Gathering Crew

At the bottom of this post is a free download of the Overture for "Gathering Blue". It is beautiful and I hope you'll share it.

This is a continuing series of posts on the premiere of a new musical, "Gathering Blue," based on the best-selling novel by Lois Lowry, by Richard Hellesen, Michael Silversher & Joy Sikorski, that will have its professional premiere August 24-26 at the Gretna Theatre in Mount Gretna, PA. It is an important new musical, that speaks to our times and our personal responsibility, and I'm lucky enough to direct it.

We had our first rehearsal today... What an amazingly talented group of people. I'll post a few rehearsal shots tomorrow night.

Rehearsal started off great, with a skype call of congratulations form Lois Lowry to our cast (she'll be attending the opening). After introductions and read through that demonstrated thorough prep work from our performers, the authors and I worked through lunch to cut about three pages out of the show. When the actors are good, you don't need as much text!

We broke into two rooms to separate script work and music rehearsals and accomplished a great deal. Tonight we met and found a few more cuts and minor changes, and one re-structuring that we think will add a lot to one of the pivotal scenes/songs in the second act. Off to bed... Another day, another adventure. www.gretnatheatre.org for tickets.