Sea sick!....Ottowa!!...CRABS!!!

Okay here is a quick debrief before I race back to the second half of our rehearsal day.

It is UNBELIEVABLY humid today. I had yet to be in such weather and was wondering what all the fuss was about. Then just as I exited the rehearsal hall for lunch I walked out into a sauna. Literally the air is thick and hazy. Oye its gross!!

Rehearsal is going amazing. We've blocked and choreographed the entire first act with the exception of the puppet section which is getting done on tuesday. How's that for speedy? The ensemble is literally ridiculous. As our choreographer puts it "it's like a candy store...I can choose from sooo many things!" I mean these guys are doing lift after lift with their partners, dancing with capes in music that changes time signatures every 2 bars (you think I'm kidding, but it's not an exaggeration). We literally go from counting in tens to eights to fives to sixes in a matter of moments. Sure is testing my music lit skills from sophmore year!

Last night I saw the current show Annie Get Your Gun which all my housemates are in. It was really a fun show. I was sitting on the very far house left side with some cast mates and I couldn't help but imagine what our show will look like. The stage is TINY! I mean having a full out dancing ensemble of 5 guys and 4 women is going to be very tight. "Like surgery" our choreographer keeps repeating to our dancers. I imagined how thrilling it will be when at the end of our opening number half of the cast has climbed our jungle gym of a set and is eye to eye with the people sitting in the balconies. Or when the cast members are twirling in hoops high in the air. It should make for a really brilliant picture.

After the show last night a bunch of the Annie Get Your Gun cast came to our house for a game of Catchphrase. At first I was worried. I don't know any of them very well but as soon as we started playing I was having a total BLAST! I mean just throwing out words and things like it was my job. The title of this entry is some of my favorite answers from the night. :-) Truly ridiculous fun. I hope they come over again soon.

Anyways I'm off to our stumble through of the first act. WHAT!? It's madness. Then a cast fiesta to celebrate being done with our first week and a day off tomorrow to rest and catch up on the sleep I missed staying up and playing Catchphrase until 1:30 am (oops)

More soon...

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.

Day One

Okay so I guess this is the first post. I've been sucked into blog-land by a few friends who have them and after reading Jason Mraz's blog this afternoon I was hooked. I also figured that while I was in this baby Connecticut town it might be a fun way to pass some time and keep friends and family updated.

I guess with a blog you're supposed to have some sort of mission statement? Or a clear cut idea of what you want to say. But mine is quite the opposite. I always wanted to start a cooking for college blog, following my trials at epic meal making on a budget in a less than ideal kitchen which is often overrun with my roommates dishes, red cups, and empty wine bottles. But alas, I have graduated so I must say c'est la vie to that dream.

Then there's the option of starving actor, trying to make it and dishing about all the auditions and crazy people I meet on my journey to the big bad broadway, but that would be too one note for my taste.

SO... what to write about? This will hopefully be a record of my time as a recent graduate (still passionate about cooking, performing, and so many other things) trying to make it in "the biz". As a dancer, singer, actor, choreographer etc. I hope to travel lots and have many exciting, silly stories to share.

As of late I am in a baby town which is probably a tiny spot on any map about to get cracking on the show Carnival. I am assisting the choreographer and getting to work with what seems to be an amazing cast. We had a mini meet and greet tonight which will continue tomorrow when we start rehearsing. The town here is quiet, I'm in my own room in a house of 5 other people all of whom are in the other show running at the moment. I have yet to meet these elusive people but hope to very soon. Some highlights of my time here include the lush green trees that surround everything, my first official trip to Dunkin Doughnuts, and a run in with a GIANT bionic ant that refused to die when I pushed him into the toilet.

Other than that it has been pretty tame, a far cry from the madness the end of the school year brought me. But it is a much needed hiatus from the craziness of LA and I am so excited to get working. My tasks on this show should include dancing, of course, potential aerial work, and magic! Oh boy, oh boy, never a dull moment.

Much more stories to follow!