(For the next little while, I’m focusing on my band GrooveLily’s new musical WHEELHOUSE, which premieres this spring at TheatreWorks of Silicon Valley.)
Today we fleshed out the “Leap”/”We Have Come This Far” combo moment, with Gene alone at the piano at first, and a really nice slow build until we’re all singing and playing together…and also spent a lot of time on the several “diary entry” moments we’ve decided to include. I read out loud, at length, from my actual journal entries – and it took several hours and plenty of discussion about the dramatic purpose of each one, but I think we’ve arrived at some really good choices that help our story and provide perspective. Having some nuggets of real events in there, as well as some that are more, let’s say, “truthy,” helps us get to the emotional place we’re trying to go. (We are not presenting this show as journalism, as Mike Daisey notoriously did on This American Life – it’s clearly a piece of theatre, based very closely on our actual lives.)
After our work day, we had a special treat – we got to visit Bryan Lanser at his office to try out some beautiful Muse gear, like the amazing MuseBox which has not even shipped yet: I got to play my violin through it, and I started coveting it immediately.
In the same building as Muse is the legendary Annex Studio – and Bren realized after we arrived that the place looked really familiar. It turns out he had recorded a song there back in 1991! (For any diehard GrooveLily fans reading this, the bonus track “You Take Control” from the “Brendan & the Extenuating Circumstances” CD is the song.)
After our Muse/Annex visit, the three of us had a delicious band dinner at Shana Thai, and shortly thereafter collapsed with exhaustion, anticipating tomorrow’s 5 AM alarm.
