BWW Blog: Molly Tynes of PIPPIN - Final Days in the Studio

The time has finally come for us to move into our new home at the beautiful Music Box Theatre! Once we get there we will begin "tech" and shift our focus to the technical aspects of the show. We will start at the top and go through moment by moment setting lighting cues, spacing dance numbers, determining prop locations, figuring out entrances and exits, set moves, etc. The tech process is pretty hectic, so we tried to make good use of our final days in the rehearsal studio.

It may be some time before we get to rehearse in front of a mirror again, so we did some final dance clean up and review with our choreographer, Chet Walker, and his assistant, Brad Musgrove, focusing on the intricate details of Chet's Fosse-style choreography.

One of the numbers that received a good deal of attention during this final week was "Spread a Little Sunshine." In this song Fastrada (played by the phenomenal Broadway dancer, Charlotte d'Amboise) sets into motion a plot to get Pippin to rebel against his father. There are a lot of complicated elements in the number (including the addition of some exciting new circus tricks!) that require very precise execution and timing - not to mention a fantastic dance sequence as well! The team wanted to sort out all of the details before moving into the theater.

Our director, Diane Paulus, spent some valuable time on the "Ordinary Life" section of the show. During this part Pippin (Matthew James Thomas) meets his love interest, Catherine (the charmingly quirky and heartbreakingly sincere Rachel Bay Jones), and her son, Theo (Andrew Cekala). These scenes are perhaps the most intimate in the show and require the actors involved to establish deep relationships and connections with one another in a fairly brief period of time. Having the opportunity to work on those scenes without the lights, sets, costumes, etc. allowed Diane and the actors to get down to the heart of the story and carefully craft those relationships between the characters.

One of the more exciting days last week was Press Day! We invited members of the press into our rehearsal room and did a short, informal presentation for them of a few numbers from the show. They were then given the opportunity to interview members of the artistic team and the cast. It was really exciting over the next few days watching the footage, photos, and coverage of the day pop up on all the theater websites. Call me a big musical theater dork, but that kind of stuff just never gets old to me!

Finally, on our last day in the studio we did a full run through of the show for the first time since we left the American Repertory Theater in January. Since we have been back in rehearsal, we have really focused on specific parts of the show rather than the whole, so getting to run the whole piece start to finish felt really good. During our time at the A.R.T. the cast grew really close both on and off stage, and it was wonderful getting to revisit all those special moments we had created together. It was the perfect catalyst to motivate us for our move into the theater and bring this show to life for our NYC audiences!

This week's photos are again courtesy of the wonderful Kevin H. Lin. He was our music assistant back at the American Repertory Theater and remains a dear friend of the show here in NYC. We were thrilled to have him visit rehearsal and capture some fantastic photos for us. Enjoy!

Molly Tynes trains on the cerceau (aerial hoop)

Matthew James Thomas, Patina Miller, Andrew Fitch, and Charlotte d'Amboise

Acrobats YanNick Thomas and Lolita Costet

The cast of "Pippin"