Playing the Palace and Candid Shots

[mrdreamjeans]

"Evita" is five days into tech rehearsals here in Waterbury, Connecticut at the Palace Theatre. The Palace has been closed for 17 years, but is set to reopen in November. We've added most of the tech elements to the show having added microphones, costumes and the 14-piece orchestra that will travel with us (which expands to 20 in the major markets) in the past three days.

Tonight, we'll add wigs for a couple of the women and make-up for everyone. It's not perfect; there are still many costume pieces missing such as my Aristocrat "dickie", but the show is really taking shape and Hal Prince has been very active in the process. On Friday and Saturday nights, we are doing a full orchestra dress before invited audiences.

We were surprised to hear that our dress rehearsals will be attended by 500-600 people each night. Evidently the owners of the theatre are using our run-throughs as a test run for the box office, ushers and vendors. Members of the construction crew and artisans who have renovated The Palace have been invited to attend with their families, many of them having never seen a show before, as a thank you for all of their hard work. It's been a long process to restore this historic theatre.


Proscenium of the Palace Theatre

A carpenter stopped me this morning as I entered the theatre and asked me in a gruff voice if I was part of the cast. I replied yes, after ascertaining that he had not said "Cats", but cast. He told me to break a leg. There are a lot of gumbas here in Waterbury, so I hope he meant it in the traditional way:)


Hal and Kathy

I'm asking Tim (gotmoof) to post three pictures for me from our tech week here in Waterbury. One is of the proscenium of The Palace Theatre with our set in place. Another is a candid photo of Kathy being fitted for the famous white gown for the first time; that's Hal Prince observing; the third picture is of me on the Casa Rosada balcony.

One of my fellow cast members Victoria Matlock is creating a website for "Evita" and I'll soon be able to post a link. Victoria is responsible for the picture of Kathy (It was taken on one of those phone cameras) and Joel Briel, another singer/actor (and bear), is responsible for the photos of The Palace and me.


Hey, where's MY white dress?!"