As I mentioned last night, great job by everyone! Memorization was much better than Monday night, and all of you know where you still struggle with a line or two, which is much better than when Cheryl or I have to tell you that you dropped one or more lines. Tonight we'll start taking line notes and either Cheryl or I will email those to you privately so you'll know what to work on.
For tonight, let's try to get the pace up a bit. Not so much in the speed of your words (that impacts vocal clarity), but moreso in topping lines more than we've been doing and speeding up entrances and exits. Lisa and I noticed last night that when we have more than two people who need to exit via the stairs that we seem to congregate at the bottom of the first step. I'm sure that's my fault for having you all exit at basically the same time, and I've been so focused on what's happing downstage that I've likely missed that bottleneck. If you see a natural way to make the stairway exits flow better, please let me know (or just give it a try if it's an obvious fix). I'll try to keep an eye on that tonight.
For Josh and Mario: While I really like the handshake scene right before you exit together up the stairs, I think I've found a way to build the comedy a bit. For the first couple of lines ("after you," and "age before beauty") try making the push a little more subtle, almost like a slight guide with one hand on a shoulder. Then get progressively more agressive until we've got the full shoves on the last couple of lines. Finally, when you lock arms, instead of fighting up to the stairs, walk very stoicly (head up, shoulders back, etc.) as if you were each escorting a bridesmaid at a wedding. Then when you get to the top of the stairs, you can do the push like you did last night.
For Richard: Once Chelsey mentions her dog, and you realize you can whittle her one, I'd like to see you whittling at every opportunity, especially when you're at the fireplace. In fact, when Margaret asks you what you're whittling, I'm likely going to move you to the rocker before she says that line so you'll have a place to dump the shavings.
For Nora: When you go to the window the first time, it looks really odd for you to be standing there for so long, so I'm probably going to delay the car horn so you're not standing there so long. We'll do it the way we've been doing it tonight, and I'll make a note on where the sound effect needs to go to clean that up some.
For Liz/Olivia/Veronica: Other than your first entrance, anytime you are in the room for any length without dialogue, you should gravitate to someone you like unless I have you seated. You should also be engaged in something in the scene OR playing with Mickey once George gives it to you. There is one point where you're in the room for a long time with nothing to do, so I may have you exit to the kitchen and come back in a little later. We'll work that tonight.
For Joan and Karen: The two of you are almost perfect! We've got one stair exit to work on (the one I mentioned above), but other than that, you two are great!
For Josh: I think I liked the dialect you used on Monday better than last night BUT I have no issues with you using the one from last night if you're more comfortable with it. You clearly understand what I want Andrew to look and sound like, so I have no worries with your part.
For Jillian: First of all, I am amazed at how quickly you've gotten off book, thanks for working so hard on that! When everyone scrambles for a chair after Chelsey comes down the stairs in A2S1, instead of trying to sit in the chair and being startled by Mario, I'd rather you jostle for position and lose to him. I think we can get more comic relief out of that.
COSTUMES AND SUITCASES: If you have your costumes and want to work with them to ensure you've got enough time to change, feel free to bring them from this point forward. Also, if you've got a suitcase appropriate for your character, bring it along too. Gloria and Andrew would have modern, rolling luggage (and stylish and expensive if anyone has them); Mitch's family would have a mix, and Margaret and Mamie Jo would likely have a non-rolling suitcase they've had for years.
See you all tonight!
Tracy
No comments:
Post a Comment