Ready, set...

The Saturday shows were a little easier. I think most of us at least managed not to cry at all by the evening show. The Tiny Tim grave scene is the hardest.

One good thing: I snagged my script for Cash on Delivery at Granbury Theatre Company. Yep, that's a bit of news I've not found time to blog. I shared my dilemma, but not the outcome.

I did manage to scoot across the street that Saturday to audition for See How They Run. It went very well; I read for all three female parts and even the usually-male Sergeant. They had very few people audition, and I think I did as well as I could have, so I was encouraged.

Cash on Delivery auditions were changed to one-and-done (no callbacks) on that same Saturday. I'd arranged with Luke, the director, to audition for him before the matinee of Ragtime, but when he heard about the sparse Run auditions, I think he figured I'd be cast there, so we didn't take the time to read for Cash.

On Tuesday, one of the producers pulled me aside at Carol rehearsal and said they were very impressed with my Run audition, and really tried to figure out some creative casting options for me, but since the three female roles were all pretty big parts, my Carol performance schedule conflicting so much with rehearsal schedule was just an insurmountable obstacle. Which I totally understand. I'd...um... sort of forgotten... that we had four additional weekday performances... which would obviously necessitate my missing rehearsal.

The next day, I messaged Luke and let him know that if he needed people (he also had slim pickin's as far as auditioners) and could work with my schedule, I was available. He sent me some audition sides, I read for him before our Thursday performance of Ragtime. Then the following Sunday evening, he called to offer me the role of Brenda Dixon, the fiancee of one of the main characters who doesn't show up until half-way through Act II. Of course I accepted. Those rehearsals start next weekend for me.

I'm excited to add another theatre to my résumé, and this is a fun, small-but-juicy comedic role. Miss Dixon is the center of attention nearly every minute she's on stage.

Norseman will audition for The Sound of Music at Plaza on Tuesday, so between costuming Run, Cash rehearsals for me and possibly Music rehearsals for him, we may be running silly for a while.
What a blessing :)

A very cool dilemma when I think about it

It's only been a month since I last posted, yet I feel as though I've been neglecting this blog. It's not like many people read it--I guess I blog more for my own benefit.

Trying to think of non-theatre news, and have none, really. I've now worked long enough at my job to be able to take PTO time. Um... Norseman got his class shirt and is scheduled for yearbook pics... Sunshine got contacts.  Oh, and I realized it was daylight savings and set my clocks back this morning.

Yeah. That's about it.

Theatre news? Why yes! I do have theatre news.

Ragtime is simply amazing. (Stellar review here.)  (Another one here.) We only have two weekends left, which is kind of sad. It is SUCH a good show, and I imagine will receive multiple award nominations. It's THAT good. We have an equity actor in the cast, so the show will be considered in the Equity category for Column Awards, a first for Plaza.  After last night's show, a man shook my hand and said "You have such a beautiful voice." Which is kind of cool, since I'm a chorus member and have no solo songs. But I am usually the only alto around and sing loud to be heard in a sea of sopranos.

Sunshine's Footloose double, NM, is in A Christmas Carol. She had a double, but said double had to quit the show. So Sunshine agreed to take the role, and double with NM again.  Yes, despite being very mature and deciding against auditioning, she got sucked into the show anyway. :) Tech week for that show is Thanksgiving week, which the kids have off from school. And since I can now take PTO time, I'm already planning to work half days that week.

I mentioned that I'm costuming See How They Run, and that I might have to audition. Granbury Theatre Company is doing Cash on Delivery in the same time slot. Both shows are directed by men who were single-cast in Guys and Dolls at Plaza. I'd love to do both shows, but as I'm costuming Run and it's only 9 miles away, that would be my preference. However, Cash is a great show, too, and I would love to work with GTC. My original plan was to audition for Run on Monday night, and I'd at least know if I was called back before Cash auditions on Saturday. I thought I'd hit a snag when Run auditions were moved to Saturday, no appointment required, auditions and callbacks rolled into one. At the same time that I'm to be in Carol rehearsal. At the same time as Cash auditions.

