BIG BOLD NOTE: The show dates are Thursday November 10th, Saturday November 12th, Friday November 18th, and Saturday November 19th at 8pm, as well as on Sunday November 13th and 20th at 2pm. Tickets are not on sale at the moment but pricing information, as well as tickets for our fundraiser party at Nocello's on October 23rd, can be found here at our theatre's website.
Written by: Justin Murphy
Date of Rehearsals Listed: 9/19, 9/21, and 9/27
Rehearsal Location: Northport-East Northport Community Theatre (henceforth known as NCT)
After 4 months of inactivity, it's time to return to blogging. Welcome back to all of you who viewed the blog for our previous NCT show, Mary Poppins (all 12 o' ya). There may not be a pun in the title of the blog this time, but nonetheless, it's time for the beginning of the blog for our 30th mainstage show that heralds NCT's 15th Anniversary: Annie*-I MEAN, Here's Lov**-I MEAN, Miracle on 34th Street!
This first edition of the blog will cover the first three group rehearsals (there have been more, but I can't cover rehearsals I'm not called for, and thusly, am not at). Just like the previous set of shows, it began with a rundown on how things are done by one of NCT's founders and its producer, Bette Silver. Once again she went into pricing of both the show and costumes, as since the theatre is non-profit with the exception of ticket sales, the theatre depends on its actors for a lot of its income. However, this time it was requested that costume forms be filled out quicker, as longtime Leading Costume Designer Jennifer Lau has vacated the position, which is to be now filled by Courtney Hotis, who would need more time to figure out what certain actors needed, since she is new and is less familiar with the cast than Jen was. We were also briefly introduced to our choreographer for the show, Tori Lewis, who will work on whatever dance numbers the show has, such as a Toy Ballet scene which has been mentioned a few times and is still going through stages of mental editing at the moment. Returning crew members include the Stage Manager, Alyson Graci, the Technical and Lighting Director Rob Miller, and the Assistant Lighting Director Theo Lau, all of whom have a long history at NCT (especially Rob, who's been there since he was a student) and all of whom are very good and competent at what they do.
Also returning was our grand poobah director himself, Jim Redding. The first rehearsal's speech delivered by Jim was very different this time around. While this show, much like Mary Poppins, was based on a very popular movie classic, the show itself was much less well known. In fact, despite the fact that the show's book and music were done by none other than the famed thimble rigger Meredith Willson, best known for being the man behind "The Music Man", it closed after less than a year despite good songs and a stellar cast. Who can say why? Perhaps people were too used to the movie, perhaps they didn't realize it was based on Miracle on 34th Street due to the name change, maybe it was because of Willson's coyness (Why just call him Bearded Gentlemen in the script for 3 or 4 scenes when we know he's Kris Kringle?), but whatever the reason, it was a different type of show outside of NCT's comfort zone, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Jim also introduced the cast to longtime NCT veteran and former leading lady, Avery Infranco, who would be shadowing Jim throughout the show and helping him out with the show.
Possibly due to having less people audition for the show than usual, on the first night, the cast wasn't even announced because no one had been officially cast yet. After the first night's rehearsal had concluded, there were a few callbacks for some characters. On Wednesday night, at the conclusion of the rehearsal, the cast list was finally shared with the cast...well...some of it. It was mentioned several times by Jim on Wednesday and on Monday that the show was an old school-style Broadway show, so there were tons of little parts throughout the show. Since it would be a while before we began working on these scenes, not all these parts had been cast (in fact, only 8 of them had, with quite a fair few more as of yet to be assigned). Also, with the exception of Kris Kringle, Doris Walker, Susie Walker, and Fred Gailey, the show was written in a way where a lot of parts could be played by either a man or a woman, even if it was traditionally only done one of those ways. This would be seen in the casting of both the Judge and Sawyer, who are both traditionally played by men in the show, as they were in the movie(s), but were both cast as women in the show.
