Enter Left: Spring. Cross Down/Center

Every time of the year is good for theatre as far as I am concerned. I have been in plays during every season, and each has both its advantageous and disadvantages when it comes to mounting a production. Yet there may be something a bit extra about being in a production as spring is blossoming outside.

Though the winter in this area was the most mild in my lifetime, in general winter can be a cold, dark, unpleasant thing. (Unless you are in a play, but I digress.) Once the green and the warmth and the birds and such begin to emerge again, even the sourest of people begin to feel a little better. Since the dawn of time spring has been venerated as a time of rebirth. Of life. Of creation.

In theatre we bring things to live. Characters are born, or reborn. Cast and crew are busy with the act of creation. And, God willing, that creation will spread pleasantness throughout everyone who comes into contact with it. Much like spring. Perhaps that is why spring time seems to be such an appropriate time to be in a play, or to just see a play.

Many companies have a perennial "spring musical." I can't help but think that this is due to the relief that comes with the thawing of winter and the melting of the crust that has fallen over the word, and over our own spirits in the time between the many holidays and the end of cold weather. We often like to sing when we are feeling better, and perhaps the tradition of a spring musical is somehow attached to that. Everybody wants to sing, or at least listen to people sing. (You will note that a spring musical is usually an upbeat, comic musical, though of course, not always.)

Even the fragrances of the theatre seem enhanced to me at springtime. Most people don't believe me about this one, but I find that the latent smell of any location seems enhanced in temperate weather. The heat of the summer time can scorch it, and the depth of winter can deaden it, but the delicate spring balance seems to just bring out the smell of paint, saw dust, cloth and overheated lighting instruments more so than any other time of year. I realize this could be just a personal quirk, but even so, I don't fail to notice it.

Sadly I am not in a show this spring. And though I love being in a good show any time of year, even a bad show is more tolerable Between March and June, I dare say.

A Dirty "Trick"?

Even though I knew it was coming, it sort of feels like a dirty trick to end up in a straight show and still have to spend so much time learning dances. But that is what last night was. (And what several more nights of rehearsal will be in the future.)

There is a dance scene at the beginning and end of this play, A Thurber Carnival. Neither are very long, and in my personal opinion neither need to be particularly complex. The are just a warm-up for the audience, not a center piece of the show itself. (Those would be the various skits.) The actors pause during these dance scenes to deliver one liners to the audience. (Some of which none of us even understand.) We need to be careful, in my opinion, of making too much of these scenes, not just because of the dancing, but because of the one liners.

And as far as the dancing, my hope is that it not become too complicated. But to be fair, complicated for me in regards to dance is far below what most people would consider complicated. That doesn't make it any easier, of course, but it does mean that few people truly understand just how unskilled I am when it comes to formal dance.

I was honest with the choreographer about it. I told her I knew no formal dances at all. To her credit the only things she had me do, (just to see what I looked like in doing it.) were basically NON-dances. One was basically me stepping side to side, though I admit I even messed that one up a little bit. The other one was inspired by another non-dancer in the cast...something from a Billy Crystal movie which I have not seen, but was consisted mainly swaying.

We all did some form or another of "The Twist" to her satisfaction. A mini-line dance, ala the Rockettes was also employed, and I confess to having some trouble with that one. But that one I can probably iron out by the time we open, assuming nothing more complicated than that is expected.

Others in the cast with actual dancing training will be doing cha-chas and waltzes and such. Though there are only 8 of us, and this section of the play, (which I consider by far the least funny of the entire production) only lasts a few minutes, there will be a whole lot going on on the tiny stage.

Much remains to be ironed out, obviously, as the scene doesn't yet have music, and the choreographer hasn't officially designed the dances yet. (Or the other things, as she has been given some freedom to assign props, costumes, and character motivations for the scene as well.)

We then moved on to the three fables section. These are not musical numbers, but for some reason I haven't quite followed yet, the choreographer is also in charge of the blocking for them as well. I only have a significant role in one of these fables, however, so I didn't really have to worry too much about the blocking in these scenes, though I will have to do something I have never really enjoyed; go out into the audience for part of the skit.

In the end, the opening dance "number", and the three fables that follow it constitute a minority of what I am doing in this production. I am sure it feels like more now because dancing is involved.Rehearsing other parts of the show will go much more smoothly for me, I feel.

One of the topics brought up briefly last night outside of the dancing situation was the idea of updating certain now dated references. The director is disinclined to do so, and I think that is probably for the best. Something like this is not likely to have a broad appeal to modern audiences, so we might as well cater to the narrow demographic that are either fans of Thurber's works, or who remember the era in which the piece was written, and hence, (hopefully) understand some of the more obscure references. And really, outside of the opening dance, they are not many outdated references anyway.