Finally to scale...

There is a fantastic scene in Topsy Turvy where we see Mr. Gilbert sitting in his study moving little blocks around a model of the Mikado set. For the past month I have been doing precisely that--moving little people around the set model provided me by the grotesquely talented Mikiko Suzuki. Yesterday I arrived in St Louis and got to see the real ones, in all their full size glory. This is a photo of them in a corner of the rehearsal room. Tuesday I get to start rolling them around. (I'm realizing now I should have taken this picture with myself next to one of these monsters.)

The amount of work that has already gone into this show, before a singer even opens their mouth is astounding. The folks in the production department have outdone themselves. Everything from centuries old makeup chests to 30 tiny origami houses (that take 4 hours each to make).

Today I sat down with the stage management team and my intrepid assistant director and we went through the show scene by scene, breaking down scene changes and some of the major choral migrations. Tomorrow is the first music rehearsal. The suspense builds...