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.


[© MMIX MD TOTAL all rights reserved]

click HERE to go to the next installment.