The Imagination Blog

I’ve named this post kaleidoscope- because that is what my life as a director feels like right now- a kaleidoscope of images, impressions, memories and emotions that keeps shifting into beautiful patterns.  Preview night is the first pattern- and it includes nervous jitters, panic moments and moments of laughing out loud.  Vivid pictures slide through my kaleidoscope view screen – the beauty of the ballet- a painting in gold and light thanks to our talented lighting designer Theresa Ridge- the joy of the children thanks to our dear neighbors from Country Meadows who came bearing gifts- small gold wrapped packages for our young actors.  (When I told the children they literally jumped for joy) And then the children accepting their gifts- even our littlest three year olds accepted the presents with a perfect bow of respect.  Then there is our Anna(Patty Cole) and the King (Roger Lentz) - a joy to watch together.  They pull me into the kaleidoscope and I fall in love with this story all over again.   Another image slides into view- our preview night audience spontaneously on their feet applauding the show- a standing ovation at preview night?  Wow!  That’s a memory I will never forget.

Next my kaleidoscope shows our opening night- a swirl of nervous energy. More jitters for my cast, exhaustion from the final polish times, sheer joy from the energy of the crowd and beautiful images from the show.  What entertainment!  Even our stage crew is costumed and changes the scenery in character as royal slaves.

The kaleidoscope of a musical - I see an image of the sign that says “sold out” yippee!  Then I see backstage- folks lined up at makeup tables coloring their hair, chatting about their day.  Funny image as well- my assistant director Megan and myself trying to paint out dark circles under our eyes so we can do our curtain speech looking bright and chipper – a steady stream of our male actors coming to us to ask “how can I get this eye liner off when I get out of here tonight?”  Our fantastic stage manager Jen Feldser carrying around her emergency bag of candy….  I’m convinced our light and sound equipment runs on gummi bears- not electricity!

Then there are the joyous images again. Cast members giving each other little gifts to celebrate, laughter, hugs,  and through it all our costumer Drenda and assistant Barb calmly sewing, sewing, sewing…making the endless repairs and refinements our hundreds of costumes require. All of us are busy avoiding saying what is on everyone’s mind  “do you think they’ll like us?”  and then the response of the crowd- they laughed, applauded, shed a tear- and lept to their feet at the end when Anna and the King bowed.  They liked us!!!

Sometimes people ask me why I do this…now you know.

I haven’t written since June 5th?  Where has the time gone? The days are flying by filled with the thousands of decisions that go in to producing the beautiful spectacle we call a musical.

This week and the last were filled to the brim as we moved from the blocking phase of the play to cleaning up and filling in the rough spots.   We had to answer such important questions as “how will we get 36 people quickly on stage in the dark- especially when some of them are very little people?  Followed of course by the all important “how will we get said 36 people off stage in the dark?”   Our publicity team of Derek Dunham, Terry Farrell and Brian Baker had to determine “how will we get 60 people photographed in four hours?” and our fabulous stage managers Jen Feldser and Eric Mansilla dealt with the all important “how will we coordinate said 60 people to photography downstairs whilst said 60 people are also needed for rehearsal upstairs?”  Jen was heard to say that she is seriously considering getting a fireman’s pole put in!

Meanwhile set construction has been making magic constructing walls, pillars and niches to resemble soaring palace structures which our scenic artist turns into carpet, marble and mosaic through the magic of paint.

During this hectic time I was required to be out of town for three of the rehearsals- so my assistant director Megan Zimmer made the directing magic for me- working through a maze of scheduling issues and snafus (the June calendar mistakenly listed these rehearsals as ending one hour earlier than they should) to complete the polish, fill in the blanks and smooth out the problems- which she did brilliantly.  I couldn’t have left the show in better hands!

Which meant that I was treated to the delightful experience of returning on Thursday to see a show transformed from the disjointed chaos of the blocking portion of play production to the blossoming beauty of the characterization phase.  During this time a play comes together.  All of the thousands of details begin to gel- and the actors begin to practice their craft, creating the characters who will come to life on stage each night for two and one half hours to tell their story.

I am blessed with hugely talented and experienced actors and dancers, who co-create with Megan and I.  Actors filled with ideas.  Actors willing to work extra hours, stay late (can you say eleven o’clock?  sure I knew you could!) and contribute their ideas.  Actors filled with passion and skill who offer their wonderful suggestions and make our lives easier. Dancers who spend their down time rehearsing in whatever tiny space they have been allotted.  I love you guys!!!

And so … I find myself this week entranced by their work- completely drawn in to the story- laughing aloud, clapping, tearing up… wow!  Magic!