Tues: Last dress rehearsal
Still trying to get the moving stage actually moving. Julie and I can’t do ‘go-go Joseph’ properly until we know how quickly the stage moves back, cause we have to dance on it when it’s back in place.
Julie and I discussed presents for the directors and crew, there are so many people involved in this production that there’s going to be lots of presents. We worked out that we’d need $10 from each person in the cast to cover the cost. Julie is the ideas girl and suggested some blue wine (yes there is such a thing), and we started going through the list of who’s getting presents – there’s so many people involved!
Wed: preview night
The set is finally finished, and the gang can take a breath.
The cow heads have blue lights in the eyes!
The moving stage is working – hurrah!
Had an audience of 20 or so – members
Smoke machine used, which makes me cough even more than I am already!
Fri – opening night!
Good audience, Kim and Sarah were there, and a bunch of Savoyards people. The moving stage worked perfectly, the show went wonderfully and I was on a high all the way through it even though I didn’t have a voice for the last 2 songs! I’m out of breath by the end of ‘Benjamin calypso’ and the next song is too high for me.
I was in a great mood and hugged everyone before we went on. Brad had pink champagne for everyone and I had 2, which made be a bit giggly.
Sat – show #2
Lost my hat going into Potiphar – put the hat on, lost the cane and while finding it, the hat fell off. Didn’t realise and went onto stage put my hand up to touch hat and it wasn’t there!!!!
That was the only problem for me at least – show ran smoothly.
Really good audience, laughed in more places than last night.
Lesley had a party for us after the show, it was nice to sit around chatting to some of the guys – had a lovely long chat with Toby, Jack and Ben.
Wed – mid week show- usually a rehearsal but selling tickets. Due to high demand. Subdued crowd, they usually are mid week, good show though.
Fri – official opening night. Good opening night audience, great performance. I caught Dan writing notes for their song where they go through the audience (or try to and trip over hand bags, sit on people’s laps etc.). He’s planning on writing a note each performance to give to an audience member. This one was something like ‘I’m the cute brother, call me on 1800Napthali’
Sat Matinee – 2pm Older crowd, usually is at matinees. Bob made cupcakes for the audience and us at interval – yummy! Best show we’d done yet – we’re relaxing into the characters, each brother’s character is coming into it’s own and it’s obvious we’re enjoying ourselves on stage more.
A group of us went to Luigi’s for lunch. BYO – grabbed some drinkies. About 15-20 of us took over the place. Started singing during dinner and embarrassed Ben who for some illogical reason doesn’t like it when people spontaneously burst into song- and yet he’s in a musical… got back to the theatre about 20 mins before call time and we hung around in the green room. Started singing songs from Hairspray and Wicked. Ben got embarrassed and walked away and when I asked him if I had embarrassed him, he told me that his soul was damaged…
Sat night – another great show. The audience really got into it and laughed and clapped their way though it. Jane had a party at her place, but it was too far to go for me (it would have taken close to an hour for me to get home) and the glitter we’ve been using for act 2 had been irritating my eyes and I wasn’t in the mood to stay out late so I went home.
Sun matinee (twilight show actually) – it started at 4pm, lucky really as it was a hot day and it had cooled down slightly by then. It was nice to have the day to myself more or less, I started writing out Chrissy cards, and stupidly I decided I’d give one to every cast member!!! Matty and Michelle had auditions earlier in the week and that morning for NIDA, QUT acting and WAAPA. Michelle didn’t get a callback but Matty did for all three!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
11 rehearsals to go...
Tues – 11 rehearsals to go - Photos- headshots. Had to wear a plain black t-shirt, but I only had my Beatles one which I wore on the weekend so I had to wear it back to front. (It was only kind of smelly!) I didn’t bring a brush with me so I wasn’t confident that my hair looked ok.
Thurs – Sick. Felt like I’d been hit by a moderate sized, ill tempered Mack truck. The kind of sick where you get into the shower and want to stay in there until you’re better (level 5 water restrictions not withstanding).
Sun – 9 rehearsals to go - Still sick. But I went. Shouldn’t have. – really shouldn’t have. But anyway…
Rehearsal got delayed till 3pm and there was a painting spree before that. Lots of fiddly bits of the set got painted and it’s looking great.
Lesley looked stressed, Brad wasn’t coming in till later in the afternoon, and she and Pam were wrangling the kids when I walked in and it seemed they weren’t catching on as quickly as she wanted them to (or should be). They were stuffing around a bit (as kids generally do) and they got growled at.
We blocked the last song. The ‘celebration now that Joseph and his brothers are back together again’ song. Brad was all, now all the men are going to have a Nymph, so boys grab your Nymph! Maranne, who seems like such a nice quiet girl (not) kept making Nympho jokes. I was partnered with Corey, Jane’s boyfriend, and we were on stage behind Jane and her partner. Corey kept pinching her on the bum and I kept telling him to stop feeling up other men’s nymphs!
The dance involved lots of spins for the girls (why don’t men ever spin?) and I was so sick I had to stop and hold on to the proscenium arch to stop the room spinning every time we stopped. But thanks to Corey who’s a very good dancer, I managed to get through the routine unscathed. I’m not used to A) dancing with a man, and B) having a strong male lead to actually spin me, so I kind of resisted Corey at first, but after a while I realised that he did all the work and spun me and stopped me so all I had to do was smile and spin!
We also did the ‘Benjamin Calypso’, which had been blocked on the Thursday I missed. It’s one of my favourite songs and Ben gets to do it. I heard him sing it for the first time on camp, and for a white guy he sounds just like Harry Belafonte! Of course he didn’t know who he was and we had to tell him!
Thurs – Sick. Felt like I’d been hit by a moderate sized, ill tempered Mack truck. The kind of sick where you get into the shower and want to stay in there until you’re better (level 5 water restrictions not withstanding).
Sun – 9 rehearsals to go - Still sick. But I went. Shouldn’t have. – really shouldn’t have. But anyway…
Rehearsal got delayed till 3pm and there was a painting spree before that. Lots of fiddly bits of the set got painted and it’s looking great.
Lesley looked stressed, Brad wasn’t coming in till later in the afternoon, and she and Pam were wrangling the kids when I walked in and it seemed they weren’t catching on as quickly as she wanted them to (or should be). They were stuffing around a bit (as kids generally do) and they got growled at.
We blocked the last song. The ‘celebration now that Joseph and his brothers are back together again’ song. Brad was all, now all the men are going to have a Nymph, so boys grab your Nymph! Maranne, who seems like such a nice quiet girl (not) kept making Nympho jokes. I was partnered with Corey, Jane’s boyfriend, and we were on stage behind Jane and her partner. Corey kept pinching her on the bum and I kept telling him to stop feeling up other men’s nymphs!