But I messaged with the Run director, who agreed to let me audition after rehearsal if I couldn't slip away. Yay! Though I suspect he already has people (who are not me) in mind for roles. And I also talked to the Cash director, who invited me to crash callbacks next Tuesday! (!!) *blink* UmWhat? Can you repeat that?  Just come directly to callbacks? Me? *blink* Yep. So I'm really excited about that. Except that Carol rehearsals will be buckling down by then and I hate missing ANY rehearsal and I'm single cast and my absence would be an annoyance for everybody. But I'm not sure how I can pass this up. It's an honor, and speaks to the director's confidence in me. I need to take advantage of this opportunity.

I've consulted my Carol stage manager, and will talk to the director, too. If I'm cast in Run (hah!), it's a moot point. If not (probable), it's a dilemma.

Snagged an Ethel, and other stuff

Yay! This almost makes up for missing out on Adelaide!  I found out last night that I get to be one of the Ethel McCormacks (Ren's mom) in Plaza's summer production of Footloose! My Sunshine (and possibly my Norseman) will be in the ensemble, so we'll actually get to share the stage for the first time! I'm very excited! This is also the first production where I'll get to sing almost-solo. Wooty woot woot!

Through the Footloose audition process, I discovered something interesting. Give me a woman with an accent and a history far removed from me--I got it, no problem. Give me a woman who is essentially ME, and I'm a wreck.  It surprised me how frazzled I was. Even at callbacks, which have been, heretofore, my stronger performance, I was a shaky mess. But it was SO worth it!

In other theatre news, The Happiest Millionaire is going really REALLY well! It's been selling out, which I think is surprising everyone. Sunshine is a fabulous dresser (helps with quick costume changes), and Norseman wrangles the alligator. We got a very nice review from The Column, which gave rare praise for a strong ensemble. Emma is such a small part, comparatively, but I get wonderful comments from patrons.  The best so far: "Great job! You should have had a bigger role."  Also signed an autograph this past weekend. I am so blessed to be involved with this show. I love love love this cast. Eight more shows over the next two weekends, and then it's on to...

Guys and Dolls. Wow. This one has been a blow to my poise-related self esteem. I'm a huge dork; I know; I don't deny it. But the effort involved with making these dork limbs behave in a way that resembles the choreographed dance is... pathetic. My very patient castmates are, at this point, rolling their eyes and (rightly) thinking to themselves (and undoubtedly whispering to each other), "Good Lord, how has she managed to get this far with so little coordination?" And I know they're afraid I won't get it in time for opening night. But I will. The process is a little rough and unrefined, though. Practice, practice, practice. I'll get it, and I'll be better for it. Forging new synapses in my brain that will hopefully stick around until the next time I have to dance in a prescribed routine.

And I'm doing all this as an essentially single mom. D has moved to Oklahoma to take over an old friend's plumbing company--a terrific opportunity for him, too good to pass up. The kids and I are staying here. Norseman has a year left of high school, and Sunshine at this point has no desire whatsoever to move to Oklahoma.  We get together as a family every other weekend, and it's working quite well.

Probably ought to go wash the car. It's currently sporting two states worth of bird poo and bug guts...

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.

I love callbacks

It's no secret by now that initial auditions totally freak me out.  I'm a mess of stress, and since of course stress makes me ditzy and awkward, I get even more stressed about the stress making me ditzy and awkward. Five initial auditions now, and the singing ones especially haven't gotten any easier. But if I can get past that first audition to callbacks, I relax and... have fun.

Last night I had the honor of attending callbacks for Guys and Dolls.  I had a great time, did my best, which is usually my only goal. Didn't do anything stupid, that's always a good thing. And I managed to take one of each foot with me, rather than two left ones!  I didn't butcher the dance routine!!  That in itself is reason for celebration.

But I still mulled all night. Not over my own performance, but something else that startled me: One of the most talented ladies I know, Tina, was really really nervous. I'd never seen her so nervous!  She recently won the Column Award for Best Actress in a Play (non-equity), and she was a bundle of nerves.  I mean, for local theatre, this is akin to Reese Witherspoon suffering from audition nerves.

