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

The public will be disappointed if they are expecting a live orchestra

Apparently the standard achieved by a live orchestra last time , and the cost have mitigated against employing one this time.

There will be a live choir (in the snowflake scene I believe). Didn't see the Russians, who had arrived yesterday, but were too exhausted by their all day journey to attend the rehearsal. Wore tail coat, white bow tie, gloves and waistcoat last night to approval of costume mistress who also okayed my old pair of buckled shoes. Spent most of the rehearsal attempting to untangle a mess of pink thread being used to darn ballet shoes. It kept me occupied anyway between scene five and the curtain call when I found I have to carry Clara off walking *slowly* across the stage. Even a child feels heavy carried in arms for long

Are they going to use the recording they have so far? You said it was "fair enough". I'd think if they're using canned misic, they would select a really excellent tape. Unless there are performance rights difficulties.

I don't know. When I said it was 'fair enough' I meant that it isn't much of a loss to use a tape or CD rather than live music when doing most rehearsals, in the same way that we rehearse musicals with only a pianist and only hear the full band sound a week or so before we perform.

Gotcha. I misunderstood the comment.

Truthfully, a tape that is well done would probably be better than a poor quality, live rendition. I've been rethinking my position on the issue.

Another rehearsal yesterday, another task, still no sight of the Russians.

The task fortunately is pretty simple - create a nut, using as a basis a hollow cylinder of wood the size of a small fist (formerly part of a nutcracker I think). Covered it with papier-mache giving it a more spherical shape, with wrinkled surface and raised rib circling it (I assumed a walnut would be easiest, though there is the danger it will be mistaken for a shrunken head (that's too big for a nut... what is it supposed to be ?) or swollen testicle (Look! Drosselmeyer had to fiddle before he pulled it out of the pocket of his trousers )

The Russians are apparently (accoridng to reports from those who have seen them) top class athletes - highly limber, strong (the gentleman easily launches the ballerinas into the air) and with exquisite control. The lady is jolly thin too. J didn't bring them along yesterday because she didn't want to shock them by the standard of professionalism. She repeated that once in the theatre there is to be no chattering (the worst fault of the company, though J might say it is 'lazy feet' - not pointing them), no hanging around in the wings, courtesy shown, and instructions followed.

Next rehearsal for me on Wednesday. Semi dress (no make-up). Must remember to bring something to do between my exit halfway through Act 1 and end of Act 2 when I finally reappear again at end of Finale and Curtain calls. Had to ask what kind of bow was wanted, as *everyone* else present at the curtain calls yesterday was curtseying. It is going to be chaos in the wings prior to entrances, so many little columns of people, some having to leave the finale on one side and fight way to front on other side (ie me)

What would they do without you to make their props, Pimms!

I've spent all lunchtime looking for polystyrene cups for my drama group's Front of House - the play starts tomorrow and as per usual I've been commandeered into organising FOH. Bleugh...'orrible job.

YES I'M LURKING I'M LURKING I'M LURKING!

Sorry, those rolling eyes get to me.

But do tell about those Russians. I've heard they are wicked good at ballet.

Tech Dress rehearsal last night. Arrived about six pm, found my dressing room and dropped off my 'luvvy box'* shoes, tailcoat and other bits. Rack of costumes did not make clear which bits were for my use, or for the other males in the dressing room (one small dressing room having been allocated for the huge male part of the cast, all four of us - Slav, Drosselmeyer, me and the boy).
As none of the others were there I sought out someone else who might know. I also tracked down the Mouse King mask to add the whiskers. Eventually worked out that I had been provided two white blouses (one with floppy black bow attached by a safety pin), two pairs of black breeches, two waistcoats (but I used my own), and a white nylon wig tied into a ponytail (the kind of thing worn by gentlemen about the time of George Washington). I was quickly able to change into costume, adding white gloves, tights and black buckled shoes. The part that took the longest time was pinning on the bow without a proper collar - it was *just* a bow, nothing to tie around the neck. I overcame this by wearing a white bow tie underneath.
J liked the papier-mache walnut. The Mouse King mask looked good with gold pipe-cleaner whiskers, but, since I had only sewed them on, it was clear that they would not stay attached for long. Later in the evening one of the ladies in charge of props heated up her glue gun and glued them in place.

Anyway we didn't eventually start the ballet until 7:45. We hadn't been going long before J lost her patience and had the small girls repeat their first dance several times. "That was not a circle! You are supposed to be dancing around the middle of the stage! Move over! Why are you all bunched up like that!"
There were only a few other outbursts and stern words ("keep still, stop giggling"), and even occasional praise. The other major delays were caused by technical problems - trying to change sets within tight musical cues, or safely get people to appear out of the traps - or by having to adjust entrances and movement to allow for the differences caused by being in the theatre.

The best bit was seeing all the cast in their varied costumes. The snowflake dance with the corps de ballet and Russian principal ballerina all in their tutus was very reminiscent of the ballet dancers painted by Degas. I snapped quite a number of photos from the side of the stage on my standard digital camera (no big lens), and on normal mode the dancers tended to blur. This resulted in one (just one) really nice image with the Russian dancer en pointe (if that's the term) standing still in the centre of a very blurred circle of the corps twirling around her. See http://spaces.msn.com/members/pimmslettuce/PersonalSpace Nutcracker 'album'. Nearly all the other photos were dross and have been discarded.

