Road to Opening Week 5: Cynthia Dale On Rehearsals for A Little Night Music

Noel Coward's "Don't Put Your Daughter On the Stage, Mrs Worthington......" rings in my ears at this time of year.

I don't think my mother knew that song.

In 1965, my sisters and I auditioned for summer stock productions of Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy and Finian's Rainbow being done at The Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. In true Baby June fashion, I belted out ..

"Broadwaaaay Broadwaaaaay how great you are.......!"

My first job was as a kid in the chorus of Finian's Rainbow (my sister Jennifer was actually cast as Baby June). I got bit by the show biz bug early on, and I'm just fine with the fact that there is no cure.

At this point in the process we are splitting our time between the rehearsal hall and the stage, and it's a fine balancing act of bringing our work from one to the other. It's not always an easy transition. Your acting intentions often seem to fly up into the rafters and get lost in the lighting grid. Your songs seem to get stuck between the rows of seats and are not sparkling and soaring. The flashes of magic can be few and far between. I am grateful our director Gary Griffin has patience and brilliance. I trust him with my life and know he will not let me fail.

But, Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern's "Life Upon The Wicked Stage" seems to be playing on a loop in my head.

Of course it would help if at night I was sleeping, but the dreaded 'Rehearsal Insomnia' has taken hold. It's that strange time of year when three or four in the morning becomes very familiar. You find you are tossing and turning and talking to yourself - or your scene partner. Going over lines, lyrics, beats, props, notes, blocking......career choices! Trying to get it right, trying to make it better, trying to overcome the fear and heart palpitations. Trying to trust that you still have time.

I am sure my fellow actors are in the same boat and awake as well, and I wonder if Gary is too......and recasting!

(yup, the middle of the night is full of strange vulnerabilities)

A Little night Music is weeks away from an audience but some of the other shows are about to start previews and the shift in the theatre is palpable. There is raw energy that adds to the anxiety and the excitement.

Vocal warmups, body warmups, scarves for the throat, sweaters for the body, heat and ice and vitamins. Water, sleep, chiropractors, physio and massage therapists, doctors, antibiotics, herbs, healthy food, good wine, laughter and hard work. Loved ones near us, days off, insight and prayers.

It all helps us get through. It all is part of life for us right now. And all of it is pretty fab.

The life of a working actor.

Stephen Sondheim's words fill my heart ...

"Bring up the curtain, la, la, la,

Bring down the curtain, la, la, la,

Bring up the curtain, la, la, la,

Hi-Ho, the Glamorous Life..."

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