The Not-So Daily News

1   Hello everybody!

2   Sorry about the lack of a DN in the past week or so. Long story, but AT&T disconnected after we pushed a re-set button when I couldn’t get online, and insisted that I call them and talk to someone.

3   Coming so close to this extremely tough tech week on Grease, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to scratch my nose, let alone talk for forty-five minutes with somebody on the East Coast.

4   As the show got closer, I had less and less time to do anything.

5   This has happened on very rare occasions in the DN’s history, so we should be up and running next week, with any luck.

6   Moving on, Part the First: Grease is coming along wonderfully. GREAT bunch of students, and we open this Friday night at 7 p.m. That’s my night for doing the song Beauty School Drop-out. Here is a link with the other performances, location, and time.

7   I will also be performing on Thursday afternoon, I believe at 5:30, but it is our final dress, and was originally intended to be a public dress rehearsal. David, our director, had to make it not an official dress because of some missing musicians. I am scheduled to rehearse at that one, and I’m guessing that if I tell him I’m inviting some family and friends, he probably wouldn’t balk.

8   There IS a public dress rehearsal TODAY at 3 p.m. I don’t know if I’m performing or not, but there’s about a 50 per cent chance I am. Feel free to come in and watch Grease today if you have time!

9   Fun show, lots of fun songs and dances, and colorful!

10  I’ll stay in touch. Here’s a link with all the information about tix, times, location:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/

11   I gottago. Tight schedules! Please come out and watch the show; it’s great fun!

12   Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington

OPENING NIGHT!!!!WHO’S DOWN?

 The Daily News

1   Opening Night.

2   That’s baseball. One of my students told me that the odds on the Giants winning the world series were 6-1.

3   Someone must see something I don’t, but they did make a lot of improvements.

4   I don’t know what the odds are on the A’s, but they should be pretty interesting. It’s going to be a fun season, that’s for sure.

5   Everything counts, as of tonight.

6   Spring has officially sprung.

7   And baseball makes everything right, at least in my eyes. I’m going to get me the best hot dogs, peanuts, and cold beverages money can buy, and enjoy opening night in the warmth of my living room

8   Go Giants AND A’s.

9   Moving on, Part the First: Yesterday was an amazing day. The Grease cast did a “flash” yesterday in the quad. I’m not sure what they did, because I tried to ignore it when they planned it, but they showed up at lunch, arranged with ASB to use their sound system, and did We Go Together, with full choreo, and with no warning to anybody.

10   At one point in the song, they all kneeled down and alienated one girl, who was then asked to prom, at least I think that was the plan!

11  I was at a lunch send-off to a teacher who is going to have a baby and won’t be back this year, so I totally missed it.

12   My last period of the day, a girl who was in it came in and said, “Did you see it?” She reported that it was outrageously cool, and that everybody was completely on target, and that the entire cast had nailed it! Thank goodness.

13   I was actually a bit worried, because they had been pretty shaky on that particular song for a while, but really got it just the day before.

14   If they had forgotten steps, or gotten out of sync with the music, the entire thing could have not worked, and in fact, could have made them look really bad.

15   Didn’t happen. Not with this cast. They punched it through and blew the entire school out of the water!

16   When I got to rehearsal yesterday, they were so hyped it was beyond words. Everybody was singing, dancing, and having a blast! Goofiness and laughter were everywhere.

17   Plus this was the first rehearsal with a live band, so they were doubly excited.

18   I noticed that my cough seemed to have diminished, and notes I couldn’t hit in the last two weeks suddenly happened easily.

19   When they began the rehearsal, they took the place by storm. David and I kept looking at each other in utter disbelief. Every single scene looked awesome! Every single singer was spot on. The band added a depth that brought it all live and loud.

20   I kept silently singing my song so that my voice would be warmed up. I don’t come in until late in Act 2, and was still worried and nervous about my song. But my voice kept hitting all the notes that it couldn’t two days ago.

21  When I was finally out there, I threw in a huge swag, because the voice was clearly back. I had watched a video of Taylor Swift doing Teen Angel the day before, and watched some of his ideas. He played Teen  Angel in a Broadway revival I think in 2008.

22  I did well, rising to the massive intensity that the students had created the entire day. Everybody focused, and the rest of the rehearsal went magnificently.

23   The show isn’t nearly as raunchy when everybody gets into character. It becomes closer to a sort of How To Succeed style, with goofy faces, funky dances, and ridiculous exits.

24   I  had talked to Kelly (Frenchy) and told her I was going to move around and add more to the blocking. I had never really been blocked, so the other day I stood there hanging on to the microphone for dear life, hoping that my voice would make it through.

