10 weeks in and not quite off book

About 4 weeks into rehearsals I was thinking that I would never retain the music by memory. Between family obligations, work and home management, there is no time for practice except… on the Metro. I hate doing it, but after being constantly exposed to ridiculously loud intimate cell phone conversations, unintelligible mental illness babel, crying babies, domestic squabbles, and actual mass transit ‘performances’ in return for coins or hope; I’ve decided that my vocal practice can only be an improvement to he Mass Transit travel environment. It may even be a diffuser of the Mass Transit travel environment.

So I drilled and drilled on the Metro bus and the Metro train the music and lyrics of Titiputionisms and whatnot. 8 measures of singing the same daggon note until that one important note which wrangles all of the parts together in warm harmony and tugs at the listener’s attention. I realize that singing alto is a heavy crown to wear. If that one note isn’t sung the other parts sound separate and not as an enticement. It’s simple to sing just one note and then one more note, but singing that one more note in the right place at the right moment for the proper duration definitely requires a little more concentration. How I found that amount of concentration on the Metro bus beats me.

The show is now falling into place and nearly second nature in most places. Adding the choreography has been helpful to retain the show. I’m having fun helping cast members with the steps and allowing them to help me retain nit picky annunciations like “joy-ahs” instead of “joy-is” and singing the word ‘name’ instead of ‘make’ and singing these higher notes instead of those lower ones. It'll sink in... just the day before the show....

Actor Peter uses many of his own hilarious characters to convey choreography to us. He reads the lyrics, listens to the music and watches our natural movements for 30 seconds and then BAM! He makes this whimsical story of movement come alive and gives the movement story the name of a pinup actress-and away we'll go! When he’s done choreographing the story he looks me dead in the eye, takes a long hard drag of an invisible cigarette Betty Davis style, and gives me a look that says, “That’s how it’s done Baby.” in a “Fasten your seat belts, this is going to be a bumpy ride.” type of way. It kills me with giggles. He then dramatically tosses his head to the right (without losing his glasses), announcing that it’s time to move on as we desperately drop and scribble down notes of this life changing 10 minutes that just happened. We each only retain different 2 minute pieces of this new 10 minutes of life and silently convey with our eyes that we’ll exchange notes later and hope for God to intervene. Sometimes Actor Peter will actually play God. Sometimes God just shows up.

Every rehearsal is a riot as we watch other cast members perform their scenes. I believe that we are at the point of needing to rehearse the strait face. It’s old school vaudeville comedy that’s still funny [to me. My grandfather was a vaudeville performer. I could relate.]

Back in the Game

I don’t really audition. I hang comfortably in the right place with people that know me relatively well. Then, when the right time passes I get an offer to perform. I have a 20 year old headshot and a 4 year old resume. There’s no recording of my voice. I feel like I’ve forgotten everything about singing. When I reached DC I took a break from singing. After an 8th month hiatus, I started lessons with English Chris. Six months later I am in tune and getting comfortable with my sound.

English Chris pressed me to go out for a few audition openings. I missed one application deadline and was declined an audition because they received too many applications. Then I met Firecracker Tina at a party who told me to audition for the summer opera at CHAW. It was easy. It’s a community fair which didn’t require me to provide an EPK and life story, but I felt inclined to create a resume and bio. It was a start. I auditioned for a chorus part and got a mezzo role. I found myself at the Red Derby hoping to get a role in this opera over a glass of grig like a typical cliche. How great it was to open an email with the offer of Peep Bo!

Now the hard part comes. I haven’t been in full scale production rehearsals in over 5 years. Is it like riding a bike? I think so. We had a read through of the scripted parts. Thank God I read some books this past year. I am not really known for cold reading. I don’t do cold calling either. I remember doing a cold read for the Cosby show once. What a disaster. This was not painful like that at all though. I was actually reading 'on water' which allowed me to focus more on expression.

Actor Peter is our choreographer. We did an interesting exercise of drawing our character's names with our body parts. It was a great way to get started relating to our characters. It also gave Actor Peter a point of reference when customizing choreography for our bodies/characters. Nice approach~ I thought.

My next move is to engulf myself in the G&S midi files of Boise State... There's much to do before rehearsals start.