Stratford, Prince Edward Island
Well, I got a little morose after the last entry because I timed out the libretto after those extensive 10 days' worth of revisions and only got 26 minutes out of the thing. I was really feeling pretty fatalistic about it all. But...I got over it. :) Last week I took another whack at it, going over it with Leo, and I made another significant round of cuts. I haven't timed it, but I'm going to guess we lopped off another 15 minutes. At this point, I guess I'm leaving it alone, at least until after the workshop, unless something really inspiring comes along. We're told the date for the workshop will be 21 September. Stay tuned!

Leo and I are starting to spend more time at the Confederation Centre of the Arts. Yesterday we auditioned some of the kids and younger folks (it sounds weird to say that, since, at 38, I still feel like one of the younger folks!). Today we met with the cast of Anne of Green Gables en masse and individually in an effort to better determine who is right for which role. I've never been on that side of an audition table before, so it was definitely a different perspective for me. Fortunately, everyone was great, and we sort of have an embarrassment of riches in terms of talent, so getting all the roles cast shouldn't be too difficult. And, due to the scaled-down nature of the workshop, each person will be playing even more roles than they normally might. I find myself wanting to put off the casting task 'til tomorrow, since I haven't gotten enough sleep the last 3 nights and I'm totally dragging! But I'll at least start on it - after today, we definitely have a better idea, so it shouldn't be too hard from there.


Leo's preparation - in this case categorizing all the characters' music - knows no bounds.


The dream's first inkling of becoming a reality - 9LoLMM's casting session on the Confederation Centre's roster.

There is one more bit of news I want to mention, in the form of yet another announcement. Again, I didn't say anything about this before because I couldn't...but it's official: I will be presenting a paper at the Lucy Maud Montgomery Conference in 2008! As did all the other entrants, I submitted an abstract in June and then waited to find out who made the cut. I was a little worried because I chose what I thought might be considered a bit of an out-of-left-field slant (of course I'm not going to tell you what it is...not until the conference gets closer, anyway!). But it's been approved, and I guess I'll be writing the actual paper in the next few months. I really am starting to get the feeling that Maud herself is guiding things over here...call me crazy!

Well, on to casting...if I can stay awake, that is!

Stratford, Prince Edward Island

Time time time...see what's become of me...

That's from that song Hazy Shade of Winter, by the way (I only know the cover version The Bangles did in '87; I don't remember who did the original). It's appropriate enough considering the hazy, rainy weather - sort of like a hazy shade of summer! Not that I'm minding...the "novelty" of rain hasn't worn off for me yet...besides, it's 95F back in L.A. and 65F here. Hmm! Which one should I choose? Well, I don't know! Let me think about it for a while! :)

It's the "time time time" part that's more appropriate, and even "see what's become of me" - sitting in my office, relegated to re-timing the edited scenes. Yes, it took me 10 days, which was much longer than I anticipated, but I finally finished this pass of the rewrite. I initially thought it would be enough, but I realized early into it that I may have to make a second pass to cut even more stuff out. I just hope I haven't taken too much out in terms of flavour - I don't want it to sound like a dry history lesson. I've also gone through and rewritten a large percentage of the journal quotes in my own voice. There's a business-end factor to doing so, but it more has to do with relying too heavily on the quotes. As it has been pointed out to me, it's me that's writing this and not Maud. Of course, some quotes are irreplacable, and I'm leaving them in. But I can see where, especially in Act II, most of Maud's dialogue was Quote City, which I have fixed.

I just needed to take a break from Act I, which I am still in the middle of. I feel kind of silly sitting in here talking to myself with a stopwatch!

By the way, something monumental in the history of 9LoLMM is happening today...is probably well happening this very minute. The time has come to start getting footage for the screen. But neither Leo nor I are filming it. I'm expecting some documentation to come next week, the video of which I will post that will explain everything. But it's Canadian, extremely authentic, and the scene that it's being shot for actually took place on 18 August! It's just one of many happy accidents we've encountered so far - and we're not done yet. :) Sorry to be so cryptic, but...well, you'll see it soon enough.

