Clik here to view.
A group of actors playing homeless people sing the recurring number, "Christmas Bells are Ringing" in the first run through of SummerFest's "Rent," Sunday night at the movement studio of the University of Kentucky Fine Arts Building. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.
SummerFest‘s production of Rent had it’s first run through Sunday night. A run through means the production is run from beginning to end with no or limited stopping. It usually gives the director a fairly good idea of how ready for the stage the show is.
Earlier Sunday, music director Mark Calkins said that having a run through 10 days before opening night was ahead of schedule for SummerFest musicals, “Which is where I want to be.”
“There’s a sense of completion we haven’t had before,” said Chip Becker, who plays Mark. “To go through the whole arc, all at once, feels good.”
Clik here to view.
Emanuel Willams as Angel and Nick Vannoy as Tom Collins in "Rent."
Nick Vannoy, who plays Tom Collins, adds, “The way Jonathan Larson wrote it, there’s a wave and an arc, and as long as you can get on that wave and can keep it, and don’t mess up or stop, that wave will really just take you there. Tonight, I think I discovered how easy doing the show and connecting to it can be, because as long as you connect to the wave and get on top of it, it’ll take you all the way to the curtain.”
There was only one minor stop at the end of Act I, Sunday. But otherwise, she show went from the opening Tune Up to the final No Day But Today without interruption. Sunday’s rehearsal was with a keyboard accompaniment plus a little guitar from Johnny Dawson, who plays Rodger. The next couple nights, the show will be rehearsed with the band, led by rehearsal accompanist and keyboardist Karen Thomas and the Johnson Brothers’ Jim Gleason, who has led other SummerFest/Lexington Shakespeare Festival bands including Hair in 2008 and Jesus Christ Superstar in 2004.
There were a few numbers that will obviously be enhanced by the full-band experience, such as Angel’s intro, Today for You. That is another reason to eagerly anticipate opening night, now just nine days away.
Meanwhile, this week’s SummerFest offering is Pride and Prejudice.
