Are you listening?

Why do so many directors refuse to listen to their show?

This is partially from just having had my first read through for 100 Saints. I had my script with me to follow along but I spent a majority of the read through just hearing my actors breathe life into the script for the first time. I jotted down so many notes and thoughts because there were discoveries to be made in this first read through.
I know some directors don't even take the time for a read through.
How does that work?
If we don't take the time to sit down and just hear the words (and music, often) we're bringing to life, we're going to miss some pretty obvious moments and when we bypass moments that are meant to be punctuated, highlighted, or repeated, the audience will feel it. They'll feel as if something is missing and, likely, they'll spend the next few moments trying to work themselves out of the awkward funk the director didn't even know existed. Can you imagine if Elphaba stood still as she belted out "It's ME!" every night on the stage of the Gershwin? Of course not. The audience would feel so uncomfortable! She ascends to the skies on that moment because she has nowhere she can possibly go but UP! Yet, mark my words, some day, somebody will leave a poor helpless college girl, painted green, to fend for herself as an orchestra swells around her and her emotional center almost explodes out of her nose. Why? Because, the audience does a better job at listening than the director.

I've been playing with this through Light in the Piazza  as well. For those who don't know the show, shame on you.
I kid.
Kind of. (But seriously, listen to it now.)
Easily one of the most breathtaking scores to hit a Broadway stage in the last 20 years. As we've been working through Statues and Stories, I've been faced with moments in which my actresses, as beautiful and talented as they are, have said the dreaded sentence "I don't know what to do." Now, in a play, often times my first reaction would be to just spout out an idea and then see if it worked. That's alright. But, what I have really found to be helpful, especially with the integration of music, is to stop for a moment and have them sing through the moment we're stuck on. As they sing through, or my pianist plays through, I listen for what the music is telling me needs to happen. And that is when my mind starts racing. They are repeating that melody line. Is this repeat because they have yet to achieve what they want? Did they look for what they want over here already? Is the repeat a celebration of having achieved what they want? If they have it, why are they still here? Another character has begun to sing, who needs to join whom? There is a crescendo. This character is getting closer to what she wants. Is she where she needs to be in order to receive it? Is she moving closer to it? The music is building, can we accomplish the personal build without movement or is movement necessary? 

More and more questions flood my mind in simply taking the time to listen to the play (musical) again. And, you know what I have found? Most of the time, the answer is in the text (or score or lyrics etc)

I'm excited about implementing this as we begin blocking 100 Saints tonight. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in some moment and listening before jumping in to an experiment. I bet the answer is already there if we can just take the time to listen for it.