A new musical by Duncan Sheik & Kyle Jarrow
Premiering at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, starting January 13th!
Buy tix here.
More info at www.duncansheik.com/whisperhouse
January 14, 2010
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Blog post from Kyle - The Day After the First Preview
THE DAY AFTER THE FIRST PREVIEW
It’s the day after the first preview. I’m sitting here in the dark theater as we retech the song “Earthbound Starlight.” We had a very short tech period (three days) for a show that has pretty complicated design elements. Lots of lights, projections, a seven-piece band, a three-tiered set. So, we’re finishing the teching of the show during the preview period. (Not uncommon in regional theater productions, or even on Broadway.) The goal for today’s rehearsal, before the second preview tonight, is to focus on reimagining the lighting – and some of the staging - for several of the songs in the show. We’re trying to create two worlds in this show: the “real world” vs. the world of the ghosts, which is also the world of the songs. Design plays a big part in telling this story.
Another thing we’re focusing on today is tweaking the ending. Last night’s preview taught me a lot—it’s always quite instructive to see a piece in front of an audience. The good news from last night: the show is funny. Thank God. The bad news: the ending doesn’t work. I thought about it while jogging this morning, and I think I figured out what the problem stemmed from. There was just too much happening onstage at the climactic moment. It was hard for an audience to follow, thus lessening the emotional impact. It’s a pretty simple adjustment, ultimately. I did a small rewrite, we’re going to do some restaging, and we’ll see the new ending tonight. Here’s hoping it works better!-kyle
