These people make me tense.

I haven't really talked about PARADE yet.

I am music-directing. Most of the first month of rehearsals was music stuff, led by me. I can listen to make sure harmonies are right and plunk out parts 'til I'm blue in the face, but I'm not much of a sightreader when it comes to Jason Robert Brown. For most of November and December I was jumping back and forth between this and BABY rehearsals, as well as dealing with some time-and-emotion-consuming personal business, that rehearsals were a little disjointed. I heard that one night I wasn't there, there was a mini-come to Jesus meeting with the director about how shaky these music-rehearsals are going, or as it was described to me, a "bash you fest." I was assured that there were no personal resentment or hard-feelings - scrictly on a professional level. The consensus was that I know my stuff and I've got a good ear, but I have ZERO authority skills or control of the group.

Pretty much true. That's fine - I can take that. I successfully kept it from making me sad and thinking "poor me, nobody in the show likes me, I suck," and instead let it drive me to do better. Soon after that, I was leading a rehearsal and at the end of the night before sending everyone home, I made a speech to them apologizing for the disjointedness of the rehearsal and saying that if there's anything I can do to make this process better, let me know. I said that I've music-directed before, but most of those have been for kid's shows where they were singing along to a track. The lack of live accompaniment takes a HUGE burden off the MD's shoulders. I said I was not the original music-director for this show, that I was a last-minute replacement and I agreed to do it to be a nice guy and because I'd always wanted to work with [director] Rob [Hardie]. I said you all are doing great and it's an honor to work with all of you, and I think Rob thought of me for this project because I have such a good ear and can hear musical mistakes that usually slip through the cracks.

My little speech got applause and what appeared to be general appreciation. I had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown with everything going on, but giving them this little talk instantly got rid of 75% of my stress. Amazing what just being open, honest, and communicative can do. I even had a young girl in the cast come up to me the next night and say "I felt bad after what you said last night, because I think you're doing a great job."

Another good thing happened shortly after that. Rob hired an assistant MD. She's in the cast, is an experienced accompanist/MD, and whipped everyone into shape vocally while I had to be away for BABY rehearsals and whatnot. Also, we had an accompaniment CD made for rehearsals.

So now the new year is here not a moment too soon, and we're in tech week. Some wonderful things are happening in this show. So many cast members who had shaky or unmemorable auditions have really stepped up to the plate. Auditioning sucks and it's hard to encapsulate all your experience and ability into a 16-measure song clip. It's an interesting trend I've been seeing, in the recent shows where I've sat in on the auditions. People give mediocre or just-okay auditions, but once cast, they really come to life in rehearsals. I feel like I'm the opposite. I think I audition really well, and once the show opens, I perform it really well, but I always think I suck in rehearsals and I'm the worst person in the cast.

I love seeing the scenes between Jason and Michelle, who play our two leads, Leo and Lucille. Their chemistry is awesome, and their voices bend beautifully together. Jason is quite the experienced chef as well, and is one of the founders and owners of The Red Hen Cafe, where I have the pleasure of working 5 days a week. Jason and I go way back, and his wife and I go even further back, but that's a story for another post where my computer is behaving better.

So many wonderful performances are in this show - too many highlights to mention them all, but a couple more I'll mention now are Leslie who has a hypnotically beautiful voice and stage presence, and Don Goodner, who has one of the best high tenor voices I've heard recently. We open this Saturday, so I'll be talking more about it as things keep progressing.