NEW BLOG - 'Badass Babes Savin' The Day' -- CHIX 6, The ROXPERIENCE WEEK 4

BWW is excited to present a new blog, which will follow the Early Stages of CHIX 6, a new multi-genre rock musical written and composed by Lourds Lane (lead singer and multi-instrumentalist from the national touring band, LOURDS) and directed by DJ Salisbury which is now being workshopped...

In case you missed it visit the blogs for: Week One Week One, Week two  and Week Three

DAY 20

Wednesday, August 25

It's Lourds Lane (http://lourdslane.com), book/music/lyrics writer of CHIX 6 (http://chix6.com), and this is the final week of rehearsals for the CHIX 6 4-week Equity workshop! EXCITING! Only a few days left until the first of three performances begin!

I arrived at rehearsal with a big black garbage bag filled with fun, loud, colorful gear for the girls to wear for the "circus" and "country hoedown" scenes. The girls marveled at all the crazy clothes... cowboy hats, straw hats, top hats, sequins hats, a smiley face hat, a flower-pot hat, fedoras, candy striped ties... oh, and a huge lime green crinoline skirt. Where'd I get them? Why, they all came from my closet, of course!! I've worn some pretty outrageous outfits over the years on the road, fronting my rock band...

The day kicked off joyfully for me. As I mentioned in the last blog, nothing puts me in a better mood than Wendy Bobbitt Cavett on the piano stitching musical themes from the soundtrack together to score to the dance. AHHHHMAZING! Then, choreographer, Ron De Jesus gave me the funniest present for "when I sign contracts." They were little post-it labels with arrows that said "Fuck this," "Fuck that," "This is f-ing urgent," "Don't fuck this up," and "Fuck yeah." Queen V jokingly said she'd like to snag a "Don't fuck this up" sticker to post onto her script. Hahaha!

The sound system is here! 48 channel sound mixing board, speakers, and all the girls now have headset mics! Bring on the rock and roll... well, sorta... Sarah is used to bashing her drums like "Animal" from
"The Muppets" in my band, LOURDS. But theatre is a whole other kind of animal entirely. Even though Sarah is playing with rods and there's a plexi-glass shield around her kit, her drums are way too loud for this small rehearsal space. I told Sarah to keep the baffles on her drums... plus mute her super-ringy cymbals. Sarah grumbled until we pumped a loud click into her headphones. Jana, the keyboardist/conductor mapped out the tempo for every song and now Sarah plays to just to the keyboards and the click in her headphones. Much different than playing full out with a loud rock band!

Then it was review time! Director, DJ Salisbury, worked on scenes from ACT II: "I Hate your Guts," "The Circus Song," and the final combative adagio between the dance duo, "Lightning Girl" and "Mi Roar." At the same time, Molly Tynes was in another part of the studio straddling on silks and suspending herself upside down on hoop with aerial instructor, Bobby Hedglin Taylor. During all of this, sound designer, Brian Ronan, and stage manager, Gail Luna were discussing the extra cost needed to rent a van to transfer equipment to Alvin Ailey on Monday for the performances. Since we were already over budget, I called up Sound Associates myself with the hopes that they would help a sista out... AND THEY DID! WEEEE! Got hooked up with the van for free! Loooooove you, Sound Associates! In a chipper mood, I was smiling widely as the cast ran through ACT I! We're on our way!

DAY 21

Thursday, August 26

I came in bearing gifts-- CHIX 6 swag! T-shirts, stickers, and pins that the cast and crew gobbled up!! I feel so grateful today, marveling at all the extraordinary talent in the room... and especially at the big fat music book that Wendy charted. I still can't get over that! Every note is completely written out! You could literally do a bar count of the show. Unbelievable! Speaking of unbelievable, Sarah listened to the tape recording of Wendy playing the final dance sequence on piano a few times and came in today NAILING the drum parts. GO, SARAH, GO!

Some mishaps today. We welcomed bass player extraordinaire, Julia Adamy... but the sound board broke down... so we couldn't hear a single note she played until the replacement sound board came in right before lunch. Time was lost and the schedule had to be adjusted to allow for the exchange of sound boards. But once Julia kicked in, it was HNL... Hole Nutha Levil! She plays with creativity and finesse and is a ridiculous sight reader. In the meantime, dancer, Kristine Bendul, somehow smashed her left foot against Justin Peck's leg while practicing one of their lifts. Thankfully, she's OK but took it easy for the rest of the day. The schedule had to be adjusted again

Today, we added sound effects! Some effects were ingeniously done... like the ones DJ impressively rigged using "GarageBand" on his Mac. Some were created on the spot... like the one Gabe sampled of all of us chanting, "CHAMP! CHAMP! CHAMP!" to create the sound of the roaring crowd. But most sound effects are just Gail literally saying, "Ring, Ring" or "Ding Dong" with his mouth... yep, pretty ghetto... but it gets the point across for a workshop. In the meantime, Jana's borrowed keyboard had sounds that weren't cutting it, so I called Carroll Music and arranged a Yamaha keyboard to be delivered for tomorrow morning.

My favorite part of today day was the way DJ brilliantly brought out the comedy in the script with the actors. He gave me a lesson in classic vaudeville humor. Sometimes a sharp hip swivel, or a deadpan look to the front is all the audience needs to get a good laugh.

