There's an episode of the fantastic Canadian television show SLINGS & ARROWS (a parody of the Stratford Festival), in which the opening night of KING LEAR is cancelled because the actor playing Lear is out, doped up on morphine (details not worth going into here, but watch the show). The Cordelia and one of the other young actors are commiserating at the bar with two of the older character actors in the troupe. One of them says something to the effect of, "You have to have a few horror shows to go along with the good ones. Then, later on, you'll have stories to tell. You'll have had a life!" I remember being so moved by those words (which were more eloquent in actuality than in my recollection), because they attest to the gypsy spirit of theatre people - you go on, you go on, you go on. You measure your life by what role you were playing at the time. As the Brits would say, there is just one thing that should keep you from going to work on a given night: "Only death. Your own."
I'd just gotten back to New York from a really difficult gig when I watched that episode of S&A, and it called to mind what we'd been repeating all summer when something ELSE, so horrible as to be funny, would happen: "One for the memoirs, darling, one for the memoirs!" Let's just say that working with a cow as a scene partner is DEFINITELY going in the autobiography.
Last night, we had a FANTASTIC show. The audience was really with us, and was having a ball (in a comedy - farce, especially - the audience gives you SUCH a boost, and when they're enjoying it, you don't have to work quite so hard). We went back to the cast house, and were all having dinner and our post-show wind-down, still buzzed by how much fun we'd had on stage. I asked Sarah, the actress playing Bertha, to please tell us ANNIE 2 stories. Now, there are certain shows that you hear about, even years later, that have become infamous - CARRIE being the most well-known example. ANNIE 2 (subtitled HANNIGAN'S REVENGE) is one such show. It was amazing to sit around the kitchen table, eyes wide, and listen to her recollect horror story after horror story - how amazing the script was at the first reading to how it was destroyed, lewd things that were said to her, Dorothy Loudon's understudy having to go on without a single rehearsal and her lines written on poster board in the pit, crying children, weeping mothers, one actor who you'd know was about to go up on his lines because he'd sort of twitch by blinking three times - really and truly unbelievable stuff.
I love that I've worked enough to now have some stories of my own to tell - some of them wonderful and fun, some of them hilarious, some of them absolutely AWFUL (Summer of the Cow) - and can't wait to accumulate more. It brings SLINGS & ARROWS to mind...you've had a life! A life in the theatre. Is there any richer kind?
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Plastic Bag May Not Inflate
BOEING BOEING opens tonight! We've had a few nights of previews (meaning, figure out how to deal with the shrieking laughter emanating from the audience), and thus far, it's been a lot of fun. I thought it'd be interesting to take a moment and catalog the similarities and differences I've noticed in doing this show for a second time in less than a year:
THE SAME:
Farce is incredibly, painstakingly, ridiculously technical. Amazingly fun once you get it down, and hopefully nothing the audience notices, but there is virtually NO wiggle room to "try something new." All of that is in the relationships.
DIFFERENT:
The audience here is more reluctant to laugh at certain things than they were in Olean. Not most things, but a couple of jokes here and there. Comedy is endlessly fascinating.
THE SAME:
This remains, along with doing Shakespeare outside, one of the most vocally challenging shows I've ever done. I might put ROCKY HORROR up there, too. In BOEING, I am basically full-belting all of my lines. The entire show.
DIFFERENT:
The stage at Seven Angels is MUCH bigger than at Twin Tiers - I would venture to say it's twice as large. If that is an exaggeration, it certainly isn't by much. This means we can REALLY run after each other (it feels like I am always chasing or being chased by someone else), and also that we're all losing weight just from doing the show so much. Not much, but wow.
THE SAME:
Kissing men who get progressively sweatier as the show goes on.
DIFFERENT:
Having doors you can slam the crap out of on your entrances and exits. The set was amazing on my last production, but the doors didn't slam in that satisfying way. FARCE!
THE SAME:
Huge false eyelashes, red nails (ugh), and red lips. Also, we all have to use the kind of lipstick that is INCREDIBLY difficult to remove, since everybody kisses everybody in a highly frantic and ridiculous fashion.
