A soupcon of SOUP

Okay, so … day one for me as an observer of STONE SOUP.

It was Day 4 for the cast, though. Coming in that late in the process was a little weird. I love hearing the first readthrough and seeing how the actors mature in the parts over the week.

As it is I kinda caught them in the middle. The more experienced ones are tweaking the choices they started with, while the younger ones are finding their feet. As such, I’ve caught them in a slightly muddled state.

They’ll come together. It seems like a talented, energetic group. From what I’ve heard, their experience on CH_RL_TT_’S W_B, the first show of the season, was a little negative. They clashed with the director and didn’t have much fun.

Now, this won’t be, couldn’t be a problem with David Nields directing. He’s incredibly good with young actors, and knows how to walk that line between riding them hard enough to coax good performances out, and being a friendly likable guy … he’s better at that than I am, certainly.

Overall, I am not as blazingly enthusiastic about SOUP, yet, as I was about EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES at this point last year. Part of that is that that was the third show, whereas we’re looking at the middle one here. Last year, the actors had two shows to find their children’s theatre tools, even though they had a dip in energy and quality between TREASURE ISLAND and the middle show last year, they still had the right vibe. Actors who stumbled in finding characters in TI had bold choices in place from day one.

From what I’ve heard, the director of CW wasn’t very good about encouraging choices and experimentation. We also have a ringer brought in to play Sarge, who doesn’t have children’s theatre experience. He looks perfect for the part, and sings well, but he’s still learning, like so many actors, how to treat it seriously and respectfully, while still being fun and silly.

The rest of the cast is strong. John Albano, one of my favorite children’s theatre actors of all time -- certainly one of my favorite high-school age ones, is, of course, knocking the role of Sully the cab driver out of the park. I also love what the young apprentice (Chantal) is doing as Lieutenant Elty, the policewoman. She’s a tiny little thing, which is perfect for this overly enthusiastic bully of a cop. My favorite performance right now might be another apprentice, Gunnar, as Officer Secondcop. I wrote the character as a sort of Stan Laurel stooge type, following Elty around like a puppy. That’s there, but Gunnar has also brought this wonderfully dim sweetness to Secondcop. Yeah, he’s coming across mildly retarded, but not in an offensive way. Oh, and the actress playing Penelope, the farmer’s daughter is note-perfect. Really looks the part, too.

David had written me to warn me that one actor had very distinct mannerisms … to be blunt, gay mannerisms that he couldn’t quite hide. They don’t hurt the character much at all, though. It actually turns a fairly generic idea into something distinct.

Everyone else is fine, or going to be. In general, the older, intern actors are the ones in that middle stage, and I’m definitely not seeing all they can give yet. We’re also fighting serious heat, which can really suck the life out of anyone. And, of course, we’re at that “almost off book” stage so there’s a lot of late cues and calling for line. This show will only work at breakneck speed, and that’s just not possible yet.

My script … I’m seeing some flaws. Some stuff works better on the page, and I should have a better ear now (I forsee that in BEAUTY, too … dammit). Who knows how the scene where the cooking students pelt Sully with seasoning will work. Similarly, I really hope Cow Cow comes across -- this character is, yes, a cow … a tough cow. She doesn’t talk, she only says “moo.” But it doesn’t sound like a cow, just like a person saying moo, and each moo has a parenthetical description of what it means, like (“Do you expect me to believe that?”) … but it’s just one moo. Great idea on paper. Not sure if it’ll work on stage. The actress is very solid, given how little she has to work with. I think the role will be aided greatly by costuming. Costume parade on Thursday afternoon.

Incidentally, the actress playing Cow Cow is black, and yes, the anxious liberal in me in nervous about that. Is it degrading to cast the one actor of color as the monosyllabic animal role (and a sassy one at that)? She just played Wilbur in CW, so it’s been a livestock-heavy season. She will however be Beauty in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, so I think we’ll be cool.

I promised myself I wasn’t going to write the character of Hildy as another pleasant, intelligent, not very interesting and not very fun leading lady, as I’ve done far too many times before. But, dammit, this is a crowded play, there wasn’t much room for her to be anything else.

The actress is excellent though, and she’ll find shading.

As for David’s music. Great, of course. There probably aren’t any songs that blow me away quite as much as “More Than This” from EMPEROR or “Home is Where the Story Starts” from PIED PIPER, to name two of my favorites … yet, I may change my mind once I see them in full performance. Oddly, a lot of them don’t really have an ending. On the backing tracks, they just go on and on. We’ll be fading them, or interrupting the music with dialogue (one song during the court room scene ends when the judge gavels the court to order and reminds the singer she didn’t have permission for a song recess). I think this is fine, though it will mean we won’t be getting applause after some songs.

Some wonderful lyrics, too. Joining the list of great romantic lyrics David has created has to be this one line:

“You’re the words to my favorite song.”

Perfect.