Don't you know that where I am ain't where I was?

It's been a few days, but I'm back. I was in Canada on vacation/MILLIE prep time. After a 9-hour drive from Aylen Lake, Ontario to NYC to attend a VANITIES party last night, I got up at the crack again this morning (by that I mean Tuesday), met Keith and we got in the Hyundai and drove 5 hours to New London, New Hampshire.

Keith is choreographing this production of MILLIE, and we've had a great time getting to know each other. We share similar views of the show, and I think we're going to have a great time working on this together. For instance, he voiced to me his concept for a certain moment of the show and how it would look, and it was exactly what I had been thinking about myself. Psychic? Prob'ly not. But at least we think alike.

So after five hours of driving - the first two having been rather boring and annoying while driving along 95 through NY and CT, the last three having been rather beautiful - we arrived in New London and found the Barn Theatre. It is just that and it's nothing but charming. To look at the building is to be immediately transported to a previous time - a time which this community obviously respects and still chooses to patronize. Does that make it contemporary, then?

After being shown to our hotel, Keith and I went back to the theatre to watch the opening night of EVITA, however not before dining with the cast in the "kitchen" (a cosy dining area in a building just next to the theatre where everyone is fed three times a day) and enjoyed some time with the acting interns (I would like to call them the Resident Company) and jobbed-in actors. Everyone is very friendly and so happy to be here. Once again, I immediately wished I had had an experience like this. Yes, it's lots of work, but they all seem to be having a great time. I met everyone at the theatre, and my challenge now is names. Good grief: why are names so hard? Faces - immediate recognition...Names - I'll get there. I refuse to call any actor by their character's names until we're in tech or something like that.

So, EVITA: it is a great production! The direction is great as is the choreography, and the cast is terrific. Eva and Peron are jobbed in, and they too are wonderful. It's a freakin' daunting score and challenging libretto and story, and and they all rose to the occasion, and then some. Kudos to the New London Barn Theatre!

Keith and I were able to get a sense of a lot of the Resident Company's abilities - singing, dancing, etc. From that corps, we must cast MILLIE. This is the first show they've done here this season where most of the principal roles will be cast from that ensemble. Needless to say, the Company is very excited about this. However, I'm aware that because this ensemble is now in its 6th week together, bonds have been formed, friendships have been forged, and I am sure there are many hopefuls for certain roles, and I know there will be disappointments handed out as well as elations tomorrow after auditions. This is where I have to put on the "boss" hat, I suppose, and just make my choices with Keith and let disappointments and elations fall where they will, and it is my wish and hope that no matter how the dice roll today, that the Resident Company will take the opportunity to create a production of a very good show together. MILLIE is a show about having fun - it's to be performed by people who love doing musicals, and I was immediately shown that this is a company that loves doing just that.

More to come, and more news on auditions...which I cannot wait for!