Some of us in the cast just finished watching My Favorite Year, partly to inform our work on Laughter, partly because it’s a good film. Wow, Mark Linn-Baker was young. I hope I get to wear a sweater vest as Lucas. Also, for the record, I want to grow up to be Peter O’Toole.

When I returned to my room, I searched for Laughter on the 23rd Flooron YouTube, mainly to see if there were any clips or ads from the 2001 TV movie version. All I got were a dozen home video clips of truly atrocious-looking community theatre productions of the show. I’m grateful for the reaffirmation that we’re professionals.

We had our first run-through today (the fifth day of rehearsal, if you’re keeping track), and it was virtually without flaws, which is good, because we had our first audience. There were about ten or so crew members and fellow Paul Bunyan actors watching, and they seemed to enjoy the hell out of it. This is going to be a good show.

I’ve been debating about whether or not Lucas should have a dialect. We were pressured to use one for Broadway Bound in high school with mixed results, and part of me resists the idea now, because it’s not exactly necessary. And there’s nothing worse than someone doing a dialect imperfectly. If a dialect is even slightly off, it’s ruined, and that gets in the way of the rest of the actor’s performance. In rehearsal, though, I’m finding it hard not to say these lines with such a dialect. We’ll see. I did the dialect in the radio spot, so I guess I’m kind of obligated now. Maybe I’ll just use a light touch.

The past week has been a comedic slugfest in and out of rehearsal, and to mix a metaphor, I feel like I’m starting to get my sea legs. With Eric, Ari, Karen, and Michael around, it’s a tough club to join, but I’ve made them laugh, which is pretty gratifying. To tell the truth, there’s not a whole lot of difference between our characters in the play and our conversation offstage. Zach just cast us as ourselves, for the most part.

P.S. If you ever see Paul Reyburn, ask him to do his “Chewbacca doing Hamlet” bit.