Busy theater spring

I really loaded up my theater schedule this year.

First up was The Gondoliers.  Not only did I get to style 4 hedgehog wigs and a man's wig with buckles (those rolls on the sides), plus wigs for a couple of other folks that were set-and-forget, but I was also in the show.  Oh, and I made 7 headdresses for the married contadine of the ensemble and had a heckuva time figuring out how to anchor the *@&$%! things to everyone's heads.  That made tech week and the run even busier than usual, because I had to age one of the men, do final makeup for a few of the men, eyeliner for one or two folks with less-than-steady hands, AND had to keep tweaking that blasted buckle wig.  I dubbed it my "problem child" because I had to take it home and restyle it at least twice, in addition to all the backstage tweaking I had to do.  Still, it was a fun show, and I was happy with how the "hedgehogs" turned out.  Not as big as I'd hoped, but not at all bad for a first attempt.

one buckle wig (L) and 2 hedgehogs (C, R)

MT workshop has only met twice and I'm already learning a lot

The Musical Theater Workshop I'm taking this semester meets once a week for a 3-hour class period.  We've only met twice so far, but already I'm getting a new perspective on auditioning and performing an audition piece, and about how I need to rethink both.

I've sung in choirs and choruses on and off, but mostly on, since grade school.  That's a LOT of singing, but no instruction on technique.  It wasn't until I was fairly well established in my career, and had done community theater with a lot of excellent singers, that I decided I both wanted and could afford to take voice lessons.  Over the ensuing coupla decades, most of those lessons have been remedial work - unlearning all the bad habits I developed because a choir director doesn't have time to correct singers' vocal production techniques.  Only recently have I gotten to be a singer, not just someone who likes singing.

This class has already shown me that I've spent so much time working and concentrating on my technique that I focus on that when I sing, whether in performance or audition.  They don't care about my technique (unless it's awful, of course); they want to hear me put my heart & soul into what I'm singing, bring it to life.  A pretty voice is all well & good, but directors want to cast someone who inhabits the music.  Now that I realize that, I need to work on trusting my technique to take care of itself while I learn how to really deliver a song.

Wow, it's been a while!

Let's see, what's been keeping me busy?

1. overlapping shows since October
2. the news that the Chief's cancer is back
3. dealing with all his pre-treatment tests and assessments
4. a relatively last-minute decision to host another Christmas open house, once we knew the Chief's medical schedule
5. a quick trip to visit my family over the weekend between Christmas and New Year's
6. a show that loaded in the first weekend in January
7. rehearsal and design work for my late-February show
8. TONS of pre-class homework for my musical theater workshop

Yep, been busy lately.

So much for sleeping in...

The 6th Great Gilbert & Sullivan Sing-Out will be held Labor Day weekend.  Sunday morning is scheduled to start with Utopia, Limited, not one of my favorites, followed by Iolanthe and Gondoliers, which are two of my favorites.  I had planned to skip Utopia and sleep in a little; not going to happen.  The joke's on me.  It turns out I'll be singing the lead contralto in Utopia.  That means that not only do I not get to sleep in, but I'll want to get up a little earlier than I otherwise might, to make sure my voice is awake for Lady Sophy. 😵

Design calendar filling up

Just in the past month or so, I've added a few shows to my designer's calendar.  The company for which I'm a board member has me doing their July production.  That one should be easy, as the director & costumer are going for a basic, contemporary look - no special effects of any sort.

A local company I've been trying to get in with has asked me to design their January show.  That one should be easy too - only 4 actors, who will be doing their own hair & makeup.  The only thing special I might need to do will be to show 2 of them how to do age makeup.  Like next month's show, once the actors know what to do, I can step back & enjoy the process.  (Not like Patience, which required special attention every night for a few of the cast members.)

In February I'll be doing The Gondoliers for the one company that actually pays me a design fee.  The only possible problem with that one is that I want to audition for it and I learned from The Merry Widow that designing for a show I'm also in can be something of a juggling act.  Ah well, first I'll audition and see whether I'm cast; then I'll worry about the juggling.

