106 - Tissues Needed

Rehearsal today was great.  Musically, we worked on the two "big" numbers in Act 1.  Even though my character is only in Act 2, I'm in "the crowd" (chorus) for these songs.  I don't want to give away too much of the show, but in both of these, the actors had tears in their eyes by the end of the song.  Our comments afterwards were that we think ABET needs to strategically place small boxes of tissues in each row.  Don't get me wrong - these are not "sad" songs, per se.  They are, however, touching and emotional.  And while it's no longer 1942, we still face similar issues and on some level can relate to this part of the story.

I must have not been listening at some point, or maybe it was left to just figure out ... one of our actors is the granddaughter of Teddy, the main character in the show.  I knew that she knew Frances (playwright) and Wendy (choreographer), but didn't know how.  Today I asked her, "How long have you known Frances?"  She was a little at a loss for words when she answered, "Well, she's my mom."  And Wendy?  She's her sister.  Now, how cool is that?  We're putting on a show about a real family who lives here in Jacksonville, and not only are some of the characters we're portraying coming to see the show, their "youngins" are actually involved in it.

I still hope and pray we can do this show justice for the Key family.  So far, it's sounding good.

TTFN!

23 - Magic

For a long time I've said that the theatre is magic, but I've said that as a member of the audience. You step into another world when you witness live theatre. Well, it's also magic on the other side of that 4th wall. For me tonight, it was healing. All day long, I've dealt with stomach issues, and slept most of the day away. Was feeling horrible as I was getting ready to go to ABET to perform one of the songs from Aussie Song. Well, by the time I got to Atlantic Beach, my stomach was settling, and by the time the evening started, all the symptoms were gone. Magic, I'm telling you!

I wish, however, the magic had worked on my lyric memorization. I did get the opening monolog correct, but drew a completely blank on one of the lyric lines. Even driving home, I could not remember it. It's as if someone took an eraser and took it out of my memory. Fortunately, I thought on my feet, stayed in character, and managed to pull it off. It does help when your character (Mama Key) actually wrote the song and you're accompanying yourself.

It was also really nice to see my friends at ABET. I love that little theatre!

Support your local theatres -- they're magical places!

TTFN!