From Rehearsals [Getting Used to the Space]

Bumping your head. Falling on your face. Tripping over chairs. Running into walls. Making entrances too early. Tripping over people. Making entrances too late. Stumbling around in the dark and somehow ending up outside the theater. This is what it’s learn your way around a set that’s just been built.

All the while, you’re trying to remember your lines and blocking.

Finally being able to use the set is an exciting time in rehearsal. For one, it means that you’ve moved out of the rehearsal hall and into the theater. That in and of itself has it’s own difficulties. The rehearsal hall is a closed space where we can hear each other easily, especially when we’re singing. The theater is designed so that the sound flows out into the audience. Onstage it can often feel like you’re out there all alone. In a great way. Feeling that exposed requires you to listen with your entire being and that makes everything you do onstage much more alive. As does the throbbing pain that results from running into a wall. But hey – anything that makes the show a more visceral experience for the audience is a good thing, right?

In all seriousness, our set is beautiful and fun and is a testament to the talent of our scenic designer, Trefoni Rizzi. The kids are having a blast playing on it, as are (ahem) the adults.

Come see the show and you’ll see what I mean! A Christmas Carol is playing at The Group Rep. Tickets are available now.

Happy Holidays!

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From the Rehearsal Hall [Children of All Ages]

One of the best things about being an actor is you’ll get to work with people of all ages. And the ages of the actors in A Christmas Carol span seven decades! From the smallest tweens to veteran actors, our cast has quite the breadth of experience. The greatest aspect of working with actors of a certain age is not only their wisdom (which we all expect), but their personalities! These artists are not the fuddy-duds of our society – they’re actors! They’ve lived their lives as performers and all bring such a spectacular energy to our lives, onstage and off. Every stereotype is blown out of the door, with constant humor, brilliance and WIT! Just the other day, we heard one of the best jokes about The Simpsons from a completely unexpected source, and it brought the entire cast to our knees! Let me tell you, at a time when you’re getting used to the set and trying to remember your lines, some good humor goes a long way.

But the world of A Christmas Carol is not a world populated only by adults. We all know the adage of showbiz is “never work with kids!” And to be completely honest, whenever I’ve worked with children, that thought has crossed my mind. Multiple times. But not here. The younger actors we are lucky enough to work with in this production blow that idea out of the water. I have never seen more honest and less precocious performances from children than the ones our kids are bringing. It’s more than merely refreshing, it’s exciting. And they’re all pros! I’ll admit, whenever someone gets confused as to where they’re supposed to be – they can just ask one of our kids, because they will know the answer.

Every day in rehearsal I feel truly blessed not only to witness and learn from everyone’s work ethic, but also because I get to spend time with such wonderful people. I have not experienced such warmth in rehearsals in my entire life. It’s a lovely thing to experience at all, much less during the holidays.

Come see the show and you’ll see what I mean! A Christmas Carol is playing at The Group Rep. Tickets are available now.

Happy Holidays!

[© MMIX MD TOTAL all rights reserved]

click HERE to go to the next installment.

A Christmas Carol!

This is the first entry from the A Christmas Carol Rehearsal Blog. [it's playing at The Group Rep] Here is your first look into what the rehearsal process is actually like. The best part about this show is not only is it a brand new musical adaptation of the famous Dickens’ book, but it’s also the Los Angeles Premiere! All of us at The Group Rep are excited to put on the premiere and look forward to sharing this wonderful piece of theatre with the world.

I haven’t mentioned this before, but I joined rehearsals as an immediate replacement. When I accepted the role, I was performing in another show and scheduling made it so that I couldn’t join rehearsals until they had already been in progress for a couple of weeks. I’ve been an immediate replacement a few times before and it is very… real. Immediately. Everyone else had been working with and getting familiar with the material for weeks so there was quite a lot of catching up to do. I was also dealing with the nerves of being the “new guy” who is introduced to everyone all at once. The best thing to do in these situations is just dive in. Be fearless. Besides, I had a lot of work to do.

The first two days I was there were spent entirely on music – and the first song we worked on was “Fezziwig’s Carol” – my number. Since this is a premiere, I have never heard or even read the music. I kept saying to myself “Just dive in! Just dive in!” It was, to say the least, overwhelming. I was still performing in the other show - there were times when I was sure my head would explode from the alarming rate I was stuffing new information into it. But – the music was wonderful and the arrangements were so lush! How could I not forget how completely exhausted my body was and just let go?

It felt good. It felt right.


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click HERE to go to the next installment.