Chamberlain

A Civil War Romance

Show Diary

June 20

Much has been going on on the revision front. Sarah is constantly revising several scenes -- this, of course, after the massive changes resulting from the Febrary reading. Songs have been thrown out and re-written, with new ones being added. Chamberlain's "Words Worth Fighting For" is gone, as is the Mutineers' "It Ain't Fair; It Ain't Right;" but a new ballad and a rousing call to battle have been added for Chamberlain. Copies are going out to Mr. Jacoby in Chicago for approval of the keys. The orchestrators have become very active, with a flurry of material reaching the copyists (Doug Coates and me, for now).

The casting is pretty much finalized (see the cast page for details), and it looks like an excellent group.

In the meantime, the rest of Maine State's season is off to a flying start, with a wonderfully well-received Carousel. Singing in the Rain enters its final week of rehearsals. Wish we could be up there to see them....

July 9

We continue to prepare. Doug Besterman has come up against too many conflicts, and so will have to reduce his contribution. So I'm meeting today with Larry Hochman and a possible new orchestrator -- Bruce Coughlin (whose work I know from Ricky Ian Gordon's States of Independence and Adam Gittel's Floyd Collins). I have long admired his work, and hope that he can be available (he's checking his schedule).

In the meantime, I'm frantically trying to get the rest of the changes into the music so that the orchestrators (whomever they may be) will have as much of what we think we're going to go into rehearsal with as possible. Changes to dialog and lyrics have meant larger changes to the computer files than I thought originally, so I'm in a rush to meet today's meeting -- or at least to get things out before we leave for Maine on Sunday.

Evita has opened at MSMT and ticket sales are brisk (they had $8000 yesterday). Steve Peterson now has to battle the rumor that Chamberlain is completely sold out. This is not the case; there are still some seats available, plus another show is being added. If you're reading this and think you can't get tickets, give the box office a try.

Of course, to overload things a little more we've gotten an acceptable bid on our apartment so we're in the process of selling and trying to find a place to move into when we get back from Maine. Looks like Jackson Heights, Queens. Ah, me.

July 20

Nearing the end of the first week of rehearsal. It is incredibly exhilarating! The cast is dynamite and the sound of the group is incredible. Thus far the opening number and the women's letters ("The Hearts at Home") have been staged, but most of the music for the first act will have been taught by today's end. M.D. Doug Coates is whipping them through the material, and the cast seems to enjoy working on the material enormously. They've been very enthusiastic and constantly complementary.

It is a thrill to be doing this material in the town where such a bulk of it actually took place; to look at of the rehearsal hall's windows at houses and churches that actually stood while the events of our show were occuring. And the local excitement is unbounded; several cast members are returning to their home state and they feel particularly connected to the piece. Ray Dumont turned to Kevin Browne during rehearsal of "Hurrah for the Boys in Blue," when they got to the line "the boys from Maine are coming" and shouted, "That's us!"

We've had a couple of sessions with Tim Kindred, a re-enactor and historian. He is not only keeping us historically accurate, but also providing us with a great deal of props, field equipment, etc. We were lucky to have found a man who not only has such a strong historical background, but also has experience advising on theatrical and film projects.

Sarah and I have done the first batch of interviews; the first two with the Brunswick and Portland papers. We're also setting up a special Q&A session for the members of the Pejepscot Historical Society who have purchased from a block of tickets set aside for the Society.

From what we've heard, the costumes will be incredible. We've been told that some of Fannie's skirts will be more than four feet wide!

And I've been able to get some work done -- a revision of the Drill sequence, with some sketches for the new "War Games" section, Chamberlain's final reprise -- but it's hard not to keep running down to the rehearsal hall to hear what they're doing. I can't tell you how good they sound.

Mark Jacoby joins us on Tuesday; his late start is due to his prior commitment to Showboat in Chicago.

July 23

Some costume fittings today. The costumes rival anything out there. The fabrics and material are breathtaking in themselves.

Mark joined us. You want singing? Here's singing.

August 6

Beginning of our final week of rehearsal.

