September 9th and the show A Night at the Music Box is getting closer and closer. Some of us, including Ellie and Frank Batchelor and Liz and Jim West met early at Park Place United Methodist Church where we hold our regular rehearsals on Thursday, August 10th to set up a “mock” stage so that the ladies would get the feeling of how things will be arranged the night of the actual show.

Mock Rehearsal

We measured areas of the floor and marked them with masking tape to show the exact size of the platforms which we will be using; we then arranged the tables in a V formation. Two of the tables will be elevated on the platforms; a third will be placed on the floor. Then we arranged who would sit and stand in what position, paying close attention to balance of parts and making sure we seat the ladies who are unable to stand for sustained periods of time.

The ladies began arriving for practice at about 6:30 p.m. and right away a couple of revisions in the seating arrangements were made. Frank was there with his camera equipment and tripod so he could videotape the rehearsal. Jim listened carefully to the show songs and made constructive suggestions about our presentations; plus he introduced some of the choreography moves.

At the beginning of the practice, Ellie honored two of the ladies who have made significant contributions to the chorus. Sandy Daughton received an award for being high sales-person in our advertisement drive; Cissy McKenzie received an award for being judged the best prepared with the notes and lyrics of each of the show tunes. The songs as performed really sounded wonderful at this practice. We were able to implement a number of suggestions, which gave the ladies some insight as to how to “sing the song and paint the picture,” conveying a clear message to our listeners. We also followed Jim’s lead regarding choreographic moves in about three of the selections.

We found it necessary to rehearse the songs which Pat requested to sing at our performance at her Class Reunion on August 12. That was necessary to do, but it stopped us from progressing further with choreographic moves in the rest of the show songs. We did find it very useful to play the tape that Bill and Ida Smouse prepared for us when we went out to the Road Kill for our “mini” retreat. We listened to the tape and implemented the moves without having to worry about singing the songs at the same time. Learning any given song is one thing — choreographing it is yet another; it is necessary to practice both parts separately and then together for optimal results. It is significant to note here that we have white gloves for each lady to wear the night of the show, and these will showcase our motions very effectively.

At this very special rehearsal, the first of its kind, in preparation for our show, Ellie was happy to give statistics of our ad sales to the group; she congratulated all those who participated in this sales project. She also had the final draft of the program available for anyone to see. Ellie returned the posters, show tickets and 50/50 tickets to Karen Emerick who is in charge of ticket sales; Karen had left those materials in Ellie’s care during her trip out to Colorado.

Mock Rehearsal

All of the ladies except Dolores Stone were present for the August 10th rehearsal; Dolores was out of state for her son’s wedding. Everyone seems to be well prepared, and excitement is high as the show date fast approaches. Last minute details of costuming, stage decorations, afterglow arrangement and sing along inserts are still pending at this point.

Congratulations to each and every Ladybird! Everyone is doing her level best to make A Night at the Music Box a spectactular event!