TUESDAYS WITH JAMIE FARR

It has been an informative journey arriving at my first performance of "Tuesdays With Morrie" after one week of "rehearsal". To clarify, my rehearsal consisted of:

-Two weeks of learning lines and blocking at home with the dvd recording of the show

Then, once I arrived in Calgary my rehearsal schedule was:

-Monday, line run with Kathi at The Auburn.

-Tuesday, line work with Kira playing Morrie. Discuss blocking details on stage with Rejean. Watch the evening show.

-Wednesday, watch the matinee. Watch the evening show.

-Thursday, run-thru on stage with Rejean playing Morrie. Watch the evening show.

-Friday, line work on stage with Kira.(at right)

-Saturday morning, my only rehearsal with Morrie actually being played by Jamie Farr. Watch the evening show.

-Sunday, watch the matinee, watch the evening show.

-Tuesday (the day of my first actual performance) a quick, pre-show line-run with Kira.

After watching the show 8 times, I felt like calling it "Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday with Morrie"!

I don't mind admitting that I was a bit of a wreck before my Saturday run-thru with Jamie. Not because I didn't know my stuff, but because I am coming in as a replacement for the final two weeks of a show that Jamie and Rejean have been playing together for months. The pressure is on me to try and keep the show as similar as possible for Jamie's sake. The challenge being, trying to mimic Rejean without doing an impersonation of him and still allowing enough of myself to come through so that the performance is honest. I didn't sleep well on Friday night. In the end, it went well and I went back to breathing normally.

I have to say that, throughout the entire process, Jamie has been very generous to me. He's been on the road for six months. He's tired and he's ready to go home. (I've been on the road that long and it tired me out. And I'm 25 years younger than he is.) When you add in the extra Saturday runthru with me, he had a 9-show week. That said, once he's on stage there is no hint of tiredness, only focus, energy, generosity and extraordinary commitment.

Our first performance together (for an audience) on Tuesday night went very, very well. I could hear plenty of sniffling and saw many hankies dabbing moist eyes in the first few rows. During our curtain call at the end of the show, because he's a bit of an old-fashioned gentleman, he turned and applauded me as I took my bow.

I'm really looking forward to the short time we will share together on the stage before the run finishes.

Old Mitch (Rejean)

Morrie (Jamie)

New Mitch (me)