The dance involved lots of spins for the girls (why don’t men ever spin?) and I was so sick I had to stop and hold on to the proscenium arch to stop the room spinning every time we stopped. But thanks to Corey who’s a very good dancer, I managed to get through the routine unscathed. I’m not used to A) dancing with a man, and B) having a strong male lead to actually spin me, so I kind of resisted Corey at first, but after a while I realised that he did all the work and spun me and stopped me so all I had to do was smile and spin!
We also did the ‘Benjamin Calypso’, which had been blocked on the Thursday I missed. It’s one of my favourite songs and Ben gets to do it. I heard him sing it for the first time on camp, and for a white guy he sounds just like Harry Belafonte! Of course he didn’t know who he was and we had to tell him!
Friday, November 9, 2007
Diva Rider
Dear Brad, Lesley and assorted underlings.
We, the Delicious Divas, kindly demand a few not too difficult requests to make our lives a little bit more comfortable. Please see to these as soon as possible. They are listed in no particular order.
DIVA-MANDS:
1. A minimum of 5 centimetres of personal space shall surround each Diva. No one shall touch a Diva unless she gives her written consent beforehand.
2. Diva Jacqstar will henceforth only be addressed as ‘the Artist Formerly Known as Sister Mary Jacqstar’ and will not answer to anything else.
3. No one shall look a Diva directly in the eyes, gazes should be aimed at the chin – NOT THE BREASTS!
4. Pink champagne and fresh strawberries are to be on hand at all times.
5. A neck and shoulder massage prior to each performance.
6. A foot and calf massage after each performance.
7. A refreshing cool cucumber splash around the eyes to reduce the wrinkles caused by squinting due to the brightness of the stage lights.
8. Our own dressing room filled with pure energies and relaxing music to entice perfection – even though we cannot possibly be any better.
9. Divas may only be served beverages beginning with the letter D prior to shows ... eg Daiquiri's, Dry Martinis, Drambuie.
10. Photographs of divas may only be taken with divas showing right profile and decidedly upturned noses. Raised eyebrows or cleavage are at in-diva-vidual discretion.
11. Any requests made of Divas must include a Div-adjective, for example diva-licious, diva-sational, diva-lovely, diva-lightful, diva-lirious, diva-tastic. Requests made without said div-adjectives will attract a disastrously disdainful diva-smissal.
12. A tub full of fresh Asses milk for each Diva to bathe in before every performance.
13. Private ‘pluckers’ (preferably blonde, young and straight), to attend to our beauty needs.
14. Multiple bowls of M&M’s separated by colour must be provided before each performance. Bowls must be the same colour as the M&M’s and arranged on the counter in alphabetical order.
15. Divas must be lit by pink spotlights only, to highlight our youthfulness and give us a Diva-ine glow. Lights on makeup mirror to be pink also.
16. Mirrors in the dressing room should be the slimming kind to make us look as tall and lithe as we feel.
17. The dressing room is to have fresh rose petals sprinkled thickly on the floor so the Divas’ shoes don’t touch the floor.
We, the Delicious Divas, kindly demand a few not too difficult requests to make our lives a little bit more comfortable. Please see to these as soon as possible. They are listed in no particular order.
DIVA-MANDS:
1. A minimum of 5 centimetres of personal space shall surround each Diva. No one shall touch a Diva unless she gives her written consent beforehand.
2. Diva Jacqstar will henceforth only be addressed as ‘the Artist Formerly Known as Sister Mary Jacqstar’ and will not answer to anything else.
3. No one shall look a Diva directly in the eyes, gazes should be aimed at the chin – NOT THE BREASTS!
4. Pink champagne and fresh strawberries are to be on hand at all times.
5. A neck and shoulder massage prior to each performance.
6. A foot and calf massage after each performance.
7. A refreshing cool cucumber splash around the eyes to reduce the wrinkles caused by squinting due to the brightness of the stage lights.
8. Our own dressing room filled with pure energies and relaxing music to entice perfection – even though we cannot possibly be any better.
9. Divas may only be served beverages beginning with the letter D prior to shows ... eg Daiquiri's, Dry Martinis, Drambuie.
10. Photographs of divas may only be taken with divas showing right profile and decidedly upturned noses. Raised eyebrows or cleavage are at in-diva-vidual discretion.
11. Any requests made of Divas must include a Div-adjective, for example diva-licious, diva-sational, diva-lovely, diva-lightful, diva-lirious, diva-tastic. Requests made without said div-adjectives will attract a disastrously disdainful diva-smissal.
12. A tub full of fresh Asses milk for each Diva to bathe in before every performance.
13. Private ‘pluckers’ (preferably blonde, young and straight), to attend to our beauty needs.
14. Multiple bowls of M&M’s separated by colour must be provided before each performance. Bowls must be the same colour as the M&M’s and arranged on the counter in alphabetical order.
15. Divas must be lit by pink spotlights only, to highlight our youthfulness and give us a Diva-ine glow. Lights on makeup mirror to be pink also.
16. Mirrors in the dressing room should be the slimming kind to make us look as tall and lithe as we feel.
17. The dressing room is to have fresh rose petals sprinkled thickly on the floor so the Divas’ shoes don’t touch the floor.
CAMP COAT:
Clayton camp more like. Last year for Nunsense we went to Brunswick Heads for the weekend and had a blast. The Scout hall where we rehearsed last time wasn’t available this year so we didn’t go.
We did however have an intensive weekend of rehearsal. We started at 10 am, went through till lunch time learning and re-learning ‘Go Go Joseph’ – the big dance number which ends Act 1. The bits we Divas had worked out ourselves really didn’t work with everyone else’s routine so we had to learn a new routine!
A big group of us took over Nandos at lunchtime. We put a couple of tables together and generally took over their outside seating area. The afternoon was full of more dancing, more singing and more ‘Hell I have no idea what I’m doing…’
Dinner was provided for us – John was Master of the BBQ and Lesley and Pam made lovely salads and deserts for us. We all sat around enjoying our food. Bernadette bought me a pink champagne and we had a lovely evening. I sat with Ashley Sarah and Jack. We played ‘look at who’s sitting at each table and give them a label’ The ‘cool kids’ were sitting together (Mat, Michelle, Sara and Maranne); the parents were all at one table; our table was dubbed gay men and fag hags!
During dinner, I read out our ‘Diva-mands’, the celebrity rider I asked the other Divas for input to earlier in the week. I announced to Brad and Lesley and the gathered cast and read about half of the rider out. It went down well and we all had a good laugh. Later in the evening during rehearsal, Brad told us that he had read through our rider, the theatre couldn’t afford us and that he was sacking us and packing us up in our best underwear to Bangkok where we were going to be sold into sex slavery!
