Notes - 11/5

2.1

All: mime opening your shops more clearly

Nina: stagger your entrance just a bit more

Nina/Benny: both of you lean out the window and share the lesson

Benny: don’t lean back away from Nina when she gets near you

Nina: after ‘dolor’ don’t turn back to Benny until ‘Besame’

Nina/Benny: look out, not at the people on the street

Mary: bring up the principals’ mics earlier

SmEnsemble: louder vocally on your entrance…1-2 dynamic markings

**Miller: Spike the Furniture Placements**

Benny: dial in those quieter harmonies…they’re close

2.2

Vanessa: slow up your entry…you’re not sure if you even want to check in w/Usnavi

Graffiti: try and make the situation less awkward with Sonny on your ‘new painting’ line…bail him out of the scene

Rosarios: Good exit

2.3

Scene Change: Rough transition…**can we double the music?**

Abuela: Tell him exactly what you’re doing with the money…you’re not working it out at that moment, you’ve already decided

Abuela: Show him what you’re talking about…that’s why you turn out to the audience

Usnavi: Show HER what you’re talking about…that’s why you go downstage

Usnavi: The parents’ dying is to himself…he’s overwhelmed

Usnavi: don’t look at abuela until the ok after ‘I worked with what they gave me’

Usnavi: make the offer to dance, then do the dance

2.4

Kevin: you can start the entry earlier by a couple of beats

Nina: you can start your entry a bit earlier as well…that opening sequence is dragging just a bit

Kevin: bigger beat before ‘think very carefully…’

Kevin/Nina: getting breathy in this scene

Benny: back up the verbal intensity physically…you sound intense, now show it

Kevin: remember to be farther downstage when your wife is singing to you (2^nd note)

Nina: remember to counter downstage a bit farther when Camila’s singing to you

Camila: punctuate some of your lines to your family with gestures

Camila: don’t exit quite so fast after your last ‘enough’…take a beat

2.5

Ensemble: too slow on the entry

All: wonky start to ‘carnaval’

Piragua: the ‘Wepa’ gesture looks dismissive, not enthused…get excited!

Dani: teach her to improvise, actively..show her

Ensemble: sing out!

All: justify…every line, every ‘wepa!’, every gesture must have a reason underlying it

Benny: groove with the ensemble during Usnavi’s monologue

Ensemble: groove that movement circle…it looks rushed and stiff

Graffiti: thanks for trying to get the principals to participate

Benny: nail down your solo…

Sonny: he’s pissed…go off on your cousin!

Ensemble: groove to yourselves on Sonny’s rant…you’re not paying attention, you’re having too much fun!

Usnavi: get ‘East Secaucus’

Principals: match the ensemble in their dancing

2.6

Solid transition everyone!

Stage Right Scaffold: come out earlier still

2.7

Ensemble: don’t just stand there…want to hear more, the news

Usnavi: most of the group knows what Alabanza means…tell the non-latinos what it means

Nina: hold your eye contact with Dani and Carla as they come in on ‘Alabanza’

Ensemble: look out at the audience; don’t turn your bodies

2.8

Nina: discover the letter…you haven’t seen it before

Usnavi: look to comfort her when she doesn’t respond to your last line before the song…help her justify that silence (you started doing that instinctively, and it was a good choice)

Nina: really ask the questions you ask in the song

Kevin: use your hands…find a way to incorporate a bit more variety

Kevin: take a beat to formally ask Camila about selling the business

2.9

Salon Girls: don’t rush out onstage…pace it well, but keep it relaxed

Dani: a bigger reveal on the address…this is gossip like no one’s business; treat it like every other piece of gossip you’ve relayed during the show

Vanessa: much bigger reaction

Salon Girls: Vanessa leave after getting her new address and hugging it out with Dani; this is a change