Woke up to a blazing sun roiling through a spectacular downpour this morning, a cosmic sky-scape over The Fox! Nature’s force and grandeur as ever inspires a moment to contemplate and write to you. Last night, Paramount’s company of Oklahoma! performed a “designer run-through,” the first time we rehearsed the entire play without stopping. A work in progress, the actors listen to each other with the added first response of our dutiful production team in attendance and anticipation. The portrayals in the play, so very alive and vibrant, at times seem immersed in an illusory, yet sensate, world. A sense of suspension for the actors in self-discovery creates a suspense for those watching something very much in process where some moments strike like lightning while some feel held back until ready to find the honest adding up of the technical, the vocal and dialect placement, blending with the truth in the scene and in the music. It does strike like lightning, dear reader, as a hesitation here or there gives way to voices ascending magnificently together or alone in these spirited all-American songs, all to do with our human being. There are moments of passions ablaze as this morning’s blast of sun!
We are in a perfect place in our development of this experience. A perfect storm! It’s heady stuff to think where we will be in just eight days, first preview! This cast delivers on comedy, drama and heart like you have never seen! The next several days on the set will define for us a collaboration unlike any other, I think due to the nature of this story; its heights and depths! Scott Davis, Scenic Designer, and Greg Hofmann, Lighting Designer, gave me “the nod” after the run-through! As did Tim Rater! And just to intrigue you further, Production Director Rose Packer’s response to certain moments: “Disturbing”!
Ha! I love it!
Love & thanks,
Jim