Who Needs a Lobotomy When You Have High School Musicals!

Ah yes, we're less than 2 weeks away from the Ripley High School production of Annie, Get Your Gun, and let me say that rehearsals are going swimmingly! No, that's not true. Last night's rehearsal was horrendous! And, you know how these types of things are...it feels like it will never come together until it magically does the night before the 1st performance. Well, we might need a little more magic than normal. ;)

Last night was the 1st rehearsal with everyone--cast, crew, orchestra. From my vantage point behind the piano, I was most concerned about the marriage between music and drama. About 1/3 of the drama takes place with music in the background, and the director hasn't taken the time to explain to the actors that their words have to match how the music flows, otherwise everything gets off. Last night was the first time it's been blaringly obvious. Up to now, they've had me just "go with what the cast does," which essentially means "completely disregard how the music is written and make the notes fit how they're acting. That's a lot easier for a pianist to do than an entire orchestra. As a matter of fact, an orchestra just can't do that. So, there was a low level of chaos. Now, fortunately, we're finding this out this week...instead of next week. There is still time to hammer home the idea that they have to cue off of the band director, instead of the band director cuing off of them.

All in all, the director has generally disregarded the music aspect of the show, and it shows. If I agree to work with the musical next year, I'm afraid I might have to make a list of things that I'm gonna insist on going differently.

Well, I don't like the idea of using my blog as a soapbox for ranting, but honestly, this is definitely what's going on with me for the time being. :) I go to work, I eat, I go to musical rehearsal, and I sleep. Maybe in two weeks I'll have better topics to post about. ;)