I went to the final dress rehearsal for Grimmly Ever After at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center (812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL 32803). Theresa Leigh Smith-Levin, had invited me to sketch. She greeted me warmly when she arrived. There was a hectic energy as the actors got changed on costumes in the green room. On stage, a large swath of fabric was cut in half and then used to cover two music stands at stage left and right. It is from these stands that the brothers Grimm would introduce the various tales.
The actors rehearseda dance number, before a full run through of the show. The female dancers had to do a move that involved reaching behind their dance partner’s neck and lifting the is right foot elegantly back. The male dancer would the n lift her and spin clockwise making her seem to float and slowly spin. It took quite a few takes to get the more down. Music came for a piano, played live. The piano player would have to be stopped periodically to redo the dancing sequence. This was the first to the choreographer got a good feel for the live music’s timing.
Rumpelstiltskin was a miller who was poor, but who had a
beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he had to go and speak to the
king, and in order to make himself appear important he said to him, “I
have a daughter who can spin straw into gold.” His daughter sang a long song about the impossible task of spinning straw in to gold. With each tale, the brothers would turn to the audience and offer two possible scenarios that the tale could follow. The voting among the production staff in the audience was done to hilarious effect.
At one point, a prosthetic amputated arm was thrown on stage, and a princes tried to hide it in her apron pocket. The fingers kept getting caught in the pocket which caused her to struggle which was hilarious, weather it was planned or not. Theresa was laughing in front of me and her laughter was contagious. I had a blast watching the first half of the show. Unfortunately I had to sprint off during the intermission 1 see a McRae Art Studios group show at Maxine’s on Shine (337 Shine Ave, Orlando, FL 32803). I’m glad I went, there were friends, a bit of wine tasting, and plenty of good art.
Grimmly Ever After runs
November 11 – November 20
Nov 11 at 7:30 PM to Nov 20 at 5 PM
at the John & Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center
812 E Rollins St, Orlando, Florida 32803
Tickets are available online.