The Russian Slav (pronounced Slah-veh) did not disappoint with spins, jumps and lifts. He has a surprisingly slight figure for his strength - not much bigger than his colleague the principal ballerina (whose name I haven't picked up yet).

My dance went well - nearly bumped into people due to the smaller size of the stage - but during the 'silly step', due to all the little jumps, my wig came off, and I had to hold it in my hand. Lots of hairgrips will be applied for the dress rehearsal tonight.

That's a lovely photo, Pimms.

That looks absolutely magical!

I thought so too.
Another nice point is that the doll I was expecting to have to carry off is now exiting via a trap. Result!

Wonderful photo. The movement makes it look ethereal!

Suddenly realize I've never been to a ballet and wonder if I might be missing something important.

Good dance can be a wonderful spectacle, and in ballet, without the outlet of song and speech, much more effort goes into appearance and dramatic movement. A classical ballet frequently has the advantage of familiar classical music, which can be very pleasant.

I feel deprived. I've never seen live ballet. I think it would be a wonderful experience. We, unfortunately, live in an area where live ballet isn't an option, but I do watch it on television whenever I can. I realize it isn't the same, but it's better than nothing.

TV ballet has advantages, in that you see much more clearly the expressions and detail of principal dancers in close-up, than you could in the audience. The downside is the lack of ability to direct your attention where you want to, and the undeniable feeling of participation with an audience around you experiencing the same event (who applauds the TV?)

Dress rehearsal last night. I don't know whether this production is typical of the Manx Ballet Company but the get-in week organisation in many respects compares poorly with the other groups I have performed with at the theatre

Everyone is doing their best, putting their all into getting it right, but the amount of time allowed for tech'ing the production before the dress rehearsal has been inadequate. Tech'ing was still going on during the dress rehearsal, leading to some stoppages. Some exits and entrances were also taking too long - cast were told "once offstage, *don't stop*, as you will hold everyone else up" - this should have been addressed long before the dress rehearsal.

We (eventually) got to the Finale and I discovered for the first time that Frau Stahlbaum appears in her nightgown, while I am still bewigged and fully dressed. Told afterward that there should be a dressing gown on the costume rack in my dressing room. Sure enough there was, though no-one had mentioned its need before, and I had imagined it was for someone else - it certainly doesn't fit me - it might have done when I was a teenager

Did my own make-up. Borrowed a pot of foundation and created with my limited palette of greasepaint and an eyeliner pencil a subtler version of the female make-up. Querying with N, the make-up I know from the Gilbert and Sullivan society I amended and enhanced where necessary. This included hollowing the cheeks with ivory, lining the lips with lake (a purple colour), and making the eyeliner much more bold. J said she almost didn't recognise me - she thought my make-up took twenty years off my age (making me almost a teenager ) I won't be recreating the look for normal use - theatrical make-up as wanted by the MBC is a *trifle* intense, strikingly accentuating features to enable their recognition from the back of the dress circle. It includes aspects such as a red dot on the inner corner of the eye, and a white dot on the outer corner, which along with eyeliner and a bit of mascara on the eyelashes, prevent the eyes disappearing.

Again the wig almost came off doing the Grandfather dance, despite application of a stocking cap and several hairgrips. J has promised to supply 'wig pins' for the first performance tonight. Apparently they pin through the wig from either side and dovetail together Also another cast memeber has said she will bring white hair grips that won't show up against the white wig.

Took many more photos, and although I haven't really had a chance to properly review them I don't think any match the snowflake shot, that has been roundly admired. Luck was against me, but persistance may pay off.

The theatre must be big to make you all have to wear such intense makeup. Make sure you put some make up pics in your photos folder, won't you?

Re. your nightgown/fully-clothed situation - it's embarrassing when you find out that you're doing completely the wrong thing in blissful ignorance because no-one has mentioned it to you. In my first show with my drama group, we rehearsed in a flat village hall but the theatre has a balcony above the stage. So at the first rehearsal in the theatre I came onstage, only to find I was on my own, and the person I was doing the scene with was up in the balcony. Fits of laughter from everyone, of course!

It isn't the size of the theatre so much as the inclination of the director that dictates the make-up. From a distance of only a few metres the features seem fairly natural, just in close-up one might look askance. This insistance on accentuated eyes is more extreme than in other groups I have performed with, and the others have not faced adverse criticism for inadequate make-up that I am aware of.

Distance makes the difference - not just in sight, but sound and smell.

Sitting in the front row last night I smelled surgical spirit and queried the castmember next to me. She identified it as almost certainly coming from the shoes of the ballerinas, who use it to toughen them, though it wasn't until I pointed it out that she noticed it.

I am hoping that the sound of feet on the stage and ball sliding on string are not audible too far into the audience. The ball is about 20cm in diameter, composed I believe of that foam florists use (oasis?), painted silver, and used by Drosselmeyer as one of his magic tricks, sliding between his hands on a (supposedly invisible) black thread. I find it a bit squeaky when experienced close up. The original idea was that it would slide on a fishing line from one side of the stage to the other, but after the semi-dress rehearsal (though it wasn't actually attempted) this was decided against on Health and Safety grounds - the fear (I think) being that the line might strangle someone.