BWW Blog: Michael Hartung - Photos Make Tech Week Look So Glamorous

You guys. Today our day off. I don't know if I've ever been more thankful to not have to set an alarm in the morning. Granted, I'll be honest in saying that's not the first time I've ever uttered those words, but it's been a long week of tech and previews here at PIRATES OF PENZANCE at Barrington Stage. As I write this, I am sitting outside in a rocking chair (how Berkshires of me, I know), sucking on a Manuka honey lozenge (my dressing-room-mate, Alex Gibson turned me on to them...he's so fancy) and sipping on a nice glass of water. That is how long of a week it's been! So long that I'm drinking water instead of whiskey and about to make myself an Epsom salt bath.

All jokes aside, this last week has been an incredibly productive and exciting week for us. We have a show! Getting an audience in the house might be the most informative part of our process so far. It has been a complete joy to see how people react to our little skit. We have a lot of interaction with the audience so it has been an important week to see what works and what we have had to adjust. We have two more days until we open and I think we are all ready to use them to the best of our ability to really solidify our show.

Lucky for you, our castmate, Benjamin Rivera, has been sneakily taking pictures of our whole tech process. Here's a little inside scoop of all of the shenanigans that are happening here in the Berkshires:

Pirate Lingo:

(more like Pirate Fun Fact this time...but this was too good to pass up!)

"Climbing over rocky mountain" - This song was not the original setting for the entrance of General Stanley's daughters. In late 1879 Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte were in America both to present an authorized version of Pinafore and also to prepare a premiere production of Pirates, in order to try to preserve the American copyright. When he was unpacking his bags in New York, Sullivan discovered that he had left behind all his music for Act I of Pirates. In trying to reconstruct the music, he found he could not remember the song for this entrance. To save time, Gilbert suggested they simply reuse a chorus from their first collaboration Thespis (1871), which happened to be appropriate for the scene. In Thespis, "Climbing over rocky mountain" was sung by a troupe of actors who had come to Mount Olympus for a picnic. Gilbert's only adaptation was to replace "Till the mountain top they gain" with "Till the bright seashore they gain". (credit: Alfred Hunting)

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