So, it has been a crazy week. I really could just leave it at that, but I guess I’ll go into a little more detail since that’s why I’m even doing this blog in the first place. :) I’ll try to do this update in chronological order so that I don’t confuse myself. Last weekend was another weekend of White Christmas. So far we have done 6 performances of White Christmas. During the school year, 6 performances would mean that we are done. I have to say that I am actually glad we have more performances to go because you work so hard to put on a show and then after only 6 performances you have to strike everything. We need to get some more use out of this set and these costumes! We are not working 70 hours a week for nothing. Anyways, our performances went pretty well. It was rough in places after not doing the show for a week, but it was still good. I think it was Saturday night that one of our scene shifts just went very wrong and we were halfway in the Vermont Inn and halfway in the barn, but I thought it was kind of funny. :) Our stage manager said someone had better be lying on the floor dead for a shift to go that wrong. :) But it wasn’t that bad. They made it work. After our performance on Sunday, we did our first changeover. Mulan 10 out of 12 was on Monday so we went from White Christmas to Mulan in less than an hour. After we did the changeover, we still had to stay and do shop hours till 10, but it was pretty relaxed so it wasn’t too bad. I gave one of my roommates the list of everything I needed to make Skyline Chili and she went to the store to get all the stuff on Sunday while I was in the shop, but I still haven’t had time to make it. I’m hoping to make it sometime this weekend. So Monday was our 10 out of 12. It’s kind of funny how we all actually look forward to 10 out of 12 because it’s one of our shortest work days. We were able to get through the show twice which was awesome. It’s only an hour and 15 minutes long though. There wasn’t too much excitement backstage for 10 out of 12 because there are two set pieces that come on and off, two things on the counterweight system, and two things on the variable speed. So I thought this was going to be a pretty chill show. Well, I was wrong. Our first dress rehearsal was Tuesday night. There are 11 people in this cast with a total of 92 quick costume changes. 92! Let me remind you that this is only a one hour and 15 minute show. In “Honor to us All,” there is one girl who has 3 costumes changes in that one song and two girls who each have 2 costume changes within the song. It is insane. We had to run that song at least 5 times before we made all the costume changes. The quote of the night happened when the director asked what the problem was with making the quick changes. The girl I help with her quick changes held up her sleeves and just said, “these aren’t American!” We all just burst out laughing which helped with the stress we were all starting to feel. Luckily we have 4 extra stagehands backstage for this show since the entire company is not casted because there is no way that me, the ASM, and the dresser could handle all these costume changes. We finally started making the changes in that song though. For those of you who were a part of “Christmas According to Scrooge” this past year...that costume change at the end was nothing compared to these costume changes. It’s full Chinese garb with wig changes and then they have props they are grabbing as well. The costume shop spent all day Wednesday rigging all the costumes with velcro and other little tricks to make the changes even quicker. At this point the actors actually have extra time before they go out on stage. From what I heard from someone who watched our rehearsal last night, it’s pretty amazing seeing someone go off stage and then come back on about 15 seconds later in a completely different costume. So, this show is all about the costume changes. And really the fastest costume changes are in the first 15 minutes of the show and then we get to breath a little bit and clean up the pile of costumes at our feet. In that same song, I also have to re-tape a mustache because Mulan’s father goes from being the father, to a merchant, and then back to her father. Every time the actor has to take off his mustache, I have to re-tape it so it will stick again. It’s not just a roll of tape though. It’s these little tabs that you peal off one side and stick it to the mustache and then peal off the other side to stick to the face. It’s a little difficult to do in the dark, but I’m getting better at it. The guy that plays Mulan’s father also plays the villain, Shan-Yu, so at the end of the show he has to change back into Mulan’s father. Well, we didn’t actually get all the way to end of the show Tuesday night because it took so long in the beginning. So when we had our dress rehearsal Wednesday night, we still weren’t sure how long we had to do this guy’s costume change. When we got to that part, he exited stage right and in the process of running around to stage left had gotten his belt off and when he got to us we just started pulling his Hun costume off and I pulled his mustache off his face and then helped him get his arms into the sleeves of his father shirt while another girl pulled off one hat and put another one on him and while he was snapping his shirt on, I was putting his other mustache on him and then I handed him his cane and we were done. We knew that we had the Emperor's song to do the change, so when we looked on stage and realized that the Emperor hadn’t even started singing yet, he just looked at us and said, “so I have more time than I thought.” :) That was my favorite quote of the night on Wednesday. But yeah...Mulan has some cool special effects in it. My parents are coming to see the shows at the end of the season though so I don’t want to spoil too much. :)
This week in the shop has been pretty busy. We finished building for Mulan a few days ago. We had pretty much finished painting for Mulan around that time too, but the scenic charge gets notes every night so there has still been painting to do. The shop has most of Secret Garden built now. Not a whole lot of Secret Garden is painted though. The costume shop was still doing stuff for Mulan today as well as props. The puppets were a big project for this show. I’ve been helping in every area this week as usual. Props, paint, carpentry, costumes, etc. I really don’t know why my title is Sound and Electrics Assistant. They should just call me what I am...Everybody’s Assistant. But anyways, days are kind of blurring together so I can’t really remember what I’ve been doing this week. The scene shop is turning into a maze though....literally. They are building the maze pieces for Secret Garden and they are all over the shop so it’s really difficult to walk through the shop. I don’t know how all these set pieces are going to fit backstage.
Tonight is opening night for Mulan. It should be good. The show is definitely a kid’s show, but I enjoy it. It’s pretty cheesy in some places, but I think the actors have done a great job in making it awesome! Everyone here is just really easy to work with! We all have a blast backstage even if a show isn’t going too well on stage. I am so glad I am here doing this.
Secret Garden tech week starts on Tuesday! Last show here we come!
No comments:
Post a Comment