25  Yesterday I decided to block myself, and to give Kelly a few mini-directions. She responded perfectly, and the number did fine.

26   I still cracked, but just on one word, and I corrected it swiftly and kept going.

27   I wasn’t really worried, because it was the first time in about a month that my voice had returned, and it felt great.

28   The rehearsal whistled and hummed. It was far and away our best so far, and we are pretty close to show-ready. We have no costumes or sets, but all of that is being taken care of. We open on April 27, so there is still a lot of grunt work to do, but the show proper is just about ready. I’m guessing that if we had to open next weekend we would be able to.

29   The miracle seems to be happening.

30   And it we now have a week off from school; grades are done, and it looks to me like it is full speed ahead.

31   Can’t wait!

32   I don’t know if I wrote about this yesterday, but the day before yesterday I opened the door to my classroom to get to a meeting, and this young guitarist was sitting there, strumming four chords.

33   I walked past him, but recognized the four chords as C, Am, F, and G.

34   Those chords are the heart of 50′s rock. They are in songs like Teenager in Love, Silhouettes, and even We Go Together. They traveled through a billion rock songs over the ages, and there is even a song in Grease dedicated to those chords.

35  It’s called Those Magic Changes, and anyone who has ever played rock would understand the salute to those arrangments.

36   In Grease, it’s a G7, but it is often a G as well. Not a perfect coincidence, but certainly one of those little coincidences that seems to dance through my life. I walked down the steps of our building singing the song. What’s that playing on the radio? I was young again. Those chords are the true fountain of  youth.

37   Those magic changes indeed.

38    That’s about it for today, won’t be back until a week from Monday, so enjoy baseball, Easter, and this entire change of seasons.

39   Happy springtime everybody!

40   Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1   Got home a little late last night, which sort of works out beautifully for trying to eat more healthily.

2    Instead of cooking a huge meal, I decided to eat a bunch of raw veggies. I even ate a red pepper as though it were an apple.

3    You know how after a long day you want to eat a horse or something? I just had a glass of water, looked in the fridge about eighteen times, and decided to grab a bunch of rabbit food.

4    It totally worked. I dipped it in some salsa, ate, enjoyed, and had a couple of pieces of turkey to make it all seem real.

5   So I guess I’m now on a sort of late rehearsal diet. It used to be McNuggs back-in-the day.

6   Fortunately I have a few friends who are into nutrition. I looked at a few videos on how McNuggs are made and thought twice. Love ‘em, but no thanks.

7   Moving on, Part the First: To my daughter Caitlin, Mom told me about everything and I’m way glad you are okay sweetie. I love you! Just didn’t want to call too late. Can’t wait to see you!

8    Moving on, Part the Second: And Coley, Mom told me about your day too. I don’t know how your are dealing with things, but you are my hero you know. You are going to be that little girl’s hero as well. You are officially a champion teacher!

9    Moving on, Part the Thoid: Those of you who have been following the story of our school’s first musical know that I completely destroyed my song the other day due to a hack I have had on and off since December. The night before last I went home mortified that midway through my song, this post-nasal boushit crashed in and made me miss horribly on around six notes. David came in and rescued the song, but I was pretty upset, because I had practiced it diligently.

10  It happens. Show biz. Yesterday he asked me if I wanted to try it again, and of course I said, “Yes.” Knock me down nine times and I’ll get up ten. Or is it the other way around?

11   There was no way I was going to let that one setback beat me down. And had I taken that route, I would still be afraid of a stupid little song.

12   I had the post-nasal thing going on once more, but told David that in a way, it’s good that it’s there because I could try to adjust my breathing to jump up or over whatever is trying to keep me from hitting the right notes.

13   I think I did fine, although a couple of notes were a tad gravelly, and I didn’t focus on any sort of character development. I got through it, and nailed the last note with a reasonably okay sustain. Trying to put too much character and movement into the tune would have moved my focus. It worked. It wasn’t lovely, but it worked.

14   Not quite an epic comeback, but certainly a strong attempt at battling this thing.

15  Fortunately, the rest of the cast looked pretty sharp on what we call a stumble-through. They began the first act completely in character, crisp,nice and loud. The first act rocked, and everyone stayed focused and pretty amazing. The dances looked sharper, the singing louder, and the unity better than ever.

15   They added some classics, including Hoplessly Devoted, Sandy, and You’re the One That I Want. Those aren’t included in the Broadway stuff, but David knows that people are going to expect stuff from the movie.

16   Grease isn’t really about the raunchy plot. We all know that. It’s about this fun music that everyone and his brother knows. We Go Together finally worked. Last Friday they worked that number over and over and still had trouble keeping up with its speed. Yesterday they were all over it. What a rollicking, fun song! Always is. When they sang, “Always, be together…” I saw the spirit of a show ring through those fun lyrics.

