A little late but here is the class feedback on the Grey Gardens mini!

12/8/2011. Edited somewhat to protect the actors’ privacy.

BELLO: it was a nice cut, starting off with strong example of the dysfunctional relationship, formed a nice arc for the 20-minute cutting

BETO: didn’t understand Gould’s role in the show really

REBECCA: liked the use of a flipform as the staircase

DANIEL: distracting to have Edie passing through during “Will You?”

BETO: sound of Edie’s heels somewhat distracting during “Will You?”

JENNIE: liked the tone of the show- setting was good, established where we were at from the beginning, felt like the actors understood the situation, none of them seemed like they were out of place

JAMIE: spot-on timing

MARY: difficult for actors to establish mother-daughter connection given that the actors are fairly close in age, it wasn’t really shown

ST: agrees with Bello, very very smart cut, liked that it started right when things were about to explode, really gets the gist of the story, knows what’s going on. the detail is somewhat lacking though, it’s all about the relationship between mother and daughter, it’s just so big and it wasn’t explored enough to really tell the story, no real feeling of history between the two. it would have been beneficial to dedicate a rehearsal or two to just analyzing and establishing it. the mother-daughter relationship is never black or white, there could be moments of attempted affection, they could be much more going on than just the fighting, the physical relationship in the fight didn’t get as dynamic as it could have, it got better but still room for improvement, no sense of Edie getting the upper hand and finding her voice. there were moments where she put her foot down and said no but it wasn’t enough of a display of power struggle and shift of who has control. Really liked Joe, thought he played the role really well, didn’t do much but it had a great effect. Edith is totally capable of playing the part, she’s totally got a sense of the scale and size of the role

JOAN: very clear that the “Oh, we’ll have a piano for sing-alongs like yours” is the turning point, the motivation for Edith to tell the Body Beautiful Beale story

JAMIE: Joe’s unease about the Body Beautiful Beale story is clear, that at that time it was frowned upon for girls to be popular in a sexual sense

ST: “Will You?” worked really well, the transition into it from the mother-daughter fight, the shift from it being a pretty little performance for the party guests to it actually expressing her pained emotions

BETO: now understands that Edith was trying to drive away Joe, not drive away Edie, so she’s hurt that Edie took off. she didn’t intend for that to happen.

ANNA: the first act sets up the second act, explains how the two women got to the situation of being old cat ladies

ST: nice surprise of getting backstory to the well-known documentary. so much detail in the doc, so much history, that they have to cram it all into the second act. almost wishes that they had made the first act more of an extended prologue to set everything up

lalala.

Tech was tonight and it went really well! While I reviewed the lighting cues with the designer, the actors reviewed all three songs with the accompanist, which was an excellent use of their time given that Edie and Gould hadn’t gotten the opportunity to work with him yet. Edie didn’t come out during “Will You?” and I realized I had forgotten to set the duffel bag at stage left for her to bring it out… and I forgot Joe’s white dinner jacket in the basement. But everything else looked great! I liked it. And what’s more, ST liked it, which is much more important. So yay!

Damn, damn, damn, damn!

Tonight was most likely the last rehearsal until Monday’s tech. ST sat in on the first half hour anyway to watch Edie and Edith run “Mother Darling” a couple times. ST had to go off to watch someone else’s rehearsal, or go to the EmStage show, or I dunno what, so the actors and I moved to another location on campus to review the ‘Body Beautiful Beale’ and ‘Edie has had enough’ dialogues as well as the lines sprinkled throughout “Daddy’s Girl”. It wasn’t horrible but they had a few tricky spots that weren’t there before. The girls are going to meet with Joe on Saturday to work through “Mother Darling”. I feel bad that Gould’s absence from rehearsal is causing so many problems.

I really don’t know what else to say. Um, how about what’s a good approximation of a 1940s piece of luggage? Will my yellow Vera Bradley duffel bag work? Should I have Edie carry my canvas tote bag with the “E” on the side?

It’s amazing, it’s amazing, all that you can do.

I had left Joe’s clothes in my car, d’oh! I remembered when I was maybe 10 minutes from campus, too late to turn back. I’ll try to flag him down tomorrow to have him try them on.

