Act I

The first complete run through of Act I was tonight (it may still be going, but I hope not!). I watched about 2/3 of it, before I headed home to sleep before we run Act II tomorrow!


It. Was. Awesome.
The principals had photography done before the rehearsal for the local papers, so we saw them in costume, and they are wonderful. Emma's dress for Act I is this gorgeous pink outfit. If I were her, I would beg so hard to keep it! :)

After that we began rehearsal. Most of us hung out, watching David sing "I need to know" before we hustled back stage to get ready for "Facade." The scaffolding is finally done. It is high. There are few guardrails. And there are steps. I will be in a skirt. And heels.

Yikes.

So I tried my best to clamber up the steps as quickly as possible. The platform can hold all four of us, but not the way we were standing, so we had to adjust that. And I am at the front of the platform. Suddenly, being like 7 feet up really means something. Good thing I'm not super afraid of heights. Before we started I shouted down to Dan (General Glossop) that he better be prepared to catch me. :)

"Facade" went well. Being on the platform took a bit of adjustment but it is awful cool to see everyone beneath you. After "facade" we could watch some of "Board of Governors" before scrambling back on stage to prep for "Facade (reprise 1)", which has the chorus standing on the raised part of the stage behind a scrim. As soon as we're done, we file off, but we Red Rat girls don't get too long because "Bring on the Men" is right after the party scene.

Thankfully we got to see Emma (Brooke) and Jekyll do "Take Me As I Am." I had goosebumps as I watched them. It was perfect. Sadly we didn't get to the see the whole thing because we had to go prep.

Now for the Red Rat scene I am ALSO on the scaffold. In the air. Dancing this time. Yikes and more yikes. Thank God for the poles up there! This was where I ran into my only problem of the night.

We are doing a lot of scurrying up and down these stairs, and dancing, and then the dance break, and then singing while we're dancing, etc. Now, I may have new lungs but these puppies aren't 100%, and probably won't be, ever, since we had the diaphragm-knicking issue during surgery. So this was a bit...challenging. I may have to talk to Robin and see if I can rearrange myself so I don't feel like dying at the end of the number. Really, I could not sing and dance at the same time. It was not happening, at least not tonight and not at the tempo we're doing it. It's a fast number, and I knew singing to it would be hard, but the stairs make it extra tricky. So we'll see what can be arranged.

After that number, the chorus is done for the first Act (well, except for a few street kids at the end of Act I, who witness Hyde's murder of the Bishop). I stayed to watch "The Girls of the Night" and David singing "This Is the Moment/Transformation/Alive!"

It. Was. Awesome. Really. And this was only with him and the piano. I cannot imagine how great it will be when we have a full orchestra in the pit (the orchestra was in the choir room rehearsing while we did our thing).

It is great to have the sets, props and costumes in play. David was the only one who rehearsed totally in costume, since he has to change and do stuff like that during the Act. Some of the guys looked distinctly uncomfortable in their frock coats!

So hopefully I can get the dance/singing thing resolved. I'm sure once I explain it to Robin it will be OK. At least I hope so. I mean, I can't really do anything about it, right? This set of lungs is better than the old ones!