Danged doorknobs

Auditions: A first-person narrative by me

So I spend a good 10 minutes in the lobby, adjusting my confidence--it's on frontwards, right? Good. The suspenders aren't too flashy? What? I need 'em to hold my confidence up, duh. It tends to sag in situations like this.

Oh geez, it's my turn already! Wish me luck!

I walk to the audition room with grace and poise. I take a deep calming breath and step inside. "Hello! My name is---herk!" Aack! My suspenders got caught on the doorknob! The consummate professional (*snerk*), I continue on as though nothing is amiss. "My name is Stacey. I'm audtioning for the part of [role] and I'll be singing [song]." As I reach out to hand the director's helper my music, I feel the clips on my suspenders pop away from my confidence. There is a moment of panic, but maybe maybe maybe my confidence will stay up just this once oh please oh please oh please.

The music starts, and I belt out the first line of the song. Yay! I inhale to begin the next line when suddenly my confidence sinks to my knees and I'm exposed. My voice wavers and I try to inconspicuously grab hold of some confidence before it drops completely and puddles on the floor. Ohmygosh! I hope to goodness the director doesn't notice. There! I get a handful of confidence and hold on for dear life! "Lalalalaaaaaa...."

Whew! Song is over! I managed to get through it and even pulled my confidence up a bit. Okay, I can do this. The director hands me an unfamiliar page from the script to read. Without thinking I take it with both hands. Mistake! Mistake! Unsupported, my confidence starts to sag again, lower and lower as I read, until it's around my shins.

"Thank you," the director says. "We'll let you know if we need to see you at callbacks."

And I shuffle out of the room, trying not to trip over the confidence that is now drooped around my ankles, dragging on the floor.

*sigh*

#$%#@ suspenders and @$&% doorknobs.

Three Fiddler pics

I'll admit to being supremely disappointed.

The Fiddler photo CD I ordered before the show closed finally arrived yesterday. (Plaza has an arrangement with a third-party photographer to come in and photograph each show. The photographer then offers photo CDs for sale to the actors toward the end of the show's run.) For nearly four weeks I'd eagerly checked the mailbox, hoping it would come. And when it was there yesterday, I very nearly squealed with glee. I rushed inside and popped it into the computer to pull up the photos...

As my glee deflated and disappeared.

For the Friday/SatMat cast, there were 125+ fabulous photos, including about a dozen of my double CC as Yente.  For the Thurs/Sat cast, there were 46 photos, and many of those near copies of Friday/SatMat photos because they're of single cast people doing what they did every show.  Since nearly all of the principal characters were doubled, there are precious few photos of the people with whom I had the honor of sharing the stage.  And that makes me sad.

The photos were taken opening weekend. If the camera or lens malfunctioned and it was a matter of not being able to get good photos, there were still five more weekends, ten more performances, to get photos.

Now the show is long done, no way to go back and get pictures.

*sigh*  Anyway.  I'll share the two and a half photos that included me.  The first one is from the opening scene, where Yente tells Avram she's found the perfect match for his son.

This second one is from the first scene, where Yente visits Golde to tell her about the match for Tzeitel. I'm stealing a potato.

Finally, the wedding scene, right before intermission. I'm the black-clad one at the bottom. I love the pic, though, because it shows how amazing the set and lighting were...