I just realized that I have blogged fairly frequently this month with scarcely a mention about my primary January responsibility. . . co-directing a production of “The Pirates of Penzance” with Corinne Ness at Carthage. Actually, I feel a little funny using that “co” prefix when in fact Corinne has done so much more for this production than I have, or at least that’s how it feels. She is such a bundle of energy and so organized – and so gifted about all matters related to the stage. When it comes to matters like how to stand onstage, how to move, how to fight with swords, how to embrace . . . she is this incredible walking encyclopedia of experience and smarts. And the longer I watch her work in rehearsals, the more grateful I am that this production doesn’t solely rest upon my skinny shoulders.
Not that I’m a complete idiot when it comes to these matters. When you’ve sung one word in “Madama Butterfly,” you obviously know something, although in a case like that you can get by with knowing rather little. But in fact I have been onstage a bit and have some pretty good instincts for what looks good and especially some instincts for theatrical authenticity when it comes to delivering dialogue. But what that really means is that I am very skilled at reacting to something onstage and making suggestions to improve it. But to create the thing in the first place, with blocking and so on- I feel right now like I haven’t a clue how to do that. In fact, that’s something I’ve never had to do and I hope that when that responsibility is solely mine someday somewhere I will manage to thrash around and keep my head above water rather than sinking to the bottom like a brick, never to be heard from again.
Anyway, I knew Corinne was good just from seeing the Carthage musicals that she has directed, but it has been something else to actually be in the same canoe with her, rowing in the same direction – and realizing early on that she’s pulling six oars to my two and making it look downright easy. And what matters most in the end is that we are going to have a superb production of “Pirates” on our hands – which is a big relief considering the huge success of “Die Fledermaus,” Dr Sjoerdsma’s final opera production at Carthage. Part of me wanted that to go down in history as the greatest thing that ever happened on a Carthage stage – but another part of me was also very anxious that the first production without him would be a comparable success, just to show that life goes on and that I’m not a blithering idiot. (In other words, I was anxious that this opera not be to that one what Ishtar was to Citizen Kane – or My Mother the Car to West Wing. . . a humiliating plummet in quality.) And thanks to Corinne and to a really superb cast, this is looking to be a triumph.
There are so many reasons why this is fun. Sullivan’s music is a delight from start to finish, and it is so fun to introduce this music and this style to a cast of singers who, for the most part, are coming to it as newcomers. Then there’s a wonderful wit of W.S. Gilbert, who was not afraid to poke fun at anyone and anything. In some ways, this team would be like classical composer Aaron Copland composing a comic opera set to the text of Al Franken or George Carlin or the writers from Saturday Night Live. And our cast is throwing themselves into this with such a sense of fun and adventure. They’re singing, acting, dancing, sword-fighting . . . and having a good time.
And if there’s one thing that is mildly disappointing, it’s that I had really geared up to become a tough guy this month, ready with stern speeches about letting down your castmates when you don’t have your stuff learned on time or castigating certain cast members for just going through the motions and not digging in with energy. After several years of watching how Dr Sj exacted commitment from his casts by really laying down the law and accepting no excuses for their missteps, I thought this might be a great opportunity for yours truly, a big marshmallow at heart, to emulate that toughness. Unfortunately, this cast seems not to have gotten the memo about this production being an exercise in spine-stiffening for me. They have worked their tails off and in fact have earned what amounts to a day off today because of it. So I’m having to deliver my “It’s time for you to quit messing around!” speeches to my bathroom mirror instead, because this cast hasn’t needed them.
As problems go, that’s a pretty nice problem to have.