Omigod (Jan.28)

i am going to start this post by talking about Legally Blonde, a great new musical starting its pre-Broadway run here in San Francisco. the company managers/producers invited about 50 or so of us to their final preview performance tonight.

i want to say that if you are looking for a fun show. a campy (i truly mean that in the most flattering way), big and bright show, then you should get your ticket for their Broadway run. Laura Bell Bundy will be catapulted to stardom for this, Christian Borle is completely lovable as Emmett, and Orfeh freaking steals her scenes as Paulette. add an amazing ensemble and some of the best dance numbers i have seen since Hairspray (again, the magic of Jerry Mitchell) and you have the next big freaking hit on Broadway this new season.

criticisms: i wanted a stronger finale, and if i heard "omigod" one more time, i might have hit someone.

lastly, there is a part where Paulette and Elle go to Paulette's old boyfriend to get her dog back and when they pound on his trailer door, he is supposed to say something like, "what the hell do you want"...but instead, we were lucky enough to hear a shout out to us with a "what the Four Seasons is going on here." Nice.

speaking of the Four Seasons...i almost was one the other day.

Erich Bergen walks into the theatre Tuesday night...i'm sorry, did i say "walk", i meant "crawled"...with a fever of 101 degrees and completely pale. the only reason he was going on was because he had 5 people in the audience. the first words to me were, "go over your lines, i don't know if i'm going to make it tomorrow matinee." suffice to say, i spent that evening going over lines with Sarah (she has seen it so many times now that she almost didn't need to look at the script to give me my cues) and working harmonies until about 1am. The next morning i woke up early to have a hearty breakfast, go over my lines again, and wait by the phone for the call. the call came at about 12pm when i heard from my stage manager called to tell me Erich was going on.

so truly...i am so happy that my friend Erich was feeling better...and yet at the same time, to quote one of the lines from our show, "so close, so close and yet so far."

so as always, what happens next week...?

shows all week, every week, as always. thursday and friday back to understudy rehearsals...what's the change this week though? well, with the put-in this friday, that means that creative staff is back in the house. Holly-Anne (assistant director), Ron Melrose (music director), Richard Hester (production stage manager), and who else knows who. all i know is i have a ton to work on to get ready for the Tommy DeVito track and i want this put-in to run as smoothly as possible. we also have a very interesting Four Seasons line up with me as Tommy, Erik Bates (our fearless dance captain) as Nick Massi, Miles Aubry as Bob and Taylor Sternberg as Frankie. a big switch up from the last put-in for sure, but we are all working our asses off.

oh yeah, and working our asses off in other ways as well. i forgot to blog that i am now on my 5th week back at the gym (beach wedding people, come on). our prop master, Junior, is acting as my trainer (he was a marine) and i have never been in so much pain in my life. but it's a good pain...i think it's a good pain...he's telling me it's a good pain. ouch. but i know one thing, i am losing weight and the wardrobe people told me to stop because they have to take my pants in again.

anyway - not much else to report as this point. right now, Sarah and I are watching that new Grease reality show and for real, it completely sucks. why in the hell are the doing this stunt-casting bullshit? i am sitting here watching the opening number and i just can't figure out why i am watching it. the show's producers are so sure of the success of this show, that they have already started selling tickets to the show and they don't have their leads pcked out OR where the show is going to play...ugh.

okay - that's enough random thoughts for now. have a great week everyone, and i'll be blogging later.

50th Performance (Jan.21)

Well folks...today was our 50th performance. 50 performances since opening night that is, not including our preview performances.

So how was the 50th performance? Honestly, very much like our 49th...and I'm guessing pretty much like our 51st will be. Actually though, it was a Sunday matinee...which means the entire cast had been through 7 other shows this week, as well as some understudy rehearsals...so i guess today felt more like our 500th show.

All kidding aside, yes it was a rough show due to exhaustion on many of our parts...but at the end of the show, I was still able to look into the audience - into those people in front whose faces i could see smiling - and see the experience they had for the past 2 1/2 hours. And after the show, to see the bunch of people waiting for us for autographs, to say hello, to just tell us how much they loved the show...it was a great show.

Speaking of autographs...

