9/24/10 - 4th Rehearsal

After having a couple of nights off, it was back to work.

First, B.J. and I worked on "At Night She Comes Home to Me."  I have to say, it's really cool getting to work with B.J. one more time.  The last show we did together was Hair (with B.J. as Claude and me as Berger), back in Fall 2008, and it's great to be able to play off of each other again.  B.J. had worked on his portion of the song earlier in the week, so there was a bit more focus on my segment.  Marcus told me to really emphasize the punk rock for my first few measures, really punching the words and getting more physical.  Then he asked for something I didn't expect: a high-falsetto rock wail at the climax of my part of the song.  That's a high, octave-jumping G (or, as I call it, the Jesus Christ Superstar note)! I'll admit that I've worked on this on my own (mostly during car rides), but have never had to do it for anyone else before, never mind a show.  But much to my amazement, I pulled it off on the first try!  Unfortunately, I started wearing down after the third run of the song, so I put it to rest for the night.  It's just one more thing I have to work on.  I know I can do it without damaging my voice, it's just a matter of breath support and dramatic build.

The rest of the night was just with the three couples.  We first ran "We Start Today," which is pretty much the same, except for a new extension that shows some of the private conversations amongst the characters; in Danny's case, he's calling his mother to let her know he's switching his major from science to music.  This is some backstory that was never clearly emphasized before, so I love it.

The big hurdle to jump, though, was "Baby, Baby, Baby."  It wasn't a problem for any of the actors, though.  It was a big picture problem for Marcus; the song as it's written is just too much of a lounge number.  With the stuff he's been working on with all of us, it really clashes with the pop/rock/blues vision he has for the show, and runs the risk of sticking out like a sore thumb.  Luckily, though, with Laurie's help, I think we have the song rearranged for the better.  We took it uptempo, and Marcus asked us to take more liberty with the style and play with the riffs.  I think that by the time we get it staged and have an orchestra together, it's going to fit in well with the rest of the show.