Into The Woods! Our Opening AND Review!

I have a lot more things I'm still processing, so there will probably be a LOT of blogging going on this week, but I just wanted to throw up a quick post now to get the ball rolling. Why not start this week's blogging on a high note?

Last weekend was opening weekend for Into the Woods! I'm very glad to report that the show is getting rave reviews! 

For those of you who haven't been following the blog and don't already know, Into The Woods is considered one of the most difficult musicals to perform - and it's been my favorite since my teen years. To be in it as a strong member of the cast is a dream come true for me. True, Jack's Mother wasn't my first choice, but every time I pinch Jack's cheek or inform him (in the most annoyed and annoying tone of voice I can muster) that his cow is a "she", not a he, my heart jumps a little. I have a very clear, "Wow, I'm living the dream," moment. The talent in the cast and the talent in the directing has really pushed me to a new level here, and I can't wait to keep on growing as a singer, actress, and performer. While I loved doing community theater in California, and I learned from every production, the talent AND high skill level of this group puts me in a whole new league. I may never get a leading role, but I'm starting to remember why comic relief is so much more fun! 

You can check out some photos from the local Newspaper (the Kitsap Sun) here.

Another local theater troupe is doing Into the Woods, and you'd think they'd have a leg up on us since their production takes place IN THE WOODS. They perform OUTDOORS!
We're confine our BIG characters to the SMALL space, but... I'll let the reviewer speak for himself.
Here's the "before" interview with the director.

And "after" - The Reviewer came OPENING NIGHT! Which gave use ZERO time to work out the bugs, but it went really well anyway. :)

Click Here to read the review: "WWCA Succeeds at telling a Big Story in a Small Venue."
Here's a little slide show of some show photos. Enjoy!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com
 

Scheduling, Blood, and Showbiz!

As anyone who's worked 2+ jobs knows, sometimes prioritizing can be difficult. That's pretty much been what it's like for me this week. I expected it, but I recently found out that I'll be picking up My Sailor's dad tomorrow. While I have no problems with this really - I thought I'd share what the next 24 hours has in store for me, just in case I don't end up being able to post here until next week.

So here's tomorrow's schedule:

Wake up: 5:15 am
Walk the dog, make breakfast
Drive to base and back: 6 am
Work: 6:30 am - 5pm
Lunch break: 30 minutes, walk the dog
Rehearsal: 6 pm -9:30pm
Work out, shower, dinner, prepare for company
Leave for Seattle: 11 pm
Return from Seattle: 1am-ish, Friday
See company is settled in, bed time around 1:30ish probably.
Wake up: 6:15am
Walk the dog, make breakfast.
Drive to Base and back: 7am

THANK GOD I'M TAKING THE REST OF FRIDAY OFF! All things said this week, I'm giving myself a break from the 30 day 5k. If I get to it, GREAT, but I'm going to do SOMETHING every day this week. Saturday, we're planning on going to the park and the zoo! I can't wait!

My Sailor will have some good father and son time while I recover from Thursday in time to meet everyone for dinner Friday night before my show opens!

Which brings me to a much more fun update - THE SHOW OPENS IN 3 DAYS!

We're working hard to iron out the kinks. I almost forgot how fun it is to do this kind of stuff. Exhausting? Sure! But so much fun as well! I can't wait to get my cast sweatshirt and wear it proudly long after the show is closed. It turns out this theater has a unique opening night tradition - Wine and cheese night! At about 6pm, the doors open and the patrons get to enjoy a mix and mingle with the cast and get up close and personal with our set/stage. It seems like a really cool way to get the audience into the spirit.  I'm not sure if my gang will be attending this, but I can't wait for the show to kick into high gear. Every time I do a show, I come away exhausted, but reminded on why I love this so much...

And that leads me to one more update. I'm doing a few "special effects" for our show! Namely, I'm in charge of blood and guts!  In one scene, a prince falls into a bunch of thorns face first and is blinded. What do you think folks? Convincing? 

And it's DELICIOUS! Based on vanilla pudding and almond paste, I sure hope it doesn't become a backstage snack for the cast.

