The Rise and Fall of a Fantasy Sequence

[OK, here's my version!]

This past week has been spent staging all(!) of Act II, culminating in a stumble-through yesterday afternoon. During the course of the staging, Eddie and I had the bright idea that we needed an opportunity, at Ann's moment of moral crisis, to see inside her head, in order to understand what she's going through and the painful choice she must make. So, like any good musical theater writers, we cooked up a fantasy sequence for her. It would be Bold! Theatrical! An Opportunity for Movement! Great for the band! I spent many hours sketching out cool re-arrangements of some of her songs to go along with her imagined exploits, and we came to rehearsal yesterday with an outline, a few pages of music, and big IDEAS.

Then we started to try to stage it. Questions of tone arose, the monster under the bed of every show I've ever worked on. How can we make this fantasy a) clear, so people don't ask "Is she really waltzing through the White House?" and b) fit with the style of the rest of the show? Some of the principals wandered over and got in on the discussion. What is she really going through? Isn't that information already laid out in the two previous scenes? Yes, say Eddie and I, but we need a minute to feel her reaction to the moment. But, says Eric, the minute she stops and thinks, we lose the momentum of the story. What if it's just a visual? Will it be enough?, say Eddie and I. By this time, we've used all the allotted rehearsal slot, and it's time to run the act.

Turns out everyone was right. The changes we've made in the scenes leading up to her moment tell us all we need to know about her reasoning, and all we need is a brief, underscored moment to see her making the fateful choice to understand how a human being who's not perfect, just like the rest of us, could do what she does.

Today we run the whole show (I can't believe it), and we'll really see how her track is holding together. More insights to come...