The Fredösphere

Last night we had our big put-it-all-together rehearsal for the Maundy Thursday drama.  It went disturbingly well.  As a "pit" musician, I really couldn't see much of what's happening on stage, so that helps keep my confidence high, but the reality is our director, Karen, has made it clear to me she knows how to put a show together.  Between Karen and Jeff, our church's worship minister, I can count on all the various needs of a dramatic production to be met.

Karen worked with the actors for a couple of hours before we musicians were added.  I had prepared a CD of the music for her use during that time.  The CD was made from a MIDI keyboard realization of the score, plus a couple of tracks with my singing for the purpose of providing the words that the actors would use as cues.  We didn't have time to call the other singers to a recording session, but I wanted the CD to be close approximation of the music they would hear for the performance, so I sang some of women's parts in falsetto.

When I arrived for the rehearsal, my friend Phil filled me in on what happened:  as the actors heard my strained, squeaky voice on the CD, and the room got very quiet.  Karen stopped the music and explained how and why the CD was created.  The tension in the room dissolved into hilarity.  What a relief!  This ridiculous piece of crap isn't the real music!

When I joined the actors in their rehearsal, the torture began.  It wasn't exactly Orwell's Two Minutes of Hate from 1984;  call it Ninety Seconds of Good-Natured Ribbing from 2005.  I got a lot of "oh, no, Mister Bill!" shouted at me.

The musicians did a great job of putting it all together, including the organist (Jeff) and percussionist (David) who were joining us for only the second time.  We figured out how to use the freaka effectively, which is exciting, and in general I feel like the ensemble is adequately prepared.  Unfortunately, I've felt that way far too infrequently in my life as a performer.

Everything appears to be falling into place.  That makes me very, very nervous.