BWW Blog: Molly Tynes of PIPPIN - In the Mood

This week is all about getting in the mood! We spent last week cleaning vocals and dance steps, reviewing, and adding new elements to support and enhance the show we had already created. This week we get to delve in a little deeper - to focus less on notes, steps, and lines and more on the mood and delivery of what we are doing. What are we trying to communicate with those steps and vocals? How should they feel?

Our music team, Nadia DiGiallonardo (Music Supervisor), Charlie Alterman (Music Director), and Sonny Paladino (Associate Music Director), worked with us on the dynamics of our vocals. At moments when the sound needed to be brighter, Charlie would remind us to smile thus brightening the vowels and the overall sound; you really CAN "hear a smile." Nadia helped us make clearer shifts in dynamics and intention by evoking specific images to characterize sections of the songs - everything from "old fashioned radio jingle" to "crazed fanatic."

We also got to rehearse all week with our amazing drummer, Jared Schonig. He worked with the music and artistic teams to synchronize the percussion in the score with the staging, choreography, and comedic beats. He has fantastic instincts and really knows how to accent a moment with the perfect sound. For example, our choreographer, Chet Walker, discovered a hilarious moment for Andrea Martin (our Berthe and our resident comedic genius) to join the dancer girls in a suggestive hip thrust. Jared jumped right in with a hollow drum hit adding the perfect punch line.

Dynamics are just as important in dance as they are in music. Even a slight shift in facial expression can be crucial to the effect of the choreography. Chet worked with us this week on bringing out the motivation behind the steps. He took extra care rehearsing the so-called "Manson Trio," one of Bob Fosse's most famous dance sequences from "Pippin." Our production features the original choreography. This trio, inspired by Charles Manson and the many murders he orchestrated, occurs during the "Glory" section of the show. The Leading Player (Patina Miller) and two beautiful dancers (Anthony Wayne and Andrew Fitch - a formidable pair) alternate between a slick vaudevillian style and deadpan mechanical movement in perfect unison while grotesque scenes of war happen all around them. This is a moment in the show where Patina really shines. Not only is she a commanding actress and a powerful singer; she is also a tremendous dancer!

Speaking of our multi-talented cast members, allow me to mention our Pippin, Matthew James Thomas. It's suiting that he plays the role of someone striving to be extraordinary. In addition to being an excellent singer, actor, and musician, he also dances and performs SEVERAL acrobatic tricks in the show! He possesses a fearlessness rarely encountered. I suppose this stands to reason since he spent the past two years flying high above audiences as Peter Parker in "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark." For our production, he was not content to leave the stunts and tricks to the circus performers. Instead he leapt into acrobatics with open arms training the Chinese Poles, the Russian Bar, and even some flips. Extraordinary? I think so.

I should mention Matthew is not the only one of our principal actors in the cast who has picked up a few circus skills for this production. In fact they ALL have. But more on that later...

The Music Team: Nadia DiGiallonardo, Charlie Alterman, Jared Schonig, and Sonny Paladino

Patina Miller, Anthony Wayne, and Andrew Fitch rehearse the "Manson Trio."

Orion Griffiths helps Olga Karmansky train contortion handstands.