17   It isn’t much to the outside world, but there is a sense of history moving through our show. Most of these guys have never been in a musical, and many have never really sung. Sometimes you wouldn’t know it. Our “Rump” sang Mooning a bit too loudly at first. His name is Lucas, and I had him a couple of years ago. I remember when he first got into drama; he was dazzled about being a part of such a fun thing, and he would give me reports of how he loved doing shows.

18  When Rachel told him to back off the mic a little, he humbly stated, “Sorry, I never worked with a microphone before.” So professional.

19   He backed off, and it sounded really nice.

20   That really stopped me, because these guys have been going at it as though they have all done musicals. A majority haven’t, which is part of this crazy thing that I am a part of, and that I wanted to be a part of for that very reason.

21   They did SO well on We Go Together that during our break between Acts 1 and Act 2 they couldn’t stop singing. It reminded me again of Godspell. David was giddy, and he started singing and making up songs about the different students.

22   It was an exciting moment. They were talking about all the stuff that kids putting on shows talk about: singing in class, picking up on normal life cues, like little lines from the play that ordinary people say in regular life, and then responding with the subsequent line from the show. You know, stuff that’s annoying to what I used to refer to as “the civilians,” but fun for the kids in the show.

23   The energy level soared with the opening of Act 2, a fun number called Shakin’ at the High School Hop. What a great way to begin the second act.

24   I watched, and was pretty afraid because of the post nasal and all. I didn’t care, because the show was stumbling along beautifully, and the spirit was one of pure excitement and fun!

25   These guys do Born to Hand Jive amazingly. It is by far their strongest ensemble number, complete with ridiculously fast and complicated choreo. They nailed it yesterday to hoots and hollers afterwards, which is what their characters are supposed to feel anyway. No Stanislavsky stuff there: the delight was genuine. Wonderful piece, and this was just on some Wednesday afternoon rehearsal, no costumes, band or anything.

26   I could go on, because anyone out there who loves Grease would probably enjoy a play-by-play. I didn’t suck, but I wasn’t at the same level as the kids. David and Rachel seemed to understand the voice concerns. Part of my personal concern is that the song was already a bit too high for me, but before this post-nasal stuff happened, I had nailed it pretty easily.

27   The song is supposed to be sung in a pretty high key, which I had been able to reach, even though an octave lower is WAY easier for me. I have a group of backing vocalists who I am going to name the Halos, because I love do-do-do wop stuff. There are at least eight or nine of them, and they really happen.

28   If I sing the tune in a lower key, they would have to adjust lower, and that is a part of the difficulty with the song. I really think now that it would probably be best to have me sing it lower, because the notes and lyrics are guaranteed. I have always sung better in lower keys anyway, and on the way home last night I sang it in the TOOOOOONDRA and easily it flawlessly.

29   I’m thinking of approaching both Rachel and David and asking if I could change it today. Today is a load-in day; the apron is being removed and the band is coming in. We might even have Greased Lightning in the theater today. Everyone is pumped.

30   We do anticipate perhaps some down time while sound checks go on, mics get adjusted, extension cords are searched for, and all that sort of stuff. I may ask Rachel if I could take the Halos (they don’t know that’s my name for them, but come on! Teen Angel and the Halos. Who could resist that?) into the dance studio and maybe re-work the tune. These guys are fast learners, and I do think it would add an entirely new dynamic to the show. I am fully confident that I could nail that tune if it is brought down to my current voice range.

31   I don’t know how much work that would be for Rachel, who is already dealing with the addition of the new songs, but hopefully it won’t be that tough.

32   Meanwhile, excitement crackles these days in the theatre, and we are all having a ball.

33   Something special happened yesterday. At the end of the rehearsal,the entire company formed an enormous circle at center stage. David does this periodically on good rehearsal days. It’s a bit like passing the handshake we used to do on show nights, and then the Hokey Pokey. We just brought in our tech people the day before, so suddenly we all got big. Circling up is already a tradition. Here’s how it goes:

34   David has everyone join hands,  get low, say, “Ha, ha, ha…” etc. alternating feet to the rhythm, like elephants. When it hits everyone, they start to say, “Ohhhhhh…” with the circle backing up, and when the moment hits, everyone dashes to the middle and lets go just before we all crash into each other. It’s awesome! Sometimes a techie will pop the show music on and everyone sort of dances afterwards and has a ball.

35   This has been great fun, and I am honored to be a major part of it, even if I have choked a bit on my own stuff lately. I’ll improve, no doubt. And probably today, if I ever get any sleep!

