Too Many Cooks

As much as I don't want to use this blog as a forum for complaining or slinging dirt, I feel that any accurate account of our process and experience here for La Mancha would not be complete without a very honest look at the way that a musical differs from a straight play. With Tenor, the director had only to sharpen moments, create a logical traffic flow around the stage, and then help the actors fully realize the script. Musicals, almost by definition, are much larger monsters that take a lot more focus from the director, as there are few moments, if any, that can be simply categorized as "acting" or "natural." Karin (our director) has to plan out where we all are throughout the entire show, as well as worrying about finding the nuance of performance in the characters. The cast is also bigger than the cast of Tenor, and there are only so many spaces for us to stand on a stage that small.

That said, there is now also a musical director to contend with, who also has his own craft to work on, his own thing to rehearse with the actors, and his own ideas about how the music should be done. When all these elements are added together, the rehearsals become a little slower than the ones for Tenor, not quite as high-energy or exhausting, because we are finely sculpting moments from the very beginning of the process. It's going very well, all that being said, and we'll probably finish blocking the show either tomorrow or Friday.