When It All Goes Just a Little Bit Wrong
In my over thirty years of doing theatre, I have almost never been a part of a show that wasn’t able to go up once there was an audience to perform for. There are only two shows in my memory that had to be stopped during a preview and reset to try again. There is always an announcement prior to the show starting when it is in previews (Meaning the couple of shows before the official opening. It gives the cast the opportunity to try out the show and work out the last few kinks before it’s the real deal.) that, should train wreck occur, for any reason the right is reserved to stop and reset the show to make sure the problem is worked out. However, for most of us actors once there are people in the seats, there is no way we want to stop. Having a true problem during a preview is definitely an actor’s nightmare. It is a very rare occurance but it has happened to me twice.
The first show in which this snafu occurred was a production of “La Cage Aux Folles” back in Santa Rosa. To be fair, there were problems in the cast from the beginning, I even had an altercation (verbal, not physical by any means) with one of the other actors in the cast. We were approaching the end of the rehearsal process, that point when you begin to fear that the show will never come together. Usually, it does but, in this case, things were not looking favorable. We were about to go into tech week when, all of a sudden everything fell apart. It was the rehearsal when the artistic director came to watch the run through and give any criticism or made any changes to the productions. Things that they felt were not working or clunky. As the Artistic Director, it was their responsibility to make sure that every show produced by the theatre was up to the standards set. Apparently, this production was not. Post viewing of the show, the director, artistic director, music director, and every other director that a show has were bustled into the office and the meeting began.
It was by no means a long meeting. And in fewer minutes than anyone had expected, it exploded into chaos. Of course, the cast did not know what was said but we certainly knew that it was not good. The group of people in charge flooded out and the tension could have been cut with a knife. Instead of gathering with us in the theatre, more than half of the group stormed out of the building, never to return. We were speechless and hungry for explanation. Which came soon after. Because of the ill-fated meeting, we had not only lost our director but our choreographer, music director and mist of our musicians. We had been visited by the kiss of death. It also didn’t help that the set construction crew was wildly behind on building the world of the show. We were certainly in dire straits. And terrified. But we were in good hands.
Before long, one of our cast members stepped up to finished choreographing and fantastic new music director was brought in. Things were looking up. We had been given a second chance at success. We were going to make it. But things were still not quite there. We still did not have a set. But it was time for previews and there was no other option. The announcement came but we were going to make it through. We believed in ourselves. But that was not enough. As we neared the end of the show everything collapsed into chaos. The scene change ended up in collision. Songs were skipped and many minutes were shaved off of the show. As we neared the finale, lights were brought up and everything came to a screeching halt. Along with the audience we were informed that we would be going back and trying the4 last thirty minutes of the show again. I can only guess that the audience were as disappointed as we were to have to do it all over again. We were embarrassed and defeated but we pulled ourselves up by the boot strings and tried it all over again. This time we made it through. And we kept making it through. Eventually, we grew to enjoy the show, halfway through the run.
The second show that ended its preview in a trainwreck was “It’s a Wonderful Life”. This production was a brand new, original show that was still in development when we bang to create it. This show had been written by pair of local artists for children to perform. When it was added to the Christmas slot of the season at the theatre it was going to be updated for adults with new songs, more complex music, and other “enhancements”. We swiftly flew through rehearsal and before long we were there, the point of no return. It was the point when we needed to be ready and on our feet. And the disaster struck. The creator of the show, music director, and composer of all of the music was torn away from us. Her husband had critically injured himself in a fall from a ladder and she removed herself from the process. The songs remained unfinished, and updates never occurred. We were now stuck with a half-finished show and had to make it something worth seeing. We tried our darndest.
Preview rolled around faster than we had expected and wanted. Damage control mode still active, we treated our audience with the best of what we had. But in all of our attempts to fix the material, we did not have the time to make sure all of the technical elements worked too. A massive set change including a bed went completely awry in timing and spacing and the dreaded halt was called. In this case, the audience clapped and cheered as the set pieces were moved back into place and the musicians turned their pages back. They loved seeing the behind the scenes of the show and in this case, the flub allowe3d us all to come together and bring the opening night audiences a show that we were at least enjoying and wanted them to see. Stopping in the middle of the show, in this case, was a boon to our process and helped us come together.
Assassins is at the point right now where everything seems like a mess. The show is almost completely blocked but, not quite. We still have our scripts in our hands. There are harmony parts that I don’t feel totally comfortable with. We have never done a full run through of the show or even worked the transitions between the scenes. As I write all of these things, I can feel that familiar terror rising up in the pit of my stomach. I have experienced the disappointment and fear of having to stop a show in front of an audience of people. I hated it. But even though we are in “that spot” where everything seems overwhelming and disjointed, there is a magic to this process. When it all comes together, knitting into a piece of art that tells a story, and makes those audiences think and cry and cheer, the fact that ten days before it was a mess makes it so much more exciting and triumphant. We will get there, and it will be brilliant. Just need to ride the hump of disaster for a while.