"How refreshing."

This may sound like schmaltz, but it's totally true. So many times all of us working in the theater are juggling three or four projects, or trying to just run our theaters the best that we can. So too often we find that we don’t take the time to really step back and look at what we're doing. We're always worried about what audiences will think, how will critics are going to react, and on a new show like Nevermore there’s the added question of will it have a future after it's born? But today was one of those days that made me really proud to be working in the theater and doing what we do here at Signature — create bold exciting new work. As the orchestra was playing song after song and the actors were singing along so Jonathan Tunick could get a taste of the sound, I was truly overwhelmed. I looked down the room as Dan was singing Poe's DREAMS and one by one tears came rolling down the faces of each of the women in the cast. The strings, the harp, Dan's voice — it's an amazing, beautiful sound that haunts the soul. Shows like this and the whole creation process where everyone is on the same page working toward the same goal are so exhausting, rewarding, and glorifying — they give you faith in the human spirit. One of the actors came up to me and said, “Eric, thank God you're doing what you are doing because no one else in this city is doing it." It made me feel good. It was an emotional day and it always is when you put voices to the orchestra for the first time. Seeing Jonathan's face light up as THE RAVEN “took off” with the voices and plucking of strings is one for the memory books. He turned to Matt after the song and asked "What do you think?" Matt replied, “I think what you think." Without missing a beat, Jonathan said, "How refreshing." We also put in a new scene today and I changed the opening of the show back to an original idea I had in the rehearsal room. I feel like we're closing in on the final product and I couldn’t be happier with every element on our stage.

—ES