Triumphs and Pit Falls

I'm FINALLY about to crawl into bed. I've been awake since 5:30am and it's nearly 11:30pm as I write this. I have a million things on my brain, but for the moment, let's focus on the Triumphs of the day -

First off, I got all of my scenes right. I'd been stumbling over a couple spots for a while, but tonight it all sank right in the pocket. It felt great! My costumes feel great and look good as well. I never get tired of watching my fellow cast members on stage either. This show is awesome and arguably the best I've been in yet (barring the 4 person version of American Standard). I'll post pictures when I can.

More triumphs, Sista' Girl has started new journey to better health and I'm super proud of her. And I'm always thrilled when my friends and family get on the health bandwagon. The healthier they are, the better the chance that they'll be around longer! Besides, I'm REALLY looking forward to our next RBT! Wahoo!

So those are the triumphs.

What are the pitfalls?

Well, I'm choosing to go to bed before midnight, rather than do another 20-30 minutes on the treadmill/elliptical. Working 10 hour days at my day job plus rehearsal makes trying to get ANYTHING else done a challenge! And when My Sailor has overnight duties, it's especially no fun (though the time DOES fly). So I'll be up and working by 6:30 every morning until Friday - when I'm finally taking a day off.  Did I mention I need a vacation?  I did get 1 mile in while walking Clydas today, but not the other 2.

Anyway, another pit fall is that it seems that I miss my friends a LOT today. I know many of them have busy lives as well. Even when we were local, we'd often go a month or so without seeing each other. But it just sees like lately I miss them a BUNCH. Probably because my parents are visiting this weekend. I guess it was bound to happen. I'm bound to get a little homesick, even as I carve out a new space here in the BEAUTIFUL Pacific Northwest.

Well, tomorrow is a new day and a new 5k!
I would say "wish me luck", but "luck" has never had anything to do with health. Wish me good choices!

The "America's Got Talent" Los Angeles Audition Experience

The tail of my audition sticker - and the mountain of audition paperwork.

Cattle Call - n. Informal

An audition in which a large number of often inexperienced actors or performers try out.
- dictionary.com
 

Yesterday, I auditioned for America's Got Talent. I sang Black Velvet for my 90 second audition in front of 5 judges. That was around 2:30pm.

I had been awake since 4am.

I had been standing since 8am.


Walt Disney Concert Hall



That was an experience in and of itself. If you've never been to Hollywood or, like me, have spent limited time there, you might not realize that it's not a glamorous place at all. While it houses a life long dream of mine (to sing inside the most acoustically correct building ever built - Walt Disney Symphony Hall), it's far from a place I'd want to live. While the inside of the Millenium Biltmore is breath taking (sorry - no photography allowed at that point due to it being a live set, but if you watch the show, you'll see some of it I'm sure), it's located in an area with lots of run down shops - right beside million dollar stores. (I forgot where I parked- so I ended up walking around for about an hour after the audition and discovered just how odd this place is.)

Some of the more unusual talents I spotted were Neil Diamond impersonators, Micheal Jackson impersonators, and one that took my attention more than others.

See, once I finally made it to the start of the line, I lined up for a bag check and metal detector check by security. And then I lined up to enter the hotel. (This is when photography and videography was prohibited. Sorry folks!) Then I lined up to have my paperwork reviewed. Finally, I was let into a huge ballroom, known as the "holding room".  When I first entered the holding room, my impression was, "This is the coolest place ever!" Music was pumping at one end of the ballroom. The cameras were rolling. Peoples were dancing, screaming, standing on chairs... At first I thought, "What a great way to keep everyone entertained and to keep their energy up!" Well, it turned out the atmosphere changed after a few minutes. Once the filming was done. The music stopped. Cameras still rolled, but they followed around certain auditioners, with a director advising them to pace, practice, appear nervous, etc. However, this was in stark contrast to the actual atmosphere. Folks were chatting (I met 2 other soloists and chatted it up with them while I decided on a song - that's right, I didn't know what I was going to sing until I got there) and generally there was very little obvious "nerves" floating around. (I'm sure waiting outside the hotel for over an hour left most people too tired or too excited to see a bathroom to be nervous. God knows I be-lined it to the ladies room after all that time in line!) Though I know there is very little "reality" in reality TV, I was surprised to see so much coaching. Nearly everyone filmed was coached by a director walking around. Amazing...

