Subways Are for Dancing – Part 4

(This is the fourth installment–check out the
first, second and third–in a six-week series about choreographer Diego Funes’ work on a NYC revival of the musical Subways Are For Sleeping. Stay tuned for more!)


Subways Are For Sleeping
rehearsals have begun. For the next two weeks choreographer Diego Funes, director Hector Coris, musical director/accompanist Ted Kociolek and cast will be intensely inhabiting the musical’s universe. Cocooned in this little world, they’re beginning the process of polishing the story for show time.

Feeling a bit the voyeur, I peeked in on two rehearsals. I like witnessing the raw deal, when the intent around the lines, songs and movements is still developing. I enjoy scenes rehearsed out of sequence, minus the lighting, costumes and sets. Interruptions draw my attention, like when the director suggests trying something different, or the choreographer teaches a new number, or the accompanist creates a transitional bar of music on the spot. It’s kind of like a laboratory.

What an easy job it is being in the audience. When cast members break out of character, during rehearsals, to ask for a line, I’m reminded that this is hard work. But within a month’s time they will have transformed a story into a reality, and breathed life into make-believe characters–characters that sing and dance as naturally as they walk and talk. That never stops amazing me.

Check back to hear more from choreographer Diego Funes in the last two series installments!

Subways Are For Sleeping will be playing November 1-2 and 8-11 at The Duplex, 61 Christopher Street, New York City.