The rest of the evening was our first ever run-through. There were lots of holes where we weren’t sure exactly what we were doing, and one or 2 songs we hadn’t done yet but all in all, it wasn’t too bad. I felt a bit better after having done it. We finished around 10 and I stayed at Bernadette’s place. No one had a party, we all just went home – we were too tired! Brad did offer to have a nude spa party at his place but for some reason no one took him up on his offer!
The next morning started at 9am with a cooked brekkie on the BBQ thanks to John again. Then we launched into rehearsals again. Jenny had some of the costumes ready for the boys and they look amazing! I tried on my Diva costume that Lesley was making; it’s gorgeous- a cream empire style floor length number. It’s the closest thing I’ll ever get to being in a wedding dress!!!!!
Went home and slept after rehearsal – soooo tired…
We did however have an intensive weekend of rehearsal. We started at 10 am, went through till lunch time learning and re-learning ‘Go Go Joseph’ – the big dance number which ends Act 1. The bits we Divas had worked out ourselves really didn’t work with everyone else’s routine so we had to learn a new routine!
A big group of us took over Nandos at lunchtime. We put a couple of tables together and generally took over their outside seating area. The afternoon was full of more dancing, more singing and more ‘Hell I have no idea what I’m doing…’
Dinner was provided for us – John was Master of the BBQ and Lesley and Pam made lovely salads and deserts for us. We all sat around enjoying our food. Bernadette bought me a pink champagne and we had a lovely evening. I sat with Ashley Sarah and Jack. We played ‘look at who’s sitting at each table and give them a label’ The ‘cool kids’ were sitting together (Mat, Michelle, Sara and Maranne); the parents were all at one table; our table was dubbed gay men and fag hags!
During dinner, I read out our ‘Diva-mands’, the celebrity rider I asked the other Divas for input to earlier in the week. I announced to Brad and Lesley and the gathered cast and read about half of the rider out. It went down well and we all had a good laugh. Later in the evening during rehearsal, Brad told us that he had read through our rider, the theatre couldn’t afford us and that he was sacking us and packing us up in our best underwear to Bangkok where we were going to be sold into sex slavery!
The rest of the evening was our first ever run-through. There were lots of holes where we weren’t sure exactly what we were doing, and one or 2 songs we hadn’t done yet but all in all, it wasn’t too bad. I felt a bit better after having done it. We finished around 10 and I stayed at Bernadette’s place. No one had a party, we all just went home – we were too tired! Brad did offer to have a nude spa party at his place but for some reason no one took him up on his offer!
The next morning started at 9am with a cooked brekkie on the BBQ thanks to John again. Then we launched into rehearsals again. Jenny had some of the costumes ready for the boys and they look amazing! I tried on my Diva costume that Lesley was making; it’s gorgeous- a cream empire style floor length number. It’s the closest thing I’ll ever get to being in a wedding dress!!!!!
Went home and slept after rehearsal – soooo tired…
THREE weeks to go…
The Divas are starting to take over… We’ve been diva-ing up words like Diva-licious, Divabulous, and saying, ‘it’s not in my contract’ and threatening to go to our trailers if things weren’t going our way (jokingly of course). Kayleen and I started to joke about that if we were Divas we should have a rider in our ‘contract’ and threw around a few things. It gave me an idea…
Tues – started act 2 songs, Pharaoh’s song with lots of rock & roll shoobee dobee do wahs. Damn we sound good when we get the harmonies right!
Thurs – Jo and Narrator – get to see BW and Heroes again. Yippee!!
Sun- Yesterday they started putting up the set and it’s looking great. Had a good rehearsal, and went through most of the act 2 songs. Fortunately we had done most of the harmonies and little bits in act one songs and they were mostly repeated in these songs. Lucky for us cause I’m starting to get worried about the lack of time and the lack of rehearsals.
Brad lost his cool today. I can see the cracks forming with both him and Lesley (she had a bit of a crack at us last week).
Kayleen was organising t-shirts for us all, black with the logo in full colour on the front. They’re going to look great and not in men’s sizes like the Nunsense ones- I can wear mine as a nightie! It’s HUGE!
Tues – started act 2 songs, Pharaoh’s song with lots of rock & roll shoobee dobee do wahs. Damn we sound good when we get the harmonies right!
Thurs – Jo and Narrator – get to see BW and Heroes again. Yippee!!
Sun- Yesterday they started putting up the set and it’s looking great. Had a good rehearsal, and went through most of the act 2 songs. Fortunately we had done most of the harmonies and little bits in act one songs and they were mostly repeated in these songs. Lucky for us cause I’m starting to get worried about the lack of time and the lack of rehearsals.
Brad lost his cool today. I can see the cracks forming with both him and Lesley (she had a bit of a crack at us last week).
Kayleen was organising t-shirts for us all, black with the logo in full colour on the front. They’re going to look great and not in men’s sizes like the Nunsense ones- I can wear mine as a nightie! It’s HUGE!
FOUR Weeks to go… (The count down is on)
Tues - According to the rehearsal schedule, we were to start Act 2 but we hadn’t done a few act 1 songs. We did the female parts of ‘One more Angel’ all the beautiful aahs and angelic bits, and then combined it with the boys. On the way home Julie and I sang ANY song we could think of to get that bloody song out of our minds.
Thurs – no rehearsal- brothers only yay I get to see the premiere of Bionic Woman and Heroes S 2!
Sun – full run of Act 1 – also ticket sales opened. I got there at 12.15, to find the remains of a sausage sizzle and the previous cast’s bump out. We’ve got the stage now that the previous show is over. How exciting! The stage had been marked out with masking tape where the flats stairs and risers were going to be. Me being an idiot as usual joked around pretending to ‘walk’ up the stairs and ‘tripped’ down them. Matt who’s playing ‘Joseph’ laughed and said that he was just about to do the same. Great minds…
It’s great that I’m starting to get to know all the cast and am able to have a joke around with them. Everyone’s getting really comfortable with each other.
Had coffee again after the rehearsal, Ashley, me Gary, Sarah (Diva not dancer Sara) and Ben. Don’t know how we started talking about politics (doesn’t it always turn to politics?), but I’ll never forget Ben’s great line when asked whether he liked George Bush. He dryly replied that America needed to have a Brazilian! I almost wet myself! He’s a quiet one, and I didn’t expect that little gem to come out of him.
Marc complained on Tues that he was going to miss Bionic Woman on Thurs because of his rehearsal so lovely Julie taped it for him. He commented that Julie ‘was his favourite cast member’ Julie then retorted that she may have been his favourite, but Ben was hers cause he rode his Harley to rehearsal. What a chick magnet! LOL
Thurs – no rehearsal- brothers only yay I get to see the premiere of Bionic Woman and Heroes S 2!
Sun – full run of Act 1 – also ticket sales opened. I got there at 12.15, to find the remains of a sausage sizzle and the previous cast’s bump out. We’ve got the stage now that the previous show is over. How exciting! The stage had been marked out with masking tape where the flats stairs and risers were going to be. Me being an idiot as usual joked around pretending to ‘walk’ up the stairs and ‘tripped’ down them. Matt who’s playing ‘Joseph’ laughed and said that he was just about to do the same. Great minds…
It’s great that I’m starting to get to know all the cast and am able to have a joke around with them. Everyone’s getting really comfortable with each other.
Had coffee again after the rehearsal, Ashley, me Gary, Sarah (Diva not dancer Sara) and Ben. Don’t know how we started talking about politics (doesn’t it always turn to politics?), but I’ll never forget Ben’s great line when asked whether he liked George Bush. He dryly replied that America needed to have a Brazilian! I almost wet myself! He’s a quiet one, and I didn’t expect that little gem to come out of him.
Marc complained on Tues that he was going to miss Bionic Woman on Thurs because of his rehearsal so lovely Julie taped it for him. He commented that Julie ‘was his favourite cast member’ Julie then retorted that she may have been his favourite, but Ben was hers cause he rode his Harley to rehearsal. What a chick magnet! LOL
Monday, October 15, 2007
WEEK 5 - IN WHICH JACQUI GETS GOLD SHOES
Dramas!
The Divas were supposed to be getting our shoes at the ‘Chinese’ shoe shop at Sunnybank Hills. We were going to meet up before the 11.30 rehearsal and go down to the shop and all get our shoes. I couldn’t make it and phoned to get someone to pick up the shoes for me, but there were hassles with sizes – they didn’t have shoes big enough for Julie and Sarah, who both have size 10 feet. They had the size, but the Chinese size 10 was closer to a size 9! Bloody shoes.
We were going to tell Brad and Lesley that we had found the shoes but had to cull 2 divas! We decided to look out for other shoes…
Looking on the rehearsal schedule we noticed that they had added 3 extra performances the week before the official opening night – that gives us one less week of rehearsal! ALSO, ‘Camp Coat’ which I had been really looking forward to was off – at least we couldn’t go down to Brunswick Heads for the weekend, they wanted us to stay at the theatre for the both days, with only half days of rehearsals. Bugger. I was hoping to get drunk by a roaring fire and then stagger home down the main street of Brunswick like last year!
Tues- brothers only
Thurs - All in revision of what we had done so far, we did most of act 1 but there are still big gaps. Bernadette had a pic on her phone of some flat toe-thongs from big W that were only $10. Half of us wanted them, the other half (the vertically challenged ones), preferred the original shoes with the higher heel, so we decided that we could do half and half. I sided with the big foots with the flat shoes only because they were cheaper.
Sunday – Stuart & Joanne and the twins (Isaac & Joshua) showed up to rehearsal – they’re (separately) doing the lighting for the show and hung around during the rehearsal. They also came along to the first of our regular coffee afternoons.
Got my shoes during the week and did the rehearsal in them – it took a bit to get used to the toe loop and my feet got sweaty but they’re ok; they’ll look good on stage. We also got our wigs. Bernadette organised to get us a bulk discount from Starkles and we only paid $30 for cute little black bob wigs. Phillipa and I tried them on before the rehearsal and we got a lot of wolf whistles and cute remarks. I couldn’t stop touching my hair- I’ve always wanted straight hair, but the downside is that it got itchy after about 10 minutes – I’m dreading doing the whole show with it itching.
Had coffee at maccas with Stu and Jo, Ashley and new boy Gary – he’s very nice and it was good to have someone new to chat to. I found out he’s a high school teacher (God, not another teacher!!) He’s got a beautiful voice, he’s got a small solo bit in ‘Go Go Joseph’, and his high tenor voice is amazingly beautiful.
The Divas were supposed to be getting our shoes at the ‘Chinese’ shoe shop at Sunnybank Hills. We were going to meet up before the 11.30 rehearsal and go down to the shop and all get our shoes. I couldn’t make it and phoned to get someone to pick up the shoes for me, but there were hassles with sizes – they didn’t have shoes big enough for Julie and Sarah, who both have size 10 feet. They had the size, but the Chinese size 10 was closer to a size 9! Bloody shoes.
We were going to tell Brad and Lesley that we had found the shoes but had to cull 2 divas! We decided to look out for other shoes…
Looking on the rehearsal schedule we noticed that they had added 3 extra performances the week before the official opening night – that gives us one less week of rehearsal! ALSO, ‘Camp Coat’ which I had been really looking forward to was off – at least we couldn’t go down to Brunswick Heads for the weekend, they wanted us to stay at the theatre for the both days, with only half days of rehearsals. Bugger. I was hoping to get drunk by a roaring fire and then stagger home down the main street of Brunswick like last year!
Tues- brothers only
Thurs - All in revision of what we had done so far, we did most of act 1 but there are still big gaps. Bernadette had a pic on her phone of some flat toe-thongs from big W that were only $10. Half of us wanted them, the other half (the vertically challenged ones), preferred the original shoes with the higher heel, so we decided that we could do half and half. I sided with the big foots with the flat shoes only because they were cheaper.
Sunday – Stuart & Joanne and the twins (Isaac & Joshua) showed up to rehearsal – they’re (separately) doing the lighting for the show and hung around during the rehearsal. They also came along to the first of our regular coffee afternoons.
Got my shoes during the week and did the rehearsal in them – it took a bit to get used to the toe loop and my feet got sweaty but they’re ok; they’ll look good on stage. We also got our wigs. Bernadette organised to get us a bulk discount from Starkles and we only paid $30 for cute little black bob wigs. Phillipa and I tried them on before the rehearsal and we got a lot of wolf whistles and cute remarks. I couldn’t stop touching my hair- I’ve always wanted straight hair, but the downside is that it got itchy after about 10 minutes – I’m dreading doing the whole show with it itching.
Had coffee at maccas with Stu and Jo, Ashley and new boy Gary – he’s very nice and it was good to have someone new to chat to. I found out he’s a high school teacher (God, not another teacher!!) He’s got a beautiful voice, he’s got a small solo bit in ‘Go Go Joseph’, and his high tenor voice is amazingly beautiful.
Week four – in which Jacqui finally sees the boys…
No Tues rehearsal – for the Brothers only, so Thurs night it is again. This time it started at 7.30 and I had plenty of time to get there – whew! I actually got there early and was waiting for someone else to get there and open the theatre!
We ran through ‘Go Go Joseph’ with the full cast, but before that the men ran through their songs as revision. I’m not used to having a strong male chorus with Sunnybank, so when they sang (in 3 part harmony in some bits) it gave me goose bumps. That and the fact they were directly behind me and were bloody loud!
The best bit was Toby doing his solo, ‘One More Angel in Heaven’. He’s a bit of a dork, but he really suited the song and hammed it up really well. We then learned ‘Go Go Joseph’. I looked around and had a squiz at the male cast. I knew about half of them, and tried to suss out the rest- the good the bad and the ugly :P
Friday night was my birthday and the opening night of ‘Pillow Talk’. I was in Deon’s (my theatre husband) group and met with a few of his friends. My darling Ashley was there too. I’d seen the movie many times, starring Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Tony Randall, and it’s always been a favourite of mine. The show was really good, a few from Joseph were in it: Phillipa, my fellow Diva, Marshall who plays the Baker, Michelle, our Choreographer, and Jane’s boyfriend Corey. They were all really funny and added to the fact that I was drinking pink champagne. It was a great night!
Sunday’s rehearsal started at 11, it was the first time I’d seen the kids – I tried to block out that this show traditionally has a chorus of children, but low and behold here they were! Admittedly there weren’t very many of them and they were all girls so how bad could they be really…
We blocked ‘Joseph’s Coat’ and the Brothers went around in a circle 20 odd times learning their moves, then we added the kids from group one (they’re split into 2 groups so they’re not needed for every performance) did theirs about 10 times THEN group 2 had their go. By that time I’d sung through the colours of the coat about 50 times – I think I’ve got it by now…
It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ochre and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and grey
And purple and white and pink and orange
And blue!!!
We ran through ‘Go Go Joseph’ with the full cast, but before that the men ran through their songs as revision. I’m not used to having a strong male chorus with Sunnybank, so when they sang (in 3 part harmony in some bits) it gave me goose bumps. That and the fact they were directly behind me and were bloody loud!
The best bit was Toby doing his solo, ‘One More Angel in Heaven’. He’s a bit of a dork, but he really suited the song and hammed it up really well. We then learned ‘Go Go Joseph’. I looked around and had a squiz at the male cast. I knew about half of them, and tried to suss out the rest- the good the bad and the ugly :P
Friday night was my birthday and the opening night of ‘Pillow Talk’. I was in Deon’s (my theatre husband) group and met with a few of his friends. My darling Ashley was there too. I’d seen the movie many times, starring Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Tony Randall, and it’s always been a favourite of mine. The show was really good, a few from Joseph were in it: Phillipa, my fellow Diva, Marshall who plays the Baker, Michelle, our Choreographer, and Jane’s boyfriend Corey. They were all really funny and added to the fact that I was drinking pink champagne. It was a great night!
Sunday’s rehearsal started at 11, it was the first time I’d seen the kids – I tried to block out that this show traditionally has a chorus of children, but low and behold here they were! Admittedly there weren’t very many of them and they were all girls so how bad could they be really…
We blocked ‘Joseph’s Coat’ and the Brothers went around in a circle 20 odd times learning their moves, then we added the kids from group one (they’re split into 2 groups so they’re not needed for every performance) did theirs about 10 times THEN group 2 had their go. By that time I’d sung through the colours of the coat about 50 times – I think I’ve got it by now…
It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ochre and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and grey
And purple and white and pink and orange
And blue!!!
Week three - In which Jacqui gets up on the stage!
My first Thursday night rehearsal was to start at 7 pm, which for me was a pain in the butt as I finish work at 6. I managed to get away right on time but by the time I got to the airport roundabout to get onto the Gateway motorway, I knew I should have gone the long way.
It took me 15 minutes to get around the roundabout and crawl up the on ramp, so I sent Brad a message that I’d be running late. Fortunately the accident was only 500 metres or so from the ramp and after I got past it, it was plain sailing (and speeding) all the way down to Sunnybank. I got to the theatre at about 7.10 apologising to Brad as I walked for being late, and when I looked around, there were hardly any people there. They started sauntering in about 5 minutes later – apparently most of the cast thought it was a 7.30 start! Bloody Hell!
Once the rehearsal actually started it was a good one. We blocked the Potiphar song – my favourite! As the 2 rejected Narrator wannabes, Bernadette and I get to do this bit without the other Divas. Some of the ‘Brothers’ were there too for the ‘Orgy’ scene (!) – believe it or not, it is a family show. They went downstairs to the green room while we go through the song upstairs. We sang through the song first, with Jane Bernadette and I doing 3-part harmony. It sounded amazing even if I say so myself!
Gary is playing Potiphar and the Pharaoh, and he’s such a ham. Guaranteed, the characters he opens with will not be the same characters that appear on closing night! He gets sillier and sillier as the show progresses. His ‘Quasi’ in Nunsense killed me every time!
Anyway, once we got the music right, we all came together and blocked the song. Bernadette and I came up with a couple of ideas that Michelle the new choreographer liked. (Kate had to quit due to other commitments). We’ll be doing a bit of Cabaret mixed in with Chicago and a bit extra on the side. The best fun of it is that we’ll be wearing bowler hats and using canes.
The following Saturday rehearsal was cancelled even though I finally had a Saturday off – we were supposed to do some revision…
It took me 15 minutes to get around the roundabout and crawl up the on ramp, so I sent Brad a message that I’d be running late. Fortunately the accident was only 500 metres or so from the ramp and after I got past it, it was plain sailing (and speeding) all the way down to Sunnybank. I got to the theatre at about 7.10 apologising to Brad as I walked for being late, and when I looked around, there were hardly any people there. They started sauntering in about 5 minutes later – apparently most of the cast thought it was a 7.30 start! Bloody Hell!
Once the rehearsal actually started it was a good one. We blocked the Potiphar song – my favourite! As the 2 rejected Narrator wannabes, Bernadette and I get to do this bit without the other Divas. Some of the ‘Brothers’ were there too for the ‘Orgy’ scene (!) – believe it or not, it is a family show. They went downstairs to the green room while we go through the song upstairs. We sang through the song first, with Jane Bernadette and I doing 3-part harmony. It sounded amazing even if I say so myself!
Gary is playing Potiphar and the Pharaoh, and he’s such a ham. Guaranteed, the characters he opens with will not be the same characters that appear on closing night! He gets sillier and sillier as the show progresses. His ‘Quasi’ in Nunsense killed me every time!
Anyway, once we got the music right, we all came together and blocked the song. Bernadette and I came up with a couple of ideas that Michelle the new choreographer liked. (Kate had to quit due to other commitments). We’ll be doing a bit of Cabaret mixed in with Chicago and a bit extra on the side. The best fun of it is that we’ll be wearing bowler hats and using canes.
The following Saturday rehearsal was cancelled even though I finally had a Saturday off – we were supposed to do some revision…
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Week 3 – in which Jacqui socialises
Friday night was the ‘members & friends’ night, and as I missed the last one (I forgot to renew my membership – oops!), I thought I might make the effort. I was weighing up if I really wanted to go out as it was extremely cold and I was going to Cassie’s engagement party the following night – out 2 nights in a row, what’s come into me??? I decided to go, Hell I was never going to have a wonderful fun filled life and meet Mr Right along the way if I stayed at home in my jammies every night.
When I walked in I was greeted by a voice behind the bar saying, ‘here’s my wife, well, wife number 8’ Damn you Deon, at least I can be theatre wife number one! Even for a gay man I’m somewhere down the queue…
The usual suspects are all here: Lesley and John (behind the bar as always), Bartender! Give me a Diet Coke! – Please!, Kayleen and husband, Mark, who I found out that night is actually the Stage Manager, not Caroline who I thought was doing it. Ashley was there too, chatting with Deon and a guy I didn’t know, who joined into our conversation. I didn’t ask for his name. I’ll have to get it next time, and ask him about his stint in the original John English production of Pirates. Ash was all excited and told me later in the evening that he had mentioned that he was in it.
I also met Dan and his wife (forgive me I forget her name or really didn’t hear it properly in the first place). Funnily enough, there are a lot of men with the same name as characters – there’s a Dan, Ashley Joseph and Ben who are not playing Dan, Asher, Joseph and Benjamin – I bet it’s confusing at rehearsals. I stayed at the theatre until 10ish, the food was nice and the conversation good but I had to work the next day.
Missed the Sat rehearsal again (my last one though). I had a call on Monday morning from Julie to let me know that we weren’t needed for the Tues rehearsal; it was for the brothers only, and the Saturday rehearsal was blocking and that we only walked from one side of the stage to another and back again. I think I’ll be able to catch up on that one!
When I walked in I was greeted by a voice behind the bar saying, ‘here’s my wife, well, wife number 8’ Damn you Deon, at least I can be theatre wife number one! Even for a gay man I’m somewhere down the queue…
The usual suspects are all here: Lesley and John (behind the bar as always), Bartender! Give me a Diet Coke! – Please!, Kayleen and husband, Mark, who I found out that night is actually the Stage Manager, not Caroline who I thought was doing it. Ashley was there too, chatting with Deon and a guy I didn’t know, who joined into our conversation. I didn’t ask for his name. I’ll have to get it next time, and ask him about his stint in the original John English production of Pirates. Ash was all excited and told me later in the evening that he had mentioned that he was in it.
I also met Dan and his wife (forgive me I forget her name or really didn’t hear it properly in the first place). Funnily enough, there are a lot of men with the same name as characters – there’s a Dan, Ashley Joseph and Ben who are not playing Dan, Asher, Joseph and Benjamin – I bet it’s confusing at rehearsals. I stayed at the theatre until 10ish, the food was nice and the conversation good but I had to work the next day.
Missed the Sat rehearsal again (my last one though). I had a call on Monday morning from Julie to let me know that we weren’t needed for the Tues rehearsal; it was for the brothers only, and the Saturday rehearsal was blocking and that we only walked from one side of the stage to another and back again. I think I’ll be able to catch up on that one!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Rehearsals - week 2
Again I couldn’t make it to the Saturday rehearsal (damn you retail!), but we were only needed for an hour so I wasn’t really worried. Tues night rolled around again, same footpath, this time no possum or Chernobyl lights, just the cold and lots of rain. On the trip down, Julie mentioned that on Saturday they were talking about our costumes. She started with, ‘think of Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra…’ I was gone – ‘I’m going to be an Egyptian princess!’ Apparently, they wanted us in short black bob wigs, and white linen draped dresses with gold sandals. I had visions of myself as the Queen of the Nile, resplendent in gold and lapis jewellery and eye makeup.
Back to earth, and the rehearsal. We went back over the songs from last week, and added a couple of new ones. This time, Jane was with us, and as much as I hate to admit it, her voice is so much stronger than mine in the top register. We’re pretty even in the lower registers though :p
The rest of the rehearsal was a non-event, lots of new songs and swinging from Julie to Kayleen again. We rode home discussing gold shoes and Cleopatra clothes, but mostly in silence, as we were both really tired, maybe it was the rain.
During the week, Kayleen sent an email saying she’d seen some gold shoes for us in a local shop and sent photos to all the divas. They were pretty ugly, but if all the girls were going to have the same shoes I’d have to be in. The minute I heard the word ’Cleopatra’ earlier in the week, I thought of the ‘Cleo’ sandals we have at work, but they’re too flat and too expensive for anyone other than me (loooove that staff discount). Also they’re thong style so we wouldn’t be able to wear stockings with them or dance properly so even though they’d look fabulous, they weren’t practical.
Back to earth, and the rehearsal. We went back over the songs from last week, and added a couple of new ones. This time, Jane was with us, and as much as I hate to admit it, her voice is so much stronger than mine in the top register. We’re pretty even in the lower registers though :p
The rest of the rehearsal was a non-event, lots of new songs and swinging from Julie to Kayleen again. We rode home discussing gold shoes and Cleopatra clothes, but mostly in silence, as we were both really tired, maybe it was the rain.
During the week, Kayleen sent an email saying she’d seen some gold shoes for us in a local shop and sent photos to all the divas. They were pretty ugly, but if all the girls were going to have the same shoes I’d have to be in. The minute I heard the word ’Cleopatra’ earlier in the week, I thought of the ‘Cleo’ sandals we have at work, but they’re too flat and too expensive for anyone other than me (loooove that staff discount). Also they’re thong style so we wouldn’t be able to wear stockings with them or dance properly so even though they’d look fabulous, they weren’t practical.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Rehearsals begin
THE REHEARSALS:
Rehearsals started on Sat the 25th, but because I’m a retail gal (and retail sucks!), I had to work and didn’t get to play with the gang till the following Tuesday. I got an SMS from Julie during the day offering me a ride down, and as she’s coming from Northlakes and has to go past my place, more or less, I took her up on the ride.
I stood outside my flat at 6.30 waiting for Jules, watching the cars approaching, as she’s only been to my place once before and I wasn’t sure whether she remembered exactly where I lived. As each set of headlights approached, I watched carefully. When I got bored with that I watched the possum in the tree near me teetering on a tiny branch eating the flowers at the end. I made sure I moved away from underneath the tree – a possum hat was not an accessory I wanted right at that moment.
Eventually a set of headlights I was watching went on to high beam as it came close to my place. No, not high beam: nuclear beam. The lights lit up the whole bloody street and the backs of my retinas! Once the spots in front of my eyes settled down I got into Julie’s 4WD, and off we went. I made Julie promise to never flash “Mickey” the fog lamps at me EVER again!!!
During the trip down we joked about how to kill off Jane, as Julie had auditioned for Narrator too. Ironically, it was Julie who got the role of Sr. Mary Hubert in Nunsense last year that I auditioned for, and we had a running joke throughout the season that I was ready to jump into her role if she had an ‘accident’. For pics of the show click here. (I’m the one in black!)
The actual rehearsal was only for the 6 divas, so I didn’t get to meet the new cast (boys). We got our scores and assorted bits of extra music. I’m usually an alto, but Brad’s made me a bit of a floater, so when we’re singing in 2 parts, I’m in the altos with Julie, but when we split into 3 parts I go into the middle with Kayleen who shares the 2nd Soprano part with me.
As some songs go from 2 to 3 parts and back again, I tended to sway to the left when I was singing the alto part and sway to the right when doing the 2nd part so that I could hear the others singing. Kayleen did the same, swinging from 2nd sop to Soprano, so we dubbed ourselves the swingers!
This was the night of the lunar eclipse, and I made sure we had semi regular ‘moon breaks’ so we could see it and the red moon that resulted. It was really cool, and would have been even better if we were able to turn the theatre’s outside lights off, but we couldn’t so we had to hold up our hands to block the light.
We wound it up at about 9.30, after having gone through ‘Jacob and Sons’, ‘Any Dream will Do’ and ‘Joseph’s Coat’. We ended up singing most of the songs (very badly – as a send up) on the ride home.
Rehearsals started on Sat the 25th, but because I’m a retail gal (and retail sucks!), I had to work and didn’t get to play with the gang till the following Tuesday. I got an SMS from Julie during the day offering me a ride down, and as she’s coming from Northlakes and has to go past my place, more or less, I took her up on the ride.
I stood outside my flat at 6.30 waiting for Jules, watching the cars approaching, as she’s only been to my place once before and I wasn’t sure whether she remembered exactly where I lived. As each set of headlights approached, I watched carefully. When I got bored with that I watched the possum in the tree near me teetering on a tiny branch eating the flowers at the end. I made sure I moved away from underneath the tree – a possum hat was not an accessory I wanted right at that moment.
Eventually a set of headlights I was watching went on to high beam as it came close to my place. No, not high beam: nuclear beam. The lights lit up the whole bloody street and the backs of my retinas! Once the spots in front of my eyes settled down I got into Julie’s 4WD, and off we went. I made Julie promise to never flash “Mickey” the fog lamps at me EVER again!!!
During the trip down we joked about how to kill off Jane, as Julie had auditioned for Narrator too. Ironically, it was Julie who got the role of Sr. Mary Hubert in Nunsense last year that I auditioned for, and we had a running joke throughout the season that I was ready to jump into her role if she had an ‘accident’. For pics of the show click here. (I’m the one in black!)
The actual rehearsal was only for the 6 divas, so I didn’t get to meet the new cast (boys). We got our scores and assorted bits of extra music. I’m usually an alto, but Brad’s made me a bit of a floater, so when we’re singing in 2 parts, I’m in the altos with Julie, but when we split into 3 parts I go into the middle with Kayleen who shares the 2nd Soprano part with me.
As some songs go from 2 to 3 parts and back again, I tended to sway to the left when I was singing the alto part and sway to the right when doing the 2nd part so that I could hear the others singing. Kayleen did the same, swinging from 2nd sop to Soprano, so we dubbed ourselves the swingers!
This was the night of the lunar eclipse, and I made sure we had semi regular ‘moon breaks’ so we could see it and the red moon that resulted. It was really cool, and would have been even better if we were able to turn the theatre’s outside lights off, but we couldn’t so we had to hold up our hands to block the light.
We wound it up at about 9.30, after having gone through ‘Jacob and Sons’, ‘Any Dream will Do’ and ‘Joseph’s Coat’. We ended up singing most of the songs (very badly – as a send up) on the ride home.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Sunday 19th August
Reading back on what I’ve posted so far, I realised I had neglected to mention what part I was auditioning for! Joseph is a mainly male show, but the lead female role is the ‘Narrator’. In this production, Brad’s also putting in a small female chorus know as the ‘Dreamcoat Divas’ who’ll be doing the backup singing in close harmony. Naturally I was auditioning for narrator, but was happy to be a Diva failing that. (I’m a diva anyway: P)
Sunday was a cold, rainy, possibly drought-breaking kind of day, and come 6pm I had had my shower, was in my jammies ready for a night in when I got a call from Brad, asking me to come down to Sunnybank for a call-back for Narrator! Whooo- hoooo! I hurriedly made dinner, got dressed and put a face on. On the 45-minute drive down to the theatre I managed to do a half decent warm up and go through the Narrator’s songs.
I walked in and saw Jane. Bugger! She’s good; I don’t have a chance. Also auditioning was a girl called Bernadette, new to Sunnybank. Apparently, 16 girls auditioned for the part, now three of us were doing second auditions. We decided to do the audition in front of each other; I like to keep my enemies close ;)
When Brad called me earlier in the evening, I told him I was in my pyjamas. He jokingly said I should audition in them so I brought along my purple fuzzy slippers to wear in the audition as a nice compromise. The slippers had appeared in two previous Sunnybank productions so it was a bit of an in-joke to wear them, and I was really comfortable in them, although I almost lost my footing going down the stairs afterwards.
We each sang selections from the show, my fave being the ‘Prologue’. I think I did ok, couldn’t really fault my performance (which is really rare). We then got to do the one we all wanted to do, ‘Potiphar’, which I really hammed up, doing the 20’s accent.
That was about it, jokes got bounced around about kneecapping each other so we’d each get the part. Brad said he’d call that night, so off I drove back home and back into my jammies. About 10ish Brad called saying they were too tired to make a decision so they’d meet on Tuesday night and I’d be told then, but if it was any consolation, I was in the top two… I knew it – I’ll have to kneecap Jane after all!
The next evening…
I finally got the dreaded/ much anticipated phone call from Brad, and the winner is… Jane! Dammit, I knew I should have tripped her down the stairs after the audition. Oh well! At least I’m a Diva.
Reading back on what I’ve posted so far, I realised I had neglected to mention what part I was auditioning for! Joseph is a mainly male show, but the lead female role is the ‘Narrator’. In this production, Brad’s also putting in a small female chorus know as the ‘Dreamcoat Divas’ who’ll be doing the backup singing in close harmony. Naturally I was auditioning for narrator, but was happy to be a Diva failing that. (I’m a diva anyway: P)
Sunday was a cold, rainy, possibly drought-breaking kind of day, and come 6pm I had had my shower, was in my jammies ready for a night in when I got a call from Brad, asking me to come down to Sunnybank for a call-back for Narrator! Whooo- hoooo! I hurriedly made dinner, got dressed and put a face on. On the 45-minute drive down to the theatre I managed to do a half decent warm up and go through the Narrator’s songs.