Anyway, after several hours in the holding room, I was called up, with 9 other singers, to be lead to the conference room area. Where we waited some more...

Finally entering into the room, we met the judges. There was a 5 person panel to sing to in a room hardly larger than my condo's living room. My competition? Well, there were 2 opera singers (well trained that sounded great), 1 R&B singer (who was dressed like a rap star, but did Back at One by Brian McKnight really well), and the rest were pretty much amatures. The judges were funny. They made us all laugh, put us at ease, and made the audition a very positive experience. After I heard a few people do show tunes, contemporary music, and opera, I settled on classic rock - Black Velvet (yeah, I didn't know what I was going to sing until I introduced myself). I had a few things prepared, but wanted the judges to remember me, so I gave them something different. (I also wanted to stand out, which is why I choose to wear red instead of the usual black dress).



Audition face!



The 60 seconds of Black Velvet I sang was met with great applause and lots of smiles all around. Several of my fellow singers stopped by to compliment me on their way out (which felt amazing). I actually felt really confident with my audition over all and felt I presented myself well. It's new for me to leave an audition feeling like there was nothing I could have done better. My eye contact was solid. My nerves? Well under control. (In case you're new to my blog - I'm one performer who HATES auditioning.)

This was probably the most positive audition experience I've ever had.

"So?! Did you make it?!"
 The answer is - I don't know, yet. They will do call backs in about a month. This was just the first cut. Then there will be a second cut. The 3rd cut (I'm lead to believe) is in front of the celebrity judges on TV. The show doesn't start shooting until June of 2011, so we'll see how things go.

"But you think you made it?!"

No. That doesn't mean that I didn't totally nail/rock the audition though. Here is the harsh reality of this show: On October 23rd, 2010 (the day before my audition), the judges say 1000 singers. 98% of their auditioners are singers this year.  However, AGT (America's Got Talent) is supposed to be a variety show, so they can't put everyone who nails their audition on. They still have more cities to hit for their auditions. So realistically, yes, I think I did a great job and I'm, for the first time ever, proud of my audition without any real critisim. But I'm also completely at peace with not making it on the show.

To round out the day - I spent the long drive home with a raging "audition hangover". I suppose this is due to the energy expended (emotional, mental, and otherwise) and the fact that I rarely perform on a full stomach. I hadn't brought any snacks and by the time I left the audition, it was about 2:45-3pm, and I hadn't eaten since about 5am. I'd had some water, but couldn't be running to the bathroom and miss my call, so even that was moderate to low. I stopped by a Starbucks (while I was lost and looking for my car afterwards), yet I'm fairly sure the caffine and sugar of my Pumpkin Spice Latte just proved to dehydrate me more. But at least I was awake!

Dehydration + hunger + exhaustion = rest stop break on the way home



Post audition rest break

I'm glad I went through with it and got another audition under my belt - and a window into a world I can't wait to work in.



When is hard work working too hard?

Quote of the Blog: “Hard work spotlights the character of people:  some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.”  ~Sam Ewing

 

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a Superwoman (as GamerGuy calls me). I’m always busy during something and more then once I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. Take this week as a great example.

I was somehow planning on finishing some housework on Monday night and working on my article so I could fine tune it on Tuesday and get it into Celebrations Magazine (the Disney Fan magazine I write for-  I’m the Disneyland expert/contributor) by the deadline. Then I was going to work on memorizing my lines and songs for the musical I’m in (Rasputin, a very very dark musical comedy playing April 30-May 2^nd at the Lyceum theater in San Diego) so I’d be ready for the run through rehearsal on Tuesday night.