As for the workshop, our meet-and-greet with the cast got rescheduled; it's now going to be on Tuesday. Oh, well. More time to prepare the rewrite!

Now - where's that stopwatch?

Stratford, Prince Edward Island
I know - first I don't journal in forever and now two posts in two days. I should mention that we just got back from Cavendish (albeit through some really intense fog!). It's really wild to just say "Let's go to Cavendish", do it, and then drive home. Like McDonald's, I'm lovin' it. :) We also paid a visit to Maud's grave in the foggy night! How crazy was that? Although, it wasn't like The Haunted Wood - not with our way being lit by street lights, traffic lights, and the Petro Canada across the street!

At any rate, I have some news and I wanted to take a moment to make it official. You may recall that, over the past several months, I've alluded to an announcement I wanted to make but wasn't free to. I can now make it:

We are going to workshop 9LoLMM at The Confederation Centre of the Arts in late September!

We'd been in talks for quite a while about doing the workshop, but there were so many variables and the Theatre was so busy getting up the current season of Anne of Green Gables: The Musical and British Invasion that they couldn't very well tend to another show. But they were definitely interested and we based our move on that, although we did it not having any definite details! Anyway, we met with the artistic director yesterday and she was very enthusiastic. We'll be doing the workshop toward the end of September with the casts from the two shows mentioned above, who we are going to meet this week. We saw both shows last week and we already have an idea of who to cast as who, although our choices could certainly change!

All of this is with an eye toward putting a full version of the show on at the Centre next summer. I won't go into any of that yet...I need room for more announcements later on! :) We also don't know yet if the public will be invited to the workshop. But you know I'll keep you posted, only right here.

As for Leo and I, we're quietly juggling settling in, taking in PEI, and working on music and rewrites. For myself, I'm about ¾ of the way through the rewrite. I'm taking time out to do this update when I should be working on the next scene, which I decided to completely reinvent. I'm just in a long stretch with no songs and it was just getting too "talking head", so for the section featuring The Tangled Web, I came up with an idea to overhaul it, and then Leo added to that idea, so now it's just a matter of writing the reinvented scene. Right after that is the Why Did I Say Farewell scene. You may recall that, last fall, I had written lyrics and then thrown them out, coming up with something completely new. Well, when Leo put music to it, it came out to 4½ minutes. It's not his fault; it's a ballad, and he just put music to what I wrote. It didn't occur to me until we recorded it for the demo that it's just too long and kind of brings the show to a stop, especially because it's a second reprise. So we have to completely reinvent that one, too. That will have to wait until tomorrow!

I have a feeling there will be more frequent posts with more frequent news. So stay tuned! I'd better get back to that Tangled Web scene...

Stratford, Prince Edward Island!

It's truer than true - Leo and I are here on PEI at long last! And it's wonderful. Although we didn't need any reminders that we love this place, reminders abound. The weather is gorgeous (OK, we've had three days of rain in the nine we've been here, but hey - we could still be sweltering in drought-ridden Los Angeles!), the scenery is breathtaking (it's great just from our window but there's an incredible beach just a short walk away that is out of this world when the tide goes out), and we are back in full 9LoLMM mode. There's much to tell you, and I suspect I'll be able to make another big announcement any minute now, but Leo doesn't call me Chronology Boy for nothing - first I must present you with the latest two videos. The first one, which I worked especially hard on, documents our 3,500-mile move in 4 minutes, so don't blink and don't look away! The second...well, it's the next phase of the show. So enjoy those, and stay tuned right here on Maud-TV for some exciting developments. All I have to say is, it's such a relief to be here, to work on the show 24-7, and to not have to kill myself doing a job I can't stand! (Let's apply The Secret here and decree that I won't have to do any more of those!)

In case I haven't mentioned it, I love Canada. There are some small things I'm having a little trouble getting used to (soda doesn't come in 2-litre bottles, and stuff like that), but I don't think it's overstating it at all to say being here is a dream come true for me. AMJ in PEI for LMM!

Here's those videos - it's good to get you guys caught up! :)