36   So that’s the Grease update, coming to you live from H’s DN! Good reports, but lots of work left to do. Great company, and a really good-vibe show. I don’t think they even know I’m recording its history right here in the good ol’ DN.

37   I also know that my audience with this thing consists of many performers and people who have fond memories of doing plays and enjoying the magic changes and the memories. Many others are Tahoe people, including the fabulous Chirpettes of my personal Buddy Bird fame.

38   Sometimes I think I have the best job and best family and friends in the world.

39   Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying this ride. It’s a rollercoaster, but a wild and strange one, and one that is filled with lots of fun. We’re having a ball, like do-wop-she wadda-wadda-dippdity-dip-de do. Remembered forever.

40   Go ahead.

41   Try not singing, chang-chang-changity-chang-she bop!

42   We’ll always be as one, wah-ooh, YEAH!

43   Hope that song runs through yer head all day!

44   Good times.

45   Gottago. Big day. Have pho.

46   Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1   Wow, long week.

2   Yesterday’s rehearsal was awesome.

3   I had a rough go, but the rest of the cast of Grease rose to the occasion.

4   We had hit a critical moment on Monday, when a lack of energy and focus had set in. Spirits were a bit down as the rehearsal had lagged.

5   David stayed later than he had planned, and made sure that the cast understood the high seas that can sometimes happen during a show.

6    Yesterday turned everything around. We added a few new songs, and much of the singing improved dramatically. Morale was massively energetic the entire afternoon. While some things didn’t work, most of the show went wonderfully, particularly the Hand Jive stuff. These guys went a hundred miles an hour on that number, and it played quite well.

7   Personally, I had one of the worst rehearsals ever. My cough had returned, and I had no idea if it would intrude on my song or not. I wasn’t the least bit nervous, as I have put countless hours in practicing at home. I was more concerned with somehow establishing some Stanislavski truth to a rather bizarre character.

8   I felt pretty comfortable when I took the stage, and Kelly played her role of Frenchy magnificently. I felt fine, but wanted to add a few minor touches that might help move the plot forward and give my character bit of a human touch.

9   It sounds silly if you are a Grease fan, because this character tends to be translated as an over-the-top mockery and a cheap laugh.

10  As a teacher, and as a guy who has been around theatre for years, I didn’t want that. I saw this guy as a sort of teacher who uses a bit of mockery to get a message across to a kid who was going in the wrong direction.

11  All right, perhaps an over-analysis of a poorly written character, but my thoughts focused on playing the truth of the character, however poorly written.

12   Unfortunately, right in the middle of the song I felt this cough coming on strong. It had returned the day before yesterday, and it had foreshadowed itself in one of my lectures earlier in the day.

13  What it does is some post-nasal thing that completely interrupts the voice, causing an almost complete stranglehold on the vocal chords. I wasn’t thinking too heavily about it. I was more interested in giving my interpretation of the character some focus and direction.

14   I had watched a series of other actors who have interpreted the part, and I was impressed with a revival that Taylor Swift had done with the part.

15   He brought in a bit of a human character to this odd part, giving the character of Frenchy some hope, rather than being a mean guy who mocks the girl. When he sings, “If you go for your diploma, you can join a steno pool,” he looked up to the lights and guided Frenchy with a bit of hope, which I thought was sweet.

16   Kelly played her part famously, looking both entranced and confused, and everything felt right.

17   As I approached her, and then looked out at the lights, some sort of huge crack suddenly hit my vocal chords and shattered the tune. I had felt it all afternoon, but figured I could head it off, but somehow it snuck up on me and destroyed all the notes.

18   David came from the audience with a script and took over the song. I naturally pulled back and let him complete the  as I stood shattered wondering what had just taken place.

19   I knew it was something I had no control over, but was still a bit mortified. All was going wonderfully up until that moment.

20  I didn’t want to over-react, because it was clearly something I had anticipated, but that I simply couldn’t ward off.

21   I was sort of horrified, because I had been moving in such a positive direction, but I also knew it wasn’t me; it was just a sort of physical thing that had come out of nowhere.

22  I have had trouble with the song all along. The lyrics have been a bit difficult, and the register is exactly between my chest voice and my head voice. It’s a tough song, but lots of songs are tough. They require practice, which I have done, and I have still had difficulties with the song. One song. It is almost unbelievable.

23   My Catholic guilt made me feel that I had stopped a good rehearsal, and that I had somehow let the entire company down. I should be a role model, and here I was self-destructing live and on stage.

24   I gathered myself pretty quickly, as the show had to continue, and the students had to deliver.

25   Fortunately for all of us, they did. I got over my personal humiliation and quickly joined in to the fun spirit that these young people had.

