What the F**k Did You Say?

Let me just start off by saying this... Urinetown is brilliantly written and poetic in much of it's lyrics and dialogue. Now that I have prefaced...

...this shit is hard to say! Just memorizing lines becomes a chore for our midwest vocal chords. Mind you, most of us hail from or have been influenced heavily by the St. Louis area-- a metro known for its "unique" vernacular (highway Farty Far). So maybe it is just us. Maybe other companies don't have this problem... maybe they all pronounce it "yoorintown"... those bastards!

The other challenge is in creating character voices and still enunciating properly. The voice you pick and your delivery can be funny as hell but if they can't understand what you're saying, who cares. The worst feeling in the world is looking out and the audience has that "I don't understand" look - you know the look. It's the same one people surely got trying to understand Helen Keller at first. I am having that problem with Hot Blades Harry and I am sure others are struggling with it as well. There are a lot of parts in this show that rely on building believable characters and as that process goes along, I'm sure we are all hyper-aware of making sure the audience can understand us - at least I am trying to be. Maybe its just me! Maybe I am the only one worried about it! Maybe no one else cares and I am sweating over this little detail for nothing! OMG! Oh Wait! Scott Miller is concerned... thats right....PHEWW!!!!

And I haven't even mentioned the singing.... I am trying to approach this like when I was in madrigal choir where everything is over enunciated and exaggerated because once we start singing together, we don't want it to become a big ole' gob of yuck! There is this one line that goes "Cladwell's nuts, no ifs ands or buts". Easy to read but hard as hell to sing and get all the words in there. The problem for me is I tend to belt it out too loudly to over compensate and I got a note for it last night, so I need to pipe down... woops.

On a new note - we start blocking act 2 tonight. We ran act 1 last night in its entirety for the first time... and it wasn't too shabby. We'll get there! Oh yeah... we were off book for act 1 last night as well.... a little rough in spots but I have faith in us (myself anyway...screw the rest of those people... hee hee).

Enough blabbering by the guy none of you know and/or care what he says. Now you can go back to surfing for porn!

HBH