Another Beginning

My thanks to those of you who have wished me well the last couple days in my new role. Your thoughts and readership are always appreciated.

To that end, allow me to talk about tonight's first rehearsal/read through of "Dearly Beloved".

The first thing to mention is that it will be an interesting cast. I do not mean that they are weird people, but the mix is interesting.

To begin with, I have worked with about half of them before, but in a very spread out manner. One of them was in my very first show at the Old Opera House, over three years ago. (Whom I had not seen since then until tonight.) Then one was in a show I did not long after my first. Yet another I have not worked with in close to two years. A few others, more recently, but still, quite a divergent time frame.

Added to the familiar faces are several new ones. Not just new as cast mates, but several people I have never even met before, or seen perform anywhere. So we are talking very new blood, from my perspective. One or two of them are even making their Opera House debut with this show.

And of course, I have officially worked with this director in more shows than any other director in my short career thus far.

The read through itself went well, despite the fact that bad ice kept two cast mates from being able to attend today. It would seem that all of the other cast members have been well selected for their specific parts, and will, as far as I can tell after one night, play off of each other rather well. It promises to be a fun, and audience pleasing little comedy.

I just enjoyed finally getting a script in my hand, and feeling the interaction with other characters. By and large my character does not do a whole lot of direct conversational interacting with other characters, though. Maybe in one or two scenes. He is mostly, I would say, a bewildered bystander. Yet this sort of perspective affords me the chance to do some things that I may not have been able to do with one of the larger roles. I feel I shall enjoy this part quite a bit.

As a brief overview, the play is a comedy about a wedding. A complex wedding which, despite the best efforts of the mother of the bride, goes down hill a little more with each passing moment. Add her husband and sisters, as well as a control hungry wedding planner, and things are bound to get better, right?

My character is a seminarian, studying to be a preacher. He pays his way through seminary by working for UPS. He is brought in, unwillingly, as an last minute replacement to officiate the ceremony when the first preacher become indisposed.

The play takes place in present day Texas, and the subject of accents was brought up. The director advised us not to worry about them tonight. Despite this, several people opted to give it a try. I was not one of them. Not because I was against it, but because I wanted to get a feel for the room more before I tried that.

I also wanted to wait for a final decision on accents from the director. He made a good point by saying that accent should only be used if all of the people do them equally well. If some excel and others struggle, it makes even those with good accents seem more phony. I think I agree with this concept, yet it is far to early to tell if accent are a go or not. Just an early tid bit to consider.

The next rehearsal will be sometime next week, I do believe, though nor schedule has been devised. One thing is certain though...we will be able to get on the stage earlier than in most plays. The current show will have closed by Sunday, leaving the stage clear. I love it when it lines up that way.

And that is my first update on Dearly Beloved. We have about 6 weeks before opening. All six of them, as usual, will be documented here on the blog. Check back often, and don't miss out.