A week in the Tower – Day 5
Day 5 could have gone better for me. An awful lot better. During the afternoon, I read over my notes from the various run-throughs and performances over the last 10 days, and sang through ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ numerous times, as I know that’s the number I find most challenging vocally. It stays very low and my character is supposed to be nervous while singing it, a combination which can mean that I descend into incomprehensibility if I don’t concentrate.
Notes were at five o’clock, preceded for unknown reasons by a game of catch that soon became violent. Much laughter was shared by the company, and I proved that I have no sense of aim whatsoever. I know people who hate notes during a run, but the whole point of them is to make sure that the show gets better and better, as there’s always room for improvement. They can also be encouraging – if someone does something particularly good, that will be picked up on and praised. As long as everyone involved knows that the purpose is notes is for good and not for ill, then all is well – I certainly have had many notes over the years which improved my performance, generally suggesting things I’d never have thought of myself or catching errors or problems I hadn’t noticed.