First things first - congratulations to Ali, who has become a grandma as of lunchtime today. Strangely, Sky is missing tonight's rehearsal, though he has been told he should be at tomorrow's script rehearsal.
A new repetiteur is also here! Here is a photo of Paul, in traditional repetiteur position, being instructed by both Martin and Trevor (apologies for the usual dodgy iphone photo quality; Steve is bringing his camera next week for some proper photos for the programme, maybe if I ask him nicely...?):
Initially, it's chairs out and sitting in our standard choral positions, rehearsing Sit Down for the first time in ages, mainly because we haven't done it for ages. As we start to rehearse some of the sections, Gillian arrives with her costume case. While the singing is done again, Ali and Gillian check out the contents and there are whispered discussions as different outfits are held up and assessed.
Putting together some of the harmonies requires some disassembling/learning notes in individual parts. For instance, the alto A flat is not to be confused with the note the basses are singing. The tuned oohs are proving tricky too, both the notes themselves and the duration of some of them. Several run-throughs unaccompanied except by Martin who is clicking the beat with his fingers, and then the pianist took over again. Brief interruption as the tenors ascertain exactly which note it is they are supposed to have been singing for the last five minutes... Then the basses are asked to sing a line without the rest of the chorus, at which point they discovered that the notes written down were different from the ones they had been singing. It's a case of embedding the line and then adding in one part at a time until they can all manage to sing without being distracted by different tunes! Especially when it goes weird. Which it does. There are places when Martin would rather the notes were wrong but confident, rather than right but hesitant, as at least he can hear what people are doing that way and correct it if necessary. Tenors - it's important you get your oo up. So said Martin. I don't think it's a euphemism however much it sounds like one.
Then we get to the final rapid section, in which the rhythm goes haywire. It's probably not meant to go actually haywire but it seems that most of the choir haven't realised that the whole piece is in two. After a couple of times through the ladies, Martin suggests that Paul should go with the women rather than the conductor's beat. Then it's time to stand up and try from the beginning. Martin has agreed to panic when we reach the end if necessary but to his surprise it isn't nearly as much of a problem as he might have thought.
Meanwhile in the background there is more costume work going on, with two tables spread out along the back wall of the hall for maximum ease of paperwork. When we stop the chorus rehearsal and put the chairs away, Gillian takes the opportunity to ask for anyone who needs a Salvation Army uniform to let her know. My guess is that will be all of them, but I could be wrong.
Then it's back to Runyonland in a rather more fluent fashion. There are some patchy bits and a couple of people are missing from the stage as far as Ali can tell. Paul takes advantage of Ali's need to talk to various small groups to practise some of the faster sections of the piece. Then it's back to the beginning again, including the being quiet bit so that she knows we're ready to start. Toby tries pretending that he's walking a dog for one of his crossings in his role as bellhop. This goes sufficiently well that we get into the Tinhorn Fugue (possibly my favourite number!) and Ali looks thoughtful but not furious. When we finish, Ali explains the difference between the actresses, the hotbox girls and the bobby soxers and it's time to do the fugue again with those dancers to make sure they've understood. It's so much better that they don't need to finish the song (shame!).
Then it's on to Follow the Fold again. This gives Gillian a chance to see who is actually going to need a uniform, before she goes back to discussing Adelaide's various outfits and comparing photos of existing costumes, and making notes with her Assistant Wardrobe Mistress (Victor). Several rehearsals of the crowd behaviour take place and Ali asks people if they can remember what they are doing as they will next be doing it on October 9th - a subtle reminder to us all that the all-day rehearsal on the 2nd will now be on the 9th. There was an email about it, so if you didn't receive it...
Now it's on to a rehearsal involving most of the men - The Oldest Established Game. The rehearsal is improved this week by the presence of Nathan, who tries to complicate things by singing Benny's part in his absence, but Ali tells him not to. The rehearsal takes place several times before Ali is ready to let the men go.
Chairs are now set out for a return to the cafe in Havana and the dancers rehearse their steps. Except after a short while, it is noticed that neither Sky nor Sister Sarah are present, and since the crowd take their cues from those two, there's not much point continuing.
Most of the cast are therefore dismissed via the attendance sheet and asked to write down their parts, which turns out to be extremely noisy and time-consuming, given that many of them are multitasking. However, once it calms down a little, Ali is able to rehearse some of the dance steps with the couples who are dancing at the beginning of the Havana scene. While I didn't get any photos of Ali demonstrating the clench, I did get a few of the dancers in action. There's dancing,
tipping of partners,
 |
| Paddy concentrating |
 |
| Mark having too much fun |
and then pirouetting:
 |
| That's motion blur, not dodgy-phone blur. |
Finally, they are asked to try it sideways,
what Ali calls 'hip to hip'. This allows for more of a swing in the dance steps. They were still rehearsing when I packed up the last of the coffee and left at 10, so they're probably jolly good by now!
A couple of missing items are pleaded for at this point. Lou's score, with its various markers, was clearly taken last week by accident by someone, because they left their own unnamed score behind instead. Lou still needs it back. Also, this week, Gillian's thin black cardigan went missing - if anyone picked it up by accident, could they please bring it to the next rehearsal because Gillian wants it back!
No comments:
Post a Comment