I’ve been having a great time with the Racine Theater Guild’s production of the musical of “I Do I Do” (which opens this weekend) . . . thanks to two very able cast members who are also fun and appreciative people, two very skilled pit musicians who have been so easy to work with, and a stage director and crew who have covered all the details remarkably well. Stir into the mix the musical itself, with its intriguing mix of light fluff and potent drama as it follows a couple through the course of their fifty-year marriage, and it’s hard not to have a thoroughly wonderful time.
I’m not sure exactly when it was, but at some point during this final week of rehearsals, I realized that in some ways my very favorite aspect of this production- and others as well- is that moment at the end of rehearsal run throughs known simply as “Notes.” It’s when the director sits down with the cast and basically talks through everything they noticed during the run through that needs to be different. A director who’s good at this will be efficient and as brief as they can be, knowing full well that the actors have just performed the show straight through and are not likely to benefit from (nor appreciate) long-winded speeches. Boom boom boom and out the door is the way to do notes. And maybe that’s the first thing that fascinates me about Notes, because I am rather effusive when it comes to talking and inclined to use maybe half again as many words as are really necessary to make a given point, especially if I’m a touch nervous or wanting to impress someone. (Talk about a poor strategy!) When I hear someone who is a master of efficiency with notes – as Kara is, or RTG artistic director Doug Instenes – laying out things that need to be change with clarity and succinctness, my hat goes off to them. I wish that came more naturally to me.
But beyond that, I am so impressed by anyone who can look at a stage performance and immediately diagnose the problems with it. . . especially when it comes to matters of where people enter and exit, how they move around the stage, etc. That’s the kind of thing that still baffles me. People pretty much have to crash into each other or walk right off the edge of the stage and fall into the orchestra pit before I’m inclined to say “hmmm, maybe we need to change that blocking.” I do react strongly to how lines are spoken and how music is sung, but the geography of stage performance is Greek to me, beyond the lingo of stage right, stage left, upstage and downstage. So when I watch Kara or Doug (or Matt Boresi at Carthage) manipulating stage movement with the aplomb of an air traffic controller, I just sit there in wondering awe.
It’s maybe no surprise that Kara Ernst should be very adept at this facet of stage direction, since she is a marvelous dancer and choreographer – where matters of movement are supremely important. But beyond that, Kara has really impressed me with how assuredly and effectively she directs actors beyond the matters of where they enter and exit or how they move about the stage. She is also wonderful at helping actors to inhabit the characters they are portraying and to make it real versus stagey. Part of what she does that I think is SO helpful to performers is that she fully understands and appreciates the importance of posture- of how we carry ourselves – and how that contributes mightily to a truly convincing performance. Just by standing like character X, and carrying yourself like character X, you begin to think like character X and feel his or her thoughts and attitudes. I’ve known this to be true for some time now, but it’s been so exciting to see this play out in these rehearsals.
(I’m reminded of my days at the Lyric Opera of Chicago back in the mid 1980s and how I had to portray the character of Count Almaviva in two performances of The Marriage of Figaro – graduating to that major role from the supporting role I had been playing because the lead baritone had another gig.) This character had to be somewhat imposing and imperial looking, and it was very hard for me to get under the skin of someone so different from my own bumbling self. Even after being put in costume, I was still not feeling it to my bones. What ended up making the biggest difference was when they changed me into shoes that had a much taller heel and made me taller. (They probably did it because the guy playing Figaro opposite me, Mark Doss, towered over me by probably 5 inches, and you don’t want these foes to look like ventriloquist Charlie McCarthy and his dummy.) They gave me these taller shoes- and the wardrobe person mentioned almost in passing that they were the shoes worn by Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus in the Lyric’s production of “Faust” some years earlier. So I had the thrill of wearing the shoes of an opera star I much admired – but beyond that, just feeling taller helped me to carry myself in a matter befitting Count Almaviva. . . and while I never did win any awards for my portrayal, it was immeasurably better than if I had tried to be the Count with my own 5’10” height. )
As I’ve watched Notes for this production, I have also been intrigued by the openness of the cast to receive whatever Kara has had to say – even when concerns are delivered in what seems to me rather blunt fashion. If I were to give criticism to an actor about a crucial moment in the action that just wasn’t working, I would couch it in all kinds of platitudes about how he or she is otherwise doing such fine work, and there are certain things about this moment that are good, but maybe. . .just maybe. . . they should try it another way. Kara and our two actors, Robin Wilks and Bob Benson, know that there is no time in a production like this for apologies . . . for couching every criticism on a soft bed of compliments. The notes are delivered with simple, straightforward directness – which is SO much better, and allows everyone to leave by 10 instead of by midnight! And Kara is really superb at working with her actors in this way- with honing the most subtle sorts of details in terms of pitch, inflection, pacing- and meaning. And almost before your eyes, you see something that was already very good become even better. That process is nothing less than thrilling- – – especially when opening night is right around the corner and everyone involved is still hungry for improvement rather than hungry to be told how wonderful they are.
Which reminds me that in some of the first productions I was involved in – years and years ago – I would see stage directors fall into the tempting track of essentially making fun of the mistakes or missteps of their actors. Once in awhile someone does something that is worth chuckling over, but nothing poisons the trust between director and actor as when an actor feels like they are providing fodder for an aspiring comedian. I have always appreciated the sense of respect with which Doug and Kara have delivered notes to their cast, poking gentle fun only with veteran cast members who would be the first to laugh along, and being a little gentler with someone maybe a bit more sensitive. It is a matter not to be under-estimated.
The good spirits of this production – and the efficiency of it -by contrast reminds me that one of Doug’s biggest pet peeves (and I’m guessing it’s the pet peeve of Kara and just about every other director on the planet) is when he has a cast member who responds to every note they’re given with some sputtering explanation of why they did what they did or what motivated whatever choice they made or what caused them to make the mistake they made. When it comes to wasting everyone’s time and rendering the process of Notes so inefficient and ineffective, there’s no better means than this. What has been so nice about this production is that both Bob and Robin take every note in the spirit in which it’s given, trusting that Kara knows what she’s talking about (or me when I’m giving music notes) and what all of this ultimately about is giving those nice ticket-buying folks the very best show we can possibly give them. And judging by the strength of what I’ve been seeing, that’s exactly what we’re going to be giving them.
I Do I Do runs this weekend and the next at the Racine Theater Guild . . . and ticket information is available at racinetheatre.org or by calling 633-4218. I hope to see you there!
pictured above: stage director giving notes to I Do I Do cast members Bob Bensen and Robyn Wilks after one of this week’s run-through rehearsals.