So my mom came to the show yesterday matinee driving in over four hours from the San Luis Obispo area, and with her, came her entourage of over 30 people from her work. It was great seeing her again and to see her friend's faces after the show and getting to meet all of them. Even her boss, Pete, showed up with his wife (actually the second time he has seen me on stage - he came to a Forbidden Broadway a few years back), and I can't tell you how nice it was not only seeing all these great people coming to see the show...but also to show their support to my mom and show her that they too were proud of me. so a HUGE thank you to those of you at Morro Bay High School!

oh...!!!!!

another great autograph story: so Saturday matinee, my good friend Miles (Aubrey) gets approaches by a gentleman and is told that "he loved the show". He continues to say "please, if you don't mind, sign my playbill to my wife and write a little note to her and date it."

so he writes a few lines down, pauses, and says, "you know sir, i didn't play Frankie Valli." he looks at him and says, "oh, really, who did you play." "Well", he replies, "Norm Waxman, and also the guy that gets shot in the car, and Charlie - the new guitar player for the Seasons." the guy then looks at Miles, smiles, and takes the pen and playbill back without a word and before Miles can finish what he was writing.

moral of the story: there are about 14 guys in the cast. the majority of us are anywhere between 5'6" to 5'10", all have brown hair, and all look alike. our headshots are in the program next to the roles we played. nuff' said.

so this next week rolls like many of the others. tomorrow is our day off so it's time to do some wedding errands with Sarah, go to the gym, and all in all, just relax a little. Tuesday starts the next week in shows, the next week in understudy rehearsals (back to the Tommy DeVito track), and the next 8 shows in what should be our never ending line of shows.

life is good.

Getting Shot Out of a Cannon (Jan.14)

okay - we don't need a formal intro here. let's just catch you up on the past week:

thursday we started rehearsals for our new set of understudy roles. so i dropped everything i have learned and worked on as Bob and shifted gears entirely to get started on Tommy DeVito.

let me start by saying our book writers, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, have a lot to say for Tommy. And even when his "season" is over, Tommy is easily the biggest focus of the group. suffice to say, i was nowhere near where i needed to be line-wise. anyway, so we start the blocking and my script is in hand. and i think i know a monologue so i put it down, and i call "line". then i call "line" again and again and again...

...and i realize that taking all this time working on "Bob" has really screwed me as fa as getting ahead as "Tommy". And pushing through as fast as we were - it felt like i was getting shot out of a cannon!

then i started getting upset at myself. because, honestly kids, i am hardest on myself. but i forged ahead through the rehearsal; working my tail off on getting the dancing right, the music right, the guitar chords right, the character right. and at the end of the day, i am happy to say i am no further along than i was before...but come this Thursday - i'll be kicking ass and taking names.

friday was somewhat better - we were in the "Summer" season and Tommy doesn't have as many monologues...so i did my blocking, focused on my vocal parts, and watched as my dear friend Miles Aubrey dealt with the same crap i did the day before, because now he is playing "Bob", and Friday was all about him.

but this week in a little different: we will finish blocking the entire show on Thursday and hopefully run through it from top to bottom (time permitting), and then Friday, we go back to our understudy roles from last week (stage management never wants us to go more than 2 weeks without reviewing any of our roles). either way - i am ready for whatever they throw at us because i have been working my tail off on both my understudy roles.

now then, for those of you that saw the show last night and happened across my blog, i want to apologize to all of you for a ROUGH show! i think it was a full moon out last night...

it started with the first scene i enter into and i am standing backstage ready to roll my table onto my mark. well it was slightly off the curtain, and when i pushed it, i went right into a big metal light rig and nearly knocked the wind out of myself. of course, the loud "OOF-AH" that came out of my mouth was clear as day to Jackie and Melissa, and all i can say is thank goodness their backs are turned away from the audience because they were both dying onstage.

then it continued with my entrance as "Hank". now keep in mind, when an actor changes a line up or even drops a line, as long as it doesn't affect the scene, the audience would never know. however, when an actor changes a line, all the other actors and crew that are used to hearing the line correct 8 shows/week immediately perk their ears up because they automatically know something is up.

the correct line Tommy should say before Hank enters is: "...he sings, he plays, he's got special material.". However Deven said "...he sings, he plays, he's got special qualities."

