h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I thought I'd start a journal thread to witter on about the rehearsal process for Me and My Girl, as it's ofen very hard to remember how things started by the time you get to the performances. I plan to add to this thread after each rehearsal that strikes me as significant, interesting or amusing, so if you have no interest in amateur dramatics, unsubscibe now! I won't be offended (indeed, I shall never know!).

Tuesday 11th October

This was the first read-through of the script with about half the cast (some of the smaller roles were uncast at this point), which gave us an opportunity to see how the whole thing hangs together and begin to get a handle on our characters. The director wants Gerald (i.e. me) to have some sort of speech impediment or affectation (it won't be a lisp, as I don't want to use that for comedic purposes) so that Bill can imitate me and I think I shall rrrroll all my rrrrs to a rrrrather rrrrrrridiculous degrrree. I was also warned that I will probably have a monocle, which should be good fun.

The cast present (Bill, Sally, Jackie, Duchess, Sir John, Charles) all seem to be nice people, which is always a good start, and we spent quite a bit of time laughing. Once we'd had our read-through, we spent a bit of time on the opening scene, which is probably my longest scene. This was very sketchy, as we were missing a few folks who appear in the scene. I spent quite a bit of it being upset or annoyed and also have a large stretch without any dialogue, just reacting to what everyone else is saying. A generally positive rehearsal, but afterwards I couldn't get to sleep for an absolute age, as I began to panic about whether I can actually do this or not.

Friday 14th October

Chorus and some principals, working on the opening number. A few more parts have been cast now, leaving us with just one hole, the solicitor Parchester, and there is at least one definite possibility for that. I was very pleased to see that an old university colleague of mine has a role as one of my family. Particularly pleased as she might be carrying much of the dance burden for Gerald's big number. I'm really not a dancer, so it is a relief to know that the director and choreographer have thought of a way round that.

I spend most of the rehearsal sitting at the side, as my character doesn't come in until the 183rd bar of the song. In fact, we didn't even get to the point of working out where I come in from and what I do exactly, although we did sing through that bit a few times, and I got it right approximately fifty percent of the times. My bit is mostly unaccompanied and randomly changes key (or something) half-way through, so I ended up somewhere interesting once or twice! When I did get it right, several people told me that I have a lovely voice, which made me .

As I wasn't needed for most of it, I had a lovely quiet conversation with some of the other people in supporting roles, discussing ways we could steal various scenes if we wanted to. Though we won't. Honest.

The whole dance thing still fills me with dread, and I have realised that the singing bits are harder than I thought. Oh well. We work on all the songs for the main characters on Tuesday, so we should be able to iron out some of my ineptitude!

!


*Raises Flag of Ignorance*

Okay, I have no idea what 'Me and My Girl' is, though from what you've been telling it sounds nice... could you explain the basic plot or something?

Yes, of course. It's a 1930s musical that was given a bit of a polish during the 1980s by Stephen Fry, a rather respected British comedian and all-around clever chap.

The basic plot is this: Lord Hareford has died, and his will reveals that he has a previously-unknown successor, a young man who was the result of a fling with someone from the lower classes. This man is found and turns out to be Bill Snibson, a jolly cockney from Lambeth, who shocks the other members of the Hareford clan with his vulgarity and all-around common-ness. Jackie breaks off her engagement to Gerald (me), who would otherwise have been the heir, in order to get her claws into Bill, but he is devoted to his Lambeth gal Sally. The Duchess (Jackie's mother, and Gerald and Bill's aunt) tries to educate Bill in the ways of the aristocracy and also to get rid of Sally. Many comic situations ensue before a typically jolly finale. The songs include The Lambeth Walk, The Sun Has Got His Hat On and Leaning On a Lamppost.

My character, Gerald, is an upper-class idiot, who is devoted to the rather awful Jackie.

, thanks! Sounds very cute.

I'll see if I can download some of these songs to get a better idea of this.

The American version Amazon has brief clips from all of the songs that can be listened to on-line. I can't link to it though, as the post would get deleted due to it being a commercial site. Search for 'Me My Girl Broadway' under popular music. Sound quality's not great, but it would give you an idea.

Thanks - Kazaa can't find anything, right now... might try again later, though. But I'll have a look through Amazon too.

The Sun Has Got His Hat On! I heard that when I was living in England and it always made me think of times gone by. A more innocent age altogether.

You said "Stephen Fry, a rather respected British comedian and all-around clever chap." I disagree. He's an extremely well respected British comedian and all-around extremely clever chap. I recently discovered that he was in Black Adder!

