For a three-performance run, we didn't do too bad.
The first performance was full of nervous children, so we were expecting some issues. The second was much better than the first, as we were aware of the problem areas and had prepared for them. And the third, while not as difficult as the first, was performed under the shadow-fact that we were almost done, and the kids really just wanted to get it over with and move on to the cast part.
Hey, it's middle school!
As I mentioned previously, we discovered on Tuesday that the kids were not prepared to execute the complete play, as we had neglected to rehearse sufficiently for the finale; so we made up a new, shorter ending. Consequently, when we had our Dress Rehearsal on Wednesday morning with the elementary school kids (about 200 of them), we used our fake ending. However, since the kids hadn't had a chance to practice it and drill it into their heads, they kinda forgot.
So instead of going through the dialog where the Pirate King tells the Major-General that they'd found out he'd lied, and they were going to make him pay, and then the Sergeant knocking his sword away and saying, No, We charge you Yield in Queen Victoria's Name, the Pirate King bypassed all that and went straight to his next line: We Yield at Once, Because with all our faults, We Love Our Queen.
He did a great job, too. Dynamic, loud, well done. Except that, without the preceding dialogue, it made no sense. He had his sword on the Major-General. He was ready to take the fatal swipe. And then he suddenly announces, out of the clear blue sky, that they all give up because they love the Queen.
The elementary school kids didn't notice; they didn't understand half the dialog, and the only thing that really caught their attention was the fight scene. But we adults were laughing our heads off. It was too entirely absurd. And comical.
But we really didn't want to see it on Opening Night. Not really.
So, after a yummy pizza lunch, we spent the afternoon practicing all the rough spots and tweaking the scenery a bit.
On Thursday, Opening Night, everyone was nervous, but we didn't realize how nervous until the scene with Frederic and Ruth. Frederic froze. For thirty seconds. Couldn't remember his line, and couldn't figure out a way to ad-lib it. So he just stood there. And we (adults) held our breath. And died inside. I tried to get the stage manager to whisper the line to him, but for some reason that didn't work. Eventually, he moved on - one of the other pirates walked out and whispered it to him.
After that, things went more smoothly, but we still had a couple of glitches. And many of the songs were off by a half-beat or so. The kids faces were mostly deer-in-the-headlights faces, unable to relax.
That was OK, though. Opening night is usually a bit rough. The next night was much better. They must've went home and practiced like crazy, because they nailed most of it. Frederic didn't hang on any lines, the songs were (mostly) on the beat, and they nailed our last-minute, made-up ending.
We were very hopeful about the Saturday matinee.
I'm not sure what happened. Like I said, perhaps they were thinking of the cast party instead, because they messed up a couple of times. The Pirate King decided to have a complete memory block for thirty seconds, just like Frederic had done before. And no amount of prompting from the wings availed. The songs were all having issues. And they jumped lines twice. Unfortunately, the second time was during the finale, when the Pirate King repeated the glitch from Thursday and skipped some very important dialog.
But we finished. And the kids realized it wasn't that big a deal. Their parents still loved them. And showered them with praise. And they still had to tear down the set and clean up the stage before we let them go to the cast party.
Maybe now I'll get some time to work on my car. Before the snow falls.
--
To see the Dress Rehearsal photos, go to SwobodaPics. And look for Mary!
The first performance was full of nervous children, so we were expecting some issues. The second was much better than the first, as we were aware of the problem areas and had prepared for them. And the third, while not as difficult as the first, was performed under the shadow-fact that we were almost done, and the kids really just wanted to get it over with and move on to the cast part.
Hey, it's middle school!
As I mentioned previously, we discovered on Tuesday that the kids were not prepared to execute the complete play, as we had neglected to rehearse sufficiently for the finale; so we made up a new, shorter ending. Consequently, when we had our Dress Rehearsal on Wednesday morning with the elementary school kids (about 200 of them), we used our fake ending. However, since the kids hadn't had a chance to practice it and drill it into their heads, they kinda forgot.
So instead of going through the dialog where the Pirate King tells the Major-General that they'd found out he'd lied, and they were going to make him pay, and then the Sergeant knocking his sword away and saying, No, We charge you Yield in Queen Victoria's Name, the Pirate King bypassed all that and went straight to his next line: We Yield at Once, Because with all our faults, We Love Our Queen.
He did a great job, too. Dynamic, loud, well done. Except that, without the preceding dialogue, it made no sense. He had his sword on the Major-General. He was ready to take the fatal swipe. And then he suddenly announces, out of the clear blue sky, that they all give up because they love the Queen.
The elementary school kids didn't notice; they didn't understand half the dialog, and the only thing that really caught their attention was the fight scene. But we adults were laughing our heads off. It was too entirely absurd. And comical.
But we really didn't want to see it on Opening Night. Not really.
So, after a yummy pizza lunch, we spent the afternoon practicing all the rough spots and tweaking the scenery a bit.
On Thursday, Opening Night, everyone was nervous, but we didn't realize how nervous until the scene with Frederic and Ruth. Frederic froze. For thirty seconds. Couldn't remember his line, and couldn't figure out a way to ad-lib it. So he just stood there. And we (adults) held our breath. And died inside. I tried to get the stage manager to whisper the line to him, but for some reason that didn't work. Eventually, he moved on - one of the other pirates walked out and whispered it to him.
After that, things went more smoothly, but we still had a couple of glitches. And many of the songs were off by a half-beat or so. The kids faces were mostly deer-in-the-headlights faces, unable to relax.
That was OK, though. Opening night is usually a bit rough. The next night was much better. They must've went home and practiced like crazy, because they nailed most of it. Frederic didn't hang on any lines, the songs were (mostly) on the beat, and they nailed our last-minute, made-up ending.
We were very hopeful about the Saturday matinee.
I'm not sure what happened. Like I said, perhaps they were thinking of the cast party instead, because they messed up a couple of times. The Pirate King decided to have a complete memory block for thirty seconds, just like Frederic had done before. And no amount of prompting from the wings availed. The songs were all having issues. And they jumped lines twice. Unfortunately, the second time was during the finale, when the Pirate King repeated the glitch from Thursday and skipped some very important dialog.
But we finished. And the kids realized it wasn't that big a deal. Their parents still loved them. And showered them with praise. And they still had to tear down the set and clean up the stage before we let them go to the cast party.
Maybe now I'll get some time to work on my car. Before the snow falls.
--
To see the Dress Rehearsal photos, go to SwobodaPics. And look for Mary!
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