"Victor/Victoria" Weekend

What a brutal weekend! Body parts everywhere! If I didn't know better, I'd think this was "Sweeney Todd" or something! For me, this is the toughest show I've attempted at least since DMTC did "Tommy" in 2001, and maybe it's the toughest show I've ever attempted.

By the time Sunday evening came to pass, Robert had a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder, Monica had followed Scott with damaged toes, Bradley had been inadvertently struck in the fight scene, and there were any number of unexplained bruises and aches and pains on people. Earlier in the week, of course, Dian had tumbled over a crate, Kari had twisted her ankle, I had tackled modern-day Hercules (Scott) head-on and lost, etc., etc. And of course, there were the lingering problems from the rehearsal period: Kaitlin's aching back, etc., etc. When I saw the bright red splotch on Bill Trainor's forehead at the end of the show, I naturally assumed it was just another bruise (it was Bob Roe's bright-red lipstick mark).

There are two interrelated problems: the set is too heavy and cumbersome, and there are lots of awkward set pieces to move around. It takes a great deal of energy, nerve, and raw strength to maneuver the set and set pieces around in a timely manner. Set Designer Dave Lack is acutely aware of the set problem, of course. "I guess you guys must hate me," he said. "No, not at all:" I reassured him, "actually, I am in awe!" The set design is clever - even brilliant. Dave sacrificed himself for two weeks, getting only three hours of sleep a night, in a marathon finish, before taking a busy weekend off at Disneyland with his family (how he'll manage to stay awake during the weekend, he didn't say). Dave's profession as a firefighter has prepared him to endure this kind of brutal workload, but even he began to suffer by the premiere, complaining of shakes on the last day. (Mike Mac apparently now has a blog, where he discusses the adventure of assembling the set.)

Constructing this set was a very ambitious project, reasonably-well executed, but the end-result is just too heavy. I'm reminded of a similarly-ambitious project: Howard Hughes' 'Spruce Goose', the largest wooden aircraft ever built, an engineering marvel, but which flew just once.

Friday night's set changes were spectacularly awkward. My favorite part was when I picked up my bar set piece and repeatedly rammed it against the Stage Left set in an ultimately successful but very ungainly exit through the narrowing slot in Act II Chez Lui. I remember doing things I never expected to do, like carrying the baby grand piano set piece offstage, for example, even though I had never been assigned to it. The Chicago bar scene was never set up properly at all. The list of insufficiencies was long.

Just before the premiere, choreographer Ron Cisneros took several of the dancers aside and said what he was looking for the most with the final 'Victor/Victoria' number was a good start. "Everything will flow if you get a good start," he said. The music in the number itself suffered from a couple of false starts, however, and the dancers weren't able to get into position in time for that crucial good start for the dance proper. C'est la vie!

A nice time was had at Lyons' Restaurant after the premiere.

At the end of Friday's show, a set change rehearsal was scheduled Saturday afternoon. Stage management met on Saturday and exchanged views. The set change troubles had damaged cast morale, of course, but I was heartened by hearing of the stage management meeting. Efforts to also incorporate a music and dance rehearsal into the afternoon proceeding failed due to lack of time to address the innumerable set change insufficiencies in adequate detail. Nevertheless, the extra set change rehearsal was helpful.

Things were a little better on Saturday night, but discipline began to break down midway through the second act. For example, the panels were not unlatched and folded properly on the back of the sets during the Act II Hotel Paris scene. We managed to unlatch the panels, and Lauren, Chris, and myself stood in amazingly close quarters as we waited for Marcy to make her exit through the very narrow available exit provided by the unfolded panels, so we could make our own entrances through the narrow slot.

A significant gap between the Hotel Paris set pieces apparently alarmed the audience Saturday night, by exposing Marcy and Mike Mac (and possibly others) to a falling hazard. A friend in the audience said she nearly stormed on stage to halt the show until the insufficiency was set aright. It just goes to show how important it is not to let up discipline, and also how easy it is to lose it.

Discipline also broke down on Sunday afternoon at about the same time in the show as on Saturday, with a bit different assemblage of resulting problems: for example, tables and chairs have yet to be successfully placed at the end of Act II Chez Lui. Nevertheless, the Saturday and Sunday set changes, creaky as they were, and taxing on the audience's attention, ran more smoothly than Friday's.

Maybe discipline is the wrong choice of words....when set changes are not made, despite planning, it usually signifies a deeper organizational problem, like intereference from costume changes that hasn't been adequately accounted for.

The DMTC clan came on Saturday. It was nice to see everyone: Jennifer Bonomo, Julie Kulmann, Chris Neff, Ben and Noel, Ryan and Maria and Melissa, etc. Noel gave me an early birthday gift: a set of coasters arranged in the form of a hamburger: "lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun!" Afterwards, the clan gathered at the Tower Cafe. Roger Clark, who just wrapped up doing percussion for a performance by Lambda Players, came and joined us. Andee Thorpe surprised us with some unexpected hellos.

In the 'Louis Seize' number on Saturday ('seize' meaning sixteen in French, which refers, of course, to King Louis XVI, and his queen, Marie Antionette), I tripped over the base of the Stage Left mirror. In the audience, Ryan Adame described his reaction: "Look, the Fat Man tripped on the mirror! Oh! It's Marc!" (in this particular context the appellation 'Fat Man' doesn't have it's usual sting, because the male RSP dance ensemble is so youthful and trim, almost any middle-aged man set in their midst would become the 'Fat Man', by default). Nevertheless, with just a bit of schadenfreude, Jason said the stuttering trip was unusually amusing, because, I kicked the mirror base, and the mirror moved, and I kicked the base again, and the mirror moved again, and I kicked it yet again: Bah! It was all an unneeded distraction from Marcy, RSP's Mad Marie Antionette du jour.

There was a nice cast party at Bob Roe's house on Saturday night. The high point was Jake Montoya and Chris Scarberry exuberantly throwing cares aside and leaping in the pool for a refreshingly arctic swim.

There were many interesting things going on all weekend long, which would probably require a book to explain adequately, and certainly not by me, since I don't understand it all, given that this is my first show with the company. For me, the most remarkable thing was when orchestra director Joe Velez stated in notes Friday night that the ensemble sang beautifully, particularly in the last number, when that was manifestly not the case. The only thing I could think was that he was overwrought himself, but beats me over what exactly.

As for the show proper, I suspect it was OK: Marcy, Craig, Dave, Lauren, Mike Mac, and Bob all did fine. The audience seemed to have a good time (excepting maybe the Friday audience).

Now, we'll have a few days to recover, before leaping once again on stage!