I guess it's that time of year again :(

Last night the Chief had to take me back to Urgent Care because my asthma was getting bad again.  It started with Wednesday's rain, and not being able to get the vials for my nebulizer until Saturday.  They had to give me a triple neb dose and 120 mg of prednisone.  Needless to say, I wasn't good for much today.

I gotta get this under control soonest, so I can start practicing in earnest for my Messiah gig; listening to recordings & following along in the score can only take me so far.

Back in the chorus again

Friday night I auditioned for a(nother) production of The Pirates of Penzance, asking for Ruth.  Knowing one of the other women going for that role, I didn't really expect to get it.  However, when I didn't get called back for the role, I realized I was kind of expecting I would at least get a callback.  Not sure why; given how few roles there are for older women, there was bound to be stiff competition, and the woman who auditioned right after me (also going for Ruth) sounded impressive from out in the hallway outside the audition room.  It didn't help that I was working against an asthma flare (which had me in Urgent Care that night).

Ah well, Pirates is one of the best for women's chorus.  I'll go into it already knowing the music, and not having to worry about memorizing lines will make it easier to design the show as well as be in it.

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)

What's wrong with "The Play that Goes Wrong" - MAJOR spoiler alert!

The Chief & I found ourselves in NYC over the weekend and managed to find time to see The Play That Goes Wrong.  I knew people who'd seen and loved it, found it very funny.  We didn't; yes, it had its moments, but a "gut-busting" laugh riot?  No.

Warning:  The rest of this post will be full of spoilers.

The premise is a fairly incompetent college/university dramatic society putting on a murder mystery.  Two of the "stagehands" end up getting pulled into the action, at first reluctantly, but then deciding they like it when the audience applauds for them.  The character playing Cecil is your worst ham, smiling at the audience or repeating a bit if they applaud.  Funny the first time or two, but it can get old.

As you can guess from the title, the whole play is full of one mishap or disaster after another.  In fact, the whole "plot" is merely a vehicle to carry as many actor's and tech's nightmares as possible.  This means you find yourself wondering what's going to go wrong next, and when.  As a result, pretty much every performer on stage has to be good at (sometimes very) physical comedy, which probably left most of them with a whole lotta bruises.  The cast we saw did an excellent job at physical comedy, especially Maggie Weston and Matt Walker (Florence and Cecil).  Maggie got dragged upside-down & sideways through a window in Act I, and Matt took pratfalls, executed somersaults, walked into things face first, and generally made it look as though he'd be black and blue from head to toe by the next morning.

The set includes a platform, appropriately furnished, that represents an upstairs study.  Over the course of the play the downstage end drops a few inches two or three times, while there are people standing on it.  My first thought was "Are they OK?!"  Now of course I know that there is no way such a bit of business was allowed without making completely sure they could pull it off safely.  Still, it would be so easy for something unscripted to go wrong that I couldn't relax, for the performers' sake.

There were a few moments when something would happen or someone would say something and the people on stage would pause, or they would draw out a sight gag, milking it for all it was worth.  I know it was done for comic effect, but I felt that in most cases they let it go on too long.

The performers did do a good job, but they were upstaged by the special effects of the disasters.  Those were so well staged (the shifting platform, a trick floorboard, things falling off walls, and so many more) that it's easy to see why the set won a Tony.  The engineering involved in creating those effects so they could be controlled with exquisite timing was impressive!  (We couldn't help but wonder how long it takes the crew to reset everything for the next performance.)

There were a lot of references to actor's nightmares (e.g., an actor redelivering a line, causing everyone else to repeat a scene) and tech's nightmares (a stagelight sparking as its support falls), but a whole play based almost entirely on stringing them together was a lot funnier to the people coming up with the idea than it was to at least these two members of their audience.

"Wig school" was so much fun!

DePaul University's Theater dept. offers a week-long wig styling & maintenance class, which I attended at the end of June.  There were only 7 of us, plus 2 students who worked in the university wig shop and were assisting the instructors.