The show I'm most looking forward to working on, though, is for a community theater company with a reputation for high standards.  The play includes a couple of special effects that involve blood.  This will be the first time I've worked with stage blood since my stage makeup class 3 years ago.  More, I'll have to come up with a way for someone to bleed onstage that a) won't make a mess and b) won't stain costumes.  This is gonna be a fun challenge!

Testing my sight-singing skills

This was the 3rd Sunday running that I've covered a Methodist church gig for a colleague who had to leave town to be with her dying mother.  (What could I say when she asked but "Yes, of course!")  This morning the lead tenor tapped me to join him in the pulpit to lead the offertory hymns.  The first one was an old favorite, but the second one was one I'd never heard before.  Just imagine - I'm up there in front of God and everybody, with a mic 12" from my mouth as I sight-sing a hymn I was completely  unfamiliar with!

Two things saved me - Ian was singing the melody loud and strong, and it was a 19th-century hymn, so I could do a lot of successful guessing.  Naturally, I had to tease Ian about it in the choir room afterwards.  😄

I never thought much of my sight-singing skills, but maybe I'm better at it than I thought.  Not on a par with the music majors I rub shoulders with at school, but perhaps not as bad at it as I think I am.

Callbacks (mooooo)

Tonight they had the callbacks for the first of next semester's main-stage productions.  I learned from a classmate who works in the production office that they called back everyone who auditioned.  No wonder the numbers were so huge!  There were 47 of us tonight, and 53 for the other show for which I'm called back.  I'll probably bow out of consideration for that other one; it's too close to the end of the semester, with papers to write and exams to study for.

They told us before they started having us read that we'd have to do a British accent.  Sure woulda been nice to know that earlier, but oh well.  At least all but one of us (a British exchange student) are in the same boat in that respect.  I have no idea how I did relative to anyone else being considered for the same role, though I don't think I read badly.  Now the waiting begins; I hope they're able to post the cast list soon.  As Rose Maybud would say, "leave no one in unnecessary suspense."

Extra pay

Maybe this is just how the system works, but I got paid for a full 8 hours for that short (3 hours) extra gig I worked.  That was a nice surprise; it means I didn't lose money that day after all, which is never a bad thing.

Extra quick

Wednesday's extra gig was nothing like the first one.  First of all, there was confusion about check-in.  I reported at site A, as instructed in the email, but the gate guard didn't have my name on his list and sent me to site B.  I drove over there, found someone to check in with, who asked me if I'd checked in and had a fitting yet.  I explained I'd been sent to B from A, so the gentleman found a shuttle driver to take me back to site A for a fitting.  We got there in time to meet the costume designer about to leave for B.  She told us I was indeed supposed to be at B, not A.  Back into the shuttle to B.  By this time, the driver and I were getting quite comfortable with each other and he was warming up on the topic of his hometown football team.

Anyway, so once we'd established that I did indeed need to be at B, not A, for a fitting, Kelly came & approved my suit, but I guess my white top was a little too bright for camera, and my jewelry not conservative enough.  I got to follow her to her trailer, a mobile costume closet, where she found me a dark purplish top to wear and a pair of very small clip-on hoop earrings.  I was then escorted to one of a group of tall director's-style chairs, where Gina fixed my makeup and Adele made my hair presentable.  (Because it needed to look decent, of course it looked a disaster.)  The production assistant, or PA, let me know I was welcome to help myself to "crafty" - the table of food & drink laid out for crew and cast - but I didn't want to mess up my lipstick or get food in my teeth before going on camera.

More confusion:  I was supposed to be one of 2 or 3 "telecom heads".  The PA told me I had a line to learn.  This was news to me!  He gave me his copy of the day's script, showed me the pertinent line, and left me to it.  Apparently something changed somewhere along the line and he didn't get the word, as "Telecom 1" got all the lines (all 2 or 3 of them).  Not a big deal, of course, as I hadn't expected to have any lines.