Today's schedule will see the last of the scenes blocked. Bonnie Walker begins staging of the Drill sequence. Tim Kindred had a long session with the boys and Bonnie (with her assistant, Karen Lusher) on military drill -- this in addition to the lengthy session he had given earlier on history and field commands and behavior. The boys already sound great musically on this section; can't wait to see what she does with it. Earlier this week we did work on the "Hurrah for the Boys in Blue" dance section. Her work was wonderful, very manly!, but meant extending the music a great deal -- well, really rewriting the music almost entirely. It was an excellent opportunity for me to show off musically. (I hope Larry Hochman enjoys the opportunity as much.)

The prop rifles arrived earlier this week. They have all of the necessary parts and look excellent. The men just have to be careful how they hold them -- don't want any obvious wobbles out of these rubbery things. (Tim Kindred talked about a famous wobbling rifle scene in the film, The Buccaneer.) Tim's been amazing, with any number of details available whenever we need them. And the fact that, not only does he specialize in 5th Corp history but has extensive stage and film experience (including the film, Glory) makes his work with us seamless. He is very careful not to interfere with the rehearsal process and also understands when detailed accuracy may need to be less than total in order to maintain some theatricality.

The mutineers' scene has been rewritten once again (we actually did the typing during rehearsal on my Macintosh Powerbook!) and is much more powerful.

There have been more fittings and a photo session with the principals. The costumes that were ready for the shoot looked fabulous, as did the actors themselves. With the wig and big ol' droopy mustache, Mark Jacoby looks uncannily like JLC. It's a shock.

Orchestrations are nearly complete, as is the copying. Just waiting for the last bits of underscoring and dance music to be okayed after some more rehearsal on them. From what I can tell, our little orchestra is going to sound phenomenal.

Oh, yes, and we finally managed a trip up to Wiscasset, so sheet music for three of the songs will be available for purchase at the theatre.

August 8

First runthrough of the complete show. Surprisingly tight, despite the fact that so disproportionately more time has been spent on Act I than Act II. We're pleased with the flow, and there don't seem to be any major trouble spots or horrible surprises.

As of today, orchestration is complete for all of the sung portions of the show. A big batch of copied parts arrived today as well.

And for you fans of facial hair, beards and mustaches are coming in very nicely on the members of the cast who won't need to vary their appearance as much during the show. Stylistic variants on traditional beards have been found for those men whose growth is spotty.

Larry Hochman arrives Saturday evening. A runthrough is set for Sunday afternoon for the crew, orchestra and other staff. Monday is the first orchestra rehearsal.

It's happening.

August 19

I apologize for the long hiatus: my computer got flakey, the orchestrator needed it, and, well, I've been too busy.

We did two previews, and then opened on the 13th. This is our first day off in a long long time -- the end of a 9-show week.

The cast has been doing a spectacular job; we could not be more proud of them. The audience response has been fantastic: cheers at the end of numbers and standing ovations at the end of each performance. The reviews have been raves (I hope to get a chance to post some excerpts; watch the JLCHome page for a new "Reviews" button.). As the run continues the performance gets smoother and smoother.

We passed our most fearful event with an excellent response: last night was a special added performance for the Pejepscot Historical Society as part of their week-long Chamberlain event. The audience was jammed with people even more critical than reviewers -- Civil War historians and re-enactors. All week long we'd been hearing about their angry skepticism. And we discovered to our delight at a special post-performance talkback session, that they loved it. So many of them had come prepared to shoot down the inaccuracies, or to attack us for defiling the memory of a great hero, but were surprised and moved by the show. As one woman said, historians have a tendancy to codify, deify, and create icons, and they -- through their struggle for total accuracy -- forget that there is even a possibility of a real person behind the image they are constructing. She thanked us for giving them a glimpse of who Chamberlain and Fannie may have been.

Still to come are reviews in the Boston Globe and Herald. Keeping our fingers crossed. If only we had one more week, perhaps we would be able to get some outside producers here.

As of ;yesterday, there was only one single ticket left for the run.


I do not imagine any body would be more glad to see any body, that somebody to see somebody who is the constant center of his every dream & the soul of his every thought! But for the present, only dreams & thoughts on that delightful side.
--Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain to Frances Adams Chamberlain, 1862 Antietam

It is very discouraging to me to look over a bushel or two of letters & find one for every body but me.
--JLC to Fannie, 1862 Antietam


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