On one hand, it made me feel much better about my own initial-audition jitters. On the other hand, I felt bad for her. I know well how that feels and hate hate hate it.  I love her, and since we were auditioning for the same part, I felt awful that I might be contributing to her nerves.  Fortunately we all know she's got the Acting Stuff.  She'll knock it out of the park on stage, regardless.

For me perhaps it's backwards.  The single-organism-under-the-microscope aspect of the initial audition is awful. But the presence of other people at callbacks is relaxing, empowering even.  Except for the Annie callbacks where I felt clearly outclassed, I've been pleasantly surprised NOT to feel I'm out of my league.  Plus, callbacks are an opportunity to learn from others because there are always such wonderfully talented people there.  It's a joy to be among all that talent, to be included IN that talent.  I get all warm and fuzzy and want to go home and bake cupcakes for everyone.

Anyway, I should find out this evening if I got a part.  I love this show, and said on my audition resume that I'd even be willing to wear a mustache in the men's ensemble just to be part of it.  Hopeful, but trusting in the Bigger Picture.

It's not musical theatre, per se...

The movie was a musical, but that was the Disney-fied version.

I auditioned for The Happiest Millionaire last night, and I was invited to callbacks tonight.  And callbacks were great! That is to say I had a great time, and enjoyed almost every minute of it (except for the part where I *facepalm* asked to start over in an improv, but we'll just pretend that didn't happen, shall we?). I got to read for three different parts, and I think I did well with each, but ALL the women there did well.

My favorite part, though, had nothing to do with my audition. The girls auditioning for Cordy (the scrappy teen daughter) had to grab a volunteer and improv a boxing scene where they knocked their partner out. I volunteered to spar with K, who was an orphan on the other cast of Annie. We had about a minute to put together our scene, and I followed her directions, trusting her to duck 'cause I was swinging! She did great, I pretended to be hit, then she 'walloped' me and I went sprawling to the floor. It was so fun!

The director, Ms. Taffy Geisel (who also directed Annie), has a way of bringing out the very best in everyone--so much so that I'm honestly happy to have spent the two and a half hours there working with her. I may not get cast, but I hate to say it, whoever does get cast is gonna be wonderful!  Which is disconcerting, frustrating, but yet reassuring and maddening, all at the same time.  This play has only 13 roles, and all of the actors playing them have to be top-notch. There aren't any 'growing and nurturing' roles like there were in Annie.  While *I* think I could handle any of the women's roles in the play, I know I'm still new to this. I will totally understand if Taffy chooses not to cast me. I trust her completely.

I think it's safe to say this here--it would seem like kissing up on Facebook, but I'm pretty sure none of the Plaza folks read my blog: Taffy is probably the most amazing woman I've ever met (who is not related to me). She embodies this...calm... enthusiastic... strength. I know, sounds impossible, but if you've met her, you understand. I wrote before that she has physical limitations from muscular dystrophy, yet she's an actor, director, teacher, playwright, mom, wife, and no-excuses kind of lady. And humble and loving, with a heart for Jesus. She just amazes me. So when I say I trust her completely, I mean it. Of course I'll be sad not to get cast, as much sad about not getting to work with her as not getting to play on stage. Maybe Tina and Kara will let me be a costume grunt :)

Oh hey! And it turned out to be a good hair day!  It's still in that in-between stage: too long and too short to really do anything.  HOWEVER, with the help of a handful of bobby pins and some hot sticks, it's a good length for a 1915-ish finger wave and curly-backed updo.  It's too cute, and way too time-consuming, to wear like this every day, though. Unless, you know, it were for a specific role...

I should know by 10pm tomorrow!

(Edit at 7am: sometime in the wee hours when my brain refused sleep, I decided that if I don't get cast, I get a consolation prize with what I would have spent on corset and boots. And I'll get it on Monday.)

I feel better

After seeing the cast list of The Drowsy Chaperone (http://plazaco.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/the-official-cast-list-of-plaza-theatre-companys-production-of-the-drowsy-chaperone/) I feel a lot better about my audition.  Of course it still wasn't my best, which was my goal, but I could have nailed it with sweet perfection and it wouldn't have made a dang bit of difference.

