Adventures in Theatre: Covering a Role with No Rehearsal

I am currently in a production of A Grand Night for Singing at the Jesters Dinner Theatre.  We opened last Saturday.  The Tuesday prior to that I was asked to cover another role at one performance a week after opening.  Since the show is all music and limited dialogue, I agreed.

First you have to understand that the show is written to be performed by 3 women and 2 men.  We have expanded that to 10 women and 3 men, and all the women are double cast.  The show is a Rodgers and Hammerstein review and is literally one song after another.  I was not feeling totally comfortable with my own role yet, but I felt that I could probably handle the other role.  I would have no rehearsal, but I would be able to watch at least once.  Well, it didn't turn out quite like that.

We were supposed to open on Friday, but we canceled that night and had rehearsal.  We ran through the show twice.  On the first run through, I played my regular role.  I was about halfway through the 2nd act when my double got sick and went home.  So I did the 2nd run through as well (meaning, I couldn't watch the other role.)  She was sick on Saturday as well, so I ended up doing both performances that weekend. 

I had been trying to figure out what to do to learn the part.  Should I try to learn it while still working on my own part?  I ended up focusing on my own role for the weekend.  Then after the show, I had one of the girls show me just what I would need to do.  I wrote some of it down, but not all.  I spent the week singing through the new songs.  One thing that was freaking me out was that I would have to sing the alto line for a trio that I was usually singing 2nd soprano in.  But I practiced it and I could at least sing SOMETHING that was in the chord (whether it was correct or not!).  The one solo I had to sing, I would be holding a baby.  So I copied the music down to a small piece of paper and hid it on the baby. I knew the song, but not enough to feel comfortable winging it.  (I was raised on R&H, but this was from a show that I didn't know before!)

I was in panic mode all week, trying to sing through the songs and remember the choreography.  Finally, Friday arrived.   (I had a hard time going to sleep on Thursday night.  Thank heavens for Tylenol PM!!)

It was go time.  I had my binder with the music and I just had to take it one song at a time!  Luckily, some of the other people knew where I needed to be.  They were very helpful!!!  But once I got out on stage, I sometimes had no idea where I needed to stand.  So I just picked a spot that looked open and went with it.  This is what I pretty much did for the rest of the show.  I survived the duet, only doing about half the choreography, but letting my acting skills carry me through.  The trio was...interesting.  I sang the wrong part a couple of times, but I guess it sounded okay.  The solo was great, except that I had to turn the paper over and I don't think I was very surreptitious about it.  Oh, well.  Finally the end of the show came and I was still alive!!  I had survived!!!  It was a high stress, high adrenaline show for me...but I made it through!

And now I have to do my regular role tonight.  Good thing I have a 40 minutes drive to the theater and I can sing along with the CD!!

Theatre....always keeping me on my toes!  That's one reason I love it so much!