My first day felt like Christmas.  I couldn't wait to start my new adventure.  LIttle did I know that everyone else had already been there for a few weeks.  George later told me that he wanted to call me in earlier but he didn't have anything for me to do.  He had finally found a way for one of the characters I'd play to flow through the entire piece.   More on that later.

Rehearsal was held at Musical Theater Works, right across the street from The Public Theater. Like any first day on the new job, there was plenty of paperwork, a lot of new people to meet and an endless stream of information to decipher and digest. Everything felt necessary, like the first day of school.  Needless to say, I came prepared: pencils, an electric pencil sharpener, ruler, highlighter, post-its and (most importantly) a tape recorder, blank tapes and AA batteries.  Immediately upon entry I was given a script, sheet music, a contact sheet and the all-important schedule.  I examined it carefully, marking them up with abandon: by mid to late June, we were in tech rehearsals;  previews began in early July; we were to open on August 4th.   How could we possibly pull this off?   Here's what's supposed to happen:  there is a composer, a librettist, a director, a dramaturg and a choreographer that hermetically seal themselves into a little room.  After 7 to 9 years, the idea in question has been developed into a musical.  Usually with a theatrical production, you have a rehearsal period of 4 to 6 weeks with a script that's already finished. Here's what's about to happen:  the musical was being written and choreographed over a 6 to 8 week period.  I had been in theater since I was twelve and I had never been a part of anything like this.

This was business as usual for George.  He was working with the same creative team from Noise/Funk and from what I understand, it was the same pressure packed thrillride, with no time to spare.  With George, everything came together in a matter of weeks.  No one questioned it.  We all just rolled up our sleeves and got to work.  Everything was scheduled as meticulously as possible to get the optimum use of everyone's time: dancers working here, vocalists working  there, all of it coming together at a certain point in the day to see what's what, unhinging it if necessary and moving on.

The first thing I noticed about the cast is that none of us had the same look.  Everyone had realized their own style and they were all beautiful.  None of the women wore a lot of make-up and none of them straightened their hair.  Beautiful brown-skinned black folk.  It was a simple elegance, very basic.  Very uplifting, to come in and seeing that everyday is an uplifting thing.

Revisions were constant.  Each day we were presented with a slew of rewrites.  I almost didn't want to memorize too much right away because I knew it would probably change or go to "Harlem Song heaven", a phrase George laughingly used repeatedly during the rehearsal process, which meant that it was removed permanently.  Over the next few weeks, whole sections would be added, rehearsed to the hilt and then slashed.  Getting up to speed--and staying there--was essential.