"Special Qualities"??? Well hell, that could mean anything. And everyone was thinking that - because as soon as those words came out of his mouth, Michael Ingersoll (who plays Nick Massi - and is usually a rock onstage) cracked a smile, and then when I went out to the bridge and saw Deven barely getting through the rest of is speech, I broke and had to turn upstage so the audience couldn't see me losing it. Even our own Chris Jones had to bite his lower lip so he didn't laugh out loud. nonetheless, the laughing continued through the rest of the scene and it was simply a mess.

other problems were just some dropped props onstage, some sound problems, and all of us just trying to hold it together for the audience...

today was a better show...smooth and without problems. However, today's show saw the departure of our Production Stage Manager, Richard Hester. I don't think Richard has ever read my blog so i am going to say what i want to say here: we are going to miss him like crazy. not only did he guide us through an intense rehearsal and tech process, but he knows this show like the back of his hand, and his knowledge and love of this show has made every one of our performances richer and more true to what the original intentions have always been. He is a fantastic stage manager, a wonderful director, and he has become a good friend...and though he will be back every once in awhile to check up on us, the show has lost a little something with his departure.

so with a crazy week comes an end to a crazy week...tomorrow is a much deserved day off. sarah and i are heading to the gym, then some wedding errands, and lastly a belated Anniversary dinner...we're thinking of grabbing some delicious Bay area seafood.

lastly, i said i was going to post some exciting news...and i still am waiting for the official notice to go out...so keep checking back here!

First Understudy Put-In (Jan.6)

whew...!!!!!!!!!!!!

that's the best way i can describe the understudy put-in from yesterday. i could also use the metaphor "shot out of a cannon", but "whew" will suffice.

let me first start by saying that our very own Rick Faugno (who covered Frankie Valli in the rehearsals) made Jersey Boys history yesterday. you see, there's this one part in the show (during "C'mon Marianne") where Frankie does this cool knee slide downstage into the song's first notes. Rick, who is probably the most athletic person i have ever seen, did the knee slide and just kept going...right off the stage...

...and without a scratch. at the very last minute, he kicked his legs out from under him and in midair, landed on his feet. and therefore cemented himself as the first Frankie Valli to slide off the stage.

other than that, the put-in for the most part went very well. there were a few line fumbles here and there, a few missed cues and botched dance steps, and by far one of the worst transitions into "Walk Like a Man" ever...

but for about a total of 16 hours of rehearsal, i think it went great. even a few of our fellow cast members were there for support (as well as Sarah) which was real nice.

a few highlights:

1) Runaway Train: Ron Melrose, our music director, flew in for the put-in and he was so supportive of all of us. After the run, he gave me about 50 notes, 48 of which were "SLOW DOWN". In the show, there are a lot of key moments that are tied up with music underscoring and apparently there were about a dozen or so times where i ran out of lines and there was alot of time left that the orchestra was playing. Worst one was into the Chicago scene with the women where I have to sit on a specific lyric, and I had already finished my lines and had to just stand there waiting for it...horrible!

2) Jackie Seiden's got nothing on me: My first scene with her I made her break and she couldn't stop laughing. Good job Jackie!

3) Smoke Hand-Off: All I can say is, the smoke that is passed to me tastes horrible. It's even worse when Melissa Strom is laughing as she shotguns it to me and big bursts of smoke are pretty much laughed into my mouth.

4) Worst Wig Ever: Taylor Sternberg comes out as Joey, and the wig they gave him looked like an oversized Brillo pad...it took everything for me not to laugh on stage.

5) Ragdoll: Riding the mic lift into the Ragdoll section was unreal! even with only a dozen or so people watching, what a rush you get!

other than that, now we move on. today starts my preparation for the Tommy track. i have to learn all the lines, blocking, dancing, transitions, and now guitar parts before our next put-in on Feb.2. that means we have 8 rehearsals - roughly 32 hours to get ready for the next one.

so keep reading - i hope everyone is patient with me only doing 1 or 2 blogs a week. between 8 shows and rehearsals every week, i just don't have all the free time i was hoping with this show. but i will do my best to keep everyone up to date.

lastly, in the next few days, i'll be posting some really cool info about the show...just waiting to see when i'm technically allowed to...so keep posted!