Stratford Road to Opening Week 3: Matt Armet and the Cast of A CHORUS LINE Move Into the Theatre!

12 Weeks until Opening Night... There are specific milestone days during rehearsal every season. One of my favourite milestones happened this week: first day onstage. It always seems to creep up on us so quickly here at the Stratford Festival. They love to get us onstage as early as possible. This year we had 13 primary rehearsal days in the rehearsal hall before our first onstage day this past Wednesday.

Even though it's my fifth season performing on the Festival stage, the first time I walk onto a new set in that space never ceases to be magical . There is something so incredibly intimate, yet vast, about the feeling on the Festival stage. To have so many seats so close to you and wrapped almost all the way around you is such an amazing experience, even when they are empty.

This experience is even magnified this year as we start the show facing upstage toward the mirrors which are reflecting the entire space back at us. Our day started with the traditional safety chats about what to do if there is a blackout or fire alarm, where the LED lights around the edge of the stage are located, and an introduction to our incredible crew.

We then got a demonstration of the automated rotating mirrors , which had everybody oohing and ahhing. (Just wait, they are spectacular!) We then got right up on deck and spent the morning slowly spacing through the opening 20 ­minute number "I Hope I Get It." We have to be especially careful now that we no longer just have a taped "edge of stage" like we did in the rehearsal hall, but an actual stage to try not to fall off of. And let me tell you, dancer precision is of the utmost importance when you have 27 dancers going full out while, as our director Donna Feore says, "dancing on a chiclet."

After lunch , we moved onto blocking some of "One," the big finale number, and closed out the day working on the "Montage." We all left the theatre that day exhausted and, oddly, with extreme food cravings, which varied from A & W, to jars of chocolates, to multiple bowls of Lucky Charms and vino. Gotta love dancers !

This season, 10 of our 28 cast members are making their debut on the Festival stage. The picture this week includes some of the "newbies," taken during our lunch break on our first day onstage. ( Back row, from left: JJ Gerber, Conor Scully, Dayna Tietzen. Middle row: Alex Black, Colton Curtis, Julia McLellan, Kimberly­ Ann Truong . Front row: Myself and Bonnie Jordan.)

"Quote of the Week" time! This week's quote came from Donna: "every morning is a symphony," referring to the snapping, crackling and popping sounds that come from a dancer's body every morning as they get out of bed . As a now 30­ year ­old dancer, no statement more accurately describes how I start every morning. HA!

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