If I Had a Segway...

Rehearsal Day 16: Blocking and Burgers

Four Weeks Down.

21 Days to Go.

Last night wrapped up the fourth week of rehearsal and also wrapped up out schedule for blocking the show. We worked major scenes between the lovers, Bear (Jake Autizen) and Autumn (Madeline Chilese). This includes the Queen-esque rock ballad, "Sharing My Time With You." Cyra Polizzi, who will be playing the part of Ana the BusGirl joined us to add her gorgeous voice and hilarious backup singing to Maddy and Jake. Every scene between Bear and Autumn seems torn right from your favorite cheesy romance novel or soap opera (unless you watch All My Children. Because that's awesome. And if you do, you get a gold star in my book. But I digress...) and is so full of delicious, cheddar-y melodrama. Maddy and Jake kept pushing it more over the top as time went on, making their choices more specific and oh-so-wonderfully cliche.

There's a home for us baby!

Just hold on!

The dynamic between Bear and Autumn really came out after working the song and two other scenes where it is full-on melodrama. The stage pictures are hilarious and some of the specific movements, no matter how subtle, really make the scenes pop.

At the end of the night, the rest of the cast joined us to block a scene involving Autumn's creative powers with pitchers and soup. Having blocked and gone through literally every other scene in the show, it seemed almost too easy to get this one knocked out and in the books. With ample time left in our day, we plowed ahead and ran Act Two from the beginning to Anthony's song. When we ran the second half of this act on Monday, it seemed incredibly fast, but it is somehow even more so in the beginning of the act. The rhythms are essential to much of the dialogue and go by in the blink of an eye. We stumble through on Monday, and I think we will all be blown away, excited, and exhausted by the end of the night.

If you are interested in a dolly tour of Chicago, because you can't afford a Segway tour, Mr. Zagoren is now taking reservations.

"I'm not with child, I'm with pizza"

Rehearsal Day 15: Music Tuesday

Did you ever have that feeling that things are starting to fall into place and gel, but were afraid to say anything because you might jinx it?

I'll leave it at that.

Music rehearsal #4 brought the cast together to run through and tweak all the music vocally. The idea was to allow the actors to throw their blocking aside for a little while and concentrate on putting the fun and power solely in the lyrics, tone, and melodies of each song. This rehearsal also seemed to be the breath before the plunge. We've worked hard for the entire rehearsal process so far, but from here on out I feel it will be nose to the grindstone type work.

Josh decreed he would wear his "funglasses" all night.

As did Wint.

Jake and Bryan did an encore of their version of "Sharing My Time With You" for those cast members not called last week. It was absolutely precious.

As each actor got up to sing their songs, I took a step back and thought about how far these songs have come in such a short time. The first song written was "Miriam" back in January, the last song, "Rally Song" was finished up at the beginning of March. Over three months, Josh and Dan wrote, brainstormed, and tweaked each note and word, and Joe layered on epic orchestrations. The cast received the mp3 demos, played with them, and learned the melodies through rehearsal and creating harmonies at home. Last night, so many of these elements came together and began to rocket towards their full potential. The whole picture of the show is coming together and becoming much more real in all of our eyes.

Tonight we block the last four scenes (if we all survive another gameday in Wrigleyville!) and will stumble our way through the entire show next week. Exhaustion is a guarantee, but I am looking forward to seeing this whole epic journey unfold over the next few weeks. In 22 days, The Regulars will be unleashed onto Chicago. Hang on tight, because here we go!

Just Another Manic Monday

Rehearsal Day 14: Do we really need sugar?

Last night's rehearsal was extremely productive and some of the best work I've seen come out of the cast thus far. We started by reviewing and finessing the blocking of Anthony's acid trip of a song, "The Squids Are Comin' " and plowed on through the rest of the second act. Up until now, we have mostly been blocking scenes out of order depending on schedules and needs for the day. By the end of rehearsal last night we were able to run half of Act 2 and the actors really started to get the feel of the intensity, energy, and speed that this beast will take on.

Anthony freaks out. There are no words to describe what Eli Branson has created as he sings this song. When Eli has rehearsed this, only Josh, Derek, and I have been in the room. When the rest of the cast saw it last night, they ate it up. Eli doesn't hold back and it creates a great stage picture and makes you scratch your head and laugh all at the same time.

Discussing specificity and refining the madness. Also, I think Josh purposefully moves his hands quickly to avoid me getting a good shot. That, or he has spent too much time at Legion and limbs are turning into ghosts.

NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise!... Surprise and fear... fear and surprise... Our two weapons are fear and surprise... and ruthless efficiency! Our three weapons are fear, and surprise, and ruthless efficiency... and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope... Our four... no... Amongst our weapons... Hmf... Amongst our weaponry... are such elements as fear, surpr... I'll come in again.

Simon talking his way out of the accusation that isn't an accusation....or is it?

Sunny ain't buyin' it.

Bear Down! Josh is very skilled in brow wiping. He has a certificate and everything.

Tonight is another night of music, where we will finesse, polish, and make the music pretty. And epic. And garnished with awesome sauce. Things are moving right along! We will finish blocking on Wednesday and then stumble and run through from here on out.

The Regulars are coming closer.

Tell me, can you hear it?

Dueling and Pianos

Rehearsal Day 14: Stage Combat Sunday #4

Four weeks in already?!

Last week, Beau was able to choreograph the entirety of the epic boss battle that is the fight against Simon. After letting it marinate and soak in to the actor's bodies, this SCS rehearsal was all about fixing little moments that didn't work or didn't fit with the character work. Lots of new tidbits were sprinkled in, moves that could be filed under "awkward turtle" were tossed. There are a couple more brilliant moments that truly had me laughing and giggling so hard I nearly fell out of my chair. While many of these happen during the fight, I spent a lot of time watching the rest of the cast's reactions as they observe the fight in character. Even when focused on where to move, how hard to hit, what comes next in the action, the little quirks each character has developed come through and really start to show the whole picture. And seriously, don't mess with Sunny's crate. It's just a bad idea.

Jake is all ready to lay the smackdown.

Simon teaches the New Girl a lesson

Yes, this looks very heroic. However, an eagle (or Simon) doesn't need a hero when he wants to sing.

"Ummm...what are you going to do with those?"

This shot was just too perfect to go along with some of the storylines. Hank, Molly, and that Dolly.

Meanwhile....

During these three hours of gratuitous violence, Josh was recording the final piano tracks for the music in the show with Joe Griffin, our amazing orchestrator. It was an intense session of jams, songs, and a couple tall boys. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall to see them work on finessing the music, but alas, you and I must settle for pictures from the event.

Ticklin' the ivories. Well, really, the keys are plastic...but who's counting?

Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Griffin!

Joe was able to turn around many of the tracks overnight, and they sound incredible. Just you wait. Your ears might explode with delight. Well done, gentlemen.

Rockin' When We're Just Off Of Work

Rehearsal Day 12: Sing, Sing a Song...

End of Week 3.

One Month Until Opening.

Bring it.

Big day at rehearsal! We blocked and choreographed four of the songs, it was off-book day, and we are exactly one month out from letting this monster loose on Chicago. Like the Kraken.

Now, I have never been a server. Worked in customer service, yes, but never as a waiter. According to Josh, at every restaurant, no matter where it is, the servers always go out for drinks after work and it is always the pinnacle of dive bars. Thus, "The Billy Bar" was born. In the show, Simon sings its praises (?) to Molly to try and convince her to join them when the restaurant closes. The rockabilly sound fits in well as we'll be performing at the Apollo with Million Dollar Quartet running upstairs. The approach to blocking this song was quite simply, "Let Bryan Campbell play." And play he did.

Don't try the margarita or touch the tables. Trust me.

PeeWee would be so proud.

After hearing the tale of Miriam belted incredibly by Carla on Tuesday night, it was exciting to have the cast hear her sing it for the first time. At this point, Denise takes on a den mother type mentality as she shares the cautionary tale of one of their own. In a scene where everyone is absolutely beaten, this song almost becomes uplifting and you can't help but sway along.

"Come sit next to me, little one."

"She was six foot tall, her eyes were blue, she wore a size 11 shoe. She could have played for the WNBA."

We went from goofy/disgusting to uplifiting, it was time to move on to inspiring. Ashley Wint (Sunny) rocks out on the reprise of "The Hero Song" which is introduced in Act 1 of the show. Will Sunny be able to rally the troops to fight against the unrelenting customers? Or will they all quit and just have a rooftop party?

Five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred...oh wait, wrong show.

Cat Woman? Spider Girl? You choose. Either way, that crate is awesome.

Wrapping up the night was more of Bryan playing around with "The Rally Song" where Simon tries to rally folks to his plan. There would be pictures, but I was laughing too hard. So now the question remains, blogosphere, who will win? Sunny? Simon? Customers? Well, that's why you're going to see the show.

