BREAKTHROUGH

Yesterday was a great rehearsal day and a difficult one. We had to work on one of the big numbers in the first act, FOLLOW ME! It's a difficult time-traveling number that ends with Aimee in one of her revival tent meetings. After spending three hours working on this one number, we finally came up with a brand new idea and struck gold! We all said, “Yes! That's it!” And Kathie Lee said, “It finally works — yeah!” So it was a good day and we finished with the dancing whores!
We're trying to stumble thru the first act today. The set is going up like gangbusters in the MAX Theatre and it looks terrific. All the lighting and sound equipment is getting installed as well. The space feels so different from INTO THE WOODS. I think audiences are really going to be surprised by this show. It seems like there’s an army working on it — the show’s a lot bigger than it appears.

Last night we all watched the new PBS documentary called SISTER AIMEE that airs April 2 on WETA. We had an advance copy and it was great for the cast to see actual live footage of Aimee Semple McPherson preaching and the temple she built in Los Angeles. Everyone should watch it. What was really fascinating are the phrases used in the documentary to describe Aimee and the events that happened in her life — many of them were almost exact lines or song titles that we already have in our musical. It just proved to me even more that we’re working on the right page.

So we've now got Kathie Lee blogging! She started it a few days ago during rehearsal. Check out what she has to say about the process of creating SAVING AIMEE.

—ES