Guest Blogger: Matt Armet

PSYCH! Fooled ya! They asked me to write one more blog. I couldn't leave you all hanging off the cliff like that after last week's blog heading into Opening Night, so I'm back to tell you all about what happened last Tuesday when "finally, the big day came" - Val.  

All I want to be is just happy.' It's one of Bobby's lines in the final scene of the show. I actually think that I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life. I'm doing a fantastic version of my favourite show on my favourite stage in the country with some of my favourite people in the world. (Ok, the teen burger, fries and root beer I'm currently eating after finishing our last onstage rehearsal is probably helping, and so will the ice cream cake that's going to follow! But that's beside the point.) This whole journey has been incredible: from the auditions, to booking the job, to the first day of rehearsal, and all of the blood, sweat and tears in between. I would not change it for the world.

How did we get here already? I'm exhausted! But it's the best kind of exhaustion. I wouldn't have it any other way. We've been having a very busy week. Between A Chorus Line and the other shows we are crossed into, we've all had a preview or dress rehearsal plus a four hour rehearsal call every day this week. We can see the finish line of Opening Week. We are so close!

Our previews are coming along very well. We've been continuing to rehearse, always in an effort to improve on what we've done before. Our houses keep getting bigger and everyone seems to love the show.

We've now completed six previews. I love this time of year because no two shows are alike. After each matinee preview we rehearse on stage from 5:30-9:30p.m. Boy, do we have fun in those rehearsals, especially from 8:30-9:30p.m., or as we like to call it 'the witching hour.'

Last Saturday was arguably one of the toughest days of rehearsal all year. We started our day with a really great second dress run of the show which started at 1:45PM. This last dress rehearsal was almost as busy out in the house as it was for us on stage. We still had all of the production tables in the centre of the house for sound, lighting, and our director. Then we added an invited audience of roughly 500 people, about four video cameras for b-roll footage, plus two roaming photographers taking still shots. It was wonderful! The excitement before the show was high. It was very exciting to finally have an audience to find out if jokes would land and where we might have to hold longer for applause. The audience was mainly made up of friends of the cast and friends of the Festival. So the true test came on Tuesday when we had our first preview audience.

The train is going at full steam now and there is really no slowing it down until after Opening Night. This week has been full of a lot of fun things. First off we had out Sitz Probe on stage which was amazing! Finally getting to dance and sing these numbers full out with the orchestra was incredible. Then we moved into our Tech Run on Tuesday. Tech run: A full run through of the show with all technical elements including lights, sounds, sets, even show shoes and props, just no costumes yet. During Cue to Cue week, we break the show down into pieces a lot, not focusing on the arc of the show. So it was so great to have a really solid Tech Run of the show.

The train is going at full steam now and there is really no slowing it down until after Opening Night. This week has been full of a lot of fun things. First off we had out Sitz Probe on stage which was amazing! Finally getting to dance and sing these numbers full out with the orchestra was incredible. Then we moved into our Tech Run on Tuesday. Tech run: A full run through of the show with all technical elements including lights, sounds, sets, even show shoes and props, just no costumes yet. During Cue to Cue week, we break the show down into pieces a lot, not focusing on the arc of the show. So it was so great to have a really solid Tech Run of the show.

As I mentioned last week, Actors Never Get Weekends! HA! I'm not really bitter about it. It's something we all signed up for. But that's not what this week's blog post is about. The theme this week is Cue to Cue.

?Today is Good Friday! It's 2:00 p.m. and so far it's been the Best Friday! I keep finding myself wanting to have the process of creating A Chorus Line go faster because I'm so excited for so many things along the way. But at the same time, I want it to slow down because I never want this excitement to end.

Every Thursday night, I sit down at my computer to write these posts. These Thursdays keep coming around so quickly. I feel like I just wrote the last one yesterday. I'm pooped. We're pooped. We are having a blast, but working very long, very hard days.

'But if today were the day you had to stop dancing, how would you feel?' It's the heavy question asked by the director, Zach, close to the end of the show. We've touched on everything else in the show so far and today was the day we finally got to tackle this scene. It's a day of rehearsal that I've been looking forward to in some ways and so not looking forward to in others.

12 Weeks until Opening Night... There are specific milestone days during rehearsal every season. One of my favourite milestones happened this week: first day onstage. It always seems to creep up on us so quickly here at the Stratford Festival. They love to get us onstage as early as possible. This year we had 13 primary rehearsal days in the rehearsal hall before our first onstage day this past Wednesday.

Thirteen Weeks until Opening Night . The Festival has done some amazing things for us this season that will help make the transition from the rehearsal hall to the stage much more seamless .

When I was twelve years old, my mother drove me from our small town of Battleford, Saskatchewan, into the 'big city' of Saskatoon to see my first musical: a touring company of A Chorus Line. I had been taking singing and dancing lessons for about five years at this point and, needless to say, the show blew my mind. It has been my favourite musical ever since and has always been at the top of my bucket list of shows to be in during my career.