Harvey's Broadway Blog: Hello From The Old Globe

Welcome to the debut of a very special new series on BroadwayWorld.com - four time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein's personal MySpace blog of bringing his brand new musical, A CATERED AFFAIR to Broadway. We'll be exclusively picking up Harvey Fierstein's blog as he shares his first hand reports from rehearsals, to out-of-town tryouts to Opening Night (and beyond).  A CATERED AFFAIR also features a score by John Bucchino and is being directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle. Prior to Broadway, the new musical will play at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre beginning September 20th and then hit the Great White Way at the  Walter Kerr Theatre with previews beginning on begin March 25. The cast includes Broadway favorites Faith Prince, Tom Wopat, Harvey Fierstein, Leslie Kritzer and Matt Cavenaugh. Group tickets for the show are now on sale..

HELLO FROM THE OLD GLOBE!

We're here and working our butts off to get ready for our first preview a week from tonight. No matter how many shows I do, I am always surprised at how many people it takes to put a production on its feet. We brought quite a few artists with us from New York, and were met here with an ARMY of theater pros who keep the Old Globe one of the top theatrical venues in the world.

BALBOA PARK

First I must start by telling you how beautiful the park is. You all know about the San Diego Zoo, but did you know that there are a slew of Art, History, and Cultural museums in the park along with the three theaters and the zoo? And the botany is simply breathtaking. I will try and shoot a few pictures of trees and paths and sculptures and fountains. What a treat to work in this environment. And WORK is what we are doing!

PRESS EVENT

We had a meet and greet with the local press as soon as we arrived. Here are Tom Wopat, Faith Prince, Leslie Kritzer and Matt Cavenaugh posing with the press wedding cake. These photos were the calm before the storm.

And here are our Associate Director Adam Hunter and Production Stage Manager Claudia Lynch hiding from the press on the grass outside the theater.

SITZPROBE

Next came one of the most exciting events of any new musical – The Sitzprobe - which is the event where the cast and orchestra get together for the first time. After four weeks of singing along to a piano score, we suddenly found ourselves bathed in the luxurious orchestrations of Don Sabesky.

What a treat. I mean, I always have loved the score, but what a difference an orchestra makes. Simply divine.

Here is Faith trying her vocal wings out on her first number "MARRIED".

TECH REHEARSALS

From the sumptuous treat of that rehearsal, we were thrown into the comparative hell of technical rehearsals. Not that they are really unpleasant, but the hours are long as lighting cues are set, scenery pieces are adjusted, props are found and placed, costumes and quick changes are tried out... All the stuff that makes the magic of a show takes long and careful planning along with the studied efforts of that army of stage folk I referred to earlier. Up until now the cast has worked as a unit, the set department has worked as a unit, the costume folk, prop people, dressers, stage hands, front of house, office workers, ticket sellers have all worked in their own realms. But in TECH... For ten hours a day we all toil together to create the show and make the effort appear completely effortless. Tech rehearsals, I always feel, are the time when we bond into a force of nature.

So, here are a few photos snapped during the first two days of tech. The hair, make-up costumes and lighting are all still being developed at this point, so don't judge too harshly. What you are looking at is A Catered Affair in development. Judging the final product from these snaps would be like judging a cake by licking the bowl. This is a taste, but there's so much more to come...

TO HAIR NOT

Almost to prove what I said about the ongoing work, here is a photo before and after my 1953 period haircut. What do you think?

BEFORE

AFTER

WELL... that's a peek at the process of putting the show onstage. I am sure I will have tons more to share as this week progresses from tech to DRESS REHEARSALS.

As far as the show itself goes... I can't tell you yet if we've pulled off the miracle of creating a new show that will be a HIT or not. But I can tell you that I am incredibly proud of what this group of artists are attempting. It's unlike anything I've ever heard or seen before. But, as I always say, the AUDIENCE will tell us what we've got in the long run.

So I will leave you with this silly photo I captured of my dresser, Nola, holding a mirror up for me. Funny?

STAY TUNED!