BWW Blog: Jeffrey Sanzel - And Time Continues

It's Sunday night. We just ended the first of our three ten show weeks of A Christmas Carol.

The reviews have come and gone; the event-ness of opening and Thanksgiving is now past. For better, worse or indifferent, we are at the beginning of "there." (Wherever "there: may be.)

The run has begun.

Marley was dead. To begin with.

This past week ... student matinees Tuesday through Friday ... a Wednesday senior matinee ... Friday night, double Saturday, double Sunday. The next two weeks repeat that with the difference of no Wednesday senior matinee but the addition of Thursday nights.

A merry Christmas, Uncle. God save you.

We come in. We dress. We warm-up: "Voices." "Fred's Party Game." "Gossips." (Like all shows, it has its own nomenclature-I won't explain the "heebie jeebies" either). Trivia corner with Joan St. Onge (winner gets a piece of chocolate from the advent calendar; for those keeping score, Matt Paduano is leading). Mic checks for Marley, Christmas Past, and Christmas Present.

Keep Christmas in your own way and let me keep it in mine.

For public shows, each performance is preceded by the lobby carol.

Scrooge and Marley's we believe. Have we the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge or Mr. Marley?

For student matinees, each show is followed with a question and answer period.

I wear the chains I forged in life ... I made them link by link ...

Many questions are standard:

"How do you make it snow?" (A cylinder loaded with plastic snow operated from the wings by one of our two crew people, Corryn David Or Amanda Meyer.)

"How do you do the big ghost?" (This is Christmas Future-rarely referred to by its designated moniker-more often it's just the big one or the death thing or even the devil ... It is a rather ingenious backpack puppet constructed by our scenic designer RAndy Parsons. James Schultz, who plays nephew Fred, is the operator.)

"How does the chain guy come out of the floor?" (The ghost of Jacob Marley, played by Steve McCoy, crawls along a path from the stage right wing to under the trap door. He is assisted by Marquez Stewart who plays Mrs. Cratchit. There is barely four feet from floor to trap door; there is a small staircase for him to climb up, two fog machines, and a very, very hot light. I guess it's a taste of Marley's hell.)

"Who is the little girl that follows Scrooge around?" (She is Want.)

"Why doesn't she speak?" "How do you move the scenery?" "How do you change costumes so quickly?" "Is it hard to learn the lines?" "What's a shilling?" "What does 'humbug' mean?"

"Do you like each other?" (Yes, we do. And I wouldn't say that if it weren't true-I don't ascribe to the "every cast is a family." Well, I suppose every cast is a family. Just not necessarily a happy family. This cast, both adult and children, is a truly nice group and really gets along. More than that, they have enormous respect for each other.)

"Scrooge, are you really that mean in real life?" (Well. To be continued at a later time.)

"Do you like doing this show?" (I hope so. Otherwise, there's really no reason to be doing it, is there?)

The saving of your immortal soul ...

Sometimes we get some very introspective questions-ones that show great insight and attention to detail. 99% of the time, the students are terrific audiences, truly engaged by the story and the performance. I do believe showing students fully mounted productions helps cultivate an interest in theatre.

And you are to come home and never to come back here.

Saturday night, one of our young people is in a minor car accident on her way to the performance. Her mother is taken to the hospital (and released that night) but this young actor insists that her father bring her to the show. She performs the entire show and then goes to the hospital after to have her arm looked at. They put her arm in a sling. Jordan Stair is eleven but is clearly every bit as committed as any other cast member. Sunday, her counterpart, Gabrielle Pegg, comes in and does both shows so Jordan can rest her arm for the next five shows she has this week.

Don't let it burn a hole in your pocket, Ebenezer. Ask her. And be happy for the rest of your life.

On Saturday night, during pictures with Scrooge-"Have your picture taken with Mr. Scrooge onstage following the performance for a $5 donation to the theatre's scholarship fund"-a young man proposed to his girlfriend. This is our second proposal during pictures over the last couple of years. (For the record, both young ladies said, "Yes.")

Have you never walked forth with the younger members of my family?

This past week Christmas Present (Renee Santos-Stewart who came to our rescue after Debbie Starker's accident) and I continue to work a moment at each performance, trying to land a laugh that we have gotten before. We continue to work it at each performance.

As good as gold and better.

This afternoon, I played Scrooge for the 1,100th time. Not the biggest milestone but it does have a couple of zeroes in it.

He's a comical old fellow, my uncle.

Between the Sunday shows, we had a family dinner. This was started a few years ago by some of the parents. We have split casts and so, after final dress, the children's casts aren't called together. This family dinner is a chance for the entire company to be together one more time. The parents all bring in food and we are once again a single unit.

I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?

Monday is off but many in the cast (Jacqueline Hughes, James Schultz, Caitlin Nofi, Bobby Montaniz, Marquez Stewart, Doug Quattrock, along with our stage manager, Billy Aberle) are involved in the children's show-the tenth anniversary of Doug's wonderful Barnaby Saves Christmas, one of the finest children's shows we have every presented. They have performances Monday and Saturday mornings so their weeks wrap around with no day off until Christmas Day (where they get the whole day off). This also means triple shows on Saturdays. No one complains. Jacqueline, Corryn, and Steve, along with musical director Jack Kohl and stage manager Billy, will also have rehearsals for the January musical revue Starting Here, Starting Now.

Bed curtains! You don't mean to say you took them down, rings and all, with him lying there?

We deal with a mic problem. A set piece is fixed. New snow is introduced. A prop is tried out and added. An entrance is adjusted.

My little, little child.

Over the course of six days, there have been one hundred and fifty humbugs spoken onstage. (By the way, "humbug" basically means "fraud." "Humbugs" are things that are deceptive and dishonest. They're also candies but that's kind of irrelevant.)

I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year ...

Tuesday morning, 9:30 a.m. call, we will come in and begin again. Like snowflakes, similar. But never identical.

And so ...

The run has begun ...

As Tiny Tim observed ...

The run continues ...

God bless us, everyone.

Photo By Sarah Bush

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