Posted by Paul G on 8/18/2009, 4:34 am
114.164.118.123
Greetings from Tokyo!
I just arrived yesterday for rehearsals for the Tokyo premier of JANE EYRE. What's so exciting about this production, besides that it's in Japanese and I don't understand a word of it, is that this is the first production of the new version John Caird and I wrote back in London nearly two years ago. John has been in rehearsal for several weeks already and he obliged me with a "stumble through" of the entire show today. I was able to get a feel of how the new version was working and in spite of it being in a language I don't understand, I was very pleased with what I saw and heard.
The actors are very good. The woman playing Jane is spectacular. Of course, the language is so different and I have to let go of how certain things are sung and how words sit on the phrase. In the Japanese language they use so many more words than we do, that it is very challenging with a piece like this, but somehow it still works.
I'll share with you some of the changes that we've made. For those of you familiar with the Toronto recording, we are once again starting the show with "The Parents Theme". This is the same music that Helen sings before her death. It was always meant to bookend the top of the show, but because we cut the opening in NY, it just sort of stood alone and didn't have the same impact it does now. Also, now Young Jane sings that verse with a slightly different lyric and then Helen sings "My Maker" as she did in the original version of the show. It felt great today hearing it that way as we didn't rush through Helen's death.
The ensemble narration has been completely eliminated and I did not miss it at all. What narration there is, is done entirely by Jane. The next change that comes to mind is that we've made Mrs. Fairfax less of a comical character and brought back a song she sings called "Upper Floor" that replaces "Perfectly Nice". It's just a little spookier in the moment (And of course she still sings "Slip of a Girl" so we haven't taken all of the comic bite away from her). The next big change is that we have switched "Sirens" and "Secret Soul". "Secret Soul" always ended Act I except when we did it on B'way. John was feeling very strongly that Act 1 should end after "Sirens" (Where "Secret Soul" used to be) and start Act II with the Grace Poole scene. The logic being that we have already given the audience so much information, introduced them to so many characters -- that this is the place we need to take a breath. Then at the top of Act II we introduce the Aristocrats and Mason and an entirely new dimension of the story begins to unfold.
I've re-introduced a lot of musical themes that were either cut or little heard. There is a song called "The Governess" that we have brought back that is a duet between Jane and Rochester when they first meet. There is another piece of music that has returned when Jane is wandering the Moors after the wedding. "Farewell Good Angel" has been cut. "In the Light of the Virgin Morning" is a theme that is used more than it was. Lots of other little things that I'm too tired to recall as I write this. I know some of these changes will seem harsh to those of you who have seen the show many times, but to me, all of it improves the work, tightens it up and helps the story-telling. These things are of course quite subjective, but I think of this piece as a sculpture that John and I are always working on and refining. I'm just glad we have the chance to keep working on it and share it with new audiences. But more importantly MOST of the show is exactly the same.
We are still very keen to do the new version back home, and I hope I have news to share on that front soon.
Anyway, I will keep you posted as things progress.
Paul
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