NIGHT OF THE HUNTER IN DALLAS

Today I booked my flight to Dallas to be at rehearsals for The Night of the Hunter. This is the third fully staged production and the first to used a 24 piece orchestra based on the orchestrations created for the concept CD which starred Ron Raines, Sally Mayes and Dorothy Loudon. It's also the third time I am overseeing a production since the composer, Claibe Richardson passed away. He never got to see it, except when we did a staged workshop at the Vineyard in NYC. He didn't even live to see the first big NYC reading. It's always hard to do a show without him. Not that he was easy, but he was there and it's his gorgeous music I must protect. Doing any show without your collaborator is hard. Re-writing becomes a balancing act. How do I change it and still keep the music the same and adjust words to fit a new vision but not music. It's not the way it should be. But this is a gorgeously dark and rich musical that demands to be seen and so I shall buck up and go to Dallas and make it the best show with a gloriously big (the biggest I have had live...Aspire was recorded with 70 pieces!)orchestra making a joyful noise in a state that Claibe hated. This is for you, Mr. Richardson.