That wraps up yet another week of rehearsal and also brings us exactly to the halfway point of all this craziness.

Yes, Bryan, I know you're sad we don't have another rehearsal until Sunday.

But, this is a chance for the cast to be all like dis:

Rest easy, friends, and enjoy the weekend!

I'm Lost....Can I Follow You?

Dear Hop-Blog Readers,

I know you love reading all about The Regulars, otherwise you wouldn't be here. I also know that typing in http://theregularssm.blogspot.com/ can be very, very tedious. We here at Hobo Junction have a terrific solution for this...follow the blog! I know, I know you're going to say, "But Amy, I'm reading this right now, isn't that following?" Well, dear ones, yes and no. It's FANTASTIC that you have found your way here and we love your support. However, we want you to be proud of your excitement and we love street cred. So, take a second, and break away from reading this briefly and look at the right hand side of the blog page.

Go past the "Breads will Roll" poster...you can skip the show info (for now), too. See the pretty pictures of our cast? They are so dreamy. Don't get stuck staring at them for too long, keep moving down. STOP! There! See where it says "Followers" with a bunch of tiny thumbnail pictures? Those are the awesome people who have already clicked on that little button that says "Follow." And guess what...all you have to do is click that teeny button. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Did you get it? Good! Now you've got the Hop Blog all set up and you will get email updates whenever there is a new post! Also, it makes commenting a whole lot easier! Let us know what you think throughout the process! Plus, you can take it easy on that old Nintendo injury and not have to type in the whole URL. You're going to check your email anyway, take the American way and have the blog delivered to you!

Bryan and Ashely are very proud of you!

So go forth, follow, comment, and be crazy. But not too crazy, we like having you around.

Sincerely,

The Hopper Chopper

"Let's Just Do What Cyra Says...Can We Do That?"

Rehearsal Day 11: Music Tuesday 3, or the night of Amy's favorite songs

Last night we covered the last two (and a half songs) we had not covered yet, "The Rally Song", "Miriam", and adding Cyra Polizzi into "Sharing My Time With You."

Bryan Campbell was up first to work through "The Rally Song." We had worked a little with this at the end of last week where Bryan was able to just play in the rehearsal space with the song. For this time 'round, Josh and Bryan were able to get very nitpicky about the tone, rhythm, and quality of the vocal performance. The lyrics and Green Day/Weezer style are enough to make anyone giggle, but I have a feeling when we solidify the blocking and add some camp-counselor style miming, it will be absolutely over the top.

"Can't get fired if you quit..."

Once Bryan had that down, Carla Kessler began to work on "Miriam." Check out the preview video of Josh and Dan singing here. This song comes out of nowhere in the script, but is incredible. "Miriam" was the first song completed, and it's been the one we've been singing to ourselves for quite some time. This time, it was Carla's time to show what she'd been working out on her own. What we didn't expect but were thrilled to hear was Janis Joplin come back from the dead and tell the story of a fallen waitress. Just as with "Rally," it came together so well that Josh and Carla could spend more time picking apart the tiny details of timing and inflection.

"The more they eat, the more they spend. And if you're good, they'll leave 15%"

Moving from Joplin to Queen, the last song of the evening was "Sharing My Time With You," the ballad of Wisconsin. Cyra Polizzi, who will be playing Ana the Bus Girl, joined us for the first time in this process to get to know the song and her role. Ordinarily, Maddy Chilese would have been there as well, but laryngitis has reared its ugly head. So who better to fill in for Autumn than Simon? Bryan graciously stepped in and sang the female part of the duet with Jake Autizen. Combine that with Cyra echoing in gorgeous soprano and the laughter could not be contained. The Spanish lyrics are very close to being finished, and those of you fluent in Spanish will get some extra jokes out of the song that those of us who don't will completely miss. It's like a DVD easter egg...but live.

Cyra, Bryan, and Jake sing.

"It's better when it's Maddy, it's funnier when it's you, Bryan."

One month from today is our Opening Night! There seems like there is so much more to do, which there absolutely is, but as I drove back from rehearsal last night, I took time to think about all we have accomplished so far. It is definitely not a time to rest, but the cast has gone above and beyond what we have expected, the script and music keep improving, Chris Jacobs has been working hard on all kinds of new marketing, and this marathon keeps going! So pass the Gatorade and let's keep running!