GrooveLily's Striking 12: Valerie's Blog #2

By: Nov. 05, 2006
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STRIKING 12: A New GrooveLily Musical
Valerie's Blog #2 – 'Off and Running'
By Valerie Vigoda

BroadwayWorld is proud to bring you the second of a new six-part series of blog entries written by Valerie Vigoda of GrooveLily, the band that "crosses the boundaries laid down by words like rock, folk, jazz and pop."  GrooveLily's 'Striking 12,' a New Year's Eve musical about a 'Grumpy Guy' whose life in transformed by an 'incandescent salesgirl,' will begin performances at the Daryl Roth Theatre on November 6th toward a November 12th opening.  It is co-written by GrooveLily's Vigoda and Brendan Milburn (both of whom will also appear in the show) and Tony Award-winner Rachel Sheinkin.

We are off and running. Here's our crazy first week so far:

MONDAY, OCTOBER 23
Up at 6 a.m. to spend some time with our baby (Brendan and I have a 13-month-old son, who is a delight at any hour). Vocal warm-ups consisting of many consecutive readings of "Little Gorilla,""Where's Kitty?" and "Freight Train," followed by rigorous physical warm-ups of helping the baby push a chair around the house. Load the GrooveLily van, pick up Gene from his nearby apartment (we all live in Brooklyn), drive to the rehearsal space in Times Square for 10 AM load-in. Producer Greg Schaffert, stage manager Kim Vernace and associate stage manager Jeff Rodriguez all valiantly help carry drums and other band gear into the building. Set up instruments and sound system in the extremely small rehearsal room.

11 AM:

Meet and Greet in lobby of rehearsal space. We chat with our show's producers and investors over bagels and a Dunkin' Donuts Box o' Joe, and feel incredibly grateful that this is really happening.
 
11:30 AM:

Ted separates us from the food table and we start in on our work. Although we have done "Striking 12" for a few years now, as I mentioned last week we are never 100% satisfied. Each year we think we're going to have an easy, carefree rehearsal process, simply dusting off the existing material and polishing our performances...and each year we end up stressed out of our minds, writing and changing and rewriting until moments before opening night. 

This year promises to be no different. Our age-old question of how best to open "Striking 12" resurfaces, as it does every time. Should we have an overture? (We've written five.) Something high-energy to start the show off with a bang, or the soft solo-violin ascension that gives a more magical aura to the top of the show? How do we establish the rules of the show for our audience? (There are occasional "breakouts" from the Grumpy Guy and Little Match Girl stories, into band level where Brendan and Gene and I are playing ourselves...so we need to set that expectation up from the beginning so people aren't confused.) The first ten minutes are the most crucial! We wrangle with this and other writing issues for the rest of the day.

3:30 PM:

Brendan, Rachel and I do succeed in writing the beginning of a good idea: a reprise of a song called "Wonderful" to occur near the end of the show. We get excited and stay until the owner of the rehearsal space makes us leave at 6.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24
Lots of early-morning fun with the baby, who is fascinated by construction equipment. We watch a Caterpillar excavator do its thing for at least 20 minutes.
 
10 AM:

I'm scheduled for a phone interview with a journalist from Minnesota (where we are doing a concert version of "Striking 12" next weekend). I call the number, get his voice mail, wait for half an hour and he never calls back. I'm annoyed. My time is valuable! My bandmates agree that if he asks to reschedule, I should politely refuse.

10:30 AM:

Actors' Equity Meeting at rehearsal space. A nice Equity rep talks to us for 45 minutes about the byzantine rules and regulations having to do with health insurance, workers' compensation, credits and workweeks and lookbacks and on and on, until we're a little dazed. 

In the confusion, I am appointed Equity Deputy. YES! (This position basically entails making sure no actor is endangered, or made to work for too long without a break.)

11:30 AM:

We keep rehearsing and rewriting. We have a very long, frustrating session lasting late into the afternoon, in which we all disagree vehemently about what to do. (Also, it's very hard to evaluate the writing when you are IN the show, a point of severe aggravation especially for Brendan.) 
Suddenly it looks like we're going to write yet ANOTHER overture. Ack.

5:15 PM:

The tension is broken by the arrival of our costume designer Jen Caprio, and her assistant Carly. They are carrying bags of great clothes for us, most from Armani Exchange (who apparently has a deal with our producer). We are very excited about our costumes! Jen is amazing (she designed the costumes for "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," which Rachel wrote the book for) - and I am blown away simply by her initial sketches. 

The words I had used in my discussion with her and Ted were "elegant" and "rock 'n' roll" - and these clothes will definitely fit the bill. Gorgeous black knee-high boots, purple velvet bustier, skinny jeans with lots of beautiful extra detail/applique...I love the concept. Also, they want to color my hair a more vibrant red, and cut it shorter, possibly with some black stripes. I'm up for anything.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25
10 AM:

I find out that the Minnesota journalist HAD A HEART ATTACK and that's why he missed our phone appointment. I feel terrible and guilty for having been annoyed with him - and of course agree to reschedule the interview.

10:30 AM:

Brendan and Rachel and I keep writing the "Wonderful" reprise. We are in much better moods and make good progress; it's one of my favorite things in the world when there's lots of creative energy in the room and ideas bounce around and you can really get into the flow of it all...and we finally make it to that place. 18 versions of the lyrics later, we have something we like and can show Ted and Gene...except for ONE pesky line that is not quite up to snuff. Will Ted and Gene notice?

2:00 PM:

Yes.

2:15 PM:

We spend the rest of the afternoon rehearsing as much of the script as we can, nailing down what the changed lines will (probably) be. We unanimously decide NOT to write a sixth overture, but to stick with the opening we know and love. My blood pressure goes down considerably.
 
A classically-trained musician, Princeton University honors graduate, and former Army lieutenant, Valerie Vigoda is the founding member of GrooveLily. She has toured the world with Cyndi Lauper, Joe Jackson and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She founded GrooveLily in 1994, with a critically-acclaimed CD called "Inhabit My Heart." She is the winner of a 2006 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award for excellence in writing for the theater, along with her longtime collaborator, fellow band member and husband, Brendan Milburn.

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