This is the first in a series of videos that, to me, typify and illustrate superb entertainment.
This one is Neil Patrick Harris and the company performing the Opening Number of the 2013 Tony Awards. Extraordinary!
No wonder they got a full-minute standing ovation!
The extraordinary thing about this performance is that it didn’t take very long to rehearse!
According to Neil Patrick Harris:
“We sketched out the number via Facetime, put each part together separately, and only got a few precious moments to run it all together before the curtain. With almost no rehearsal you’re counting on people to execute well. But these are people who execute well every single night. So they’re used to that kind of pressure and they thrive on it.
It was rehearsed piecemeal with all the different groups. It didn’t all come together until the morning of the show, which is incredible for what it became. Every section or segment was rehearsed onto itself. And then Sunday morning in front of an audience — because we had an audience for the dress rehearsal — it came together on stage.
There were like 200 people in one big rehearsal space. They split them into two groups, taught the first group the number, sent them away, and taught the second group the number. This is in like 20-minute segments. Then I showed up and literally had 30 minutes to learn the entire act with all of them. So we got like two passes at everything. That was all the time we got!”
It’s amazing what you can achieve if you want it enough! 🙂
Love James x