26   I won’t spoil David’s curtain call, but we worked on that later, and it is sensational!

27   In the end, we all joined together knowing that we were working on something that was special. David told the cast that we are defining musicals at the school, and that historically, we need to kick ass.

28   This was my dream in 2007. I wanted the Evergreen community to have an annual tradition of awesome musicals in that area of San Jose. I even suggested Grease to the department, but they were still trying to establish themselves.

29   I think Grease is a fairly raunchy show, to be honest, but one that has wonderful music and dancing. It is also poplular, as well as being a huge money-maker.

30   Had I been the drama guy at the time, Grease would have been my choice as the first musical in the school’s history. The public loves the show, despite it’s odd script and other shortcomings.

31   The songs are legendary, and really quite fun. It is up to the cast to give it some sort of truth.

32   My thoughts at the time were that a rollicking version of Grease would create a community of theatre in our area that would probably last forever. I was willing to work for free to make that happen.

33  That’s why I went down a few months ago and sat in on auditions. That is why I have joined the show. I still believe in that dream.

34   This year a director who is amazingly like me came in and thought the same thing. Right before auditions, he and I had ironically been put together as a team to administer the California High School Exit Examinations. It was just before auditions, and we both talked Grease silently while the students took the exams.

35  Call it what you will, but I saw it as a bit of fate. I could have been partnered with any other teacher, but our dreams of bringing quality theatre to the Evergreen areas met and joined as one.

36   So here we are.

37    I had a personal setback yesterday, but regardless of whether I could nail this tune or not, I am obligated to going the distance on this show. The students did wonderfully yesterday, and things are looking pretty good.

38   I went home a tad depressed that I had somehow let everybody down, but I guess that’s all a part of it.

39   Fortunately, Helene told me to keep practicing, morning, noon and night. She said it was absurd that I was worried about singing; we sing all the time. I have a mic and my guitar all set up in my office at home, and I sing constantly, and have very few moments when the voice collapses like that.

40  It was a physical thing, but I must confess it did attack my mental insecurities.

41   Ironically, when I see other cast members going through those sorts of showtime moments, I look them in the eyes and say, “Fear nothing,” almost as a sort of tongue-in-cheek joke.

42   It all works out in the end.

43   I really do fear nothing. But sometimes we do question our abilities, and sometimes we do feel a bit cut off at the knees.

44   I felt terribly like that last night. I feel much better now, thanks in large part to Helene, who saw me as a tad wounded, and questioning my own abilities to deliver.

45   She pretty much told me to fear nothing, and I want to thank her publicly for her strong support. I feel wonderful as I chart these words out to the adoring masses.

46   I nailed the song several times last night, and feel much better. We have our band coming in tomorrow, so I’m hoping today I can restore amends.

47   We’ll see.

48   I sure hope I can bring it.

49   I can’t control what is physically happening, but I can certainly control what is mentally happening. Regardless, those students are giving it their all, and I fully intend to ride this extraordinary roller coaster to closing night. If my voice doesn’t go there with me, then I don’t mind being replaced.

50   Whatever happens, I am still on board and willing to do everything in my power to make the dream come true for not only the cast and crew, but for the community.

51   Wish us all luck.

52   Or broken legs.

53    Either way, it’s great to be back! I’m having a ball, and this  group is a wonderfully talented and supportive group.

54   I’m into the 3 a.m. Already had four hours sleep. I had better go down now. Gotta rest that idiotic voice of mine.

55   Have a great Wednesday.

56   And a special thanks to Helene; I won’t put your good advice to shame.

56   Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1   That was one tough Monday.

2   I worked so hard over the weekend that I felt pretty useless yesterday morning. Usually I do Mondays pretty well, but for whatever reason, the second I got to work  I realized I should have called in sick.

3   Exhaustion from a demanding weekend.

4   I’m glad I didn’t, because I pride myself in being a hard worker, and a guy who seldom is absent. My model is my best students. The ones who get straight A’s are never absent.

5   I don’t think I’ve taken a day off for being sick in ten years. I have taken days off when I would need to see my Dad, or go to a funeral, or occasionally catch up with work when I have been dumped on, but normally, I try to get in there and do it every single day, no matter what.

6   Getting to sleep earlier has really played a huge part in staying alert and ready each day.

7    I worked on school stuff the entire three-day weekend. I wanted to go in completely prepared this week, and I did fine publicly. But yesterday I had shattered nerves and an exhaustion that was almost palpable.

8    It didn’t hit me until midway through my first class. Suddenly the clock stopped, and each minute was an hour. I proved yesterday that Einstein was right about relativity.