And somewhere in between I was going to finish about 300 pages in the book I’m reading for book club (which was last night). Oh yeah, and I am working full time plus some twice a week at my bread-and-butter day job. (No wonder I haven’t had time to blog, right? Thanks for understanding!)

Well, none of that ended up panning out the way I had anticipated. Oy…

Monday I did finish the housework and the rough of the article. But my fact confirmation turned into a nightmare on Tuesday, so that ment working late to finish the article. Which ment missing rehearsal. And, of course, only about 5 of the pages from the book were read before sleep overtook me.

Wednesday came along and I found out that a friend in a long time relationship had to call it quits. She’d had some bad luck lately, so we needed to reconnect. Instead of going to book club (of the book I’m only 50 pages into), I spent the evening talking our troubles out. It may have lead to some clarity on my own views on relationships. It proved to be a refreshing experience, but I know I let the folks at book club down a bit by not being able to make it.

So here it is, Thursday. Another rehearsal tonight. This one I’m going to make it to come hell or high water.

Friday night, I’d love to be up in LA seeing Waking Sleeping Beauty, but alas, due to financial and time constraints, that’s just not going to happen right now. (Sigh)

Oh well! Things all work out as they are supposed to in the end. Yes, I think I bit off more than I could chew earlier this week – and it’s evidenced itself in having to back out of commitments (like rehearsal), being late on others (like the magazine article), being unprepared for others (book club), and yet I was able to be there for a friend, and (eventually) complete the projects I signed up for. I still plan on finishing the book club book and all that jazz.

Moral of the story? Give all you have in all you do, and everything will turn out in the end.

In the mean time, I thought I’d leave you all with a little trailer from a film Clydas and I worked on several years back with TheManInBlack. He’s a gore make-up guru, so every time you see a bruise, a cut, a splatter, or a wound that’s us! Well… him. Clydas and I were just the help! (No, Clydas didn’t make it into the movie.) I believe, sadly, the film may have run out of money and was never finished, but these hard working guys and gals (who often just work for food) deserve to have their work seen none-the-less!

Synopsis: Young Joshua holds a family secret passed down for generations. A secret so important, that it could change the fate of the very world that he lives on. He is pursued by a dark and mysterious organization bent on using the secret for their own personal gain. Something that Joshua must keep from happening at all costs but does Joshua have what it takes to fulfill his destiny and keep the secret safe for the future generations to come?

Of Acting, The Whisper House, and other things....

It's really late, but I have to write this tonight before I forget!

What's in store on this blog?

1) The Answer to the "Why do you Act?" question. I was asked this for the first time today, by someone OUTSIDE of a therapist's role. Crazy huh?

2) A Review of a Brand New Musical, The Whisper House, that I caught at the Old Globe yesterday.

3) Why "You're really in the zone. I have to ask, do you feel victimized after all this?" is a compliment of the heighest degree. I know. I lead a sometimes interesting life!

So let's dive right in (so I can go to bed), shall we?

1) "Why do you act?"
Most people ask me how I got into acting or theater. That answer is easy. My parents exposed me to theater early on. As a kid, I LOVED fairy tales and stories and telling great stories (and boy - could I tell some WHOPPERS in my day). So as a child, I remember looking at people acting and singing on stage and thinking, "I can do that." So, that's how I got into it. My mom supported me by allowing me to go to camps like Northern Arizona University's master music camp, CYT, and involve myself in school plays in high school. I know many folks stop there, but I kept that ball rolling by doing a few shows with Palomar College, local community theaters, and the like. The gig I just did tonight (excuse me, the REGULAR PAYING GIG I just did tonight - WAHOO!) is something that TheManInBlack turned me on to. More on that in #3, but why did I get into acting?

I think acting stuck somewhere around 2003. I was cast in Book of Days at Palomar College. I remember the role - Sharon, a mid-life woman who married into wealth and was the mother of the main character, a socio-pathic murderer. In case you haven't noticed, it was a real stretch for me, but I wanted to make certain that the audience could see what I saw - how Sharon was a step away from those same socio-pathic tendencies that her son acted on. One night, during curtain call, I felt this rush. I felt as if suddenly ever fiber of my being knew that tiny little insignificant me had contributed something important to the world.