The accompanist was extremely patient despite the fact that we were short an Edie! So we skipped “Daddy’s Girl” and just ran the other two songs a few times apiece. Most of the problem spots have been fixed — we just needed him to tighten up the timing and help Edith with specific notes. She maintains that she needs a lot more practice still… I thought she sounded fine…

A little note that Edith, accompanist, and I agree on is how she should approach “Will You?”. The song starts out all performance-like because it is a presentation, an entertainment for the party guests. It has a turning point, though, which is Edith’s speech in the middle during which Edie is inside saying a silent goodbye to the house and leaving. After this, the lyric becomes emotional and heartfelt; Edith is expressing her own pain. When she asks “Will you?” at the end, she is actually genuinely asking for an answer — from Edie, from Gould, from Phelan (well, maybe not Phelan because we all know what happened there even though it’s been cut from the selection) — from anyone who’s ever walked out and left her behind. The actor joshed that she should say those last two words “like a person” but she’s totally right — she has to soften her tone from how they were said in the first part.

Nothing like a D#5 (or an F#5, for that matter) to cement myself as an alto… the things you learn about yourself when having to fill in for one of the actors! BUT I STILL HIT THE NOTES. AND I DIDN’T SOUND HORRIBLE NEITHER. So there.

I feel a surge of deep satisfaction.

So, the previous post? I lied. I ended up holding rehearsal tonight after all because, dammit, Ginny was right again. It was just Joe and Edith because Edie is at crew for the EmStage show and Gould is in class. So we went over the “Body Beautiful Beale” story scene four or five times. They feel much better about it now and so do I. They figured out the changes to the blocking themselves and most of the emotion necessary for the dialogue. I gave Edith an idea for her motivation for telling the story in the first place: Joe’s line “We’ll have a piano, for sing-alongs like yours” could be the catalyst. She doesn’t like that Joe is encroaching on the special tradition she has with Edie, and furthermore that he refers to it, which is bonding and holy to Edith, as a mere “sing-along”. It harkens back to the song “The Five-Fifteen (Reprise)”: “My darling daughter, Gould and me, performing songs for company / Our little family, safe, serene”. Of course, there are many reasons for Edith to feel threatened by Joe, one of which she mentions before launching into the horrifying story: her creative outlet and self-expression are stifled by her husband’s need to exercise control over her and maintain propriety (“You will not — you will not sing the role of a common prostitute, Japanese or otherwise!”). Despite Edith’s insistence that she feels otherwise (“For you know how Gould and I adore you / And rehearsed for weeks on your behalf”, “I want you both to be supremely happy. That’s all”), she can’t handle the possibility that Edie’s married life will be better than her own, and that Edie could enjoy life anywhere else besides Grey Gardens. It’s far too overwhelming for her.

Anyway, I am pleased with the progress Joe and Edith made tonight with the dialogue. They’ll be in great shape for working with the accompanist next Monday.

Consistent is the life I lead.

Though I think you’re perfectly swell…

I was hoping to go into town tonight to book a rehearsal space (studio) for Monday night. I know Gould has class on Monday nights, but it also turns out that Edie can’t attend either because she has tech for the EmStage show. Her involvement with tech is part of a class and if she misses even one night of it she will fail the class. Ginny says that I should run rehearsal anyway and just stand in for the two absent roles, because I have to keep it going. This would be fine but then I wouldn’t be able to see how it looks and take note of any errors. All I’d be able to do if I didn’t stand in for Gould and Edie is have Joe and Edith run their dialogue about “Body Beautiful Beale”, which is pointless because they have it memorized and it doesn’t need any work. Though it might piss ST off, I think it’d be better to just skip a week. I don’t want anyone to fall behind anyone else.

I told Gould what his blocking cues are (only two: stand up, sit down). And he has his few singing bits memorized. Joe has only a few bits in “Mother Darling” and he has his dialogue memorized as well. And, of course, Edith is a comfort and a joy because she’s so on top of things it’s ridiculous. Everyone is, actually. They’re being so understanding and patient and cooperative, given the fact that their schedules are horrifying. They’re not coming to me all “well you knew I had these conflicts, so you’re a dumb fuck for casting me”. No. They make the best of a tricky situation.

Can do, can do.

WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL REHEARSAL.