The Sun... is my big number.

David, it all sounds like great fun. I hope it's a hugh success.

Will you sing it through a megaphone? I can remember an ancient recording with that nasal tonality...

I went to see Dangerous Corner by JB Priestly last night. It was done by an amdram group. It's set in the 30's and the people had dinner jackets and stuff. No music though.

I really like your thread. I feel like a fly on the wall.

Tuesday 18th and Friday 21st October

This week was mostly about the music for me. Still no choreography, but further confirmation of my reduced dance requirement.

I seem to have developed an inability to sing a note I've just heard. There are two points where I need to come in strongly on the exact note that the orchestra have just played, but both of them are proving difficult. One of them is in a Gilbert & Sullivan style song, 'The Family Solicitor', where I sing a harmony line along with the other upper class characters (all on our own line, which can result in eight-part harmony with eight people on stage) while the solicitor sings the tune. At one point, he stops singing and I randomly get the tune for a bit, coming in on an 'F', which is exactly what the instrumentalists will have been playing, and also the same note (different octave) as the other men have just been singing. Can I do it? Can I heck! Most embarrassing, particularly as I picked up my other bits, which are all rather odd harmony, with no problems. The other one is the bit in the opening number which I had trouble with last week. It's my entrance onto the stage and it has to be right. The repetiteur (piano player for rehearsals) kindly went over and over it with me before Friday's rehearsal until I could listen to four 'D's in the music and then sing one. Why on Earth was I finding that hard?

My ridiculously posh accent (in character) made a number of chorus people laugh on Friday, which made me happy. There was a bit of 'floor work' (i.e. moving around and doing stuff)in both rehearsals this week, but for one of them, I just had to sit in a chair and look sad, and at the other one, they ran out of time just as they reached my entrance. Oh, well, more time to chat with other principals and I got to observe the chorus work. There are some exceptionally talented people in the chorus, along with a few people that seem to find the concept of moving at the same time as saying 'croquet' or 'golf' very hard indeed. Of course, this made me speculate on where I fit on that continuum when I'm doing chorus stuff. I did try not to laugh, as if I did, I'm sure the chorus would soon be able to laugh at me when I struggle with the dancing in weeks to come.

I really enjoyed today' rehearsal. Oh, yes - Tuesday 25th October

This was partially a music rehearsal, as we worked on the 'Family Solicitor' song again, this time with everyone present and all harmony lines in place. Golly, it does sound rather good when we all get it right. We were told that next week we have to be able to do it without consulting out scripts or scores, though. We all instantly responded with a portion of the song. In perfect harmony - "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

I also did a lot of acting type stuff, as we worked on the opening scene, which is probably my biggest scene. I get to do some 'business' with a monocle, a ring and a suit of armour, and I think I'm working pretty well with my Jackie, the woman who ditches me to chase after the male lead. I get terribly shrill and spoilt in this scene as well, which is rather good fun. The director is also looking for ways to make my character 'bigger', as he's concerned that I might be drowned in the sea of strong characters on stage in the scene.

Lots of smiles, laughter and mutual encouragement in this rehearsal, but thankfully not of the luvvie 'oh, you were fabulous darling' type. The monocle search must now begin, as I need to practice with one as soon as possible - apparently they are very hard to keep in place.

This is fun!

Monocles will affect your expressions, too. The best monocle example I can think of is Teddy Roosevelt!

Sounds like it's going swimmingly.

Do keep us up to date. I'm enjoying this thread. My son is trying to get a small part in the Am-Dram panto in our neck of the woods. They always write their own and I've offered them a couple of fishy sketches to look at - it has an undersea theme.

Your wish is my command...

Friday 28th October was a bit of a fraught rehearsal as it was another chorus call, going through the good old opening number again. First we had musical learning/checking of 'The Sun Has Got His Hat On' and the opening number, and I managed to sing both of them in a very bizarre, unpleasant and strangled-sounding fashion. I was particularly embarrassed when I discovered that the bass section of the chorus have to get their note from me during the opening number - I'm sure I sung the wrong note a couple of times...

Lots of chorus people were missing and quite a few were suffering from some sort of amnesia, completely unable to remember when they had to sing, where to stand etc., so the director was getting rrather with them. While they were working on that, the woman playing Jackie (my opposite number) helped myself and the guy playing Bill (the lead) to brush up our tap skills. Neither of us are particularly good, but we are starting to get somewhere. After a while, we were told to stop, because the sound was travelling through to the main rehearsal room and had interrupted the director making a speech about commitment, dedication etc...

