Lindbergh’s Rehearsal Log: Day Thirteen
Posted by Claybourne Elder on April 15th, 2010Lindbergh’s Rehearsal Log
Day: 13
Weather:
Hours of rehearsal: 91
Days until first preview: 18
Piano keys in use during a normal rehearsal day: 240 (two full-size pianos and one keyboard)
Hours Lindbergh slept before his transatlantic flight: 2
Hours it took to fly from New York to Paris: 33.5
 Rio Rita was a Broadway smash hit and was later made into a film. |
*Note: One of Lindbergh’s biggest battles as he crossed the ocean was staying awake. He had been waiting for 8 days for the weather to clear so that he could take off. And after 8 days of spending most of his time waiting at the airfield for news, he decided to go into New York City for the evening. While in the city he got the word that the weather over the ocean was clearing and that he would be able to take off in the morning. There were still several hours of preparation to complete before he could take off, so he rushed back to the airfield to work and ended up hardly sleeping the night before his flight.
And what did he do that last evening before he took off to cross the ocean? Why did he go to New York City and risk missing his pocket of good weather? He was at the theatre!! He went to see Rio Rita at the Ziegfeld Theatre and was allowed to go backstage to meet the stars. And now it’s almost as if this musical is his Promethean struggle, night after night of performances reminding him of those hours he battled with himself to stay awake because he spent a night at the theatre.
*Note: We are getting dangerously close to finishing a first sketch of all the scenes in the show! We’ve been taking our time to really explore and try things when we feel the impulse. Slowly carving away to discover what lies beneath. I suspect that tomorrow we will have the whole show blocked and we’re all very excited!
Posted by Claybourne Elder, who plays Charles Lindbergh in McCarter Theatre’s Production of Take Flight
