A taste of ‘tech hell’

“ALLEGIANCE” cast during sitzprobe. Lea is at the center with Telly Leung, formerly of “Glee.” FACEBOOK PHOTO

On this sunny Labor Day, I am slumped on the couch, legs tired and brain turned to mush. The first week of technical rehearsals for “Allegiance” are over, and this new American musical premieres Friday at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California.

Technical rehearsals have been referred to as “tech hell.” They test a person’s patience, physical stamina and sense of humor. This is when people’s true colors show.

I’ve seen my share of tech rehearsals and logged in those very long hours, anywhere from eight to 10—many of them spent standing still for the benefit of the lighting, sound and/or costume departments.

A long stretch

For these tech rehearsals, I stood in high heels for a good long stretch in full costume and wigs.

This was also when the wardrobe department had to troubleshoot if there was anything wrong with our clothes—if hems were too short or too long, if some shoes needed insoles, or someone needed a cardigan or an apron.

The day would start at 1:30 p.m. or earlier, at 11:30 a.m. We got into microphones and costumes first thing, then awaited instructions.

Stage manager Anjee Nero would call out which scene was to be rehearsed, then the actors in that scene headed up to the stage. All the design departments—set, lights, sound, projections, costumes—were at the ready with their skills, plans and a storehouse of patience.

Scenic designer Donyale Werle very patiently checked props, set pieces and scenery, despite a bout with bronchitis. Projections designer Darrel Maloney tested images against the sets for approval.

Alejo Vietti and his team checked how costumes looked under the lights, and scheduled last-minute fittings where necessary.

Jonathan Deans tested sound design elements (one cool example: radio broadcasts actually come out of an onstage radio); and Howell Binkley focused lights on actors at their assigned spots.

Laura Bergquist handed out changes and edits in the music, then took us all through the paces of making sure everything was tight. Choreographer Andrew Palermo and his associate Jenny Parsinen came onstage to fix dance steps, or add new ones.

All this patience filtered down from our director, Stafford Arima. He is very Zen, a quietly confident force that pushes ever so gently to fulfill the authors’ vision. I’ve seen a director or two completely lose it all, people for whom anger is the norm, and who are the subjects of numerous complaints at Actors Equity. But not here.

Sitzprobe

On Sunday afternoon, we were only too happy to be back in the rehearsal room, but not to get the dance shoes and sweats on.

This was our sitzprobe (orchestra rehearsal), and it’s only one of the best days ever in the creation of a musical. The entire cast was seated behind the music department. Up until this day, we had only heard the music come from a piano and a drum set. Now we had two violins, sets of woodwinds, a cello, a contrabass, a brass section, synths and drums.

Lots of goose bumps, and plenty of crying, especially from Jay Kuo (creator, book writer, composer and lyricist) and Lorenzo Thione (producer, creator and book writer). They have lived with this musical for four years now, so I could only imagine how excited they were for this day.

Orchestrator Lynne Shankel had created really amazing pieces of art in her orchestrations. It had been wonderful to sing to them and now, to do that eight times a week would be a blessing.

(Visit allegiancemusical.com and oldglobe.org for details.)