DIFFERENT:
I love how different the relationship between Bertha and Robert has become in this production from the one I did this summer(from what I can see on stage and hear from the monitors in the dressing room). They're not even that different, but it's noticeable to me. Both are fully supported by the text, and both hilarious...It's one of those things I love about acting - that the chemistry between different people can yield such different results, and still to absolutely hilarious effect.
THE SAME:
Getting anywhere from at least a titter to full-on entrance laughter. Never has it worked quite so strongly to my advantage to be so obscenely tall.
Hooray for an opening night!
THE SAME:
Farce is incredibly, painstakingly, ridiculously technical. Amazingly fun once you get it down, and hopefully nothing the audience notices, but there is virtually NO wiggle room to "try something new." All of that is in the relationships.
DIFFERENT:
The audience here is more reluctant to laugh at certain things than they were in Olean. Not most things, but a couple of jokes here and there. Comedy is endlessly fascinating.
THE SAME:
This remains, along with doing Shakespeare outside, one of the most vocally challenging shows I've ever done. I might put ROCKY HORROR up there, too. In BOEING, I am basically full-belting all of my lines. The entire show.
DIFFERENT:
The stage at Seven Angels is MUCH bigger than at Twin Tiers - I would venture to say it's twice as large. If that is an exaggeration, it certainly isn't by much. This means we can REALLY run after each other (it feels like I am always chasing or being chased by someone else), and also that we're all losing weight just from doing the show so much. Not much, but wow.
THE SAME:
Kissing men who get progressively sweatier as the show goes on.
DIFFERENT:
Having doors you can slam the crap out of on your entrances and exits. The set was amazing on my last production, but the doors didn't slam in that satisfying way. FARCE!
THE SAME:
Huge false eyelashes, red nails (ugh), and red lips. Also, we all have to use the kind of lipstick that is INCREDIBLY difficult to remove, since everybody kisses everybody in a highly frantic and ridiculous fashion.
DIFFERENT:
I love how different the relationship between Bertha and Robert has become in this production from the one I did this summer(from what I can see on stage and hear from the monitors in the dressing room). They're not even that different, but it's noticeable to me. Both are fully supported by the text, and both hilarious...It's one of those things I love about acting - that the chemistry between different people can yield such different results, and still to absolutely hilarious effect.
THE SAME:
Getting anywhere from at least a titter to full-on entrance laughter. Never has it worked quite so strongly to my advantage to be so obscenely tall.
Hooray for an opening night!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Join the Actors, they said! See the world, they said!
Well, perhaps it's not "The World" in the grand sense, but I'm definitely making a tour of New England this winter. I arrived in Waterbury, CT last night, and started BOEING rehearsals today! The theatre is lovely, and the cast is hilarious and really cool. I adore this play!!! I have a lovely room with a couch and a bedside table with a shelf that my computer and all of my books fit neatly on, so once I get home from rehearsals, it's entirely possible to make tea, get into bed, and then never move again. As this is not Boston (meaning, a pedestrian city with enticing coffee shops), I plan to hibernate!
I'm very excited that my friend Hannah will possibly be coming to NYC in late April/early May so that we can get some serious writing done on the project I've vaguely mentioned in previous posts. I've been enjoying working on it solo, but can't wait to get us going in the same room. We hope to get it completely fleshed out in the Spring, and then shoot in the Fall.
I'm also really pleased to announce that I'm the Client of the Month for Artist Upgrade! How fun! Scroll down the page a smidge and click to see what they've written about me! I love them - they are fantastic to work with, both from a design and maintenance standpoint.
I meant to do this in a post while I was still in Boston, but clearly, I didn't. I wanted to pimp some of my wonderful NINE castmates! I've listed below anyone that had a website listed in the program:
McCaela Donovan - Carla
Jennifer Ellis - Claudia
Cheryl McMahon - Guido's Mother
Brittney Morello - Ensemble
Kami Rushell Smith - Our Lady of the Spa
I'm very excited that my friend Hannah will possibly be coming to NYC in late April/early May so that we can get some serious writing done on the project I've vaguely mentioned in previous posts. I've been enjoying working on it solo, but can't wait to get us going in the same room. We hope to get it completely fleshed out in the Spring, and then shoot in the Fall.