I was a little intimidated to learn that I was the only amateur in the class.  Everyone else was a theater professional, most of them in some aspect of costuming (cutter, draper, wardrobe) who wanted or needed to learn about wigs because they sometimes got tapped for "wig duty" for one show or another.  Two of us had also taken the wig-making class taught the week before.  I might consider taking it in some future year, but for now this was plenty.

They showed us SO MUCH!  The size curls you get from different rollers, ways to color a wig (temporarily or permanently), how to wash a wig, how to wear and clean the lace on lace-front wigs, how to do your own wefts, how to do fingerwaves, and so much more.  Most of our time, however, was spent on styling wigs - setting the styles, drying them, brushing them out, then styling them.  I wasn't terribly successful - only got 2 right on my first try - but I took a lot of notes on what I didn't like and how to fix it, which is probably more helpful.

It was very productive, in that sense - we each styled at least 5 wigs in just 5 days' time:  an 18th-century man's wig, a modern man's wig, and at least 3 add'l styles (1940s, 1640s, and pre-Raphaelite for me).  I took so many pictures that I actually maxed out the data usage on my phone, for the first time since I got it 3 years ago.

Now I want to re-do some of the wigs I styled for my spring shows - the 1920s curls would look better, the 1780s "hedgehog" wigs would be bigger, bushier, and generally better.  As for the Duke's buckles, well, my first lesson was to use yak hair instead of the slippery, silky, static-y stuff on the wig I was trying to work with.  (Those side curls were the bane of my existence - I had to reset them for every performance!)

Gimme a period show to style, somebody, please!  I'm itching to use all my newfound knowledge! 😁

Another lovely birthday bash

Several years ago we learned that my former pastor and the Chief both have July birthdays, so we started having joint birthday parties.  Sometimes it was just the 3 of us, sometimes more; sometimes we grilled, or cooked in, and last year we experimented with having an Italian place cater it.  (Not bad, but not as good as we'd hoped.)  This year the Chief decided he wanted to host a group for lunch at the Italian place.

Today 10 of us assembled at noon and filled up a round table, so we could all face each other.  The restaurant serves groups of 8+ family style.  This meant that we chose a salad, an appetizer, 2 pasta dishes, 2 meat dishes, and 2 desserts for the table to share.  They brought out 2 plates of each item, with the salad & appetizer coming out together, and starting around the table.  We quickly found that passing the dishes around, and "who wants the last stuffed mushroom?" or "anyone want more lasagna?" only added to the fun.

Not only were we celebrating the 2 birthdays, but 2 of our number were newlyweds, adding to the fun.  M, who's a talented photographer, got pictures of everyone on her phone, including the plate of pretty little cookies w/ lit tapers anchored in a strawberry, presented to each of the birthday boys.

The service was leisurely, which was just fine - we had a group that didn't get to gather nearly often enough, and the new groom was new to most of us, so we had time to get past introductions.

What a wonderful way to pass nearly 3 hours on a perfect summer afternoon - the day was not too hot, the humidity was (finally) low, and there was a nice breeze.  The Chief is already talking about what he wants to do next year - go back to this restaurant, find a different one, or do something here at the house?

Practicing theatrical owies

The director for this show wants 3 of the characters to look a bit the worse for wear when they make their entrance at the end of Act II (they've been in prison).  To practice that makeup, I gave myself a black eye last night.  Not as realistic as it could be, but not bad for a first effort.

Tools of the trade

You should see the other guy! 😁

What a semester it's been!

It's been a very busy semester musically.  The MT workshop did 2 cabarets and performed at the university's annual "open house" (every department pulls out the stops to entertain and advertise to family, friends, neighbors, and more).  The concert choir sang a world premiere with one orchestra the week before spring break (good thing my boot was "concert black"), then sang with a 2nd orchestra at the end of the semester, including a performance at CARNEGIE HALL!!!

I learned a lot, sang a lot, and generally had a good time.  Good thing I only took those 2 classes or it would have been a lot more stressful.

More crocuses!

Maybe because the winter has been SO wet, my crocuses seem to have generated more new ones than usual this spring.  I even have some yellow "volunteers" in the tomato bed, several yards from where I've had any even last year.  Looks like I'll be doing some separating come fall. 

While I'm at it, I may plant some snowdrops too, so I'll have flowers that much sooner.

