It's The Biz

So what would you do if one day two cast members from a show you musically directed dropped out of the show giving you less than 24 hours to replace them in a show filled with difficult harmonies, dancing, dialogue, and several choreographed quick changes. Again, what would you do? I'll tell you what I did. Because it happened to me. Last Thursday, due to discrepancies with the Artistic Director, the only 2 male cast members in our 5 person show called it quits. Leaving us VERY high and dry. This isn't a show you can just walk out on especially due to the LARGE quantity of music and harmonies. But, alas, they DID. Not the most professional thing to do in the world. Actually, it probably fits snuggly down there with sexual harassment, discrimination, and stabbing your boss through the head with a machete. Let me also say that one of the two cast members who left was a friend of mine who I recommended for the job. He said NOTHING to me before he left. How pathetic is that. Not to mention the fact that him quitting reflects on me seeing how I recommended him. OK, on to the fun part. So what did we do, you ask? Well, I got a phone call telling me that I needed to learn the entire show by 2:00 the next day giving me less than 24 hours to learn the show. Seeing how I enjoy sleeping that left me with less than 16 hours to learn the show. That is not NEARLY enough time. Our cast rehearse their shows for 2 weeks and they still have problems for the first week of performing or so. So I said, "uhhhhhhh no no no, this is what we should do". So we basically threw together a cabaret act trying to keep in as much of the show as possible without it being too difficult on myself and one of the replacements that was kind enough to come in and fill in for the other guy at the last minute. So all the medleys were CUT, all the dancing was virtually CUT, and much of the costumes and dialogue were CUT. In their place we put in several solos, such as an Amazing Grace solo, Oh What A Beautiful Mornin', and On The Street Where You Live. We kept several elements of the old show as long as there wasn't TOO much dancing or harmonies. But basically we made it as easy on ourselves as we possibly could. The show was about 15 minutes shorter than the old version also. Which made it about 1 hr long. Here's the clincher though: THE AUDIENCE STILL LOVED IT! They didn't even notice. As I always say, they're too busy shittin' their pants. But, here's another clincher, on Saturday my family had been planning for a long time to come down with 20 OTHER PEOPLE to stay all night and see the show I musically directed. Well much to their surprise (and pleasure) they got to see me in the show. Not something I was exactly looking forward to. But, in the end I guess it all worked out. So, in closing, I ended up performing in the show on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and the two replacements are currently rehearsing their butts off to go into the OLD show on Tuesday. We'll see how that works out. Giving them a few days is even pushing it. But we'll make it work. As far as the two guys who left goes. Well I hope they both fall off the edge of a cliff. A VERY high cliff. So in the end, all I really have to say is: "it's the biz".