I'm also really pleased to announce that I'm the Client of the Month for Artist Upgrade! How fun! Scroll down the page a smidge and click to see what they've written about me! I love them - they are fantastic to work with, both from a design and maintenance standpoint.
I meant to do this in a post while I was still in Boston, but clearly, I didn't. I wanted to pimp some of my wonderful NINE castmates! I've listed below anyone that had a website listed in the program:
McCaela Donovan - Carla
Jennifer Ellis - Claudia
Cheryl McMahon - Guido's Mother
Brittney Morello - Ensemble
Kami Rushell Smith - Our Lady of the Spa
Thursday, February 24, 2011
One More Song About Movin' Along the Highway
Last week in Boston! So much to do! I really wanted to go to the MFA today, but I'm making myself pack a bit, first. There's a friend's show that I want to see on Sunday at 2pm in NYC, since it's my ONLY chance to go, which means I have to be on a bus at 7:30am. Gross, but necessary. Anyway, it means all packing must be done IN ADVANCE!!!
It's been an exciting few days. My new headshots are printed and waiting for me to pick them up back in NYC, I now have an Equity card in my pocket, TONS of my NINE castmates were nominated for Boston's IRNE awards, I got my housing and transport info for BOEING BOEING (I go out there Monday night!!!), and, drumroll, please - I got a job for the summer! Huzzah! I'm thrilled about this one for several reasons, but most of all because it's at Lake Dillon Theatre, which is about a twenty minute drive from where my parents live in Breckenridge, Colorado. I'm going to get to live at my parents' beautiful house for THREE MONTHS SOLID, and many family members that haven't seen me perform in awhile are going to get to see me do TWO shows! This is ANOTHER reason I'm happy - I'm playing Mrs. Walker in TOMMY (exciting exciting belt-my-face exciting), and Joanne in GODSPELL (I sing BLESS THE LORD). I used to watch GODSPELL every night to fall asleep when I was in middle school. There was no such thing as too much Victor Garber or too many dancing hippies. TOMMY opens in June, and then runs in rep with GODSPELL once that show opens a couple of weeks later. What a great ensemble piece.
NINE has been ever so much fun! I finally broke down and bought a video camera last weekend, after a year of meaning to, so I'm going to try to take some video to make a sort of backstage tour. When all is said and done, we'll have done something like 34 performances. Doesn't sound like very many, but we're so deep into routine by this point, that it does feel a bit like we've been running for months. Most of the shows I've done recently have been either in NYC, or with casts completely from NYC, so it'll be weird to go home and then not run into people on 9th Ave. There are a few girls moving to the city within the next couple of months, and a few more as the BoCo ladies graduate, but still. This is a wonderful cast that works ALL THE TIME. Luckily, Boston is not far - I may have to come back to see them be fantastic in future shows!
This is just delaying the inevitable packing. Streaming Netflix, I'm gonna need your help on this one!
It's been an exciting few days. My new headshots are printed and waiting for me to pick them up back in NYC, I now have an Equity card in my pocket, TONS of my NINE castmates were nominated for Boston's IRNE awards, I got my housing and transport info for BOEING BOEING (I go out there Monday night!!!), and, drumroll, please - I got a job for the summer! Huzzah! I'm thrilled about this one for several reasons, but most of all because it's at Lake Dillon Theatre, which is about a twenty minute drive from where my parents live in Breckenridge, Colorado. I'm going to get to live at my parents' beautiful house for THREE MONTHS SOLID, and many family members that haven't seen me perform in awhile are going to get to see me do TWO shows! This is ANOTHER reason I'm happy - I'm playing Mrs. Walker in TOMMY (exciting exciting belt-my-face exciting), and Joanne in GODSPELL (I sing BLESS THE LORD). I used to watch GODSPELL every night to fall asleep when I was in middle school. There was no such thing as too much Victor Garber or too many dancing hippies. TOMMY opens in June, and then runs in rep with GODSPELL once that show opens a couple of weeks later. What a great ensemble piece.
