WEEK TWO

Monday 10th May

I awake to the sound of birds chirping in the trees. A nice change from the sounds of drilling, or the Parsees singing (I am certainly not implying that the sounds of “drilling” or “singing” are remotely similar!).

I have a few minutes before my alarm goes off, so relax and reflect on my weekend – well, day at home with my girlfriend. When I got home to London on Saturday night, my GG had a little surprise for me. My bed was covered in ‘Happy Birthday’ balloons and under the balloons was an array of birthday presents - for me! We are big on gift giving in my family and my GG is a star in that field. So much so, that I felt bad that I had nothing to give her (even though it was MY birthday!).

So, in to rehearsals. But first we exchange weekend-off-stories. Everyone seems to have had a relaxing time, except the Wildebeest, who worked all day Sunday recording a Sci-Fi audio book of ‘The Tomorrow People’… as you do!

We begin. David takes us through a recap of the newest musical numbers we learnt on Saturday. I didn’t really have much chance to do any learning on Sunday, but surprisingly I am almost up to pace. I’m picking up the new harmonies far more quickly than I was five days ago! I suppose it takes a few days to tune your ear into the music and when you have, the harmonies fall in to place.

Once our gentle recap is over, Stephen begins to stage ‘Just So’. The Jaguar and I will be quick changing out of our “skins” into Wildebeest, like everyone else, so we aren’t required for this number. The Jaguar and I are ready for a set of table tennis, but like true professionals we run through our duet instead. Our harmonies aren’t quite there, but the steps have gone in ... thank goodness.

We’re called in so that Stephen can stage ‘Limpopo River Reprise’, which ends Act One. Luckily this is just musical staging, so there’s no major choreography to get right. When we sing ‘Limpopo River’ earlier in the show we are Elephants, but for the Reprise, we are Wildebeest. I’m not going to ask why (people may think I’m being pedantic) but I am a little confused. We did have the Zebra back for the morning but she leaves around 12:30 (there goes my lunch … or is my meal the Giraffe?!).

So it’s back to my “sarnies”, table tennis and harmony revision - in that order.

The Jaguar and I are first in after lunch so that Stephen can look at the ‘Ladies Out’ duet. He doesn’t mention the Boston production, but he has made some changes and additions to the choreography.

David asks me to work on the opening line of the song, to make the most of the joke – ‘We want to take the ladies out … for dinner’! The more we run the number the more I get into the style of Stephen’s choreography. His style is to make use of dynamics, light and shade, strength and poise. These add to the steps and give the choreography real body and shape.

The rest of the afternoon is spent re-capping the moves of ‘Parsee Cake Walk’ and then ALL the vocal harmonies in Act One.

Tuesday 11th May

The Giraffe, Parsee, Kolokolo Bird (who “perched” at our house last night!) and I, walk to the Boys Club.

After a gentle vocal warm-up we start from the top …again. Today, the plan of action is to fit the Zebra into the staging, and for the rest of us to get used to the flow of the show. When I’m not needed I pop out to the Games Room to rehearse some steps.

We get to the ‘Ladies Out’ duet, and Herr Director breaks most of the cast so we can rehearse the scene that precedes the song, and then go through the number. Stephen adds a few more ideas to the choreography and this helps the Jaguar and I complete the picture. As much as the Jaguar and I want to really go-for-it in this number, we are still thinking about the steps, the lyrics and the harmonies. At some point in rehearsal, and certainly before we get to performances, all these things will become instinctive… and then we can really let rip!

We break at 1:00 pm as everyone, apart from me, has OOTW rehearsals.

I spend the day at the house running some moves and recapping on my harmonies. The rest of this week is going to be a little “bitty” as I will be rehearsing for the evening performances of OOTW alongside the JS rehearsals.

Friday 14th May

After a day of ‘Art O’Malley’ it’s back to the ‘Leopard’.

We begin with a vocal warm-up and then straight on in to ‘The Chase’. Like buffoons, the Jaguar and I get it wrong straight away. We start again … and we go wrong again. The Creative Team are not amused! Well, it is 10:00 am and we did do two shows yesterday – too feeble an excuse I fear. A better excuse would perhaps be, “Sorry, I think we’ve been practising it wrong in the Green room!”
Finally, we get it right and move on in to the rest of the number.

And then guess what follows? Our “Ladies Out” duet. We remember all the changes! At least we haven’t completely lost the plot. We run the scene and number a couple of times. I even break out into a tiny sweat!

During the morning we all have individual shoe fittings. I pop into the lounge at the Boys Club and try on my shoes for the opening number. “Wow. Converse All Star baseball boots!” They are a brown, green, khaki colour. As the Wildebeests, we will all have them! Cool. Let’s hope the rest of my footwear is this comfortable! There’s nothing worse than uncomfortable ‘show shoes’… actually, there is; uncomfortable ‘show pants’! Oooh!

We gather around the piano to sing through ‘Jungle Light’ … or ‘Bleeding Chords’ as I’ve re-named it. It’s pretty high for the tenors, especially after singing through the duet a couple of times this morning. This is of course only light-hearted banter dear reader, but if I’m not careful I could do some vocal damage! Bleeding vocal chords I don’t want!

Before we finish up for the morning, we move on briefly to the ‘Just So’ number. Herr Director explains that in previous productions the company sang this number dressed as their specific animal character. Apparently, this was confusing for the audience - they expected the Jaguar and Leopard to chase the Zebra and Giraffe instead of singing! So, Herr Director has decided that we should all be dressed as Wildebeest. What this really means is … more quick changes.

We break at 1:00 pm because a few of us are due back at the theatre for an OOTW Press Call. Herr Director announces that George is back on Monday. We may do a run of Act One for him. Aarh! I’d better keep going on my harmony homework then.

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