Tell me about attending dress rehersals

[Wee Thomas2]

Posted: 9/10/12 at 3:52pm

Been invited to a dress rehersal in Boston later this week of a play I loved on B'way. Never been to a dress rehersal before, what should I expect? Is it similar to a preview? Or will there be breaks in the action and on stage direction going on?

Thanks!

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/10/12 at 3:55pm

It depends on the show and how well tech is going. Typically the goal for a dress rehearsal is to go start to finish without stopping, keeping in mind the reality that should something require attention then there is an option to stop and fix it.

I do know some directors who make it a policy to stop a dress rehearsal within the first couple of minutes when there is a large invited audience, just to drive home the point that it is still a rehearsal and that it is something they can and will do if necessary.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/10/12 at 5:09pm

I've only attended one dress rehearsal that was for the national tour of Chicago which was essentially a put in rehearsal for George Hamilton. They explained that they would stop the show if there was a problem, but there wasn't ever anything major. Just a minor sound issue near the end of the first act. Depends on the show, I guess, but to me it seemed like a regular performance just with a small invited audience.

[booth0882]

Posted: 9/10/12 at 5:21pm

Like has been said before, it depends on how well tech has been going, which dress (I'm going to presume that it is the final dress), and who the director and stage manager are. The goal is to run the dress rehearsal exactly as a regular performance would run unless something goes wrong. And again, depending on if what goes wrong is an ongoing problem that they still haven't fixed, a random fluke, if there is a safety concern, or if there are major technical problems (for example, if a Mic won't work, if the hydraulics, air casters, etc stop working)

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/11/12 at 12:28am

Check your PMs WeeThomas.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 9/11/12 at 6:20am

I went to Book of Mormon's final dress rehearsal, and basically Casey Nicholaw got up and made a speech prior to the show beginning that this was a dress rehearsal so there could be stops and starts here and there, so to expect that. I will say though, they never did stop, and there was little that actually would have prompted them to do so, the only thing I remember was a minor set issue, which worked itself out, and as I mentioned they never stopped.

You won't receive a Playbill like you would attending something in previews or that's opened, and you're usually in the company of family/friends of the cast and the creative team. The Book of Mormon final dress rehearsal allowed Facebook fans [such as myself] to attend after winning a contest, which is how I got to go. It was a cool experience, and it's also pretty neat to say I was one of the first audiences to see it.

[Wee Thomas2]

Posted: 9/11/12 at 7:17am

Thanks for the info (loved the "tech" reference, since I get all my B'way knowledge from SMASH). It must be the Final Dress, as previews start the following night.

I'm hoping for something that looks at least a little different than a regular preview, I'll report back with anything interesting.