GRIMM, on shuffle.

“Dance Time is All the Time” - O.H.

First off, GRIMM tickets are now on sale!  To purchase tickets online, visit:

http://www.fringenyc.org/basic_page.php?ltr=G

Just pick our show and pick your night.  

Now, last night's post sprung from a much more stable mind, owing indefinitely to the forty-degree difference in temperature of our rehearsal space.  That being said, I tried to keep the cultural references to a minimum.  (For each slip, I’ll snag you a free ticket to our show!)*

I’ll admit, last night I felt a bit of the writer’s block creeping in.  Maybe it was the rain.  Maybe it was the fact that I wasn’t writing under extreme climatic conditions.  (I’m doing that thing that humans do.  You know, when they blame something outside of themselves for a personal shortcoming).  But by Grimm, we must weather through these things.

Speaking of blocks, blocking was the theme of the evening, which was exciting to watch since so far I’d only crashed the music rehearsals.  Before reviewing the opening number, Olivia sat everyone down and asked them what was new in their lives.  Clea made the exciting announcement that she’d snagged a role immediately after our show closes, playing Kathleen Turner’s lesbian lover (that’s more than what most of us can say for ourselves, so definitely wish her congratulations when you see her!).  After the chit chat were the dance diamonds.  I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched everyone in the cast follow the moves of whoever occupied the diamond’s tip, getting down to Gaga, then rolling on the floor to Missy Higgins.  I suppose I shouldn’t have been too surprised the cast could handle whatever the iPod shuffle threw at them, knowing how to stalk it out, pop and lock better than Goldilocks, and krump like Rump.  They did some super sweet arabesques too.

After the dancing, Olivia reviewed the blocking for the opening number.  In true Grimm fashion, it’s a fury of movement and minimal breathing.  At one point, Taylor even flips Abby over backwards, then lifts her onto his shoulder.  It’s like a scene straight out of Grimm Dancing, which critics claim will resurrect Jennifer Gray’s career, you know, after it had died in that fire.  (Or maybe the movie is called Dirty Grimming.  I can’t remember.) 

Something I began to notice about Olivia’s blocking, as I watched the rehearsal process, is the heavy integration of the ensemble -- more so than in Grimm 1.0.  Even in numbers that specifically involve the Queens (No, Wait! for instance), the ensemble is ever-present onstage, good Greek chorus that they are, to weave their ghostly tale for the first, second, third, perhaps hundredth time.    

Since this is the ensemble’s story to tell, it was wonderfully satisfying to watch the blocking for Angelica’s death scene.  As I stated in a previous post, this scene had been written specifically for Grimm 2.0 and features Catherine, in Angelica’s body, confronting her sister to finally switch back bodies after years of Freaky Friday fairy-tale existence (last one, I swear).  The ensemble, in this final scene, enacts revenge upon their murderess, finally inserting themselves into their own story.  Until now, their presence could only facilitate successful storytelling.  There was omniscience, but more importantly, distance.  At the end, however, they finally close this narrative gap, becoming the writers of a tale that, until now, they couldn’t control, only tell.  

Maybe this is just me, but I find this to be an incredibly satisfying metaphor for life.  In a world where so much is out of our control, from rainy days to iPod shuffles, who wouldn’t want the chance to finally write their perfect ending?  To roll on the floor and embrace it? 


I need to think about this more.

More posts to follow within the next day or so.  Later today I’ll be attending a Fringe meeting on all things related to tickets and box office, then I’m off to rehearsal again.  Until then, my little Grimmions.



*Just kidding. But it got your attention, right?