First preview

I had a weird experience last night in the theater. It was our first preview, which was completely sold-out. Matt Conner and I were sitting on the spot booth perches as our tech seats were needed for patrons. It was great seeing the show from there and I was really pleased with where it’s going. At the end of the show the lights went out and came back on for the curtain call and the audience had enthusiastic applause. Then, when the house lights came up after the actors left, everyone just remained in their seats hanging around in the theater — they weren’t leaving! I talked to one audience member who said, “I just couldn’t really get out of my seat. I needed to sit there to catch my breath.” I've only seen this happen once before with another one of my shows — I found that very encouraging.

Now's when we dive in and do more work. I hope to be able to freeze the show with no more changes by Friday, but we'll continue to work as long as possible. We're putting in some minor music cuts today as well as changing the last note of DREAMS. It sounds crazy, but Matt changing just that one note will make a huge difference. This is always the part of the process I call “turning the screws” — we’re making the right adjustments. It's an exciting time, but it also takes a lot of brainpower to focus on making the right decisions that are smart. The cast is in good form and enjoyed the audience's presence in the world that we’ve created. Off to rehearsal now to adjust some light and sound cues as well as scene work and some more cuts.

—ES