We put a new bit in the show. Almost 12 minutes of brand new. A very complicated escape for Teller, about 10 minutes of new patter for me, and an upright bass solo. I mean solo. I mean, I'm not talking over it. For 1:15, all you hear is me playing the bass. It's a great solo. Really great. It was written by Doctor Stockdale (of course), and Morrie Louden, my bass teacher. I've been playing upright for just about a year. I've been taking lessons with Morrie for less than that.The faxed sheet music that I have for this solo, has a November date on it.That means I've been working on this 1:15 every day for about 7 months. The Doctor and Morrie did a great job at figuring what I could rise to. I'm playing slides and double stops. I'm using a lot of the neck. I get asked all the time how long it takes us to put in a bit. Well, this one is an idea we've been talking about for over 20 years, and we had it laid out a couple months before the music was written. So, I guess it's been about 10 months from the time we were okay with the idea, until it went in.

This is one of the first bits for Nate as Director of Covert Activities all on his own, and he did an amazing job. This is one of the hardest bits we've done and it really came down on Nate. I can't say much about what he did ("covert" don't you know?), but he did it well. We're very happy.

It was a hard bit for everyone. Burt and Robbie were great as always. Matt had to light it, and Rex, well; Rex had to mic an acoustic upright. Morrie found the bass. He flew to San Diego and found me a wonderful ax. It's fairly new (about 15 years old), but it's not ply. It has a darkness of tone that wonderful. He set it up with a great action and it has a nice deep growl on the low E, F, and G. It's really nice for this piece. Morrie and Rex worked for a few hours getting the sound right. They invented this mic technique. Rex is even mixing in a little of my glasses mics to give some string sound. It may seriously be, without exaggeration, one of the best acoustic bass sounds anyone will ever hear in the theater. Rex and Morrie inspire me to play as well as I can.

It's a complex intellectual idea for a bit. It's not a wham bam wow magic thing. It's a gentle thought thing and we're asking the audience to close their eyes for full effect (hence the name "Honor System"). The balance of making it work with eyes open or shut is really tough. It's hard talk. It's really hard talk. There are so many ideas, and it's very hard to find jokes that move us forward and don't violate the concept. The visuals are really hard too and Teller and Matt were working like crazy on that.

So, we did it last night. It changes our pre-show. We invite people to come up on stage before the show and examine the boxes that Teller will escape from. I had to record invitations to the stage to go over the pre-show music. This also means ushers and crew helping people on stage and stopping them from going backstage. It changes the look and vibe.

So, last night was the night it went in and the trick worked like it was supposed to. The patter was all clear. I need several more jokes, but those always come after the bit is clear and the trick is working. But, I did feel like I was talking to the people, and that's what I'm looking for early in performance.

Then, I finished the intro, leaned the bass against my chest, stretched my fingers, took a breath and started to play. I took a full breath and sang a measure to myself in my head to get it where I wanted. I had practiced too much in the afternoon. I put in 3 hours and my hands were a little tired, so the first notes weren't as clear as I would have wanted, but all of a sudden I was playing bass on stage. Real upright. It's odd, but I felt like Harpo. Harpo said in his autobiography that when he played harp that was a side of Arthur Marx that the audience only saw there. He wasn't talking about how he looked, but rather how he felt. I felt my face relax. I wasn't trying to sell with my voice and my face and my body; I was trying to sell through the upright. I was really trying to just think about the music. Yeah, Teller is doing the bit, and I'd like to think if something were going very wrong, I'd know it and help, but I was very lost in the music. Just trying to get every note to sing, every phrase to tell a story. It was a whole new thing for me. Outside of the bit, I'm trying to play a really nice piece of music for the people. I'm trying to put as much of me into the music as I can. As I got closer to the end, and Teller got to the piano, I felt the world come rushing in again; it was time for showbiz again. I grabbed the bow for the final note and tried to sell it. It was a great feeling. I was so afraid of really playing music on stage and I think I'm going to be able to do it.

So, the crowd liked it. That's what we want out of a first time through.

I played the upright bass on stage. Wow.

Penn

<back