When they were ready for me, they took me into the shooting area and had me sit on a stool in front of a green screen.  They explained that I'd be a frozen Skype image (scenario was that I was Skyping into a conference call ).  Sound was told not to bother recording.  They positioned me at the desired angle, set a small laptop in front of me off camera, and started filming.  They had me talk a bit, then count down from 100 "with authority".  While I did so, they would have me "look over here; now back at the lens. ... Over here again; back at the lens. ... Now look this way.  Good.  Back to the lens. ... Glance down at the laptop and tap the space bar a coupla times" and so on.  After a few minutes of that, they thanked me and that was it.

I went back to the holding room, changed back into my own top, hunted down Kelly so I could return her top and earrings.  The crew were just starting to dig into lunch, but I'd already been signed out and didn't feel right sticking around, so I loaded my things into my car and left just 3 hours after I first arrived.  My voucher showed my official time as 2 hours & 45 minutes; MUCH shorter than the first gig!  It was further away, too, and involved tolls.  I joked with the Chief that, by the time I bought myself lunch at a nearby Mexican place (some fabulous grilled-shrimp tacos!), I actually lost money working the gig.  That's OK; it was interesting enough to be worth it.

This time they were in an industrial park.  Site B is where they were shooting; it was your typical building, with offices and rooms of varying sizes along the front and a HUGE warehouse space along the back.  Part of the warehouse space is apparently where they do the actual filming, with the rest being storage and staging area.  One wall was floor to ceiling with shelves full of desks!  There were also a few partial "buildings" and other architectural elements there.  While waiting for them to be ready for me, I wandered over to check out the construction.  These pieces were built to last - very substantial floors for the platforms, and 4x4s for some of the uprights.  What most intrigued me, though, was the way the walls were built.  Theater flats are typically 4' wide and 12' tall, built from 1x4s, with cross pieces (toggles) at the 4' and 8' points.  These flats were built with 1x3s, with upright pieces and toggles every foot, so that they looked like 1-foot boxes from a distance.  I was dying to ask why they're built that way but didn't want to interrupt anyone.  Maybe my Stagecraft instructor would know; I'll have to ask...

Extra again

I've learned that a phone call asking about my availability doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to be booked for that date.  However, I got another call tonight asking about my availability for Wednesday.    Sure, I can make that.  The gentleman then called back to confirm that they do indeed want to book me for Wednesday.  He then called back twice more about wardrobe details, and to let me know that they want me to approximate as much as possible the way I wore my hair when I went to the open call last year.  Wearing the same suit is easy; duplicating the hairstyle could be trickier (it doesn't curl as much as it did last year, for some odd reason), but I'll do my best.

The last time the gentleman called, he apologized for calling so many times.  I thought to myself, "Hey, it makes me feel loved and wanted!"  :D

Easy come, easy go

It turns out I won't be "extra-ing" tomorrow after all.  The phone call I got the other day led me to believe I would be; obviously I'm still learning how the BG booking process works.  I'll just keep my eyes open for future opportunities.

Extra quick!

The check for my extra gig arrived today, a week to the day after I was on set - $111.48 after taxes.  Extra work isn't the sort of thing you put on a resume, but it pays, and the novelty hasn't worn off yet, so I'll continue to keep an eye out for further opportunities that fit into my schedule.  It'll be harder to do that once classes resume two weeks from today, and I'll have rehearsals to work around as well, but since I don't have to pay the bills this way, it isn't critical.  (Yes, I realize how very blessed I am to have landed a job that doesn't just pay a pension, but pays one I can actually live on.)

I guess they liked it...

We had our first performance of the Brahms last night.  The audience must have enjoyed it - they started standing up as soon as the maestro's body language told them it was over, and they kept applauding through three sets of bows!

This conductor is a lot of fun to work with.  His joy in the music is obvious, and his conducting body language is so expressive, it's almost as if he dances through it.  He certainly gets good music out of both chorus and orchestra, and I think we all enjoy the experience.