One therapist would probably say that it's some innate need for attention that wasn't fulfilled in childhood. Another might say that I'm uncomfortable in my own skin, so I have to seek out others. Both may be partly true.

But I can only honestly answer with, "It's in my blood." I have a need to express to communicate. It's why I sing. It's why I write. And acting is a beautiful outlet for all those things I can't express any other way.

2) Review of "The Whisper House"

I had little idea of what to expect when I found out that the Old Globe was housing a new musical, but I do know this much - I'm not going to miss a brand new musical just because it's not yet a popular box office buster. So I went for it. Sort of an early birthday present to me.

The story is carried out in a surreal "slice of life" fashion. It's about a boy who's father is killed when the Japanese shoot down his plane during WWII. Unable to care for him, his mother sends him to live with a spinster aunt who happens to live in a lighthouse that the boy believes is haunted.

The musical has a cast of 7 cast members. 2 of them are ghosts that sing. I mean, they ONLY sing. They seem to be not truely "ghosts", but the whispering fears the boy has developed at the traumatic loss of his parents and the frightening world he lives in. There almost seem to be three layers going on during the show. There is the acting, which was EXCELLENTLY executed, in true Old Globe fashion. There is the singing - each song which stands on it's own. And there is a multi-media projection show during many songs (which, due to my seats, I couldn't really partake in too much).

However, working at the lighthouse is a Japanese man working in the lighthouse.

Let me remind you of the time period.

This takes place during WWII.

In America.

For those that don't know their history, the Japanese were treated appaulingly during this time period. One of the beautiful character peices in this play is drawing attention to the unfair treatment of the Japanese Americans back then.

It's well worth seeing, but go into it with an open mind. I found it facinating because it made me think. The music achieved it's haunting goal (and I'm now the proud owner of the soundtrack). And the acting - well, if done with a less committed, less talented cast, this show could be a serious flop. But the skill of this group made a lasting impression on me. The show is done in an original style that manages to engross the audience with simple, useful, meaningful set and characterization. It's middle of the road Avante Gaurd meets Minimalist style.

Facinating, and well worth a second peek to me. (The opening night was frought with usual opening night glitches - like a sound man who didn't have his/her cues down just yet.) I'm excited to see where this show goes! I doubt it'll disappear into the archives of musical theater obscurity.

3) Why on earth is THAT a compliment?
Tonight, I worked my regular gig for the police. It's part of a special training course where cops are taught interview and interrogation techniques. They needed a rape victim, so, for the last couple years, I've been playing the rape victim for them.

Basically, they give me an outline, with a character information and scenerio information. Then I sit down in a room with a Victim Advocate, a trainer, and a small group of cops. One of the cops has to interview me.

The interview techniques they use involve learning get the victim (me) to relive the night of their terror three different ways. First, I relive it from the begining to the end. Then, from the end to the begining. And finally, from a different perspective. Each time I recall more and more detail. (When done correctly, I am able to piece together who the rapist was all together.)

I do that for each of 5 groups that come through my room. My reactions are based on thier use of these techniques.

Well, tonight a lady officer (an observer) came up to me after my last class and asked "How do you feel after this?" I laughed and said something to the effect of, "Exhausted. I worked all day this morning at my day job." She continued, "No, no. I mean, I saw you. You were really in the zone there. Don't you feel victimized?"

Obviously, I did my job right. Most actors will tell you that this kind of one-on-one acting with your audience, with this level of improv is very difficult. Each time I learn something new, have to think on my feet, and yet make it beliable to someone who isn't more than 3 feet away from me. They have see it in my eyes to believe it. And that - as even the most skilled actor will tell you-is the goal.

(Truth be told, my poor co-workers have to put up with an exhausted, emotionally drained, slightly depressed coder the next day. But it's worth every minute. Not only do they pay well, but I really feel like I'm doing some good. Better these cops mess up on me than an ACTUAL rape victim.)

And with that - Goodnight moon!