Finally, I did actually get to make my entrance and sing my lines (correctly this time!) before we all had to go home. At last! By the end, various chorus people were looking disgruntled, bored etc., but I didn't get to speak to folks, as I didn't take part in the traditional escape to the local watering hole this week.

Tuesday 1st November

Much better. The principals have now got almost all of our bits in Act One blocked so that we know what we're doing and where we're doing it. This means we can go back and work on characterisation and bits of comic 'business' at our leisure. I am noting with glee that I have several wonderful lines, generally said as I exit the stage, which means I will have to put very little effort into scene-stealing. My favourite is 'I'm staggered and jiggered and profoundly startled. I'm going upstairs to bathe my temples in eau de cologne!' With my extra-high Gerald voice, it sounds so ridiculous.

The poor guy playing Bill has to imitate me at one point, and he has a naturally deeper voice than me. As I'm doing Gerald in a higher-than-normal register, he's got his work cut out for him. He rolls his 'r's beautifully, though. Better than me. I shall have to work on that. Whenever we reach the two duets for him and Sally, the pair have to run around the stage for the duration of the dance breaks to check whether they can still breathe to sing afterwards. Very amusing to watch, but rather cruel. I suspect they'll be relieved when the choreographer starts work with us on 15th November.

I'm not needed next Tuesday. Bill and Jackie are working on their scenes, which the director wants to do without the rest of us cluttering the place up.

Forgot to add - to your son. I've never done panto, but I'd love to. Eventually, I'd love to play a villain, but I suspect I'd be cast as the Buttons-type character.

In my years of panto-attending, I've always enjoyed home-grown local pantos much more than the ones which star 'Him off Eastenders', 'Her off Neighbours' and 'Thimgummy from Gladiators'. The people in the local ones can usually act much better and are always better singers!

Maybe you can invent a villain for when we finally get down to the Panto for the Library of Doom.

Every time I come to this thread, I wind up singing The Sun Has Got His Hat On. For hours.

Oh, dear. Sorry. If it's any consolation, I keep singing that song for hours as well. Can't think why...

Oh yes, LofD panto. Must write some thrilling descriptions of the real thing, mustn't I?

Friday 4th November was another chorus rehearsal much like the previous one, but slightly less fraught despite continued absence of various people. Apparently they'll be getting Calls or Letters to explain that absence is not particularly helpful and are they sure they're going to do the show...

Did a bit of singing, which went well, and various people sidled up to me when I was on my own to say how much they're enjoying the bits I sing. Which was nice.

We actually got up to my entrance and even to the end of the opening number complete with head and hand choreography. Not dancing, thank goodness, and I can cope with all of the movements. We did it so many times that my voice eventually gave up and I ended one line with a mangled squawk, talked my way through my last line and had a coughing fit when we reached the end of the number. Most embarrassing.

I was then told that I would be needed on Tuesday, so no night off after all. Nice time at pub afterwards.

Tuesday 8th November

In the end, I was a bit useless at this rehearsal. I wasn't needed most of the time, so was on tea and coffee duty. I don't drink or and things got a bit bizarre on that front. I suspect they won't ask me to do that again. This was a very small rehearsal, with only three actors (including myself) plus the four ever-present people - director, assistant director, musical direcor and repetiteur/pianist.

We worked a little on my 'duet' with Jackie (the woman I love, but doesn't love me), as the director wants some of my lines spoken instead of sung. For some reason, I then proceeded to be absolutely terrible, incapable of staying in character on the spoken lines. There will apparently be dancing in this number, but I will mostly be watching the dancing and looking cross, which is fine with me. Of course, my general rubbishness at this rehearsal did increase the volume of the little voice that says 'They're soon going to realise they've made a terrible mistake and you'll have to leave.' I wish it would shut up.

Most of the rehearsal was spent working on the number in which Jackie tries to seduce Bill (how dare she!), in terms of both music and choreography. That's working really well and is very amusing. I alternated between watching, trying to get the kettle to boil and revising my lines for other scenes.

I'm really, really not needed on Friday, though, as they're doing the two chorus bits that don't involve Gerald (he's probably off somewhere sulking, while I'm in the dressing room changing costume and panicking about the next scene). I may use some of the time to work on the duet and try to be Gerald rather than David when I'm doing it. And if my house mate is out, then I will be tap-dancing in the kitchen...