When Jim announced the characters who were cast, he did quite a few of them in a comedic way, cracking jokes about certain characters and actors, which always gets laughs from the cast, as Jim has a very on-point sense of humor (sometimes so quick-witted that it's scary). One of my personal favorites included the very first casting decision he made, as the character of Miss Muffet in the Macy's parade is played by a man (in the script, I mean), which got a lot of people's imagination giving them laughs. Another came from the description that Jim gave to the neurotic psychologist Sawyer and the "infinitely more neurotic" secretary of Sawyer's, Miss Crookshanks. Probably my favorite was when he announced the casting of Thomas Mara Junior and then spent a good little while building up who was playing their father, which ultimately got quite a few laughs from the kids and their "father"...shame I can't remember who it was that was cast as the father, though.
Lastly returning was our Musical Director Donna Gorelick, who the cast spent the most time with during these rehearsals. Since Jim would mostly be working with crew members and individual actors during these rehearsals separately (I believe he worked on some scenes during night 3 with Doris and Susie), we worked on learning songs, in these cases, songs that almost everyone in the show sang. On our first night, we learned the first song of the show: The Big Clown Balloons. This could've been a lot trickier than it ended up being as very few people in the cast had heard the song before. Thankfully, one cast member of the show, Meaghan Maher, who has previously played roles on NCT like Jane Banks in Mary Poppins and Oliver in...well...Oliver!, knew the song very well, as she had been in the production of the show at the Engeman Theatre last year. So she stood with Donna and helped the cast learn the song, as well as its differing harmonies and melodies. We also worked on the small intro to the song, and the sad exit reprise of the song when the rain starts.
One repeating theme that people heard during these nights was enunciating the words. It was said by both Jim and Donna had Meredith Willson was a guy who loved his particular choices of words and that all the lyrics were very important, so the cast had to make sure to enunciate them so the audience could understand them. This was implied to all the songs, but mostly to the Big Clown Balloons, which has quite a few very quickly spouted lines, and some admittedly strange ones at that (The title of the song is actually sung as The Big Ca-lown Balloons, for a small example).
The following rehearsal, we reviewed the Big Clown Balloons for a bit, but we also learned the (former) titular song of the show, Here's Love, sung by Kris Kringle, Fred Gailey, and the ensemble. Since the actor playing Kris Kringle was unavailable for the evening, the whole cast sung his parts of the song, as the melody would be very similar (and sometimes identical) to the parts of the song they would be singing. Once again Meaghan stood up front and helped everyone learn the song, along with the actor playing Fred Gailey, that being James Reiss, an NCT veteran known for playing such roles as The Prince in Cinderella and Marius in Les Miserables.
At the 3rd rehearsal, we reviewed The Big Clown Balloons and Here's Love considerably. Lawrence Palevsky, who will be playing Kris Kringle, and who previously portrayed Tevye in NCT's Fiddler on the Roof two years ago, was at this rehearsal, and had previously worked on the song at a non-full cast rehearsal, so he was incorporated into the song with the rest of the cast. In addition, a few of the solos and group parts of the song were divied up and handed to some members of the cast. We also worked on a new group song, called That Man Over There, sung mostly by R.H. Macy (yes, as in the real guy who was in charge of Macy's), played by former NCT leading man Rich Lau, known for playing such roles at NCT as Oliver Warbucks in Annie Warbucks and the King of Siam in The King And I. The song, around the time when the chorus starts joining into the song, goes into separate parts at times, as in when one section is singing something while another section sings something completely different (with Mr. Macy being Section 1 and the chorus being section 2).
I don't know how the blocking rehearsals have been going so far, but if the cast's progress on the group songs is any indication, the show is already going very well, as it should be considering that we open the show in just over 6 weeks (AAAAH!). Other things to note include an acting workshop that Jim will be teaching for the duration of the show prior to Tuesday and Thursday rehearsals, much like he does during every show for every cast member that wants to learn and improve their craft. Also announced was a special 15th anniversary party/Halloween party/fundraiser to be held at the Nocello's in Northport on October 23rd at 5 pm. Everyone associated with NCT, whether they are in the show or not, is invited! (Ok, so there's a fee of 35 dollars and there is limited seating, but still, you don't have to be in the show to come). The cast will eat, reminisce about shows, some will come in costumes, tell theatre stories, participate in silent auctions/raffles/50/50s, and Donna will be available for accompaniment to anyone that wants to sing a song (a challenge laid out to the cast is to sing a reverse-gender song...and yes, I already have several ideas of my own in mind). Check back next week around Wednesday or Thursday for the next blog (as our next group rehearsal is on Wednesday), and rather than end this blog with one of my usual puns (as it's nearly midnight and I can't think of any at the moment), I leave you with this quote.
"Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to." -Fred Gailey
*: The original plan for the NCT show, as anyone who saw our last show, Mary Poppins, and holds a playbill with the original audition dates for Annie listed knows, was for the 30th show to be Annie. Due to a combination of East Northport Middle School requesting us to change the show as they were doing it, as well as the mainstage show being on tour and us not being able to get the rights to it, Annie had to be shelved for the time being.
**: The original name of the stage musical of Miracle on 34th Street was Here's Love, a decision which baffled many when it came out, considering that Miracle on 34th Street was one of the most famous Christmas movies of all time, so why wouldn't you want its name value, as opposed to an admittedly good song from the stage show? Maybe the play just wanted to answer Oliver's question when he kept asking where love was.
CAST LIST
Kris Kringle: Lawrence Palevsky
Doris Walker: Chelsea Brown
Susan Walker: Annabelle Deaner/Grace Sewell
Fred Gailey: James Reiss
Mr. Marvin Shellhammer: Justin Autz
Mr. R.H. Macy: Rich Lau
Judge Group: Suzie Lustig
D.A. Thomas Mara: Hmm...What's his name?
Mrs. Sawyer: Kathy Lau
Miss Crookshank: Samantha Schoeps
Hendrika: Lily Eagen/Carlie Rees
Hendrika's Foster Mother: Judy Avena/Barbara Schulman
Harry Finfer: Jude Centamore/Michael Deaner
Mrs. Finfer: Michelle Centamore/Elise Autz
Thomas Mara Junior: Jacob Karp/Kieran Brown
Mr. Gimbel: John Morale
Miss Muffet: Joel Ackerman
Inebriated Santa Claus: Rich Rowehl
The following Roles as of yet are not cast
Tammany O'Halloran, a political boss
Alvin, Whitey, and Climber, Marine friends of Fred's
Clara, a legal secretary
Miss Sims, a nurse
Bailiff, a...bailiff
Murphy, a night watchman
Kid, a...kid
Balloon Vendor...some of these unnamed descriptions really kinda speak for themself, don't they?
Lady Shopper, a lady sho-ok, that's enough, if the character doesn't have a name, than they don't need a description
Man Shopper and his Wife
Young Woman Shopper
Clerk in Toy Department
Troubled Shopper
Governor of New York
Mayor of New York City
Two Policemen
Mailman
Tall Dame Girl Scout
Mrs. Beeler, the housekeeper
Marines, Parade Spectators, and Christmas Shoppers
Toy Ballet Sequence Characters
THE FOLLOWING CAST MEMBERS HAVE YET TO BE GIVEN A SPECIFIC PART AS OF 9/27/16
Men
Joe Centamore
Vinnie Dillon
Boys
Luke Frisoli
Andrew Geres
Owen LaBruna
James Roche
Anthony Shah
Nathan Zarko
Women
Noel Dillon
Jillian Graci
Katlyn Reller
Kellsey Roy
Linda Scott
Kate Smith
Heather Carro Totoro
Patsy VanDyke
Girls
Julie Barbier
Juliette Bonchonsky
Maya Burget
Taylor Carro
Goldie Centamore
Bella Donneruno
Maggie Fitzmaurice
Riley Gayer
Jennifer Golder
Alyssa Infranco
Quincy Jackson
Arianna Keating
Grace Keating
Amelia Lau
Meaghan Maher
Juliet Morale
Caitlin Rees
Tess Robinson
Grace Rowan
Ashley Rowehl
Amelia Semple
Emily Shah
Ella Smith
Emily Starin
Clare Vogt
Fallon Young
Lacey Zaharis
