Road to Opening Week 6: Matt Armet on 9 Weeks to A CHORUS LINE at Stratford

9 Weeks until Opening Night

Today is Good Friday! It's 2:00 p.m. and so far it's been the Best Friday! I keep finding myself wanting to have the process of creating A Chorus Line go faster because I'm so excited for so many things along the way. But at the same time, I want it to slow down because I never want this excitement to end.

Something happened this morning in rehearsal that I've been dreaming about since last June when we auditioned for the show: our Sitz Probe! (This is the first time the orchestra hears us and we hear them.) Let me tell you: here at the Stratford Festival, they do a Sitz Probe right. They set up the entire orchestra in the rehearsal hall, along with microphones for us, and we sing through the entire show. It's a very special day because it's the one opportunity we have to hear and feel the show together in one room. After today, the orchestra will be up in the orchestra loft and we will be down on the stage.

The orchestra is so important in this show because they truly are another character to add to the Line. To quote our director Donna Feore, "There is a wonderful codependency between the orchestra and the cast." I couldn't agree with her more. Our orchestra here is made up of 17 amazing musicians, some of whom have worked here for over 30 years, and quite a few of them play up to four different instruments during the show. There is just as much choreography going on up in the orchestra loft as there is on stage.

I just want to talk for a minute about the specific moment I've been dreaming about since June. That moment is in the opening number of "I Hope I Get It" when Zach tells us to do the whole combination facing away from the mirror and the entire orchestra kicks into high gear. It's one of the most epic moments musically for a dancer in any musical (if you ask me), probably only rivalled by "Dance at the Gym" from West Side Story. There was hardly a dry eye in the cast this morning at that exact moment. That's why Jen Rider-Shaw (Maggie) and I came prepared with personal boxes of Kleenex. Just thinking about it right now gives me chills.

Today was also special because for the first time we had a "very small" camera from CBC here. They had it on a tripod in the middle of the room. Keep an eye out for some very cool 360 footage of part of our Sitz Probe. If I can, I'll attach the link to this post or the one next week. You also may notice that we are all pretty snazzily dressed in the photos from today. There are three days that casts of the musical get to wear anything other than sweaty dance clothes, and those are First Day, Sitz Probe Day and Opening Night Party! These days are coveted!

"Quote of the Week" time! This week's quote actually came from a couple of weeks ago when we were figuring out our entrance into the One Rehearsal scene. Someone said, "We are like salmon swimming upstream." To which Matt Alfano answered, "Yeah, we're like salmon, Brah!"

We start Cue to Cue on Easter Monday. Tune in next week for my blog entitled, "Actors Never Get Holidays" HAHA. Happy Easter everyone!