Beggar's Opera Production Journal #4

September 02, 2009 (edit: September 02, 2009) | andrew | 0 comments

An ongoing log about the process of creating YTG's summer 2009 fundraiser, The Beggar's Opera, written by the project's director, Andrew Woolner.

The Beggar's Opera Production Journal #4 - Zero Hour

"What's the time? Zero hour. How much patience? None." - J. Greyson

Production week is when you fall behind on everything. Note the conspicuous absence of production journals.

Dress rehearsal was last night, and the show is looking good. We've been having some issues with logistics and the scripts, but I think we'll have those sorted out by Friday. (I've created a special 'acting' script which switches between music and text without having to flip pages back.)

The show looks a little messier than I'd envisioned. Predictably (to all but me, apparently), letting ten actors free to do what they like as they read the play has resulted in a certain amount of chaos on stage, which time will not allow me to shape as carefully as I like to do with my shows, but I think a) works with the type of show, and b) is 100 times better than a static performance.

Over just the last few days, some of the performances are really starting to take shape. Chris Lamatsch and Trenetta Jones have had their characters nailed pretty much from the moment they walked into the rehearsal hall, but Helene Salvini Fujita's Lucy only materialized this Tuesday... and it's wonderful. It's amazing to see what she does when she's freed of the restraints of the plays I've put her in before. Even in Ring Round the Moon, a play full of cartoony characters, she was essentially the straight woman. In Richard III, she was restrained by the language and oppressive tradition of Shakespeare. In Beggar's Opera, I've let her loose, and the character she's created is wonderful. She came in on Tuesday this week with a totally new singing voice. In rehearsals before that, she'd been sounded like a pale imitation of Akiko (as would almost anybody-- Akiko is a trained Opera singer), but suddenly she started singing in a character voice (I don't know how to describe it other than pinched and coquettish). It's perfect! And it came 100% from her! I love when that happens!

Helene has also been rehearsing her scenes with Patrick Smith (playing her father), and now those scenes are also standing out. It's great to see Patrick in his element as well. Now if only I could get him to stop adding lines...

I could write more about all of the performers... but there's simply no time. If you want to know more, you should come to the show itself this weekend. Click the tickets link above and reserve today.

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