DAY 22

Friday, August 27

Today is the first day with guitar player, TJ Jordan! The good news is that I've worked and played with TJ in the same band for years so we have a very easy musical communication with one another. Plus, TJ played guitar on the CHIX 6 concept record and on all the CHIX 6 demos. Bad news-- TJ is available for only two rehearsals and there is A LOT of new material and interstitial numbers that he doesn't know. We have a lot of work to do! The day kicked right in with a band rehearsal. The sound of the band wasn't inspiring to anyone. The Yamaha keyboard that was delivered clanked like a wind-up toy, the bass was a warbly mess, and the guitar screeched like a pissed off bumblebee. But, we only had a little over two hours allotted for just music rehearsal so the band had to temporarily deal. Wendy and I worked with the band and got through most of ACT I before we had to stop. During the band's lunch break, I spoke to Brian Ronan and engineer, Gabe Wood about throwing more compression on the bass and about mic'ing and isolating the guitar amp, instead of going direct. Brian immediately jumped on the case and said he would get everything we need for the guitar by tomorrow's rehearsal. In the meantime, I called Carroll Music to have the keyboard amp switched out for a better quality Roland tomorrow morning.

Darnit! Missed lunch! But can't eat now!! Some folks from the Nederlander office just walked in to watch the first complete run-through. Gail said the warning cue for the cast, "Lights go to half!"... (Yep, it still gives me chills!)... and then we were off...

Engineer, Gabe, was understandably overwhelmed, still learning the intricacies of the piece. In the first few scenes, certain musical underscores and key lines were inaudible. I nervously jumped to the sound board to alert Gabe of the cues, all the while peering over to the folks from the Nederlander office to see whether or not they were digging the show. Finally, the last lonely piano note of ACT I was played, Gail said, "Blackout," and I nervously turned to the Nederlander reps for feedback. First words out of Stanley Browne's mouth: "This is so moving. You got yourself a real winner here, kid." SCORE! I asked if he was going to stay for the second act. He said, "Ofcourse!" and slipped outside to make a bunch of calls.

Twenty minute break went fast. After reviewing some fixes with DJ and Wendy, I only had time to quickly down a banana. Time for ACT II! All I could think was... The band didn't review ACT II at all... Wendy is still scoring the last few songs so the band doesn't have the music in their book! Plus, the cast isn't as confident with the flow of the second act. Oh boy... here goes nothin'...

ACT II was a bit rockier... a few bumps, line flubs, sound mishaps, and do-overs. But at the end of it, the folks from the Nederlander office were floored. "This show is a hit... one in a thousand." SUCCESS! I'm so happy!

DAY 23

Saturday, August 28

I have all my babies-- the outrageous CHIX 6 comic super heroines, mounted onto huge cardboard posters. They plaster the walls of my small NYC studio apartment. Today, I pulled them off my walls and wrote the names of each of the characters with sharpies in big bold lettering. I figure they would be a good visual representation of the costuming that is to come when we have our presentations next week. My sharpies were running out of ink so although the names were legible, I was only able to fill them in so much before I left for rehearsal. The cast was excited to see the posters. Ruthie Ann Miles held up the poster of "RISE," the misfit nerd, for a long time, taking her all in.

When I walked into rehearsal, Gabe pulled me aside and had me listen to the new guitar sound. NOW WE'RE TALKING! A guitar with balls.... just the way a Les Paul should sound like! Then, I went right over to Danielle and Carrie to go over new lines I wrote last night in the script.

We ran through the show straight through again. As Gabe is still learning the show, he asked me to stand by the sound board "just in case" he misses anything with the band cues. But, Gabe was ON IT and after a few songs, I just relaxed next to Wendy in one of the front chairs. Armed with a few sheets of paper, I scribbled notes on the first few scenes. Then at some point, I just stopped writing and started enjoying. I couldn't help myself! Carrie sang the song, "What are you doing right now?" so authentically that I was back in that same desperate heartbroken place I was in when I wrote the song. Danielle Lee Greaves' raunchy improv, flirting with an unsuspecting guy in the audience, is just show stopping! And when all the girls sang in triumphant six part harmony in the finale, I was literally weeping. When I turned to Wendy, I saw her eyes flooded with tears as well. "You got yourself a show!" she whispered to me.

During lunch break, DJ, Wendy, and myself powwowed and I tweaked more lyrics and lines. As soon as the cast came back, DJ gave the cast notes and ran through a few scenes again. Then, the cast left for the day and Wendy and I worked with the full band for the last time before our first performance on Tuesday (Tomorrow is our day off this week, and TJ won't be available on Monday). I sang the melodies to give the band some vocal reference. Although I'm totally happy with my decision to step out of the cast for this workshop to work on the writing, I gotta say, while singing "Misfit" and "The Circus Song," I missed playing the nerd, "RISE." The monologue about the emerald-eyed crush who teased RISE in junior high but ended up hitting on her at a bar, is a true story. So when I sing "Misfit," I go right back to the real triumph I felt at that bar, holding up my hands and celebrating my authentic misfit-nerd self. It's awesome to relive and glorious to sing.

When Wendy and I spoke last night, I suggested that we do broad sweeping strokes with the band because of our lack of time and band rehearsal. I didn't think it would be possible to get all the details of the score down with just one more rehearsal. But a few songs in, high fives were going around. TJ and Julia are masters of their instruments and picked up the score with amazing ease. Two rehearsals and the band sound SICK!

In the meantime, stage manager, Gail Luna and choreographer, Ron DeJesus were having arts and crafts fun perfecting the lettering on the CHIX 6 cardboard posters and creating the make-shift "Hot-o-meter," the scale in the "MAMA" comic that measures a girl's worth. When this show goes into production, we will have full-blown multi-media animation and special effects, but for this workshop, drawing and cutting up letters on cardboard will have to do. By the end, the letters looked like they were printed, not drawn on. GO, TEAM, GO!

DAY 24

Sunday, August 29

DAY OFF... and much needed, boyyyyyyyy. Tomorrow, we move to Alvin Ailey... and it's SHOWTIME!! Everybody involved with CHIX 6 is feeling the electricity in the air... Something BIG is happening!