooker.  Anyone who was playing a member of the Salvation Army needs to make sure that their up-to-date measurements are available for Gillian (in charge of costumes) as presumably they will need to have jackets that do up as part of their outfits.
   So the ladies and Joe left, fairly quietly, and Martin took over on the piano (his description of it is censored).  Gents had to work on Luck Be A Lady again, and then ‘The Oldest Established’.  Trying to get the harmonies right on the former and the rhythm right on the latter took a little while; there was a suggestion that it was something to do with them being crap shooters, but I think it’s more likely to be the piano at fault.  The real question now is, will we all remember these harmonies and rhythms next week?  And at some point, Martin and Ali are bound to ask us to sing without books...

The Cast Is Announced!

A between-rehearsals post!  An email has already been sent round announcing the main casting decisions.  I'm just going to copy+paste the list.  Lazy? Possibly.  More efficient? Most definitely.

Miss Adelaide......Amanda A

Sarah Brown......Louise W

Nathan Detroit ......Ian M

Sky Masterson......Luke M

Nicely-Nicely Johnson......Paddy M

Benny Southwest......Iain T

Arvide Abernathy......Neil S-S

Agatha......Viv F

Harry the Horse......Mark H

Lt Brannigan......Steve V

(Voice of) Joey Biltmore......Andrew G

General Matilda B Cartwright......Jan H

Big Jule......Tim L

Hot Box Dancers......Kim B, Steph W, Lauren F, Georgia T, Penny H, Danielle Q-T, Rina I and Catherine T.

There are a few more small parts to be cast, but Ali says she'll cast those as we go along.  And of course there are always the drunks and sinners to fit in somewhere.  We could all manage one of those, I'm sure!