NINE has been ever so much fun! I finally broke down and bought a video camera last weekend, after a year of meaning to, so I'm going to try to take some video to make a sort of backstage tour. When all is said and done, we'll have done something like 34 performances. Doesn't sound like very many, but we're so deep into routine by this point, that it does feel a bit like we've been running for months. Most of the shows I've done recently have been either in NYC, or with casts completely from NYC, so it'll be weird to go home and then not run into people on 9th Ave. There are a few girls moving to the city within the next couple of months, and a few more as the BoCo ladies graduate, but still. This is a wonderful cast that works ALL THE TIME. Luckily, Boston is not far - I may have to come back to see them be fantastic in future shows!
This is just delaying the inevitable packing. Streaming Netflix, I'm gonna need your help on this one!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
An Unexpected Verdict
I would like to announce to all who read this blog, that my parents - both my mother AND my father - really enjoyed our production of NINE. This is a wonderful surprise, because my parents have seen a ton of musicals and plays, thanks to having two children in the business, and NINE was on my father's shortlist of "Least Favorite Shows," sandwiched firmly between COPENHAGEN and CATS (I'll let you guess which one of those is the #1 most painful theatrical experience of my dad's life).
I just wanted to share that.
Oh, I also wanted to share that I'm going to be doing BOEING BOEING again! I'll be performing as Gretchen (duh) at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, CT. We start rehearsals March 1st, and run March 17th to April 10th! I'll have two days off in between gigs, much of which will be spent traveling from Boston to NYC and from NYC to CT, respectively. Perfect timing!
Aaaaand a quick PIMP YOUR FRIENDS - look at how pretty Nikka Graff Lanzarone's shiny new website is!!!
I just wanted to share that.
Oh, I also wanted to share that I'm going to be doing BOEING BOEING again! I'll be performing as Gretchen (duh) at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, CT. We start rehearsals March 1st, and run March 17th to April 10th! I'll have two days off in between gigs, much of which will be spent traveling from Boston to NYC and from NYC to CT, respectively. Perfect timing!
Aaaaand a quick PIMP YOUR FRIENDS - look at how pretty Nikka Graff Lanzarone's shiny new website is!!!
Friday, January 28, 2011
I'm Bringing the Pompadour Back
All my glorious plans of blogging more frequently ended in sleeping instead. Hey, it was a looooooong tech.
The show looks BEAUTIFUL, and we've settled into our run. We were talking backstage last night about how NINE is a really fun show to run, and actually less fun to rehearse. Rehearsals can often be the most exciting part of the process - let's try this, okay, now this, what if I do THIS instead - but NINE is a bit of a beast. It's difficult to get a firm grasp on, and difficult to tell the story well (I know from having seen it several times before). Anyway, now that we're open, we've all just kind of relaxed and started to have fun. Below is a photo of me in full Stephanie Necrophorus regalia, singing about why I loathe our leading man:
I look ridiculous walking about the streets of Boston with poofy hair, but I got over that really quickly. If anything, most people are a little deferential when I have the pompadour happening, I suppose because it makes me look really intense. Yep. I frighten people. This is what I have discovered.
Okay, people, PIMP YOUR FRIENDS time! My lovely marvelous wonderful BATS are all involved in this amazing new project called #serialsattheflea. Late night episodic theatre. I'm grumpy about not being able to see them because I'm in Boston, so I'm trying to send everyone else to see them so that I can live vicariously, stage-mom style. Basically, there are five plays, and every week, the audience votes for what they want to see the next installment of. Only three make it. They'll return the next week with the next "episode" of their play, if you will, and the other two teams have to completely regroup and devise an entirely new premise for the following week. I freaking love The Flea. Two of the Bats, Stephen Stout & Dominic Spillaine, are the evil geniuses behind this whole thing. Go!
