Hodge Podge Entry

All sorts of odds and ends tonight.

To begin with, I want to thank my various friends and colleagues for their comments here on the blog! For some reason, not everyone's comments are getting through, however. More than one person in the cast told me they tried, and failed, to post a comment. I am a bit baffled by this, but I hope no one is discouraged. Keep trying. If you opt to post as "Anonymous" you should have an easier time. You can always email me as well with any comments.

As for today's rehearsal, various things. To begin with, many people were missing, so once again, it feels like this little tiny show. So leisurely and laid back. I confess I love it. Yet I am certain that once the rest of the cast of hundreds shows up the atmosphere will be, to say the least, different. But a good different.

Missing people notwithstanding, we got a decent amount accomplished today. It was a little odd, because we did not go in order of the scenes. We started at the end of Act 2, to go over the scene with the song. (More on that in a moment.) Than we did some act 1 stuff which got skipped the last time act one was rehearsed. Then we proceeded with act 2 in order, getting about halfway done. So, as odd as it sounds, I ran through my last scene, and my first scene, in that order. Wild, isn't it? Kind of like filming a movie.

Some of the background set pieces were also up today for the first time. Walls, etc. They look good. Kudos to set designers.

Now for the previously mentioned music scene. I have mentioned before that the show ends with a song. Cast members off stage sing "under" the final scene where the little girl is all happy, and everyone falls in love. (You know, the miracle.) At the start of said scene, the director had various members of the cast come out on stage to begin the singing, including me. I am not sure if he did it on purpose or not, but having my character seen singing about the importance of faith in the unseen is quite poetic. Mara, being the man who declared there was no Santa Claus. You have to love the "redemption" factor of it all. Nice call, director.

In other news I ran into a friend of mine at the theatre, who claims she did not see me standing there until I said hello. A likely story, I am sure. She is a very busy person, but she reads this blog. So this paragraph was designed specifically to rib her.

Down town Charles Town was decorating its public buildings for the holidays today as I was leaving rehearsal. They are not finished yet, but it certainly serves as quite the reminder that the whole season is not far away at all. Which of course means our show is even sooner. From my humble perspective as Mr. Mara, act 2 guy, all seems to be progressing at a very excellent pace.

Don't you love it when that happens?