March 28, 2012
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The Daily News1 Yesterday was an awesome day.
2 We had a complete run-through of Grease, raunchy script and all. We sort of stumbled through it, but went from beginning to end, memorized, with singing and dancing. Fun cast!
3 My song is deep into the second act, so I was a nervous wreck the entire rehearsal. My voice has been a tad gravelly since we started, and it cracks for no reason other than a mild cough that has followed me and haunted me since we began the show.
4 I found out last week that these blood pressure pills I have been taking have some sort of affect on coughing. I’ve never had a constant cough, so it has been a mystery to me as to why it keeps happening. It might be the pills.
5 My song is also extremely high-pitched or low-pitched, so I had to do lots of head/chest crossovers.
6 Over the weekend I practiced and practiced, both high and low keys, and realized that the low-key works much nicer in terms of nearly everything. I found the moments in the song where it would gravel, and tightened my diaphragm, which corrected a lot of the difficulties.
7 When my turn came up to sing Beauty School Dropout, an entire chorus of girls lined up behind me and did harmonized do-wops. I LOVED it! The last time I did the song, I choked on a couple of parts and felt horrible. The girls couldn’t remember their parts, and Rachel kept them late to work on them. I didn’t have to stay, and was happy to leave, not in a bad way, just in a I-let-everybody-down way.
8 It’s funny even with a small appearance in a show, how stressful it can be to go out on stage and act. I am amazed at actors, and how they can master that art. I naturally prefer directing, because it is a lot of being a ringleader in a circus. I don’t have to do the highwire stuff; my performers do. I just have to walk from place to place and make sure that the circus will all work.
9 It’s a different kind of pressure, but it is nothing like having to memorize lines, lyrics, songs, dances, and all the rest. Anybody who claims acting is easy has never had the pleasure.
10 Anyway, I was a wreck all afternoon. I just ran the music, and not very well. I cued the wrong song at least four times, which is like about thirty per cent of the show!
11 Eventually I got the hang of it, but man.
12 Slow study.
13 Anyway, I was glad to be able to sing the song in a lower key; it took a little bit off the humor, but added a lot to the tone as well as the complete elimination of all things gravelly.
14 It also relaxed me enough so the lyrics came into my head like little birds in the springtime.
15 Did I really just say that?
16 Anyway, the girls did this awesome do-do-do wop backing vocals, and sounded absolutely beautiful. Kelly Shi, who plays Frenchy, did a dandy job of looking amazed and confused at the same time. It really helped everything along, and gave the whole thing more character.
17 We did all of this with a recorded piano piece and no mics, and it still sounded amazing.
18 The rest of the cast nailed the entire show, with just a few mistakes which happened in large part because one person was not there. Grease doesn’t have a normal script; it is different people speaking at different times the entire time. If one person is missing, it confuses the flow. It isn’t like there are conversations with just two or three people; it has around twelve people constantly talking at different times.
19 If you are memorizing, then you have to really know almost the entire show.
20 Moving on, Part One: If I had a lead, I’d probably go out of my mind. Young people think nothing of it, which makes it all work. We older guys have a built-in drainage of information that we really don’t need to keep. We’re good at throwing things away the older we get.
21 This includes all manner of information, like batting averages, names of actors, authors, trivia, and all the rest. Our brains clean out their own garages and backyards.
22 As we get older, we put that action on automatic pilot. I really don’t need to remember my lines from a show I was in twenty years ago.
23 We have to throw stuff out. Young people have a tendency to keep everything given to them: birthday cards from six years ago, stuffed animals that Aunt Madge gave them when they were six, baseball gloves, fishing poles, video games, etc.
24 I remember when I was about four or five living in South San Francisco. A building on the lot behind our house burned down. When summer came, I took a walk over to the building and found this large, bent bolt. I brought it home, because I thought it was somehow historical.
25 I carried that bolt in a wooden box everywhere I moved, my entire life.
26 As far as I know, I probably still have it somewhere.
27 It’s meaningless, but I could never throw the thing away. It became a part of me.
28 Likewise old birthday cards, pens, baseballs, and other items.
29 Junk can start to take over one’s life. As I got older, I realized that I could give a WHOLE bunch of stuff the heave-ho. Once I discovered that, I organized my life, making everything simpler.
30 That also worked with my brain. I decided I didn’t really need to remember all those quotes by Emerson and Voltaire.
31 Most of the quotes I memorized eventually were off by a preposition or two anyway.
32 We do have Google, and Wiki.
33 But quotes are seldom accurate. Google any quote that you have memorized, and I can almost guarantee that the real quote is inconsistent. You have to go to Bartlett’s or Bartleby’s in order to get the exact quote, and even then, if it pre-dated recorded material, there are likely to be inconsistencies.
34 I’m into the 4 a.m. already, so I really don’t want to go into examples.
35 My point is that as we grow older, a lot of stuff we keep isn’t really that important. Once we learn to let things go, our lives become simpler. Memorizing things seems almost impossible.
36 In some ways it’s sort of sad.
37 In other ways, it gives us leave to cherish true memories.
38 Even they are often inaccurate, but the heart of the memory is always accurate.
39 Yesterday was an awesome day.
40 I showed my classes the 1998 version of Midsummer, the Pyramus and Thisbe scene, when Kevin Lambert’s wig fell off. To me, it was live history. I wanted my students to see that Shakespeare is not a subject in school, but a joy, a laugh, and a tear.
41 I felt I was the director again, watching in the audience as all those magical moments unfolded. Kevin’s timing was perfect, and always will be. Chris Ramirez’s subtle responses and Matthew Perry expressions were priceless. The curtain call was majestic. The cast came out as one, holding hands, lifted their hands for about four seconds, and then exited boldly. They had conquered. It was closing night, and they had conquered.
42 Fina coming out with the second sword nailed it for me. Perfectly timed. All of it was so wonderful and magical to watch.
43 I didn’t really look at my students’ reactions. Well, I won’t EVEN lie. I did.
44 Many were just as enchanted as the audiences who were there.
45 Others were completely disinterested.
46 I remember vaguely telling my cast on closing night that someday I will try teaching this to others, but that nobody would ever get that experience, ever again.
47 The words rang true yesterday.
48 There were lots of my students who were utterly enchanted by the show, so Midsummer held up, after all these years, and may have even given the gift of Shakespeare to someone. Ancient gift, and a merry.
49 Good memories. Good times.
50 Yesterday was Buster Posey’s birthday.
51 Happy Birthday Buster.
52 And daughters, Caitlin and Nicoley thanks for the phone calls yesterday. I love you guys.
52 And Rene, you’re the best. A ball game dude. Love it. John, got your email and invite. I’m checking my calendar. Bri Bri, Nancy, and Marcia, thanks, truly.
53 Yesterday was an awesome day.
54 Let’s make it a week. Find it in your heart.
55 Peace.
~H~