Auditions

   Technically, I didn't need to be there this week, because I wasn't auditioning, not even for a Hot Box Girl (thanks, Mark!).  So many people had signed up to audition, that in order for the panel of judges to give each of them fair time, the rehearsal time this week had to be entirely dedicated to the auditions.  After all, there were seven potential Adelaides and four potential Sarahs to start with, quite apart from the 11 would-be Hot Box girls.  The rest of us were there for moral support, or to provide an audience.  Or possibly for the entertainment.  Whatever the reasoning, practically the entire choir was present, whether auditioning or not.  Perhaps we've all lost interest in The Apprentice by now...
   We sat at the wrong end of the hall in the school, possibly to save moving the piano any further from usual, and a length of table was arranged in front of us with chairs for the five judges, leaving the rest of the hall available for acting space.  Your panel tonight: Martin and Ali, aided by Sally, Andrew and Rina.  An odd number so there would be no need to fall back on the audience vote in case of a draw.
   Ali addressed us all before the auditions started, to remind those auditioning that as there were so many of them, they might be interrupted before they'd finished and it wasn't a criticism, and to remind the audience that we were there to enjoy the combined efforts of the auditioners, not to be critical. 
   So, on with the show.  A very brave Kim B was the first up, trying out for Miss Adelaide.  She'd already started singing when Martin first stopped her, to check that she was in tune for the rest of her Lament, but she was.  With a Brooklyn accent through and through and enthusiasm that went right on to the sneeze at the end of her first song, Kim is definitely to be commended for getting us off to a good start.  Then there was a scene with Steve V as Nathan, to see her acting abilities, leading into the song Sue Me, which they also did together.
   Next up was Catherine T, also trying out for Miss Adelaide.  This time Ian M was playing Nathan, Ian and Steve taking it in turns to play against the potential Miss Adelaides. 
   Then it was Christine's turn for show us an Adelaide, again with Steve as her Nathan.
   At which point, we stopped for some Sarahs.  There were seven potential Adelaides, after all, and we didn't want to get tired of the songs just yet!  The audition for Sarah began with some acting, so an Agatha, a General, and Arvide and a Sky were recruited first so that Amanda A could do her thing, with thanks to Jan, Viv, Neil and Luke M respectively.  Then there was a rendition complete with twirling of If I Were A Bell, which appeared to include a very passionate kiss, causing some consternation amongst audience members yet to perform their Sarahs. Do we *all* have to kiss him now?  Finally, a chunk of I Know, just to see if our Sarahs really can hit those high notes. (They could.)
   Caroline G was up next as Sarah, again with a support cast provided by Viv, Jan, Tim and Luke respectively.  This was the point at which we and all potential Sarahs discovered that no, you didn't have to kiss Luke just yet.
   Then we swapped back to Miss Adelaide again.  First up was Viv F, playing against Ian, and she swore when questioned afterwards that she didn't really push him, he was acting.  Viv was followed by the familiar face of Caroline G, who was also trying for Adelaide.  It's no wonder with four songs to learn and two libs to be familiar with, that she occasionally had a spot of bother with the words, but the audience were more than happy to join in a little to get her started again when they could.  Whether the panel found that helpful or not, they never said.  Steve was beginning to lose his voice by the end of Sue Me, so after promising us that a coffee break was almost upon us, Louise sat as a silent Sarah for Arvide to sing to, first Neil S-S and then Tim L.  Before all the men thought they'd got away with doing very little, it was time for a gamblers' scene and Mark H, Ian M, Iain T, Tim  and Luke all had an opportunity to gamble away their life savings.  Admittedly, Iain didn't have much to say, but it got them all up.
   The coffee break seemed very chatty to me, with a lengthy queue for the coffee and no audible raffle, but we had serious stuff to consider.  Next up: the Hot Box Girls.  A number of those auditioning were under 16 and had managed to get parental consent forms signed, and Ali commiserated with those who had learnt the dance but not had the forms signed.  There were still 11 of them altogether, including Rina from the judging panel.  Ali had the track lined up more or less, and the girls did their routine in groups of 3, 4 and then 4 somewhat eerily in complete silence in the centre of the room, while the music played out from behind us.  The judges deliberated and we were told to talk amongst ourselves briefly.
   Once they'd made whatever decisions they were going to make, we were back to more regular auditions.  Ian M and Iain T started off with the Fugue for the Tinhorns, with Martin taking up the third part.  I love that song!  Why did Ali have to stop them?! 
  Next we had another couple of Sarahs, Louise ('At last!') with the Neil-based ensemble cast supporting, and then Jan.  For which we needed a different General, because talented as Jan is, she can't play Sarah and the General at the same time, so Amanda A stepped back up.
  Finally we all got a chance to sing (though Martin may have regretted it) as Ian M tried out Nicely-Nicely's role with Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat.  We learnt those parts two whole weeks ago, you know, you can't expect us to remember them from all that long ago! Oh, you can.  Oops. 
  Amanda A then had a go at Adelaide.  Surprisingly, Joe was still using the music for Adelaide's Lament.  Perhaps it was just habit.  Ian M played her Nathan, for the final time that evening.
  The last audition of the evening was for Sky, and all the men had to get up onto the stage to back Luke up in Luck Be A Lady, although once they got to the main chorus section, they were stopped.
  And after all that, we were told to head off quickly so that the panel could discuss options and make some decisions.  We have been warned that not all the parts will be announced immediately.
  You may have noticed that I haven't commented really on the different auditions.  I'm not one of the panel, so it wasn't really my job, but frankly, it's not one I'd want.  There was some really excellent singing and acting during the evening, and with so many auditioning for each part, particularly Miss Adelaide, there are bound to be a lot of disappointed people who would be more than capable of a good performance.  All the best to Martin and Ali as they sort out their cast list - we wait with bated breath!

The Week I Wasn't There

 Unfortunately, the last Wednesday in June I had to be elsewhere (trying to help bail out the Spanish economy) so I asked if someone else could take some notes for me.  On attending rehearsal this week, I asked a Reliable Source what had happened and was told nothing.  As in Nothing Happened.  Fair enough, I thought, I won't need to write much then.  An equally Reliable Source, who arrived a little later, informed me that after a little work on the harmonies of Luck Be a Lady, in which the ladies themselves were allowed to join in for the one and only time, the men who wished to audition had some time to rehearse their audition songs and everyone else went home early.  I am providing both storylines so that you can decide for yourselves which one you think is more accurate.  I couldn't possibly comment. ;-)