9   By lunchtime I was starved and somewhat of a madman.

10  I decided to go to a local pho dive and grab some of that extraordinary Vietnamese soup. A fat, steamy broth of pho hath no fellow, as Shakespeare would say. It puts your eyeballs in the right spot.

11  When I got to the joint, I ran into two of our YB alumni, John Le and Peter Tran. I instantly perked up because I hadn’t seen either of those guys in about a hundred years.

12   I love running into alumni, and those two guys are particularly high on my list, so it completely made my day.

13  We caught up a bit, but the time shot by. The same hour that took six hours in the morning took fifteen minutes at lunch.

14  Go Einstein.

15  After that I felt way more energized. It was just too short of a visit, but sometimes that’s the way it goes. Maybe we all just need to see each other to keep everything a bit real and in perspective. It was a delightful lunch, and when I got up to pay, it had already been taken care of.

16  We need those chance encounters in life.

17  By the school day’s end, I felt normal again. Maybe it was the pho. Maybe it was the company. Maybe it was that all three of us needed to be pulled out of our fretful lives and pulled into putting everything into a dramatic perspective. The bottom line: at the height of one of my most exhausting days, I got to see a couple of successful former students. The  past came in to support all three of us, and did so famously.

18  I loved it, always do when I see people I have worked with, or laughed with.

19  Sometimes we just need to step away from the moment that is stressing us and see that laughter and old friends are what is real. I consider both John and Peter old friends.

20  I have lots of old friends. It is always good to get away from the present. I wouldn’t want to live in the past, but memories are strong friends. As my good friend and confidant Rob Rainy once said, “What’s so good about the present?”

21  Thanks for the lunch, gentlemen. Somehow that was a good encounter for all of us.

22   Moving on, Part the First: I was supposed to take over the rehearsal yesterday because David had to go to San Francisco midway through. Unfortunately, the cast was completely out of it yesterday. They dragged, forgot lines, forgot dances, forgot to sing. The energy seemed just as horrid as my morning was.

23   I took about seven hundred notes that I was going to give after he left, but he was a bit distressed by their complete lack of energy, and lack of thinking. He got a bit frustrated. I’ve been there.

24   I remember going through that with my awesome Godspell production, the one I directed. I always brag about that production, but I do remember having to drum staying in character into the group. I was as nutsy as Harbaugh. We practiced how to listen while other characters would speak, because I’m the type of person who goes to a show and watches the background people, and who watches the ensemble to see if anyone is out of character. Showkillers.

25   So I told the Godspell people that they needed to maintain over-expressive faces and almost clownlike responses  every single moment of the production. I told them to practice in class, at home, and everywhere they would go.

26    It worked. I still have a VHS of our closing night, and that cast was SO into character that it is a dynamic study. That’s a tough thing to teach people in a musical, because the Grease kids simply haven’t perfected staying in character and filling themselves with absolute energy every second of rehearsal. David taught that yesterday, but I’m not sure they quite get it yet.

27   They got it after a very serious talk, but that sort of theatre discipline takes a lot of practice. Learning how not to drop character or energy is a key to the success of any production. I didn’t want to say anything because I don’t want to undermine David; I have incredible trust and faith in both him and in Rachel, our vocal director.

28   David never left to get to San Francisco, which is good, because I didn’t have to give my notes, many of which he and Rachel had already given.

29   I wrote a lot of it off to a Monday following a three-day weekend, but still. I have seen this cast blow me out of the water, and that just didn’t happen yesterday.

30  And it isn’t like we can cut the tune. They originally nailed We Go Together on the first day. They just have a lot of dance steps to think about, and they forget to sing, and forget the steps, and most important, they forget the audience.

31   You can’t do Grease sucecessfully without getting huge on that number. It is THE large production number that closes act one.

32   So we’ll see. I really held back yesterday, because I’m not the director. But I am officially a large part of the production. And I have been there with casts, and I do understand the frustration.

33  A lot of alumni remembers our production of Guys and Dolls in ’98 (yes, we do travel back that far!). What they don’t remember is the day before our opening my being up at 3 a.m. writing down hundreds of notes. I wound up taking a roll of poster paper and writing those 3 a.m. notes on it, and then posting the thing all around the piano lab. I told the cast to take a stroll around the room and to read the notes.

34   Doing a show is really beginning with a thousand errors, getting them down to a hundred, and then slowly eliminating as many as is humanly possible.

35   That deal with the poster paper saved the cast from hearing a one hour meeting with notes. They each just strolled around the room until they would see notes relevant to themselves, and then they improved dramatically.

36  The strategy paid off in droves. Each student got ten times better, so by the time they hit the stage, they were ready.