New "shoes"

I have new "shoes" as of last week

I've been dealing w/ plantar's fasciitis since at least December, but a coupla weeks ago it was getting worse.  (Dancing a cachucha barefoot in Gondoliers' Act II probably didn't help.)  My GP sent me to a podiatrist, who told me that, in addition to the plantar's fasciitis, I have 3 inflamed metatarsals.  Who knew bones could become inflamed?!?  Anyway, left untreated, the periostitis could become a stress fracture!  He sent me home in the boot on the left. and told me to get the night splint on the right in the pic.  I have to wear the night splint to bed, to keep my foot flexed and stretch the plantar's fascia.  Yes,  it's as uncomfortable as it looks.  I've been wearing it since Friday night, but only last night did I finally get the straps adjusted so they're tight enough to keep the thing on but not so tight they dig into my foot.  Next goal - sleeping through the night.  Wish me luck!

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.

Cancer, the serial killer, is at it again

Not only is the Chief undergoing treatment for cancer, but a friend's MIL has a stage-4 diagnosis, and another friend at church was recently diagnosed and will soon start chemo.  One of her daughters, also a church friend, lost her husband to cancer just a few years ago, so she's having a particularly difficult time of it.

Last week, a couple we know who for the past decade or more have done fund-raiser bike rides for cancer research came to the show I was teching.  (She's a cancer survivor.)  I shared about how VERY many people the Chief & I know who have had cancer, and how many we've lost to it.  "Kill it with fire!  Bury it with a mouthful of garlic and several stakes through its heart!"

This is the first January in 3 or 4 years when we haven't attended a funeral.  When I start to think of all the people I've known who've dealt with cancer, I keep thinking of more - there are SO MANY.  😢

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.

staying local for Christmas

The Chief and I just decided that, given the schedule for all his medical stuff, we won't be traveling this Christmas.  I'm disappointed - I haven't been home since my aunt's funeral in February - but as I told the Chief, I want to celebrate Christmas with him.

Hellish tech week

Here I am, doing hair & makeup on another community theater play; just 7 performers in this one.  It's been a tough tech week, though; here it is Wednesday, just one rehearsal left, and the cue-to-cue (usually the Sunday before opening) was tonight!  Worse, this was also the first night w/ costumes and only some hair & makeup for the cast.  Kinda hard to see what your makeup looks like under the lights if you aren't wearing any!  This ain't Broadway; you bring your own supplies, and if you forget 'em, well, that's on you.  The backstage masking is terrible, too; too many places where the audience can see backstage, leaving nowhere for cast or crew to hide.

Tomorrow night is our final rehearsal before they do this for an audience.  Here's hoping we can fix all the glitches...

Yamachiche and Village des Caron

Yep, Village des Caron, no S on the end.  Nine sons of Michel Caron, son of pioneer Robert Caron, settled here, hence the name.  The Chemin des Caron, which runs right past where the Village des Caron used to be, is still there.  Now, though, it just runs past a string of small farms and ends in a cul de sac in the middle of a field (or maybe the line between 2 fields; hard to tell, and we didn't want to risk getting mired in mud to find out).

The (ghost) village is just north of Yamachiche, itself a very small town - one church, one school, no grocery store, and the only gas station is where the main street intersects the nearest highway, on the extreme western end of town.  The one sit-down restaurant is attached to a motel by that lone gas station, is open 24 hours, and is along the lines of Big Boy or Denny's. 

Low-end restaurants, in our limited experience, all seem to run to burgers, pizza, at least one or two pasta dishes, and poutine.  They all have poutine, often in different variations.  Even the Greek restaurant where we had dinner tonight had poutine on the menu.

Another thing we've noticed is that only about half the restaurants seem to be licensed to sell alcohol.  The rest all tell you to bring your own wine, which seems to mean there's at least one liquor store nearby where you can buy a bottle to take to dinner.   We haven't noticed anyone bringing beer; don't know whether that's a social custom, preference, or something else.  Makes me wonder how the liquor laws are written here, and whether we'll see many BYOB restaurants when we get to Quebec.

