On deck now. And swinging the bat. (Am I to be Mr. October?!) All the coaches are gathering to signal their final instructions: brushing their chests and tweaking their noses. William starts it off with dialect corrections. I'm a little slow to respond because of weeks of patterns that are set in my brain, but apparently I have to be careful not to slip to the Hebrides, or to Wales (my two favourite alternatives to the Geordie tune) which gives away the game. After only a couple of sessions I find my swing, and things seem to fall into place.
William Conacher is a brilliant dialect coach: he fuels all his choices with action and intention, and in this show he is most concerned that we all sound like we are from the same place. He has been so helpful to me personally since the very first session we had at the call-back here in New York over a year ago, and I am ever grateful for his encouragement and faith.

On Wednesday evening, as my final divertissement before the crack- down, I went to see Fall for Dance at City Centre (I have to learn to spell that word the American way pretty soon...). It was a mixed program of dance delights beginning with an homage to the Ballet Russe by way of a re-staging of Nijinski's choreography to L'Apres-midi d'un Faune, by the Boston Ballet. Oh I loved that! It took me right back to the work we did with Veronica Tennant on the Penelopiad in all its Greek splendour! Unbelievably brave work for 1913, or thereabouts.
Paul Taylor Company then did Offenbach Overtures, which, though it was a huge crowd pleaser, was not my cup of tea. My fave was the Battsheba Company from Israel (a company founded by Martha Graham) doing a brilliant piece of contemporary choreography to Ravel's Bolero. They could have just put that in a loop and I would have been quite content to wile away a few hours in their hypnotic movement. And then topping the evening off was Savion Glover, jamming with his modern jazz band and a couple of other jaw-dropping hoofers. Gob-smackingly impressive.
And fascinating to see where Glover has come as an artist since he was discovered by Gregory Hines at the ripe age of 14 or something. As for the City Centre theatre itself... well, just go and see anything there. The place is a temple of the theatre. Literally.

We had tech rehearsals on Thursday for Act 1 and Friday for Act 2.
That all went really smoothly. The cast and the crew are so helpful, and so supportive. They have been rehearsing a lot on top of their eight show weeks, and yet they sat in the house when they could and cried encouragement for both Alex and me. Unfortunately, none of my costumes were ready for the tech, so I had to wear a few substitute pieces, and simply talk through my costume changes with my BRILLIANT dresser, Margie-Ann. Oh, I am in such good hands there! So although I only get one pass at the clothes next week before I go on, I feel confident that Margie-Ann will get me where I am going in those 30 - second changes, right down to the jewelry.

So... Friday I'm sitting in the house for the first part of the Act 2 rehearsal because I don’t go on for a while, and I am watching the young, completely edible Alex Ko do the dream ballet with sound and flying and Stephen Hanna, the older Billy. And I'm telling you... I couldn't help myself... the tears were streaming down my face. And when the rehearsal stopped to check a few technical things and go again, I turned around to find Carole Shelley and many other members of the company equally verklempt. It's a stunning moment of theatre making. Stunning.

Peter Darling, the choreographer was in the house for both tech rehearsals, and on Friday night we got right down to it. He needs me to look more like a serious dance teacher, and that means introducing a physical shape that is far more controlled than my natural, reflex behaviour. But it feels completely right, if somewhat daunting to achieve. The writing on the wall now: the rest of the time before I go on will be filled with dance rehearsals. I really need to wrap my head (and poor sore feet and aching shoulder) around that. I will save details of all that work, and of the imminent arrival of the head coach and his associate until next time.

P.S. Missing home a bit this week. But too focussed to worry too much about it. Love to you all. There will be a big article in the Toronto Star on Saturday for any of you who might want to look. And I will be posting a blog on the Billy Elliot website (that will include all these missives) as soon as I have a moment.