Ready Or Not...It's Showtime

Last Friday I attended the first run through of the show that had all hands on board. This was called the Tech rehearsal. Everyone who is involved in the show attends.

The lighting designer, the set designer, the costume designer, the stage manager, the musical director all join the director and choreographer Russell Garrett and just to throw in a little more pressure, the Theater's Artistic Director Amiee Turner and Managing Producer Joel Kipper are also in attendance.

This is the first time that the show is staged start to finish in front of an “audience”. This day the audience consists of those mentioned and the cast of the Man of La Mancha, which was still playing last week, and me.

This run through happens in the rehearsal hall on Woodruff Avenue, since Man of La Mancha was still on stage at the barn in Matunuck. Luckily on this hot day there is air conditioning in the rehearsal space, but soon the actors will have to do without when the show hits the stage. This “show” is presented in shorts and T-shirts, and is presented to give the tech folks time to do some final lighting adjustments.

Bert Scott, the set designer, has already been hard at work since March, but is meeting the show's director for the first time in person. Scott, who is the head of theater design at the University of Central Florida and teaches set and lighting design, is familiar with the limitations of the Matunuck stage. He was the set designer for last season's “Little Shop of Horrors”. According to Scott, the limitations don't really affect what is on stage but it does affect how it gets there.

The noise and buzz builds for this tech rehearsal as it gets closer to showtime. Some of the cast are stretching, some are milling about. Others, like Sean McGuirk who plays Wilbur Turnblad, are front and center, silently mouthing the words to their songs while miming the dance steps. The noise level rises as the stage manager calls out five minutes.

"Places please! Quiet please!" The director goes “backstage”, which consists of some moveable panels, to give the actors some last minute instructions. And now – the show starts.

Even though the actors are not in costume and the set is not in place the show put on by this cast in entertaining enough to be infectious. There were a few calls out for “line?” and some humming through the lyrics of songs, but for the most part after only nine days of rehearsal this cast had the show down and ready to go.

The song and dance scene “Timeless to Me” between Rhode Islanders Tom Gleadow (Edna Turnblad) and Sean McGuirk (Wilbur Turnblad) had everyone in the audience in tears laughing. The scene was alternately tender and touching and hysterically funny. SK resident Alexa Shanahan, who plays Penny Pingleton, also got a rousing reception from the audience of her fellow actors.

The first time that the cast actually got on the stage and the only dress rehearsal for the show was held on Tuesday night and previews were held on Wednesday and Thursday. Tonight is opening night. This big show was pulled together in two weeks due to an abundance of talent and hard work. This is one that you will not want to miss.

For tickets visit the website or call the box office at 401-782-8587.