BMT's 'Guys & Dolls' - 'The Hand That Rocked The Boat'!

Well, we had finally finished learning 'Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat' as a full cast, and I have the recording to prove it!  I just need to edit the recording a bit and get all the 'blue talk' outta there first.  Don't want to implicate anyone, but I'm waiting for a certain possibly incriminating photo that I can't wait to PhotoShop.

Abi and I were secretly thanking SHOUT! when it came to our vocal training and working with Josh, especially dealing with the music.  (I'm gonna have to scan a page or so to show you just how nuts this music really was.)  We're also crazy to take on the soprano parts.  Of course, since Abi is playing General Cartwright, she's gotta hit that crazy high C at the end of the song, and we thought we would challenge ourselves.  It's not as bad, we don't sound like dog whistles or dolphins ... not all the time.  I put trust in Sharon, our musical director, a self-proclaimed 'technique nut'.  Hence, the recordings for future and classroom reference.  The first rehearsal recording doesn't have any of the warmups, but that's in the second one (coming soon!). 

Our third recording - still to be edited - has the complete workup of the warmups, all the harmony parts, dynamic notes and just about everything else Sharon talked about to make this song great.  So, castmates, take heed!  It's here whenever you need it!

We have what might be called a 'staggered' rehearsal schedule.  For example, a scene with a few major actors will be blocked from 7pm to 8pm, the entire cast would come at 8pm to run through necessary blocking or music rehearsal, and that'll go for about an hour.  After that, another scene with a few principle actors will be blocked for about an hour, and we call it a night.  We don't get a chance to see the blocking for the scenes we're not called in for usually until full run-throughs, but it's great time management when there's only four months of rehearsals.

Thursday's rehearsal started at 8pm for the entire cast to run through 'Sit Down' and do a flash-run of a few scenes that were already blocked before we headed to the bar.  Well, I'll go next time it's on a pay week, if y'know what I'm sayin'.

Here's a few shots of John Carson, Brad Bryson and Noel Fernandes running through the blocking for 'Fugue' and 'G&D'.  At one point we had an a cappella performance!

Well done, boys!  Off to the bar!

The second and third rehearsal recordings will be up very soon!