Mountain Rehearsals - Week Two

It wouldn't be a Mountain rehearsal without our tufts of muddy rice!

We're hitting the end of Week Two of rehearsals, and tonight is our first stumble-thru of Act One! It definitely feels like the creative team and cast have found our groove as a group, and the past few rehearsals have not just been productive but fun! I also find myself in the long-awaited position of simply being the playwright/composer in the room, instead of running double duty. For my previous two productions I also worked as Music Director, which made sense since I knew the shows so well. However, for Mountain, it has been very liberating to be able hand Music Director duties to someone else's capable hands and focus solely on finessing the script & score.

What exactly do I do in rehearsals then? I check to see how the script and score play out in the room. Sometimes the script no longer works, or a moment of song/dialogue is no longer necessary, because of what we discover with the actors, set, costumes, sound & props. So I give a quick assent to cut or modify. I also answer questions about my original intent, usually to help bring clarification to a scene. If a rewrite is needed, I might start working on that while rehearsal continues (I recently made minor tweaks to six Act One musical numbers, and I'll see how those changes work at tonight's stumble-thru). I will also initiate discussion if I feel like what I see or hear in the room is going in a different direction than the writing. But mostly, I observe and I listen, and watch the skeleton of the show grow tendons, muscle and sinew, as if by magic.

Mountain Rehearsals - Week One

Rehearsals have officially begun for the world premiere of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. These early days are fascinating because what began as words and sheet music slowly starts to get its own skeleton as a performance piece. We are in a modest dance room in Oakland. We use some props that are just for rehearsal, and sometimes props that will make it to the actual production once they are painted and embellished. We try things, throwing ideas out and taking cues from each other. There is spike tape in a variety of colors outlining our imaginary set. We have looked at sketches and color swatches. We've listened to sound samples. There's a lot of waiting, discussion and thinking.

Minli's dining table in the rehearsalroom. Inside the bowl are two coins, one of which starts our protagonist on her journey.

Perhaps what fascinates me the most is that the final product will be built upon this skeleton, but only after much has been pruned and plucked away. To the audience's eyes, it will arrive as a complete package. But those of us in this dance room will know the sparser versions of the show that had to come before. The discarded drafts, the revised movements, the great ideas that ultimately had to be cut will still be with us. As well as the joy, the jokes, the shared memories that come from working together on this project. It's funny because from day one of rehearsals, the end is always in sight. But I already know that the end will come much too soon.

So I take to heart the lesson that Grace Lin teaches us through her novel. "Thankfulness."

I am thankful to be here in the midst of this creating, as it unfolds before me.

My Trip to Cars Land

Over the holidays, I finally got to revisit "The Happiest Place on Earth." It has been several years since my last adventure at the Disneyland Resort, and I was excited to see as much of the new attractions as I can. I was, perhaps, most impressed by Cars Land, the brand new area in California Adventure, based upon the Pixar Cars franchise. The layout of Radiator Springs is replicated in such a true-to-the-film fashion that I actually felt like I was in the movie set! It was such a treat see Sally's Cozy Cone Motel and Flo's V8 Cafe before my eyes. The figurehead of Cars Land is Ornament Valley, where the Radiator Springs Racers attraction is housed. Looking at the automobile shaped rocks was stunning. I knew the rock walls were fake, but the forced perspective work is done so well, I felt dwarfed by the setting. The careful work that Disney put into Cars Land inspired me to be just as thoughtful in my own craft. Of course, writing for theatre and Imagineering an attraction are different things. But they both involve telling a story. Having created a unique and quirky universe in the films, Disney/Pixar went to great lengths to make sure the audience buys into the story at the park. The minor details make a difference, even if the audience doesn't quite perceive them. In a similar way, I should remember the importance of imagining the worlds of my musicals, making decisions about details so the audience buys into the reality of the story I'm trying to tell, especially if the story is fantastical or mythological. I would love to visit Cars Land again (when it is not crowded by holiday visitors) and just take in its handiwork.

Oh, and be sure to catch a glimpse of Cars Land at night to catch the neon lights, which appear at a poignant moment in the first film. They are just as poignant in person.