Off the Plane, Into Rehearsal: The Last Days Before Opening Night

People see the bow at the end. They don’t see the week before it.

A while back, I filmed mine. Ten days of the last rehearsals before opening a musical out of town, from a rainy desk in Manila to a giant stage with mountains behind it. Here’s the vlog, and here’s what those days really look like.

Rainy days are script days

It started with rain. A lot of rain.

I had orders to deliver and a charity giveaway to drop off, and the weather did not care. I came home soaking wet. Even inside the boots. You don’t see it on camera, but trust me, I was there.

So I did what an actor does on a rainy day. I sat down with the script.

People think the learning happens in the rehearsal room. A lot of it happens at your kitchen table, alone, with the script in your hand. The room is where you test it. Home is where you build it.

The last rehearsal at home base

Before we flew out, we had our last review rehearsal in Manila. That one feels different.

It’s the last time you run the show in a space you know, close to home. From here, everything moves. New stage, new room, new rhythm.

I like that feeling. A little nervous, a little excited, mostly ready to go.

Off the plane, straight into rehearsal

Here is the part nobody puts on a poster.

Without much sleep, we went from the airport directly to rehearsals. No hotel first. No nap.

We rehearsed. We ate. Then we got ready for rehearsal number two, with costume fittings on top. Some of us were even rehearsing while having dinner. Haha. That’s theatre.

Only at night did we check in at the hotel. And look, someone had folded the towels on my bed into a flower. So much effort. After a day like that, small things like that hit you right in the heart. Thank you.

If you’re starting out, this is the honest picture. Taking a show out of town is not a vacation with a show at the end. It’s a work trip where the work starts the moment you land.

Checking the mirror

Later, by the sea, I checked my reflection and asked the question every performer asks before opening: am I ready for the show or not?

From certain angles, yes. Haha.

I’m joking, but I’m also not. That mirror check is real. Your body is your instrument, and away from home you have to look after it with less sleep, new food and a new schedule. I wrote about how I train in my bodybuilding workout, and the habit helps most on weeks like this.

The rain followed us

Funny thing. We left Manila because it was raining so much, and we came to the province where it was sunny.

Guess what. Then one day it rained in the province, and it was sunny in Manila. What the hell?

You cannot control the weather. You cannot control the flight, the traffic or how much sleep you get. What you can control is how you show up. I keep coming back to that idea, and I wrote more about it in Mind Over Matter.

A giant stage with mountains for a backdrop

Then we saw where we were going to perform. Wow.

A giant stage, and behind it, the mountains. Beautiful. We would have an LED screen there for the show, but for a moment, with nothing set up yet, nature was our set designer.

Outdoor stages change everything. The space is bigger, the sound travels differently, the light keeps moving. You have to fill a lot more air with your voice and your body. Rehearsing in a room and then walking onto a stage like that is a big jump, and that’s exactly why the days on site matter so much.

And at the end, we all take a bow. Including the cow. Watch the vlog and you’ll see.

Gratitude, every day

On one of the quieter mornings I put a line on the screen in the vlog: every day, so many opportunities to be grateful and giving.

That’s how I tried to live that whole trip. Grateful for the work. Grateful for the cast and crew who were rehearsing over dinner with me. Grateful for whoever made that towel flower. And grateful for a big plate of bulalo after a long day. If you have God, is this legal?

What I take from show week

When I look back at these ten days, three things stand out.

1. Prepare when nobody is watching. The rainy script days at home made the rehearsal days on site possible. Tita Baby taught me this a long time ago, and I wrote about it in The Toughest Director I Ever Had.

2. Expect the plan to change. Airport straight to rehearsal, rain in the “sunny” place, an LED screen that’s not there yet. Stay flexible, and save your energy for the stage.

3. Keep it light. My vlog is full of bad jokes. If a tomato is a fruit, is ketchup a jam? Laughing keeps a cast together when everyone is tired.

Musicals have given me some of my happiest days on stage, like the honor of joining the press performance of Les Miz in Manila. The road version comes with more airports and less sleep, and I still love it.

If you want to see what the week before opening looks like for a theatre actor out of town, watch the full vlog above. And tell me in the comments: what do you think happens backstage that nobody talks about?