37   The show was a blast; we had a lot of fun, and it all came together.

38   For the life of me I don’t know why casts can’t get it together a little faster, but that’s show biz. I’m hoping to see a lot of improvement this week. On Thursday they practice with the band, which I’ve heard tell is thunderingly amazing.

39   One thing that did work yesterday was the introduction of microphones into the rehearsal. The first time an actor picks up a mic is often a really disorienting moment. But our cast handled the mics like they were old pros. They took so naturally to them that I almost didn’t notice, and they sang gracefully, although a couple of people didn’t realize that missing a note on a mic is pretty much a mortal sin.

40  Still, they were really confident with the mics, and almost cocky, which is good.

41   I used to tell my casts that there is no such thing as a wasted rehearsal. There might be rehearsals where we didn’t succeed in what we set out to do, but at each rehearsal it is always a good idea to ask this: What did we come away with?

42   Yesterday it was two things: one, rehearse completely in character and focused, and two, you don’t need to worry about how your voice sounds on a mic. That confidence really came through, and it is usually the other way around with musicals.

43  I feel much more rested this morning, even though I am into the 5 a.m. already.

44  I hope our cast is also more rested. I’m guessing they will be.

45  Shows.

46   I had forgotten.

47   Welp, it’s Tuesday, and for once, I’m glad we have Tuesdays, because I truly think we need an extra day this week.

48    I’m hoping to have the Tuesday of  my life.

49    You have one too, willya?

50    Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington

  The Daily News

1   Is it really Monday already?

2   Ah, vell. Just another beginning to just another week.

3    You know what that means.

4    No news, really.

5    And that’s always good news.

6    Couldn’t really tell you what I did this weekend, and even if I could, you probably wouldn’t care that much anyway.

7    I will say that on Cesar Chavez day, we had a super-long dance rehearsal for Grease. I loved every moment of it. Our students aren’t really dancers, but they danced themselves into a frenzy by day’s end, and it was quite a productive day.

8   Since my song doesn’t really have too much going on, I was able to grade thousands of papers during that time. They had the school cafeteria, aka Cougar Hall all day, so it was nice to be able to spread my stuff out without taking over my living room at home, plus I got to watch the show develop, and laugh along with everybody.

9   I even had time to play a little guitar and sing outside. Thank you, Cesar Chavez. Thank you not only for giving us the day off, but for showing America what they need to do to keep afloat. More on that later.

10   Moving on, Part the First: So I got tons done on grading papers and trying to meet Wednesday’s deadline for the end of the fifth grading period.

11   People have no idea how much time it takes for teachers to grade papers and to plan lessons. I have probably averaged at least ten to fifteen hours each weekend this year due to budget cuts and all.

12   Cutbacks on support staff, especially in our bookroom have made it nearly impossible to try to teach. I used to have class sets of books, which made it easy to have materials at hand. This year, trying to arrange that was simply impossible. Either the students had to lug heavy books to school each day, or I had to provide copies of materials, or buy materials, or even write materials so they wouldn’t need to carry fifty pounds of books to school.

13   We don’t have lockers, and books these days are four times heavier than books we had as students. It’s hard to explain why that is, except that in English, for example, we depend on these fat literature books that also try to include cheap grammar lessons in the back.

14   Trying to rotate shorter novels is nearly impossible, since the bookroom is virtually unavailable in the afternoon, when I have my prep period. The bookroom is reasonably dead to me since it is almost impossible to staff full time.

15   So I write my own vocabulary lists, buy my own books to use as class sets, and write out much of what I used to be able to do with class sets of books. I also spend a LOT of my own money running copies of things that used to be free.

16   Because of larger class sizes, I have almost fifteen students more than in the past. That doesn’t sound like much until you multiply the paperwork. It is a half a class more of papers times three assignments a week. It adds up ridiculously, and is horribly time consuming.

17   So holidays are non-existent in today’s world of teaching. They are merely extra days that we can spend hour upon hour grading papers and trying to keep the books accurate.

18   I’m not trying to grouse here; I’m actually trying to show people how much we as teachers have to do to adjust to all the horrific cutbacks. Our personal lives tend to disappear nowadays. I’m guessing that’s not going to get any better in the future, and now our district is talking about attacking our benefits.

19   The media is making it sound like we are a bunch of greedy people who don’t somehow deserve health benefits.

20   Are ya kiddin’ me?

21   Any teacher doing his or her job knows that our workload has almost doubled in the past five years. We haven’t had a raise in almost ten years. Older teachers can’t afford to retire, and younger teachers are getting laid off in droves. We have accepted class size increases, firings of excellent support staff, furlough days, increases in our health care costs, and higher expectations with absolutely no financial support, and are still criticized madly in the mainstream media.

