ActorQuest - Kristin Huffman Goes Inside 'Company' 23

In November, Kristin Huffman made her Broadway debut as Sarah (flute, piccolo and sax) in John Doyle's production of Company.  The actress, with a new series of tales that go inside the making of Company from an actor's perspective, starting at the Cincinnati Playhouse and on to New York, continues her stories about a 15-year career that has led her to the door of the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

This is the twenty-third story about the "Making of Company."  If you haven't read the others, go back and do so and then rejoin us here!

TWENTY-THREE:  READY TO LAUNCH

 We are in our final week of previews. Still rehearsing daily as well to change and adapt to things but they are not quite as intense, exhausting and yet exciting as the ones we had before we moved to the theatre.

Usually a show will get to this point and things are more or less set. Performances are solidifying. The great thing about a John Doyle production is that he still wants us to find ways to grow and to make our work ever more realistic. Mr. Sondheim was watching and taking notes yesterday which is also a bit disconcerting because we see him get up and run back to whisper to the musical director ideas about tempo or feel.  

 Everyone is in a primed hypersensitive mode meaning that the immediate response is to assume that they are the ones doing something wrong.  Yesterday was "oh, my gosh, I suck day." We all felt the same way. Normally there is a lot of posturing in a cast at this point and the mental attitude of simply saving yourself by doing your own thing to get through.  But this cast is different. We like each other and are open to admitting our mistakes and the way we feel. What a relief! I thought the other cast members were right on their game, so it was freeing to hear them talk about feeling insecure and anxious. Sharing our anxieties calmed us down and bonds us more closely together.

Once again, it comes from the top.  John has an easy, and yet, controlled way of doing the preview rehearsals. He knows what he wants and the people around him, from the lighting to the sound to the designers, will quickly do anything for him.   We are constantly amazed at how fast lighting cues and sound gets fixed or altered.  When you are sitting or standing on a see-through cube in a hot costume holding a tuba or a sax and waiting to run a scene for the fifth time quickness is much appreciated!

John often ends rehearsals earlier than scheduled.  Even though we are tired and sore we yield to his judgment.  We sit or stand on the stage the entire production holding our instruments and getting ready to play or sing the next song.  If you are involved in a scene you work hard at staying in the moment even while you consider another suggestion by the director realizing that it will make it all more interesting.

At this point, we really appreciate the audience.  It was hard to gauge a rhythm in our scenes before we had them because we had been doing them for so long in front of each other.  Since we are on stage watching every scene, each of us knows all the lines and nuances, but luckily, due to John's encouraging us to never 'set' a scene, we really notice when someone changes something.   It fosters new respect for each other every time we hear John give someone a new 'note' and they take it into their scene.  Just awesome and inspiring.  And this cast does not hesitate to compliment when it really hits home. When someone does well and you can see the difference in something they did in a scene, you can actually see the rest of the production start to meld a little differently.  Not in a competitive way, but in a supportive way.  An "I will come up to that new level" way.

Conversely, when someone is having an off moment, or can't find the right notes to play, you can hear a small supportive swell in the rest of the cast/orchestra. You sense that support in such a simply way as eye contact.  There really aren't many flubs, but when you are walking around, up and down on Plexiglas platforms and steps singing and playing an instrument that you hold up to your mouth or chin, there are bound to be a few challenging logistical moments 

Each cast member has found their own way to make this play-while-moving thing work. I try to step up on a box during a rest or when I know I am on a note that doesn't fluctuate in pitch while moving.  For the two cast members who play the rolling bass it's more challenging.  A rolling bass was designed especially for this production but that means bowing or plucking a huge instrument while trying to avoid hitting other cast members and negotiating turns on the set.  Amazing! The song, Side by Side, is so active that if you watch our eyes closely, we are not only thinking of what notes to play and what our character is doing, and remembering words, but we are also trying to gage how much room the cello has to have to bow. Watching our eyes can tell you that we are measuring how soon we need to leave our current position in order to make it around the tuba player and then weave into a line next to that trombone with the long slide.  You could watch that number seventeen times in a row and still not see all the nuances of the chessboard we play on.

Then there are the challenging times when we are sitting absolutely still while watching a scene.  It's harder than it looks!   And of course you get an itch that you can't scratch from time to time.  Ok, a lot!  We are so 'spotlighted' most of the time around the perimeter on our boxes or seats, that it is completely obvious when someone even moves their bow or arm.  So in trying to create the 'observer' atmosphere we all try to stay as still as possible.   Your body aches after a long while of that.  And you have to keep your energy and intensity up all at the same time because if you 'check out' you are not ready to play or sing your next line. 

Trying to stay involved in every scene in character or as the orchestra or as an observer is challenging.  Then you must jump in with the right energy for a scene. Luckily my scene is first -- but since I do karate--sort of-- after the scene I sit and sweat for a while.  I need to wipe the perspiration from my face because it is hard to play a flute if you chin is a damp. It slips.  So you find ways to covertly make it all work, while staying as focused as possible. Everyone in this show has amazing powers of concentration and focus.  Talent abounds and yet, it just seems normal now. 

It is the most challenging show I have ever done -- and the most rewarding.  Just to be working with all these talented people, who all get along and are supportive of each other.  To be proud to be in this project and to be creating it with John Doyle is worth all the body aches and mental angst that accompanies it.  Now that we have an audience to try all this out on, I fight nerves as well.  But John reminds us that the audience is really the final character in our show.  We need them now to help us complete the story and the show.

Kristin's column sponsored by:  www.gardengate.unfranchise.com   "Visit us for cutting edge products in health care, nutrician, weight management, makeup, skin care, website solutions and much more!"  THE ONE STOP SHOPPING EXPERIENCE! For more information also visit KristinHuffman.net 

Photos by Fred Rose: Company marquee; Tom Hase, lighting designer; Girlfriends; Matt Castle and his rolling bass