Never had to audition for a class before

I need to take at least 2 more performance classes in order to graduate.  In this program, that means you audition or interview.  Yesterday was my audition for the Alexander Technique class.  I had no idea what to expect - I'd never heard of interviewing to get into a class!  And getting in isn't a given; the class is limited to 12, and 18 people signed up for interviews.  The instructor expects to notify people by the middle of next week.

Today was my audition for Voice for the Actor.  I trimmed down the Veta Louise monologue I've used before.  It went well enough, and the professor then had me start it again as if Veta were seriously pissed off about this situation.  (I'd been playing her as at her wits' end.)  She warned me that she'd cut me off before I finished, and she did, but she explained that anger seems to play funnier.  The whole thing took maybe 5 minutes, tops.  I told her it was the shortest, most painless audition I think I've ever had.  She expects to post her list by the end of the day tomorrow.  While I don't have class at this building tomorrow, we do meet here for the "Brahms buses", so I can check the list before we have to board the buses for our concert.

I've now been introduced to this concept of having to audition for a class.  The scary part is that they only let you audition (or interview) twice; after that, you're out of luck.    Yike!

Getting a little ahead of myself

I'm already starting to costume myself for a Christmas caroling group I haven't even auditioned for yet, and which only asks women to provide a "Victorian" blouse.  I checked their website, decided they're going for a vaguely Dickensian look, and the hunt was on.

The first pattern I ordered, which arrived yesterday, was Folkwear #205, the Gibson Girl blouse:





I also ordered Butterick 5266, for the cloak.  I may or may not ever get around to making it, but if I want a mid-19th-century cloak, I've now got a pattern that will suit admirably.  (However, I'd probably change the closure to something a little less labor-intensive than all those tabs.)

 

But the purchase I'm most excited about is the one no one will see.  It's a corded petticoat (worn in the 1830s-50s, before the invention of the hoop, to make skirts stand out and achieve more of a bell shape), much of which is handsewn!  It just arrived today.  I'll need to add a small extender to the waist but that's a trivial adjustment, and MUCH quicker & easier than sewing one of these from scratch! Because it's used and has a couple of tiny spots near the waistband, the price was eminently reasonable.


Now all I have to do is come up with an audition recording to submit and hope my voice is what they're looking for.  If so, I'm already half dressed! :D

A few notes on last Friday's concert

Last Friday I sang in a benefit concert that R organized.  Six women (5 singers and our VERY gifted accompanist), so R had all of us wear black dresses.  I had a great little vintage number, which I took to the run-through to get some opinions on which jewelry to wear with it.  Unfortunately, the zipper broke when I went to put it on.  I mean really broke - a few zipper teeth broke off.  Vintage, remember, and this was obviously the original zipper.  Yike!  I ran out and made an emergency purchase of a back-up LBD, in case the local dry cleaner's tailor couldn't replace the zipper in time.  Fortunately, the tailor came through for me (and replaced the silver zipper with a black one - even better!) so I could wear my smashing little vintage number.  Good thing, as my Plan B dress was the very same one R was wearing!

We had fun singing, the program had a good variety, and the audience seemed to enjoy it.  I was even sounded out afterward by someone prospecting for potential Ms. Senior (neighboring state) contestants!  I had a good chuckle over that - I NEVER considered entering a beauty contest!!!  The Chief thinks I should consider looking into our state's program once I hit 60 (the minimum eligible age).

Happy 10th anniversary to me (a bit late)

I've now had my blog for 10 years as of last month - April 11th, 2005, saw my first-ever blog post.  I don't cover certain topics (I try to avoid politics, for example) but if you're interested in theater, gardening, or cooking, I hope you've been at least mildly entertained.

