It just figures.  The show I would prefer to be in starts its run first, so it would only be natural that its auditions would be first, right?  Of course not.  The runs are actually close, with the closing weekend of the one being the opening of the other.  If you were to read into that statement you would undoubtedly conclude that no, I can’t just do both shows.  Not that I am in the mind to rehearse two shows at once anyway.  Tried that, not my cup of tea.  Not that I like tea mind you.  So before I get off track, Dracula auditions are- guess what- an entire month before the start of rehearsals.  Interesting- I wonder why?  Oh well, I went ahead and scheduled my audition time, which will be two weeks from tonight.  On recommendation from a friend and fellow blogger, I will try out with Renfield as my primary focus.  They don’t mind singing  a song from the show for the audition piece I’m told- what does that mean though?  They prefer it and are trying to be aloof about it to see what I will choose to do?  Or they would really rather I didn’t?  Well, I could start preparing The Master’s Song, but since I will have an entire week where I can’t practice it, I will probably do something from Jekyll & Hyde for two reasons- I know it well and it is by Frank Wildhorn just as Dracula is.  I’m thinking about two different songs.  Alive is a definite character piece, but the best place to start is after the instrumental interlude which skips any slower parts.  Wait- there are no slower sections in that song…  But- the end of the song goes way up just like the end of The Master’s Song.  The other song I was thinking of is I Need to Know.  Not a character piece, and done by a somewhat sane Dr. Jekyll, but it does have a mix of slower and faster.  In this song I would start with the second verse, so I wouldn’t start with the really slow part.  32 bars would also end before the key change, so I couldn’t really show off range.  Still, it just seems like a better audition piece for some reason.  Which to do?

And what to do if I do make the show, but in a smaller role?  Quitting to be in another show would just kill any future with the group, so making this show in any capacity will certainly mean no to Noah.  That show is, BTW, still a complete mystery.  Four male parts, but at my age would I even be considered for Noah’s sons?  Of course, Noah was a ripe old 600 years old when the floods came, and his sons couldn’t have been far behind.  But still, it’s likely there will be an age limit for them, so that would leave me with a chance for only one role.  I just wish I could audition for that role first.  Maybe the Dracula group will deliberate for several weeks giving time to audition and find out about a role in Noah, and drop out before the role offer comes?  Who knows?  We’ll see.

Ironic that I just posted about the defunct new Wonder Woman series.  After 33 performances (and 31 preview performances), Wonderland wrapped its Broadway run May 15th.  The new musical about a grown up Alice who yearns for a more adventure-filled life, sets out on a quest beneath the streets of New York City.  There she meets a cast of familiar yet outrageously re-imagined characters.  Funny that with such a short run, the show had produced a cast album.  I suppose that when your wife is Linda Eder who has a recording of some of the songs, it would be entirely possible.  I wonder if somewhere out there is a cast recording of the most celebrated (celebrated but by far NOT the only) flop in Broadway history… Carrie.

Sad to say that I do not think Frank Wildhorn has had a long Broadway run since Jekyll & Hyde. Although J&H had a 4 year run, it still lost $1.5 million.  His Scarlet Pimpernel and Dracula also were not successful.  I guess that being married to a diva is no guarantee of creative success.  OOPS… according to another source the couple has been separated since 2004.  So much for that theory.

Maybe the show was overshadowed by an endlessly publicized, overtly ridiculed, accident prone, re-imagined,  back in preview mode, soon to open show.  Hmmm…. wonder what that is?

My introduction to musical theatre was in the first grade as I sat in the high school gymnasium watching a performance of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show that I will come to later. Let me just say I was forever changed at that early age. I have to say that I enjoy a musical even more than a regular play because not only do they tell a story through dialog and action but also through music. The best musicals use that music to progress the rest of the action on stage… becoming a character all its own. Some of the greatest musicals also have a third component that I shudder to mention: d-d-d-d-ance (?) or as I prefer to call it stylized movement.

The following is a list of musicals that have found a permanent place within me. I would not necessarily say they were my “favorite.”

• Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1993 Los Angeles Cast)(the first show I ever saw on The Great White Way, also the first community production I was cast in)
• Matthew Broderick in “How to Succeed in Business WIthout Really Trying!” (I saw the ’90s revival with Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker and met them backstage… Bud Frump…. )
• Singin’ in the Rain (Two-Disc Special Edition)(classic Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor flick about the transition from silent movie production to sound. Make Em Laugh… Cosmo…hmm scene stealer)
• The Phantom of the Opera (Original 1986 London Cast)(The first professional show I ever saw my junior year in Chicago. I have seen it twice since… more for the spectacle and music of Lloyd Webber. I HATED the movie and it was not because I was not sitting in the audience of a live stage production. It was a terrible transformation from stage to screen)
• Annie (1977 Original Broadway Cast) will always be remembered as the 1992 EHS musical. And to think I auditioned for the part of Daddy Warbucks?! Daniel Francis Hannigan aka Rooster Hannigan aka Danny the Dip was my first villainous role… and now my second favorite role)
• Jesus Christ Superstar: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album ( I have only seen the horrid ’73 movie but I am told it is the best soundtrack… one of the worst things to come out of that year… I like to think there were better things 😀 I really the role of Herrod. Lloyd Webber’s best and most controversial… maybe that is why it is his best… have I mentioned this before?)
• Jekyll & Hyde – The Gothic Musical Thriller (1994 Concept Cast)(tremendous Wildhorn and Bricusse score. Some of my favorite songs from any show. When done right can be terrifyingly fun and breathtaking. I have mentioned the rotten the best is the Anthony Warlow concept recording).
• Les Miserables Complete Symphonic Recording(heartbreaking, triumphant, humorous in a few moments, hopeful. M. Thenardier is a fun, evil, scene stealing villain… hmm…again a brilliant, almost operatic score)
• Carousel (1994 Broadway Revival Cast) (the musical mentioned at the top. Forget the rest… this is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein show to see. Why is it never done? I saw the 90s revival in NY as well. “Soliloquy” is 8 minutes of inner turmoil and indecision).

I just know I am forgetting at least one.

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