I do want to brag on my friend and Annie castmate Caitlan Davis, who will be appearing as the Chaperone in one cast and as Trix in the other.  She doesn't know this blog exists, so I can tell you honestly that Caitlan has an amazing —AMAZING— voice.  She's like a young Ethel Merman, but better. Ethel had some annoying vocal habits that sometimes got in the way of the song.  Caitlan's voice is big and pure, and when she's got a good song to sing, displays impressive range.  She's in college to become a teacher, but I think she's got potential, at least vocally, to end up on much bigger stages.

Happy Monday!

Where's the bar?

Somewhere around 5:15 this morning I let go of it enough to get some good sleep. For a whole hour and a half before my alarm went off.  Woke up and started to gnaw on it again. So I gotta blog about it, both for posterity and to get it out of my head so I can SLEEP.

I auditioned for The Drowsy Chaperone last night. I wasn't stressed at all. It was a learning audition. I'd heard whispers that the director already had people in mind for parts, so I had no expectations. None. There are only five named female characters, of which I have the vocal range for four, the age-range-ish for three. Lots of other talented ladies auditioned who've previously worked with this director. So while I went in to the audition intending to do my best, I had zero expectations.  I'd love to do the play, but I also wouldn't mind a bit of a breather, perhaps audition for Millionaire after all.  Most importantly, I had fun stapling feathers to my sweater and putting together a 1920's Hollywood hostess-style outfit, found some glam necklace bits to turn into clip-on earrings, did the finger wave thing with my hair.  I even sported my false eyelashes and exaggerated the big freckle on my cheek to look like a beauty mole. 

For two weeks I've been singing, singing, singing "As We Stumble Along" without music. I know the song so well I can sing it without thinking about it. I could sing it in my sleep if I'd been even a little bit stressed about remembering the words.

And all of that non-stress...evaporated...as soon as I walked through the door to the audition room.  Suddenly I was a goofy, gawky ball of nerves.  The piano player was reasonably okay; he'd never played the song before, and I'd never sung it with piano aside from my two-finger note-plucking on my phone app.  Okay, that right there, that previous sentence?  The part about NEVER singing it with piano? That. Was. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. In retrospect, hearing the music and trying to make sure I was putting the right words with the right piano notes totally threw me off.  I messed up the lyrics not once, but twice.  And THIS is what I'm gnawing on. The zero expectations, no-stress approach meant I didn't really think it through. As a result, I feel like I let myself down. I didn't do my best, which was really my only goal.

Interestingly, while I was singing, a Fiddler castmate's 6- or 7-year old daughter popped up in the window (she was standing on tippy tippy toe on the other side) and flashed her beautiful smile at me. I grinned back and continued singing. Then there in the window was the top of her head and a stuffed cow hopping along the bottom of the window. I think I suppressed that chuckle. In Annie, we had many moments of unscripted audience participation--it didn't rattle me at all, and cutie-pie E hamming it up in the window didn't rattle me, either. It was WAAAAY less of a distraction for me than the coordinating-words-with-piano-notes thing.

So all of the following thoughts and stresses were crowding my head all night:

~ I'm afraid I came across as a diva because I don't want an ensemble role. The director doesn't know me, so what he sees is that I don't have anywhere near the experience to even consider being a diva.  But it's a 35 minute drive (which is paltry compared to some, but gas does get expensive), and I do have two kids at home.  And I'd likely have to rearrange my Fiddler performances to accommodate Drowsy rehearsals. A principal role in Drowsy would be well worth the adjustments needed.  But as tempting as an ensemble role is simply because I love this show, I really would rather watch it from the audience half a dozen times (which I will!) than commit the time and money to making the drive to rehearsals and rearrange my Fiddler schedule.

~The producer kept FROWNING AT ME! Logically I know it was probably her listening face, and I totally shouldn't have let it unnerve me.  But I've had the pleasure of hanging with her outside of an audition room, and that crinkly-foreheaded frown had yet to be directed at me. So what was running through my head during the entire audition (and throughout the night)?  "Milette is frowning. She thinks I suck. Is she looking at my getup and thinking it's too much?  No, she thinks I suck."