With regards to BE CREATIVE EVERY DAY, I have actually been succeeding, and not just because I'm in a run. I've been doing a lot of writing, as well as working on new material for a class I'll be taking soon. It's interesting challenging yourself to something like this, but not being a visual artist - I know I have something to show for it, but I can't just take a photograph of it and post it.
However, I CAN post videos, and I have done so for A MARGINALLY CHRISTMAS CABARET! There are four of them, and they all came out really well - my friend Alesia's brother David Lawson and a couple of his friends did all the video and editing for us.
Here is Colored Lights, from THE RINK. I call it the Liza Minnelli Special.
Next, we have River in the Rain, from BIG RIVER, featuring my marvelous brother Aaron! A few of his improv friends have watched and been impressed, as he only really sings when I force him to.
Then, there's the ridiculous Diamonds Are Forever.
And finally, the video that has unsurprisingly turned out to be everyone's favorite, I Will Never Leave You, from SIDE SHOW, featuring my friend Hernando Umana. He was my Riff Raff in ROCKY HORROR, and he sings like a beautiful woman. Seriously. It's actually not my favorite video for how I sound, but it's so preposterous that I can't help loving it.
The show looks BEAUTIFUL, and we've settled into our run. We were talking backstage last night about how NINE is a really fun show to run, and actually less fun to rehearse. Rehearsals can often be the most exciting part of the process - let's try this, okay, now this, what if I do THIS instead - but NINE is a bit of a beast. It's difficult to get a firm grasp on, and difficult to tell the story well (I know from having seen it several times before). Anyway, now that we're open, we've all just kind of relaxed and started to have fun. Below is a photo of me in full Stephanie Necrophorus regalia, singing about why I loathe our leading man:
I look ridiculous walking about the streets of Boston with poofy hair, but I got over that really quickly. If anything, most people are a little deferential when I have the pompadour happening, I suppose because it makes me look really intense. Yep. I frighten people. This is what I have discovered.
Okay, people, PIMP YOUR FRIENDS time! My lovely marvelous wonderful BATS are all involved in this amazing new project called #serialsattheflea. Late night episodic theatre. I'm grumpy about not being able to see them because I'm in Boston, so I'm trying to send everyone else to see them so that I can live vicariously, stage-mom style. Basically, there are five plays, and every week, the audience votes for what they want to see the next installment of. Only three make it. They'll return the next week with the next "episode" of their play, if you will, and the other two teams have to completely regroup and devise an entirely new premise for the following week. I freaking love The Flea. Two of the Bats, Stephen Stout & Dominic Spillaine, are the evil geniuses behind this whole thing. Go!
With regards to BE CREATIVE EVERY DAY, I have actually been succeeding, and not just because I'm in a run. I've been doing a lot of writing, as well as working on new material for a class I'll be taking soon. It's interesting challenging yourself to something like this, but not being a visual artist - I know I have something to show for it, but I can't just take a photograph of it and post it.
However, I CAN post videos, and I have done so for A MARGINALLY CHRISTMAS CABARET! There are four of them, and they all came out really well - my friend Alesia's brother David Lawson and a couple of his friends did all the video and editing for us.
Here is Colored Lights, from THE RINK. I call it the Liza Minnelli Special.
Next, we have River in the Rain, from BIG RIVER, featuring my marvelous brother Aaron! A few of his improv friends have watched and been impressed, as he only really sings when I force him to.
Then, there's the ridiculous Diamonds Are Forever.
And finally, the video that has unsurprisingly turned out to be everyone's favorite, I Will Never Leave You, from SIDE SHOW, featuring my friend Hernando Umana. He was my Riff Raff in ROCKY HORROR, and he sings like a beautiful woman. Seriously. It's actually not my favorite video for how I sound, but it's so preposterous that I can't help loving it.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Snow Day
During the snopocalyspe of December 2010, I spent two and a half days sitting in Denver International Airport, attempting to get to Boston by way of Newark. Today's snowsanity is a lot easier for me, seeing as the T is running, if slowly. I'm gonna admit it - I'm sitting atop my cozy bed in Brookline, wearing pajamas at 2pm. I slept in, watched the two-part Season 5 Finale of MURDER, SHE WROTE, and had a chard omelet with waffles. I was going to attempt to get things done outside of the house today, but quite sensibly decided that, if I had to brave the snow later to get to rehearsal, I might as well not deal with it for the rest of the day. The MFA will still be there later this week!
