Gah! When can I direct ADULTS??
Sep. 22nd, 2004 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
windelinaThe kids are all pissy and diva-ing. Actually, not all of them. Just the non-talented ones who are most undeserving of divahood.
Now I'm just being bitchy.
Okay, see - we cast the show. And kids have been dropping out (don't start me on some of THAT crap). So, we need to fill in some spots. Specifically, we need certain voices to round out the choral sound. So, I quite rightly leave it to my music director to do what she deems necessary.
We did try to bring in kids who had auditioned and got no response and no luck. So, she asked some kids who had not auditioned. Kids that, obviously, she knew from her chorus classes - she knew what voices she needed, knew who could give her what she wanted, and recruited.
And now comes the teenaged whinging. "Why are people who didn't audition being asked to be in the show when I auditioned and I'm not being asked?"
Because, you self-absorbed little brat, we need a 1st soprano and you're an alto. Got it??
There's also "But I got cast as the Wardrobe Lady and the Wardrobe Lady is supposed to be in this quartet and [music director] won't let me be in it!"
Well, honey, I cast you as the Wardrobe Lady because of your great big solo voice for "Another Op'nin". However, it turns out that great big solo voice doesn't stay in tune so well. Especially when singing harmony, alone, against 3 other girls in Andrews-Sisters-like chording.
You want the truth? It's not that [music director] is biased against you. It's not that "she doesn't know what she's doing" (yes, this girl actually said that). It's that you HAVE PITCH PROBLEMS AND ARE NOT THAT GOOD OF A SINGER.
But you don't actually want to hear that, do you?
I'm having huge angst today about this show. With a side order of teeth-gnashing. This is a more challenging show than "Guys and Dolls" on a purely technical level. The music is more challenging. Alot more bit parts to juggle. Shakespearean text. The works.
And I didn't get lucky with leads like I did with G&D. I feel good about two of the four major ones, but the other two - oy. It's gonna take work and it may be impossible.
But my biggest ache right now is that the kids aren't having fun. As evidenced by the whining.
I try to reassure myself that this is the normal state of things at this point in the rehearsal. But I do think it's fair to say that there's some sort of "sophomore slump" effect at work this time around. G&D was, in many ways, easy. The kids were excited to have a decent director and ecstatic to be a part of a show they knew was actually good. And now...they're taking it for granted somehow.
Current headache: I do not have to be at rehearsal tonight and tomorrow - it's music rehearsal only. But I came up with the bright idea to have a talk with the cast, air some of these issues, get things cleared up and put away (will you or nill you, my pets). I thought tomorrow night. But [music director] quite rightly believes the sooner the better. Especially since so much of the animosity is focusing on her.
But - I wasn't planning on going to Stillwater. I rode the bus in today. I have to pick up Cajones for the directors meeting tonight. I should be there by 7:30.
It's not impossible. I just don't know the best way to accomplish it.
And now my whinging is done.
For the moment.
Now I'm just being bitchy.
Okay, see - we cast the show. And kids have been dropping out (don't start me on some of THAT crap). So, we need to fill in some spots. Specifically, we need certain voices to round out the choral sound. So, I quite rightly leave it to my music director to do what she deems necessary.
We did try to bring in kids who had auditioned and got no response and no luck. So, she asked some kids who had not auditioned. Kids that, obviously, she knew from her chorus classes - she knew what voices she needed, knew who could give her what she wanted, and recruited.
And now comes the teenaged whinging. "Why are people who didn't audition being asked to be in the show when I auditioned and I'm not being asked?"
Because, you self-absorbed little brat, we need a 1st soprano and you're an alto. Got it??
There's also "But I got cast as the Wardrobe Lady and the Wardrobe Lady is supposed to be in this quartet and [music director] won't let me be in it!"
Well, honey, I cast you as the Wardrobe Lady because of your great big solo voice for "Another Op'nin". However, it turns out that great big solo voice doesn't stay in tune so well. Especially when singing harmony, alone, against 3 other girls in Andrews-Sisters-like chording.
You want the truth? It's not that [music director] is biased against you. It's not that "she doesn't know what she's doing" (yes, this girl actually said that). It's that you HAVE PITCH PROBLEMS AND ARE NOT THAT GOOD OF A SINGER.
But you don't actually want to hear that, do you?
I'm having huge angst today about this show. With a side order of teeth-gnashing. This is a more challenging show than "Guys and Dolls" on a purely technical level. The music is more challenging. Alot more bit parts to juggle. Shakespearean text. The works.
And I didn't get lucky with leads like I did with G&D. I feel good about two of the four major ones, but the other two - oy. It's gonna take work and it may be impossible.
But my biggest ache right now is that the kids aren't having fun. As evidenced by the whining.
I try to reassure myself that this is the normal state of things at this point in the rehearsal. But I do think it's fair to say that there's some sort of "sophomore slump" effect at work this time around. G&D was, in many ways, easy. The kids were excited to have a decent director and ecstatic to be a part of a show they knew was actually good. And now...they're taking it for granted somehow.
Current headache: I do not have to be at rehearsal tonight and tomorrow - it's music rehearsal only. But I came up with the bright idea to have a talk with the cast, air some of these issues, get things cleared up and put away (will you or nill you, my pets). I thought tomorrow night. But [music director] quite rightly believes the sooner the better. Especially since so much of the animosity is focusing on her.
But - I wasn't planning on going to Stillwater. I rode the bus in today. I have to pick up Cajones for the directors meeting tonight. I should be there by 7:30.
It's not impossible. I just don't know the best way to accomplish it.
And now my whinging is done.
For the moment.
