{Tateh (Leif Norby) and his daughter (Anna Bishop) get off the boat and greet their new Shtetl in Ragtime. Photo by Owen Carey.}

{Coalhouse (Gavin Gregory) gets the keys to a new car while Henry Ford (Todd A. Horman) extols the virtues of mass production in Ragtime. Photo by Owen Carey. }

{Susannah Mars in “What Kind of Woman.” Photo by Owen Carey.}

{The men of Ragtime share the profundity (and profanity) of a baseball game in the show stopping number “What a Game!” Photo by Owen Carey.}

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Moved onstage this afternoon.  A slooooow first session, what with trying to equalize 22 michrophones, and adjust to the period costumes, video monitors, audio monitors, sliding panels, and the general disorientation.

But also really fun to see what it’s going to look like.  Gavin (Coalhouse, above) is getting better at playing our imaginary piano, which is no small feat – while you’re trying to sing or deliver dialogue.

The period costume seemed to suddenly transform Danny Rothman (Younger Brother) into ‘a young man in search of his destiny.’  Why did people ever stop dressing like this?

Lacreta, who plays Sarah’s friend, was showing off her new hair.

While Tiffany (Evelyn Nesbitt) tried to figure out how to maneuver over a mountain of chairs in her new clothes.

Todd (Henry Ford) and Tom (JP Morgan) looked quite dapper themselves.

And Gavin (Coalhouse) and Rachael (Sarah) were starting to melt into their roles.

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Middle of our third week of Ragtime (can that be possible) and we should finish staging this evening.  It is a MOUNTAIN.  About four times more music than the other musicals we’ve tackled.  But it is also glorious.

The work has jumped back and forth between nitty gritty sessions with Rick Lewis on the music itself (has taken us far longer just to learn the music than in years past.  It almost feels like the piece was written as a huge choral piece – which in fact it was – so it takes alot longer to work out the intricate harmonies) – to choreography.  Gavin and Lacreta are seen rehearsing the Gettin Ready Rag above.

The Opening has taken a loooonnng time to build and finesse.  Joel Ferrell, our wonderful choreographer, is (thank God) creating that piece with the actors, so I just get to watch it unfold.  And – listen to the astounding sounds coming out of this group of 21 singers.  At times, I literally get goosebumps on my arms, which is far more rare in my seat than you might imagine.

Staging the ‘performance/film’ section of Atlantic City has been particularly fun.  I start the scene with Mother and Father packing back in New Rochelle, while Harry Houdini and Evelyn Nesbitt ‘invade’ their reality – then Joel takes over when they actually hit the boardwalks – then I come back in when its revealed that we’ve been watching the filming of a movie.  After working together on  West Side Story, Cabaret and Guys and Dolls,Joel and I have developed cement toes, and have no problem stepping all over each other.

Lief Norby plays Tateh, the Latvian Jew who immigrates to America in search of a better life, and Alex Thede plays ‘Little Boy’ – the clairvoyant kid whose life in New Rochelle is rocked by the events of the era.  We’ll work through Act Two tomorrow, Act One on Friday – and try for our first run through on Saturday.  Fingers crossed.

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Two emails about Crazy Enough I had to share:

First from Daniel Stern, the wonderful film actor (Breaking Away, Diner, Hannah and her Sisters), who is here in town casting American Buffalo for Third Rail:

“I got to see Crazy Enough tonight.  I need to thank you for one of the great nights in the theater that I have ever had.   Storm Large is a force of nature, a truth teller, a comedian, a story-teller and one of the most brilliant voices I have ever heard.  It was like if Melissa Etheridge could act.  This is an unbelievably great play and I hope there is a long, long future in it.  I have not seen something so original since Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with a fearless performer, a director who gets to the absolute essence of the talent at hand and a production that is scaled perfectly to tell the story.  Hedwig also made a great film and I can certainly see the possibilities of telling this story that way as well, knowing the talents involved would burst off the screen to a very appreciative audience.  Please pass on my love, respect and admiration to Ms. Large and tell her I will never forget the ride she took me on tonight.”

And from Marie Gettel-Gilmartin:

“I just had to write and tell you that Crazy Enough was phenomenal!  We bought only Main Stage shows this year, but added Crazy Enough to our subscription because I knew I had to see Storm Large again . . . My husband truly enjoyed it, but I LOVED it.  What a great celebration of survival and strong, gutsy womanhood.  I left the show feeling emotionally exhausted, exhilarated and inspired.”

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The countdown begins.  After our final week in the rehearsal hall we’ve finally landed on stage.  Last week increased everyone’s intensity level, as we tried to nail the harmonies, polish dance steps and drill the overlapping lines that wouldn’t gel.

Rebecca remained calm, but intensely focused on the challenge before her.  She has the toughest show, both in terms of the amount of material to digest, and the complexity of the logistic surrounding dialect shift and costumes changes.

And Rick Lewis, doubling as our Musical Director and “Gould” (Edith’s accompanist and ’soul mate’), cursed more than once as he tried to get the choreography to stick in his head, hands and feet.

Moving from the rehearsal hall to the stage is always a bit jarring, as there is a completely different physical and visual relationship between you (the director) and the actors.  Given the complexities of this design, the crew was still a bit behind so we moved onstage with the set under construction.

Erik and Alisha were busily configuring the bed wagons for Act II.

Once we move onstage, transformations started completing themselves of their own accord.  Ryan plays Jerry in Act Two (above).  But cleans up nicely in act one:

And Janine and Rebecca were looking pretty swell in their elegant 40’s duds as well.

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