We began working through Act One last night, and let me tell you - this show is a massive BEAST! I mean that in the best possible sense - simply that there is SO MUCH to it, for absolutely everyone, from Guido on down. We're all pretty much on stage the entire time, and are all very involved in just about every number, so tracking yourself ("tracking" is the term used for where you are at any particular moment in a show. It's not just blocking, it's "Enter downstage left, but hang by the door till Actor A crosses, then be sure to shut it and turn the handle, because the door wont' close otherwise," it's what costume pieces you need to underdress in order to make a quick change in time, it's any props or set pieces you might be responsible for - basically anything that someone who was coming in to replace or understudy you would need to know in order to perform your "track" in a show) becomes difficult. It's gonna be great, we're just in the throes of the messiest stage of rehearsal (tech is a totally different kind of messy), which is exciting. So interesting to be part of a large-cast musical that is truly ensemble based.
On a different note, I just discovered and joined the "Creative Every Day" challenge. I'm thinking of trying to do weekly check-ins with it, and also trying to see how I can incorporate my blog into the creativity I already use every day (in rehearsal, in class, etc). January's (optional) theme is "Cosmos," which I think I'll play with a bit, once I figure out how best to bring myself to this challenge. I also began a Photoblog for 2011. This project is not an attempt to take gorgeous photos, but to truly blog about my days - the images, the experiences, the minutia that makes up a person's day to day life - through photos. It's been fun thus far, seeing people's responses, and challenging myself to find different types of things to photograph.
I am extremely cold right now, so I think I'm going to jump in a (hopefully, hopefully) ridiculously hot shower, then read some MOBY DICK, review my blocking and choreography, and head into rehearsal. I think it's also time to bust out my epic winter hat. I like to think of it as Doctor Zhivago meets Trudy Campbell.
We began working through Act One last night, and let me tell you - this show is a massive BEAST! I mean that in the best possible sense - simply that there is SO MUCH to it, for absolutely everyone, from Guido on down. We're all pretty much on stage the entire time, and are all very involved in just about every number, so tracking yourself ("tracking" is the term used for where you are at any particular moment in a show. It's not just blocking, it's "Enter downstage left, but hang by the door till Actor A crosses, then be sure to shut it and turn the handle, because the door wont' close otherwise," it's what costume pieces you need to underdress in order to make a quick change in time, it's any props or set pieces you might be responsible for - basically anything that someone who was coming in to replace or understudy you would need to know in order to perform your "track" in a show) becomes difficult. It's gonna be great, we're just in the throes of the messiest stage of rehearsal (tech is a totally different kind of messy), which is exciting. So interesting to be part of a large-cast musical that is truly ensemble based.
On a different note, I just discovered and joined the "Creative Every Day" challenge. I'm thinking of trying to do weekly check-ins with it, and also trying to see how I can incorporate my blog into the creativity I already use every day (in rehearsal, in class, etc). January's (optional) theme is "Cosmos," which I think I'll play with a bit, once I figure out how best to bring myself to this challenge. I also began a Photoblog for 2011. This project is not an attempt to take gorgeous photos, but to truly blog about my days - the images, the experiences, the minutia that makes up a person's day to day life - through photos. It's been fun thus far, seeing people's responses, and challenging myself to find different types of things to photograph.
I am extremely cold right now, so I think I'm going to jump in a (hopefully, hopefully) ridiculously hot shower, then read some MOBY DICK, review my blocking and choreography, and head into rehearsal. I think it's also time to bust out my epic winter hat. I like to think of it as Doctor Zhivago meets Trudy Campbell.
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