Hanging From Hoops and straps...just another day on the job

Greetings again from my baby Connecticut town.

Rehearsals have officially begun! Yesterday morning was mostly consumed by meeting everyone, talking about the production, and getting acclimated to how everything works around here. The latter half of the day was spent learning magic! Yes, magic. Our show includes a character "Marco the Magnificent" who performs both small and big tricks; one of which is entitled "spikes of death." Oooooh. Aaaaah. Our magic consultant who could only be with us for one day crammed in all the info he could about how everything works. But don't ask me, I'm sworn to secrecy!

Once again last night I was astounded at how quiet the town is once the sun goes down. I'm used to the craziness of drunken college kids, buses, and sirens all passing my window as I am trying to sleep. But here, it's literally crickets! AND the people who I am sharing the house with have been out of town on their days off. So there's literally no noise. I finally met some of them today, they're all in the cast of the other show which is running right now. The older gent living downstairs asked if I played poker. I sense some light gambling in my future.

Today while most of the cast was going over music the choreographer and I popped our heads into the "aerial studio" where our ensemble members are working aerial tricks on hanging hoops, straps, ropes, and silks! In case there's confusion the show is called Carnival and therefore we are creating a circus onstage. There's puppets, magic, juggling. You name it, essentially we've got it. And today I learned how to hoist myself into one of the hoops. Talk about fun! It is much harder than the pros make it look, but what a rush once you're up in the air spinning around. The best part is that our director is not shy at all about climbing on every apparatus. I swear he's like a little monkey, much more coordinated than one might think.

In the last hours of rehearsal we had a read and sing through of the whole show. I am literally blown away by the amount of talent I am surrounded by. The score is simply GORGEOUS. I cannot believe I hadn't heard it until now. I am astounded by the textures in it. The story itself is darker than one might at first assume, but our lead female brings such optimism and not to mention a killer voice. All I can say is going to work every morning will be no problem.

Anyways I'm off to dinner! More tales to come.