He's Blogging!!

The following blog has been brought to you by ... Coffee! Mmmm. That first cup of the day gets the whole world rolling in the right direction. Eight or nine cups later and, well, that's why they invented prisons. Please drink responsively.

If your just tuning in, you haven't missed anything. This is my first blog. The reason I've asked my friend and web-goddess Carolyn Fulton to set up this page is that I've just begun rehearsals for "Exit the King" here in New York and I wanted a place to talk about it a little. Doing any play is an adventure. Doing a play on Broadway is something else all together, so I thought I'd chronicle this one a bit. Not just for the curious, but also for myself.

It seems the hardest part of keeping this "back stage diary" going is finding the time to write it at all. I live seventy five miles north of New York City so a good portion of the day is spent getting to and from the rehearsal hall on 42nd street. Time not spent actually on stage, in rehearsal, gets eaten up on costume fittings, hair and make-up sessions, running out for lunch, returning phone calls, and of course the endless memorizing of "the words". People always ask,"how do you remember all those words?" That's how. Hours and hours of memorizing. But I should start at the beginning.

Monday, Feb. 2nd. Our first day of rehearsal. The day began with our obligatory Actor's Equity meeting. A very pleasant but long-winded Equity rep explained at mind-numbing length, the finer points of our union insurance coverage. As she talked, you could see the eyes of the actors gathered in this rehearsal hall, slowly glaze over. We were all a bit nervous, it being the first day, and anxious to get on with the rehearsal. I'm pretty sure no one understood a word of what she said. Then the production staff, various designers, producers and our director were invited back in the room and we read the play out loud for the first time. Lots of laughter and chuckling from our audience. It was great to hear the words spoken. No matter how many times you read a play to yourself, the "music" is hard to hear. Plays come alive when spoken aloud. It's a little like reading the lyrics of a song versus hearing it sung. Our day ended with a " getting acquainted" dinner hosted by our producers at a nearby restaurant. Lovely end to a stressful but exciting day.

Stay tuned.