Day 4 -- Thursday, April 2

No one got a chance to yell at me yesterday when I returned from my audition, but they really let me have it today. They were so upset with me that they wrote me another scene!

I hadn't checked the script yet when I reached the set this morning, but Katy, the first A.D. met me with the welcome, "Well, look at you. You come in late and they give you another scene!" Not having the slightest idea what she was talking about, I hurried in to look at my script. Another voice called out, "Hey, you got another scene. Congrats!"

"Yeah!" I responded, "Thanks!" just aching for a moment alone so I could see what everyone was referring to.

And there it was in all its glory, Scene H. Nathan Lane's return to the opera stage had been originally exposed by a phone call to his agent in a scene that was now gone. In its place was Nathan sitting in the limo telling the driver all about it. And three more punch lines for the driver! Well, they really showed me. Next time, I'll show up twenty minutes late.

We set up to rehearse the two limo scenes and David Lee, the director, remarked, "Well, your eyes must have bugged out last night when you saw the extra scene." Combining fact and fiction, I returned, "Yeah, well, this morning. Very cool."

Rehearsal was quick and painless, but the pain would come later. I still had to sell the scene to the producers. Probably the most nervous I have been so far in this whole adventure was right before putting Scene H up for the big boys. I guess it was the pressure of possibly losing the scene so soon after getting it. But it went off without a hitch and was received quite well, making it official (at least for now).

The day was not over yet. We broke for dinner and stage 32 began to fill up with people. This would be the preview performance of everything we had so far, a chance to see how an audience would react to all this. And a chance to see how the really big NBC execs would react. Warren Littlefield, for example, West Coast Top Dog for NBC, joined us for this event. To be honest, it started a little slowly, the audience trying to figure out who everybody is and what exactly is going on. The first limo scene did get a laugh or two. The next scene was better. By the third scene, the audience was in the groove. They got into the characters and Nathan captained the ship with aplomb. By the time we reached the second limo scene, the audience was getting it. Lots of laughs, good response. The second limo scene was a lock. The rest of the show went fine. There was a bit of a struggle through a couple of later scenes, but it's all fixable, I'm sure.

We were done by 8pm. It was an incredibly enjoyable day, from getting a new scene to running it for an audience. It has come a long way from the three-line table read 72 hours ago. The Limo Driver has come into his own! Now? Gotta keep him there. Still lots of rewriting opportunities between now and tape-day. Just hang in there.

Go on to Day 5

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