~I was auditioning for a comedic role.  Train wrecks aren't funny, dangit!

~I should have sung Miss Otis Regrets. I have the CD accompaniment for that, and I've sung it with piano before. Or Adelaide. Should have sung Adelaide. Or [insert name of practically any other tune here].

~I CAN DO THIS!!  WHY DO AUDITIONS FREAK ME OUT?!

So.

Another learning experience. Which is always a good thing. Another audition under my belt.  The director said he'd email, but my zero expectations are even less than zero now. Hopefully blogging this will allow me to LET IT GO. Learn from the experience, make better decisions, and do better next time.

FotR auditions and an Annie pic

This one's the rather easy wait--the wait to hear if we're invited to attend callbacks.  Sunshine and I auditioned for Fiddler on the Roof last night, and I think we both did a good job!  We went armed with CD's of our accompaniment music this time, to avoid another potential piano disaster.  Which was almost a bad call.  The CD player skipped for a few other auditioners.  And the pianist this time was much better.

Thankfully the CD player did fine for both Sunshine and me--yay!  I feel really good about my song (Popular, from Wicked--a tough one because the tune of the song is independent of the music, and because it has several different tempos and a few spoken parts).  It wasn't as good as I sing it in the shower, but it was still really good, especially for being nervous! Sunshine said one of our Annie castmates in the waiting area said 'Wow, she's really good!'

What I heard of Sunshine's Candle on the Water was wonderful, too!  We should hear by 9pm-ish tonight if we'll get to go to Saturday's callbacks.

EDIT 8:30 pm: Got the call! Callbacks are for the main roles (which are all older teens or adults), so Sunshine doesn't have to go but is still being considered for a role. She's going anyway, because we have to be there before 2pm for the afternoon performance, and it's too long of a drive to go all the way home to get her and drive all the way back.  So yay!  Very excited!

Okay, here's a pic from Annie.  This is the Hooverville scene, one of my favorites.  If you draw a big circle in the middle of the pic, I'm at the 3:00 position, in the gray hat and braids, looking to the left (my right).

Photo by Ginny Rodgers

Called back!

We were told we'd be called by 9pm tonight if we were invited to the callbacks on Saturday.  Sunshine and I  were pretending that we didn't notice it was approaching 9:00 with no word, but I know we were both very aware of the time. 

At 8:49, my phone, which was sitting right beside me, beeped that I had a new message, even though it hadn't rung.  But I listened to the message, and it was one of the producers asking if Sunshine and I could come to callbacks, and could I give her a call to let her know I got the message.  So I called right back!

Woot!  We're supposed to wear comfy clothes and be prepared to dance.  
Sunshine and I did the drop-it-like-it's-hot dance in the hallway.  So excited!

Audition is done

Auditioned tonight. I put Miss Hannigan as my first choice, but I'll take any part, honestly.  Even Warbucks!  But we'll see.

My turn was right after Jan, a woman probably in her late 50s that the director and her assistants knew by name, and were gushing about. "I can't remember the name of the nun you played in Nunsense in Fort Worth!" and "Oh, I saw you in Follies!". She sang a fabulous song and cold-read for Miss Hannigan and was amazeballs awesome. I knew then I wouldn't get the part of Miss Hannigan, but was still hopeful for perhaps Lily or Grace. So I bravely stood (in my Miss Hannigan getup) when my name was called, gave the pianist the sheet music for "Little Girls," and prepared to sing.

It turns out that as much prep as I did, as much practice, as many vocal exercises, I did not prepare for singing with a live pianist. She was unfamiliar with the song, so it sounded awful. And so I was awful. I wanted to ask if I could use my own recording of the piano, but didn't want to hurt the lady's feelings.

I think I did okay on the cold read, though. So I'm hoping that because the pianist was obviously struggling with the song, maybe I'll get a callback anyway, perhaps for one of the household servants, or a Hooverville bum. They'll call by 9pm tomorrow. I'm 50% optimistic.

I'm proud of myself for doing it, proud of Sunshine, too (she went after me and did great!). But next time I will have my music on CD, to eliminate the if-factor of the pianists skill.