Since playing Pitti-Sing, my first lead, I've done 2 more G&S leads (Ruth in Pirates of Penzance and Dame Carruthers in The Yeomen of the Guard) and nice, meaty roles in several plays (biggest were Sara Lee Turnover in Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got the Will? and Veta Louise Simmons in Harvey).  I'm still taking voice lessons and working on my technique, and am now looking to become a Theater major this fall and a Voice major next fall.

The Chief and I still have the cabin and are looking forward to longer, mid-week trips there now that I'm retired.  I also have spent a larger percentage of time in the kitchen trying new recipes.  My issues of Cook's Country will now get a closer reading. :)  Today I spent well over 3 hours out in the garden planting most of the flowers we bought yesterday and Sunday.  So lovely to have the whole week for that, not just Saturdays & Sundays!

The review is in...

One of the local community theater groups has its own annual awards.  Each company submits one show from its season for consideration; the Yeomen of the Guard I did earlier this year was the one that company submitted.  A few days ago we received the consolidated write-up (I think different adjudicators rate different aspects of the performance).

I'm excerpting the comments on my role not because I like them, but because I agree with them; starting to beef up my lower register once I was cast wasn't nearly enough time, and I need to learn how to do "commanding stage presence".  With that, here's what the judges said:

Acting
Dame Carruthers’ role requires a certain robust authority which [I] lacked and she did not make a very formidable Dame, despite her confident stage presence.  [Well, I like that bit about the "confident stage presence". ;)]    In Act II she picked up energy, and the duet with Sergeant Meryll was a nice romp. [Because I got to dance! :D]

Singing
[Carruthers] and [Sgt. Meryll] were both weak in their lower registers, especially for Carruthers in her Act I song, lacking the required range. 

Throughout the rehearsal process I felt like the weak link in the principals chain.  While I'm sorry to be right about that, I also feel that, if I were to sing the role today, not 6 months later, that weak lower register would have more power & resonance.  Ah well; I'll keep plugging away and eventually I'll be ready for the roles I've already done. ;)

I guess I did pretty well, especially for a maiden effort

The area community theater community (over 30 companies!) has a recognition organization that does our own little awards ceremony every year.  The 2013 nominations were announced last night and, to my shock, I was on the list!  I was nominated for hair design for my November show.  Surprised me because, of the 7 cast members, only 3 had hairstyles that needed any research or special attention.  (The others?  One military cut, one old-fashioned bun, one daughter in pigtails, one daughter in a snood.  No challenges there.)  As I told the cast, though, they had as much to do with it as I did.  After all, while I did the style design and showed them how to achieve them, they were the ones who did the actual styling the adjudicators saw and scored.

This didn't feel like nearly as much work as, say, when I costumed the Pirates I was in a few years back.  I certainly couldn't have styled 3 heads without making the owners of said heads show up as much as 2 hours before curtain.  Since I trained most of them to do their styles (one woman was already well versed in doing period styles), then left them to do their own hair, I really do feel that the cast earned this as much as I did.  I didn't see the other productions that were nominated, so I don't know what we're up against, but maybe Sybil's victory rolls will tip the balance and earn "my" cast an award.  We'll find out at the awards ceremony in March.  Good luck, ladies!

Hmm.  Maybe the awards ceremony would be a good excuse to buy a ballgown... ;)

Finally got a lead w/ this company and adjusting to how it feels

As I noted once before, I've worked with this company for years but this is the first time I've been a principal, not an ensemble member.  Friday and yesterday we blocked some of the bigger scenes.  It seemed weird to be singing by myself out in front of everyone else, instead of being blocked with some of my chorus buddies.  (There's one woman in particular with whom I always get blocked when we're in the same show.)  I'm having fun, of course, and enjoying the process of learning how much I can really do (which is why I was sorry to wave off this week's voice lesson), but given that I've had leads with other companies, I'm a bit bemused that it's an adjustment now that I've got a lead with this company.

People have been encouraging.  My one chorus buddy told me the other day that she noticed an improvement between that rehearsal and when I sang the same bit at the read-thru.  It was kind of her to mention it, and gratifying to know the voice lessons with my new teacher are already working.