22  I have never worked this hard to try to keep up with everything. I still focus on my daily classes, and I still enjoy going in each day, but the deadlines and pressures of working almost 24/7 are beginning to bother.

23   Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we shouldn’t work harder just like everybody else, or that we’re lucky we even have jobs. I am well aware of the economy, and of the depression we seem to be in. I just wish to point out that like every other company  out there, teaching is getting hit hard.

24   I have seen this pattern in many companies: they need to cut back. They have to lay off remarkable people. The remaining people have to do the job of three or four others. Bosses are getting red-assed to turn the “bottom line” around.

25   In most cases, the “bottom line” usually means layoffs. Adequate staffing is costly to any business; we’ve all known that for years. In my profession, we can buy our own copiers, pencils, pens, paper clips, paper, and all the rest, but firing one person is going to rid the books of a handful of money. Staffing is the single most costly thing when it comes to the “bottom line.” Who is expendable?

26   That’s the scary thing about America in 2012. Everybody seems expendable, and those remaining have to do the job of three others.

27   I’m not sure how to fix it. Yahoo just laid off millions of really good people. Why? So their bottom line will look nicer?

28   That sort of stuff is inhumane. I’m convinced that most people are hard workers, and that they are loyal and dedicated to their companies. These companies need to support that sort of loyalty and dedication. People build their lives around where they work. They sacrifice everything in exchange for a feeling of job security and benefits.

29   And somehow, people are dissing unions. Hmmmm. Makes no sense to me.

30   We are a thought-controlled country though. Corporate America controls our thinking. Education has been dummy-downed for years. Bad is good. We are told this over and over again.

31   If Yahoo had unions, none of this would have been happening to them. None of it.

32   The corporate controlled media are brainwashing people into being hideously anti-union while at the same time making huge profits while at the same time firing excellent workers, and then dumping on those who remain.

33   Sound familiar? It’s happening everywhere.

34   I will support unions until the day I die. People before us have fought hard to protect the working people. They fought, and many died to see to it that families could afford decent wages, decent benefits, and decent relationships with their companies.

35   All of that seems to be forgotten, and we are now suffering because of it.

36   And unions are being damned.

37   For years we have made it because people were proud of working professionally, whether we were doctors, lawyers, teachers, cops, plumbers, gardeners, etc.

38   Many unions trained people to take a professional approach to their jobs. Yes, there will be the guys who don’t work hard, but my observation over the years is that they are few and far between. The majority of people with jobs work hard and remain dedicated and loyal to their companies.

39   The companies need to be loyal to their workers as well. Firing people in order to balance the books isn’t the healthiest approach.

40   I’ll get off my rant now.

41   I may have pissed someone off out there. I don’t care. Just my thoughts after spending three days of non-stop work for a district that wants to keep cutting back and laying off amazing people.

42   Just putting my thumb on the pulse of modern times.

43   I don’t know the answer. I’m a pretty positive person, but for the life of me, I don’t know where we are headed.

44   I am worried, especially for the younger generation. I’m an old brown shoe who is figuring I won’t be around to see where all of this is headed, but I am worried for my children, and for their children.

45   The one thing I hold on to is the spirit of youth, and their positive approach to nearly everything. They are strong, resilient, and positive.

46   I have a lot of faith in their intelligence and in their ability to work hard, and to think.

47   And I’m not beat down, not yet. I still love going into work each day. I love my job, and I am willing to fight any way I can to keep younger teachers on the job, and to do anything I can to restore the important jobs that classified staff give to schools.

48   I just think that people need to see that they just might need to form unions, and to stand up against these greedy moguls who think nothing of firing or laying off  massive amounts of people so that they can profit.

49   My parents’ generation refused to tolerate it.

50   Maybe it’s time for the younger generation to gather a collective voice, and to shout, “No more!”

51   They should read a little history, and see why they have the things they do, and understand that there are powers up there willing to take it all way.

52    Enough venting. I’ll calm down tomorrow.

53   It’s just that I am coming off a three-day where I did nothing but work the entire time on school stuff.

54   That’s not right. I’m grateful to have a job, but it has gotten WAY out of control in terms of overworking everyone, and still expecting higher production.

55   Sounds like millions of other companies doing the same stuff to everybody.

56   Just sayin’.

57    All that being said, have a great day today. Spend time with family and friends, laugh a little, and let these guys know that our human spirit can still make changes and light up the world. Honor the spirit of Cesar Chavez. That’s what he fought for. That’s why we had this three-day. Never forget the spirit of a man who changed the world. A union man. Chew on that.

58    Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington