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?

Thinking of a good title is difficult.  While some of the suggestions were good, I wasn’t in love with any of them and I’m not sure yet how much I love this one.  CAST is an acronym- Christ, Acting, Singing, and Teaching.  I don’t do much of teaching anymore, but I still do once a month or so and am at least a leader for other weekends.  It is conveniently placed last in the acronym while Christ is first.  Not that He really has been first in my life seemingly, but it is a goal.  Christ needs to be before everything, including family (fortunately He places a high value on family, especially children so He usually won’t demand anyone actually give up their family, just put Him first in your family).  So what do you think of this title?  It also has a ring to it as far as the performing words of the acronym.  As in I am currently cast as a singer and actor in Jekyll & Hyde.

The unofficial takeover of the 11:15 service has become official with the couple I mentioned before having been asked to share the role of the “point person,” or head “anchor”.  I am having somewhat of a problem with one of them unfortunately.  I haven’t yet decided if she is just taking the role far more seriously than others in previous years or she is overstepping her authority.  Looking in the guide their role is that of the room leader, but she has taken to threatening to not allow someone to lead a small group for such things as being late or doing something during the teaching time other than sitting with the kids and listening to the message with them.  Productive things I should say, not “I just don’t want to listen” things as kids often do in school.  I believe she is crossing a line here but I have to think on it, maybe ask Lisa- the staff member in charge of 4th/5th grade.  In any event, there is friction here and something needs to happen to remove it.

The show is almost there.  We just had our first rehearsal with the orchestra yesterday, at the actual performance venue.  Okay, the set for the currently running show, Into the Woods, is up meaning we will have to work around it, but aside from one more rehearsal at the retirement home we’ve been at, we are now rehearsing on the actual stage.  It was strange to work with the orchestra two weeks in advance- I am used to the orchestra not being there until a day or two before opening night.  Indeed, we may not see them again until then, but even if so, the one chance was better than none at all.  Less than two weeks until opening- yikes.  But we will be ready. 🙂

I have now closed comments on the one post that was getting a bunch of spam.  I’m not sure what I would do if one of those spambots latched onto a more recent post.  I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it I suppose.  Moving on now…

Musical:  Going well.  I went from using two canes as per script to just one.  A couple weeks ago I brought up the point of cane usage to the choreographer and almost got taken out of Facade for it as it would change how I move.  The only dance number I’m in.  As for the other big one at the start of act II, let’s just say there is a good reason I am not in it except for a short scene.  Tonight is a full run-through of act I, and given the rehearsal is four hours we will probably run through it more then once.  We’re supposed to be off book, but I think it will be reasonable to use my music for any off-stage singing, such as the background vocals in Alive.  I’ll soon find out if they feel the same.

Work:  The one I have been training is now out of training, so time to move on to other things.  What?  Another trainee?  Two trainees??  Sigh.   Just throw my quality control manager title out the window as it has been weeks since I have done any of that and seemingly weeks more before I can.  Well, as long as the company doesn’t mind then neither do I.  At least some pressure has been removed with the one former trainee taking over three stores I was training him at- no more trips to Naperville or St. Charles! Well, after tomorrow at any rate when I just have to watch over him at one of the stores in case of problems.  I still have the huge Elgin store for the time being and I can finally give it better attention, but then there are the new trainees.  Well, I’ll see how it goes.

Church:  Still working away serving two services for 4th and 5th grades.  A couple that started this year have sort of unofficially taken over one of the services with their ideas they are implementing.  While they don’t see themselves as the volunteer heads of the 4th/5th grade ministry, I am trying to take it in stride by thinking of them as such as the one we last had went and got himself married and so he has, shall we say, a new focus.  Interestingly enough, the one before him went and did the same thing, but it wasn’t his reason for moving on- he was graduating from Moody and got a (paid) position elsewhere if I recall correctly.

Books:  After reading a the Wheel of Time series for about five months straight, I am now on break from it for a short time.  I was all set to check out the next book which showed as one copy available last night only to be on the hold shelf this afternoon.  It’s just as well since rehearsal really picks up for the next few weeks so I won’t have enough time to read it anyway- I can hardly finish one of these 700-page tomes in a month as it is.  I am not even a third of the way through the series, and not yet where I left off way back when.  Mr. Jordan, you certainly wrote a good series.  I certainly hope you accepted Christ in your life so I can meet you one day on the other side.  Hopefully Brandon Sanderson completes the epic in a way that would please Robert Jordan.

Gaming: Nothing really to say at this time.  For a future post.

Just the flyer I said I would put up yesterday, a day late…

Click to see flyer for musical

On to another great post!  Thursday afternoon was my first voice lesson in about two and a half years.  I am pleased to say I am very ecstatic about the next coming months!  We began with a review (for me) about breathing, support, the diaphragm, the mask, and other technical terms that we quickly glossed over.  Then, we determined that I have an octave and a half range with the same above that in falsetto which totally surprised the both of us.  Then, it was time to get down to business… FUN TIMES!

I decided that “Younger Than Springtime” would be good to warm up on.  It would have been if the copy I had was complete.  We got to the last page an discovered that there is something missing.  So I dig and find the book with the song… only to discover that it was in a lower key!  But manageable… only slightly lower.  But I prefer the higher range.  I like to shoot for my POWer notes, but those would come later.

Next, I dug out “This is the Moment.”  Kathrine is unfamiliar with Jekyll and Hyde?!  Blasphemy!  Just don’t listen to the Hoff’s version.  Then, we went to “If I Can’t Love Her” from the stage version of Beauty and the Beast.  The big ballad which closes Act I.  The only suggestion she had for both pieces is to find the soft moments in both pieces.  They are both powerful songs but powerful is not always meant for volume..   Build up to the big moment!  Then you will have them eating out of your hand.  Sounds like homework.  But she said that with a slight polishing they are already prime for performance.  I wanted to do the Beast’s number previously; however, the gig I wanted to sing it for was limited to musicals of the past decade.  So, I sang “Under the Sea.”

It is a good thing I was introduced to Miss Saigon earlier in the week via youtube.  My new coach had me read (sight reading… YUCK!) two duets from the show with her.  Not the character driven pieces I had hoped for but those will come in time.  It has been advised that I check out both the Engineer and Thuy (although Vietnamese I am not but…).  Kathrine mentioned that we should sign up for one of the weekend gigs starting up again in the fall.  I am totally against that idea 😉  HAHAHAHA!  Just need to get some more cool character pieces in with the big dramatic ones.  Several I can think of easily…. maybe go dig an old fossil of 18 years ago.  Go in there and blow everyone’s minds.  Of course, provided that anyone would actually come and see me?!  I’m sure I could get at least 3 people there… and that is a crowd.

Who knows what the next few months will bring?  I just know that the next musical on a nearby stage is not my cup of tea.

I better stop with those two songs.  When I do perform, I don’t want to spoil it all for those three in the audience 😉  Two big, powerful ballads now for a few duets and at least three character pieces.

As I was pulling out my checkbook, my new coach sneered at the picture of the Script Ohio on my first check.  “Since it is money, I guess I can accept it.”  Oh, we’re going to get along REALLY well. At least she is not a BoSox fan… I hope.

This weekend has been one of the busiest but most fun I have had in sometime.  It all started Thursday night when a group of us met at the theatre to practice singing the songs we had selected for our concert on Saturday night.  I did not get to practice mine because circuits got crossed and the clip that held the accompaniment to my piece was not there.  But it was fun to see some of the others practice.  Chris practiced his two selections from Jekyll & Hyde.  I had forgotten that the song “I Need to Know” (one of my favorites from the show) had eventually been taken out of the Broadway production. It was replaced by “Lost in the Darkness” which is sung by Jekyll over his comatose father.   I often listen to the Anthony Warlow Gothic Musical Thriller version and find it far superior.  Chris also shone brightly on “Confrontation” which  is sung toward the end of the musical as Jekyll battles the evil that has risen to the surface and is about to totally consume him.

On Friday morning, I had to go to church to practice singing the songs I would lead the congregation in Saturday night.  Then I returned home to practice the song I eventually chose to perform Saturday night at the theatre.  When I decided to sing this weekend, I had two selections picked out that were very special to me and I thought would challenge me; however, they were deemed “not modern enough.”  The theme for the concert was musicals of the past decade.  I eventually chose “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid.  Very fun piece.  However (and I don’t know why it bothers me), I was not able to memorize the entire piece.  But I had fun with it and heard many compliments from some close friends and also from newcomers to the theatre group.  Megan even noted that she could see me one day performing the role of Sebastian on stage.  Another great character with not one but two very memorable songs.  Carol also expressed an interest in eventually performing a duet with me in the near future.  I would relish the opportunity to perform a duet with Chris and one with Carol.  I loved Carol’s duet of “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins.  The song really lends itself well to beautiful harmonies.  I must say that all of the performers as well as the MCs were very good and the evening was a great success.

Super Bowl Sunday found me at work then immediately onto rehearsal.  We got to watch some of the choreography begin to take shape.  One of the signature pieces from Meet Me in St. Louis is the “Trolley Song.”  Just in the beginning of the staging of the song, I can see that it will be very intensive but fun.  However, Grandpa does not get to ride the car.  After rehearsal, I made my way to a game party.  I thought the game was good; sad to say the team I picked was not victorious but it is always fun to watch the game with a large group of friends as spirited as mine.   I will watch the Super Office Special episode tomorrow.

Since my last post (Jamy’s last post, not Morat’s) concerned one of my all time favorite actors. I would like to expand a bit on the career of David Hasselhoff. Why you ask? He is just so great and even performed on Broadway in the last few performances of Jekyll & Hyde. “This is the Moment” is one of the greatest songs ever put into a musical. The melody is just breathtaking and the lyric is phenomenal. I recently received a link to the Hoff’s performance of the song on America’s Got Talent. I just hope that the person who won the competition was better than he was. I’m thinking this must have been just after the “hamburger incident” because no one could sound that good and not be in some impaired state. He sounded like a dying elephant. One has to wonder why he is such a big star in Europe. Sharon Osbourne even said it was “absolutely fabulous.” I suppose she would since her husband’s brain has been fried for years. There are so many other great performers who have sung the song either in the show or apart from it. My favorites: Anthony Warlow (from Jekyll & Hyde the gothic musical thriller recording), Michael Ball, & Chris Avell. Honorable mention goes to Sebastian Bach (KIDDING) who also performed on Broadway as Jekyll and Hyde .To see the Hoff butcher a fantastic song please Click Here. Even Morat he say the Hoff was not good.