I mean, seriously, guys. We got the blocking all figured out. SING HOSANNA HALLELUJAH. It was such a joy, a huuuuge sigh of relief for me. I must give credit to Edith and Joe, though, without whom I wouldn’t have realized that it’s quite awkward to have actors stand in one place with nothing to do. And apart from “Mother Darling”, which is a friggin’ mess to begin with, everything sounds super-great. I told Edie and Edith so, but I have to say it again: I really appreciate all the hard work they’ve put into the project on their own time, that is, working on the songs with their voice instructors and memorizing the SHIT out of their lines. It may be a bloody nuisance for them to juggle it with crew for ST’s EmStage show as well as classwork, but it will definitely pay off on tech and performance nights.

AND OH MY GOD YOU GUYS, Edith and Edie nailed the counterpoint paragraphs in “Mother Darling” and Edith nailed “Will You?”. CHILLS. I hope things stay this awesome!

A special thank-you to Edie for dragging her meds’ed-up self out of bed. Honey, you sound better when you’re sick and loopy as f*ck than I do on my best days. That right there is dedication. In my defense, I had given her a bye for tonight but she declined!

And your happy thought for the night:

It’d be an awesome show to do in drag.

So neither white jacket fits Joe, and neither navy blazer fits Gould. And the fuchsia dress I was considering for Edith? Absolutely ridiculous. No f*cking way. So back to the costume shop they go! Gould told me he’s pretty sure he has a navy blazer here with him, so that’s an option. And the peach satin nightgown and satin floral robe work really well for Edith as her ‘casual’ outfit. I couldn’t find anything in there for Edie’s ‘casual’ the first time, but it’s worth another look. As far as the ladies’ party clothes, I think I’ll just have them wear their own dresses. The school stock of costumes, of what’s available for class use (not reserved for the bigshot productions), is rather pathetic and lacking.

The cast is so pleasant to work with. Edith helped me out a great deal by picking through some of the more difficult measures on the piano. Edie again had a lot of great suggestions and I even did up an email to class MD on her behalf. Joe was all smiles and adorable. Gould was quiet and cooperative. The songs went fairly well; next week I want to run dialogue and songs because it’s been crunch time since this project started.

But seriously. Joe in a slinky cocktail dress and feather boa crooning about how he is virginal as a saint and doesn’t give kisses for compliments? That’s Tony material right there. I’d go see it.

All your dreams are on their way.

Directing.
Oh lord, directing.

How do people do this without going absolutely batsh!t crazy?

Well, I’m sure some of them do go off the deep end from time to time. Maybe it helps with the creative process. I don’t know.

But really, I was all thumbs tonight. We introduced ourselves, shot the breeze a bit, and the actors read through the script as I played the songs throughout. Why do I feel the need to apologize for the song lyrics from the off-Broadway album not matching the ones from the Broadway book? So the writers changed things. Who cares? These kids are smart. They’ll adapt to a different word or phrase here and there. The cast is a great group of people — Joe is absolutely adorable, Edie poised and curious (as in asking a lot of good questions, not the Lewis Carroll usage of “curious”), Gould cooperative and laidback. As for Edith… well, she’s gonna be a force with which to reckon. But in a good way. I really think I can learn a lot from her. She has already given me a few brilliant ideas to mull over for next week’s rehearsal and for modifying the script.

TO DO:
Email piano-only tracks to cast
Email “Daddy’s Girl” interjections to Joe
Ask ST about using costumes from school stock (Tuesday in class)

And your happy thought for the night:

A whole world before me…

Tonight’s the first rehearsal of my cutting for “Grey Gardens”. The cast has been long since determined, my costume-design collaboration with E is complete, and the piano tracks have been made. I’m really excited to start working with these students — they will get along quite well with each other and I hope they’ll take well to me too. I’m a little nervous about the rehearsal process itself, though. In rehearsals for my project last fall (Mo’s class), I pretty much just let the actors do what they wanted and all-too-often deferred to what they thought the characters’ emotions and motives are. I know that it’s important that the actors understand the characters and come up with their own ideas, but not to the point of my having barely any involvement or input. It was all my own fault, of course. I was so insecure about being a first-time director that I didn’t even know what I was supposed to do. Now that I’m a little more confident, I can give much more information and “hints” about the text to help the actors along. I’ve already taken the liberty of writing emotion adjectives after nearly every line of dialogue to coach the actors on how their characters should be behaving at each point in time. The notes aren’t set in stone, though. I may even cross out half of them tonight and replace them with what each actor thinks. I want this to be a joint effort but I can’t let my role as director get watered down. It is my project, after all!

 

Also, happy birthday to my little goose. As I said on FB, this is truly the end of an era. A door has been closed. I feel so bloody old.