BD Wong in Herringbone. Art by Danny Garber, Photos by Mara Isaacs.

With the last few rays of summer sun filtering through the windows in the Berlind rehearsal hall, the cast and crew of Herringbone is already hard at work. Like all McCarter shows, Herringbone rehearsals kicked off with a Meet and Greet for the McCarter staff to get to know the artists. As the stage management assistants and I set out nearly 50 chairs to accommodate our ever-growing staff, I couldn’t help thinking of a line from the show, “This is my cue to introduce the principle players…they don’t know there’s only one in the cast.” Although the McCarter staff and our audiences already know that the wonderfully talented BD Wong plays (and sings and dances) all 11 characters in the show, it’s definitely something you have to see to believe!

When I first read the Herringbone script, I wondered if the rather complex plot of this vaudeville murder musical would become muddied when all the parts were played by one actor. Since rehearsals have started, however, I’ve been amazed to watch how BD’s solo “tour de force” actually clarifies both the actions and themes of the piece (I don’t want to give too much away!). I’ve noticed how quickly we all started referring to the characters as if they were separate entities: “Maybe the mother moves the chair on her line,” someone will suggest or “He’s standing over by the window so she could cross to him on that music.” In addition to changing the texture and pitch of his voice for each character, BD also changes his body posture to portray a young boy, an old tailor, a middle aged woman, etc. Dan (our music director) told a great story the other day about how after Herringbone’s first production in Williamstown he overheard an audience member explaining the show to a friend and saying, “and then the tall man came in…” as if BD actually changed size for the different characters. It’s amazing how much the tilt of a head and the angle of a gaze can change our perception of who is talking…but don’t take my word for it—check out Herringbone opening in the Berlind in less than a month!

Posted by Sarah Wansley, Directing/Producing Intern at McCarter Theatre.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Get Connected, Herringbone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.