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So You Want to Produce
a Musical (5): The Question of Rehearsals (Music)
By FRANK BEHRENS
ART TIMES Nov, 2004
So
now rehearsals are ready to start. But not until you have had a long planning session
with your crew and cast. For starters, you absolutely must know which sessions
this player or that cannot attend. If you have to take their bank accounts into
custody, they must swear a blood oath that they will show up at all other rehearsals—barring,
of course, emergencies.
Also be
very sure that (say) a 7 PM call means WE START AT 7 PM! How often do people
show up only to find that the Director is not quite ready for them? Little by
little, they start to arrive later and later to avoid the boredom of sitting
around doing nothing. I would suggest that the crew arrive 30 minutes earlier
to sort things out with the Director so that all is ready on time.
Should the dancers also be part of the chorus, it is
only common sense that their rehearsals cannot be scheduled with those for the
singing ensemble. If you have two rehearsal spaces, each with a piano or at
least pre-recorded music, that is a Very Good Thing. But most groups do not
have this luxury. In any case, as was mentioned earlier in this series, all
the musical numbers should be down pat before blocking the dialogue scenes even
begins.
I have found it very profitable to meet with the speaking
characters as early as possible after they are cast and go over the dialogue
without any blocking. This is where we begin to establish each character, set
up relationships between the characters, and stress the need for good enunciation
and projection. Many of them might be in other shows and wish to save their
voices during rehearsals. What happens all too often is that they forget to
project during the actual performances. But we humans are only human, and compromises
must be made.
In a good musical, the songs should serve some dramatic
purpose, even if that purpose is only to show an insight into the character.
For example, Liza Doolittle feels very good about herself before she sings “I
Could Have Danced All Night.” She does not change during the song; she
merely uses it to express her emotions. It was “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?”
that established her character earlier in the show. But a good director will
have the song burst out of her at that moment as an INEVITABLE reaction to what
she is feeling. Having her walk downstage, face the audience, and begin to sing
because that is where the song goes does nothing for the play, her character,
or the audience.
During the blocking rehearsals, then, careful attention
should be paid to whom each song is sung. Does Liza sing “I Could Have
Danced All Night” to herself, to the servants around her? I have always
truly detested having such songs delivered to the audience. I think musicals
should preserve the “fourth wall” as much as do non-musical plays.
(Exceptions are, of course, numbers like “Comedy Tonight” which
are meant to address the audience.)
There should also be a different approach to songs that
are supposed to be songs (such as the show-within-a-show numbers in “Kiss
Me Kate,” “Show Boat” and “Pal Joey”) and songs
that are supposed to be dialogue (“If I Loved You,” “Some
Enchanted Evening” and “I Could Write a Book”). In the latter
category, the delivery should be quite different when the song is being sung
to another character or as a soliloquy. In the case of a soliloquy, should it
be delivered to the audience or to oneself? (A singer could be facing the audience
but not addressing it to them directly, you know.)
Many directors for local groups have had little professional
training, if any at all, in the art; but a good deal of attention should be
paid to fine tuning characterization. This is probably the most neglected aspect
of amateur productions. “After all, it’s only a musical! After all,
it’s only community theatre!” Does this mean the acting has to be
rotten? Perhaps, if the Director is not overly territorial, someone can take
the actors aside and go over line-readings for pacing, volume, enunciation,
believable reactions, and so on.
And one thing that I have experienced in local theatricals.
After the show and the “How wonderful you were” compliments, the
entire cast should get together and go over what was poor about the production
and how the next show could be so much better. (I live in a dreamworld, it seems.)
In our next article, I would like to pay closer attention to other matters
about how to achieve optimum dramatic effect in something that is “only
a musical.”