We attended the vigil mass at Notre-Dame-du-Cap, about 2 blocks from our hotel.  It's a basilica, so it's big, though not as big as other basilicas we've seen.  Which is fine; it means the back rows can still see the altar.  The order of service was a little different; for one thing, they only did two readings, not three.  The second half of the eucharistic prayer didn't match the first half in the missalette, many of the prayers weren't even printed in it, and the hymnals only had the lyrics, no musical notation.  They also recited the Apostle's rather than the Nicene creed, but that's a minor matter.  The Chief said he felt like he hadn't really been to mass because he couldn't follow things but also because it seemed like they skipped things.

The Greek restaurant where we ate tonight was not like the ones we're used to in the States.  Spanakopita was only available as an appetizer, the only lamb was chops, and they didn't offer many of the mains that are standard on Greek menus in the US (no pastitsio, moussaka, fish offerings, or roast lamb).  Our dinners were so filling - served on a bed of Greek salad and fries, with a side of garlic bread - we didn't even consider dessert.  This particular place was also very noisy - the Chief and I didn't bother trying to hold a conversation.  To their credit, though, they squeezed us in even though we didn't have a reservation.

More time in the Archives

We got to the Archives about 10:45 this morning and started right in on researching the Chief's family.  They kicked us out for an hour at noon because they close for lunch, so we ate in a nearby cafe.  Ciabatta sandwiches with ham, brie & apple were very good; only change I'd make would be the bread.  We also split a piece of carrot cake, which was nice and carrot-y and not overly sweet.  A man obviously down on his luck came in while we were eating and the Chief acted in typical fashion.  He went up to a cashier, gave her a $20 and told her to use it for whatever the man wanted to eat, then to give the man the change.

We went back to the Archives for another 2 1/2 hours before packing it in for the day.  We thanked the staff for their help, and Eric reminded us that we'll still have account access when we get to the Archives in Quebec.

We stopped at 2 different grocery stores to pick up things for dinner, then took our haul back to the hotel.  We started with happy hour:  wine (for me) and beer (for the Chief) and cheese & crackers on the balcony.  Beautiful day for it - nice and sunny, with a mild breeze.  Dinner was chicken legs and broccoli salad, followed by an oatmeal raisin cookie (with no detectable cinnamon).

Tomorrow we're off to Yamachiche to see if there's anything worth seeing there and to see a few places named for the Chief's ancestors.  Sure hope the weather holds...

Trois-Rivieres, Quebec

The Chief and I took two days to drive up here.  Ten hours on the road the first day, driving in rain pretty much the whole way.  We pushed all the way to Albany before stopping for lunch, by which time we were SO ready to get outta the car!  That was the worst of it, though; we got into Bennington, VT, around 4 for an overnight stop.  The Autumn Inn is an older, mom-and-pop motel.  Not very fancy, but clean and convenient, and they were very anxious to be sure they complied with our "no down bedding request."

Wednesday we left before breakfast at the motel, but we had some pretzel rolls to eat in the car.  We took our time, stopping briefly in Wilmington, VT (very pretty little town) to get some Dunkin coffee for the Chief and to stop into Our Lady of Fatima church because the architecture caught my eye.

More importantly, we stopped at King Arthur Flour in Norwich!  We got a nosh in the cafe, then went into the store.  The Chief opted for a mini-scone pan and scone mix, while I got a few ingredients and a flour-sack dishtowel.  We went into Norwich proper to top up the gas tank and drop a clothing return at the post office.  What a postcard-perfect little town - very New England.

Crossing the border into Canada was almost a non-event.  We gave the guard our passports & second ID, he asked us where we were going and how long we expected to be in Canada, asked if we had any weapons, and that was it. 

We stopped in Sherbrooke looking for the tourist info office.  It was further into town than we could have wished, and there seemed to be roadwork every other block, but we made it.  It's a tiny little building on the Magog River - lovely view.  We picked up a few brochures, then headed on to Trois-Rivieres.  Waze wasn't working - we learned the next day our phones didn't have connectivity in Canada. (My phone now does.) but Gladys got us to our hotel.

L'Auberge Familiale La Veranda is another older place, not a chain, but the woman who checked us in was very nice, gave us a bigger room than we'd booked, at the same price.  The sprinklers are apparently a retrofit - they only run around the perimeter of the room, so there's one in the shower and one above the upper kitchen cabinet in the kitchenette.  The room is a bit on the warm side, so we've been using the ceiling fans to make it more comfortable.  However, the mattress is nice and firm, and we have not just one, but two small fridges and ample storage.

Yesterday we ventured into downtown Trois-Rivieres.  We started at the tourist info office, got a nice lunch, then went to the Archives, the reason we added Trois-Rivieres to our itinerary.  Archivist Eric Lamothe-Cyrenne was very helpful - showed us how to use their database, got us guest accounts for it that are good until we leave Quebec, pulled out some old maps for us to examine, even helped me with a few French terms.  We finished up around 4, then walked around downtown for an hour or so.

We started at the quay, walking along the water and the waterfront park, then venturing into the neighborhoods, admiring the range of architecture and plantings.  Had the prettiest little orange-and-white cat come up to us while we were exploring the Anglican cemetery. For some reason, he decided *I* needed to give him scritches, not the Chief, the one who's not allergic to cats. I gave in - first time in ages I've dared to pet a cat. (Thanks to liberal application of hand sanitizer, I didn't have a reaction.)  Dinner at Moose Grill & Pub, then back to our hotel for the night.  (Where the Chief binge-watched news about the Kavanaugh hearing and I tried to ignore it.)

Just got my first paid wedding gig!

I had auditioned for a temporary church job, didn't get it because the Chief & I will be on vacation for almost half the time they wanted to cover.  However, the email telling me that also asked if I'd be interested in cantoring a wedding next Saturday afternoon.  Sure thing!  Only cantoring, not soloing, but it pays.  Woo-hoo!  I'm gonna be a wedding singer! 😊

Another Sing-Out!

It's that time again!  Every 5 years, the theater company I keep coming back to hosts a marathon Gilbert & Sullivan sing-along over Labor Day weekend.  You sing through all the music (but none of the dialogue) of all 13 surviving G&S shows.  (Their first collaboration, Thespis, or the Gods Grown Old, survives only in fragments.) 

This will be the 3rd sing-out for which the host company will present one of those shows in a semi-staged, concert version, with a full orchestra on stage w/ the singers, and the principals in costume.  The company chose Utopia, Limited and The Grand Duke for these concerts because those two are rarely done.  When we presented Grand Duke for the first concert production 10 years ago, the response was so positive that we ended up staging it in 2010.  The response to Utopia 5 years ago was similarly positive and apparently the company did consider staging it, but Utopia is harder to cast because it requires so many strong male voices - eleven!

The standard format is to break the shows into blocks for which people can register as participants, or buy tickets as audience members.  Friday night opens with the singing of "Hail Poetry" from The Pirates of Penzance - sort of an unofficial G&S "national anthem," if you will.  Three shows follow.  Saturday is the one full day - a 3-show block in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and the concert production and one other show after dinner.  Sunday wraps up with the remaining 3 shows, traditionally closing with The Gondoliers because the finale lyrics "leave you with feelings of pleasure."

Attendees come from up and down the eastern United States, the Midwest, the South, and sometimes even from Canada and the UK.  You get hardcore G&S scholars and fans, people who are completely new to G&S and the way the "veterans" quote from the shows, and everyone in between.  We have second-generation attendees, couples who met doing one G&S show or another, and people who've built long-distance friendships over Savoynet, the Gilbert & Sullivan Archive, or the International G&S Festival in England (first in Buxton, now in Harrogate).  Knowing a little G&S can serve as a connection when visiting or moving to new places (that's certainly been my experience), even if you've never had an opportunity to perform.  These sing-alongs are a sort of "family reunion" of G&S fans, of course, but also of opera and music lovers, fans of choral music (Sullivan wrote some rich, rewarding ensemble music for his performers), and those who enjoy wordplay of the sort Gilbert did so well.

I've already loaded my scores (including a few duplicates, just in case) into the cart I'll use for Saturday's marathon, got a hotel room booked near the theater, and am looking forward to singing my brains out this weekend! 😁💓🎵🎶🎵