first weekend

Just got back from my first weekend. I don't have access to a computer down there (that I know if). I sort of wish I did so that I can blog more as all the stuff is happening, rather than just doing a recap when I come home. All I have is my iPhone while I'm down there. I can type on it, but I don't know if I have the patience to type up a blog entry on it.

But this is better than nothing.

This past weekend was all SMOKE rehearsals. It started at the theater on Friday at 6:00. I left my parents-in-law's house at 4:00, and made it there on time by the skin of my teeth. 5:55. Friday traffic sucks. (I covered that distance in less than an hour tonight coming home.) Our director for SMOKE is also our music director. He's apparently done a million productions of SMOKE and has worked on all 3 shows in the Sanders family trilogy (the other two are called SANDERS FAMILY CHRISTMAS and MOUNT PLEASANT HOMECOMING). He seems really cool. Very laid back, and it's a unique situation to have the director also be the MD. That's only happened one other time in my experience. He friended me on Facebook. Usually I'm the one to seek people out and friend them, but he sent me a request out of the blue last night.

Friday night we had a 4 hour music rehearsal. It had been a few months since I'd had an intense sit-down music rehearsal like this. My voice hadn't been getting much exercise. I sounded like Rod Stewart by the end of the night, which made me (and always makes me) self-conscious as hell. I tried to talk as little as possible, and I hope I didn't come across as rude to the people who came up to me to converse. Amanda, who plays Denise, my twin sister, offered to let me ride with her to the house we were staying at to save a little gas. We're staying in the basement floor of the theater's Artistic Director's house. When we got there, she showed me my room, the kitchen area, the TV area with TiVo, etc. And yes, we're allowed to program what we want. The house was purchased with actor housing in mind. Shortly afterward, Amanda, me, and Scott (the director/MD) went out for a quick bite to eat at Chili's. [Just to help you follow along, the 3 of us are the only ones using the actor housing for this project. I guess everybody else lives in town. Scott's room is somewhere in one of the upstairs floors.] We were out a little late for having to be up for a 9AM rehearsal, but not too bad. I think I was in bed by 1:00.

Woke up at 7:30 Saturday morning. Took my shower and did all the other hygiene things. Since I'm sharing the bathroom with a girl I just met, I tried to be as considerate as possible. Used my own towel, didn't apply my cologne in there, etc. We rehearsed from 9 to 5 ish. Once again, nothing but music. My voice had a tiny bit more stamina, but that evening, Emily (my wife) said on the phone "wow, you're voice is shot." I have a water bottle that I refill a lot during these rehearsals. The theater was hosting a weekly church service, so we decided (and got permission) to have all 8 hours of Sunday's rehearsal at the "actor housing" house, so I followed Amanda there in my car with all my instruments. At Chili's, Scott, Amanda and me were talking about going out for drinks on Saturday night since we didn't have to be up so early for Sunday's rehearsal. I ended up hoping that didn't happen because I was tired, fried, and hoarse. It didn't. I ended up having a restful and antisocial evening. Amanda went to her room to look over lyrics, vocal parts, and instrumentation. I did some of that in my room too, then went out to Papa John's. Got myself a 10 inch pizza. I was irritated that they didn't have anything smaller, but it turned out to be perfect. It was dinner and then lunch the next day. I got back and ate my pizza while looking over lyrics to my solos and watching Huckabee. Wow. His insecurity and defensiveness is so transparent. He's like I would be if I was a political public figure like him. I thought it would have gotten better now that he has his own show. I took the time to program the TiVo to record The Simpsons and Family Guy, played a couple Dave Matthews and BNL songs on the guitar to wind down, read a couple chapters of Breaking Dawn, then was asleep by 12:30. I remember feeling very alone and out of my comfort zone. Definitely in a "what did I sign myself up for" mood.

Slept until 11 ish. Apparently Amanda did too. The day left me in a much more upbeat mood, and my voice, while not at the stamina it needs to be during the run of the show, took a leap in the direction of improvement. We finished going through the show musically, and have now mapped out who's playing what in every song. Thankfully, I get to take my ukulele home. Scott has me playing 6 instruments throughout the show. Wish it was more. Always the overacheiver in that department. We ended the rehearsal with a read-through of the show, but I have to tell you about what we did during the lunch break. People made things and brought them, and we ate at the house. The theater's AD and his wife came down and joined us, as well as a couple spouses of cast members. Amy - who plays June, the non-singing Sanders sister ("I don't sing. I sign.") - made this mouthwateringly delicious Beef Vegetable soup and the best cornbread I've ever had in my life. It was so moist, you didn't need butter. Scott kept the football game on mute for the 2nd half of rehearsal. He did turn it off when it got down to the wire in the 4th quarter and there was no more hope for his beloved San Diego. I was on the road a good 15 minutes before rehearsal was scheduled to end. Scott isn't one of those directors who gives busywork to fill up the rehearsal time. He seems to let us go when we've completed what we're schedule to do. On the way home, Emily commented that my voice sounds much better.

And now I'm home, writing this. The next time I go back is on Wednesday for MVP rehearsal. Got my script for that tonight. I've got a good bit of memorizing to do. One of the characters I play is the manager of a team Jackie Robinson played on. I get to give a pep talk to the team, like Al Pacino did in Any Given Sunday. It's cool. Got a piece of good news from Mark, who's directing MVP (and whose house I'm staying in). Rehearsal is cancelled on Monday the 19th, since it's a holiday. It was in the midst of a stretch of 26 days where I work with no day off, but now I only have a stretch of 20 consecutive working days during this project. And I get to be home for one more day than I'd planned.

That's it until the next round. Congratulations to Bruce Springsteen on his Golden Globe win tonight. The best man won.

Why didn't I TiVo that?