We opened this weekend. Everything came together just when it needed to. Today was our strongest by far. In my role of traffic cop (responsible for getting the pit band to "groove", while maintaining the connection with the actors on stage), it is now becoming more comfortable to deal with this while actually "reading" music (follow the dots) :) My initial work was with the cast, several weeks ago, in working out the vocal parts. The singers then being prepared, it came time to work out the musicians to the point at which I promised the cast we would be for them: a "groove" to grab on to (while I also pointed out that this comes - ideally - from each individual participant, reaching out to "hold hands" at a common place). Some actually get it (all I can hope for), and tonight we proved that we can pull the notes off of the printed page and play as we feel it, and the singers/dancers can lock in with us, and feel secure in the support. Of course, I may have no idea what I'm even talking about - but everyone agreed we rocked today! 2 weekends left - hope you can come! church hill theatre website