October2013
The Singing Rabbitte 4
The show opens tomorrow night.
The previews have been running for more than two weeks. I went home to Dublin for a weekend but, other than that, I’ve been here, in the Palace Theatre, every night, and twice last Saturday. But, actually, the word ‘twice’ is a bit meaningless, because I haven’t seen the same show twice.
Changes – some drastic, some tiny – have been made every day. A song has, rightly, gone into the bin, and whole chunks of dialogue. Lines have been added; lights have been shifted. One song has a new ending; an onstage salesman has become a milkman. A bus stop logo has been replaced: ‘1986’ has been added to a line.
1986 was when I wrote The Commitments. Onstage, Jimmy announces the band’s first gig, reciting poster-copy: ‘Saturday 24 March, 1986. In Barrytown Community Centre. The Hardest Working Band in the World. The Saviours of Soul. The Commitments. Bringing The People’s Music To The People.’
I first wrote those lines on the 24th of the March, 1986. Now … Read More »