#thegrunch

[onlinemontgomery-blog]

#Groucho #thegrunch #soakinuprays #instakitty #catsofinstagram (at Montgomery, Alabama) https://www.instagram.com/p/CH5p73jADTr/?igshid=jzryqf9ubmgw

[theatrecoop]

The Grunch Rehearsals #5 & 6

I should probably have named this post ‘the good and the ugly’. Monday’s rehearsal of the 6th scene and the song Jazz Hands was lots of fun and productive. It is a long scene with lots of dialogue, but the blocking went well. They are starting to understand the spacing and balance I am looking for. Jazz Hands is a great song that they love singing, although it is written a little high for some of them. I am playing with the melody to lower a few notes without changing the key. That is actually kind of fun. The idea of the song is that no matter how bad things get if you have jazz hands you will be fine. So I have the challenge of choreographing hand dancing. All but 1 actor on stage will have bedazzled white gloves they will slip on while the audience is distracted. It will look great when it is done, but right now it was a bunch of waving. Also had 2 fathers commit to making theater boxes for us. So within a week or so I should have six 16” cubes and six 18” cubes to use for staging. I am very excited about this and very appreciative of the help. Still looking for parents to help decorate the sets. All in all it was our most productive day.

Now the ugly —- Thursday’s rehearsal of scene 6 and the song for our Jr Stars in the show had to be cancelled. Only 2 of the 5 actors showed up. One of them told me she thought she had a doc appointment, but never confirmed. One of the 4 older actors was also out. That means that half of the called actors were no shows. Needless to say, I was pretty mad. I held it in so as not to vent to the kids who did right. But I need to address this very soon. I will try to get everyone called to the theater tomorrow morning for a come to terms talk. Not sure if my principal will let me though. On top of all that, my wife called while I was trying to arrange rides home for the 4 who showed up. Her transmission has virtually stopped functioning. She managed to get off the interstate, but it took us until late tonight to get the car home. After 200,000 miles it’s hard to be too upset, but the timing sucks. Hopefully next week will be better … Goodnight.