I walked in and saw Jane. Bugger! She’s good; I don’t have a chance. Also auditioning was a girl called Bernadette, new to Sunnybank. Apparently, 16 girls auditioned for the part, now three of us were doing second auditions. We decided to do the audition in front of each other; I like to keep my enemies close ;)
When Brad called me earlier in the evening, I told him I was in my pyjamas. He jokingly said I should audition in them so I brought along my purple fuzzy slippers to wear in the audition as a nice compromise. The slippers had appeared in two previous Sunnybank productions so it was a bit of an in-joke to wear them, and I was really comfortable in them, although I almost lost my footing going down the stairs afterwards.
We each sang selections from the show, my fave being the ‘Prologue’. I think I did ok, couldn’t really fault my performance (which is really rare). We then got to do the one we all wanted to do, ‘Potiphar’, which I really hammed up, doing the 20’s accent.
That was about it, jokes got bounced around about kneecapping each other so we’d each get the part. Brad said he’d call that night, so off I drove back home and back into my jammies. About 10ish Brad called saying they were too tired to make a decision so they’d meet on Tuesday night and I’d be told then, but if it was any consolation, I was in the top two… I knew it – I’ll have to kneecap Jane after all!
The next evening…
I finally got the dreaded/ much anticipated phone call from Brad, and the winner is… Jane! Dammit, I knew I should have tripped her down the stairs after the audition. Oh well! At least I’m a Diva.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
The Audition
17th August: Friday night – audition!
Every waking moment from Tuesday night was Joseph Joseph Joseph, and more to the point, my pending audition. Wednesday was ‘Exhibition Wednesday’, and I had the day off to find the speech I needed to memorise for the audition. I had thought of something on Tues night so I just had to find where I got it (someone had put it on a bulletin in My space), but after having wasted 3 hours going through past bulletins it wasn’t there, so I googled! This is what I attempted to memorise: Noah
I already knew my audition song, Someone Like You, from Jekyll & Hyde and annoyed my next-door neighbour no end whenever I sang it loudly in the shower. I’d sang it several times in other auditions, including the last time I auditioned for Joseph at Act One theatre (and got the role of Narrator) so I was hoping the song would be good luck.
My audition time was 9.00 and I got there early so I could chill out a bit. I took some pineapple pieces with me to eat to cut through the phlegm and calm me a bit. I’d been reading “The Secret” all afternoon, so I was thinking lots of positive thoughts. I had warmed up in the car on the drive down - I pity the cars I was parked next to at the lights.
The audition went as smoothly as I could have hoped for, although it wasn’t perfect. I knew there was no way I’d remember all of the Noah story so I made a list of all the things I needed to remember, folded it into a very long concertina and worked it into the gag, which went over well. I forgot a couple of bits in the middle, notably the EPA and the globe bit but I got through it without stammering and I had them laughing really loudly so I was happy with my effort.
I forgot a little bit of the song too – same bit I’d forgotten in my Savoyards Oklahoma audition, but it was only a word or 2 and I recovered. It was a bit sharp due to my nerves but I got through it, got lots of applause from the audition team, and then got a hug from Brad! I went home on a high.
Every waking moment from Tuesday night was Joseph Joseph Joseph, and more to the point, my pending audition. Wednesday was ‘Exhibition Wednesday’, and I had the day off to find the speech I needed to memorise for the audition. I had thought of something on Tues night so I just had to find where I got it (someone had put it on a bulletin in My space), but after having wasted 3 hours going through past bulletins it wasn’t there, so I googled! This is what I attempted to memorise: Noah
I already knew my audition song, Someone Like You, from Jekyll & Hyde and annoyed my next-door neighbour no end whenever I sang it loudly in the shower. I’d sang it several times in other auditions, including the last time I auditioned for Joseph at Act One theatre (and got the role of Narrator) so I was hoping the song would be good luck.
My audition time was 9.00 and I got there early so I could chill out a bit. I took some pineapple pieces with me to eat to cut through the phlegm and calm me a bit. I’d been reading “The Secret” all afternoon, so I was thinking lots of positive thoughts. I had warmed up in the car on the drive down - I pity the cars I was parked next to at the lights.
The audition went as smoothly as I could have hoped for, although it wasn’t perfect. I knew there was no way I’d remember all of the Noah story so I made a list of all the things I needed to remember, folded it into a very long concertina and worked it into the gag, which went over well. I forgot a couple of bits in the middle, notably the EPA and the globe bit but I got through it without stammering and I had them laughing really loudly so I was happy with my effort.
I forgot a little bit of the song too – same bit I’d forgotten in my Savoyards Oklahoma audition, but it was only a word or 2 and I recovered. It was a bit sharp due to my nerves but I got through it, got lots of applause from the audition team, and then got a hug from Brad! I went home on a high.
Joseph - Information night
14th of August – Information night!
We’ve known this year’s musical was going to be Joseph since Nunsense last year and we’ve all been a buzz, well, I have at least. (It was last year’s worst kept secret) I kept an eye on the web site, Sunnybank Theatre Group Inc. on and off for a few months and noted the dates, and it’s finally here. I got there a bit before the 7.30 start time and it’s like school’s back in after the Christmas holidays – so many old friends I haven’t seen in ages, so many kisses and hugs, it’s good to be home again.
So once we all said our hellos the night started with the usual introductions from the production crew- Brad and Lesley as co-directors and Brad as Musical Director; Matt, Assistant Musical Director; Caroline Stage Manager and Diva Control (again); Katie, the choreographer, (please God, no more tap dancing!); Ashley (my sparring partner) as set designer, and the usual suspects who are helping with construction and lighting. A surprise entrant this year is Jenny, as Costume designer. Last year Jen had a major role in Nunsense and it’s a shame she can’t be in the show this year due to other commitments. She’s a great seamstress though as proven by Nunsense and Puss in Boots, so I’m rather excited to see what creations she comes up with.
Anyhoo, after the intros, they got down to business talking about the auditions and what was expected, the characters, and what songs to sing etc. then we lined up, got our names down on the audition list and then that was essentially it. My audition is 9pm Friday night.
Oh bugger, they want us to do a 2-3 minute speech, learned from memory and I have 3 days to learn something…
For those who know nothing about Joseph, look here: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
We’ve known this year’s musical was going to be Joseph since Nunsense last year and we’ve all been a buzz, well, I have at least. (It was last year’s worst kept secret) I kept an eye on the web site, Sunnybank Theatre Group Inc. on and off for a few months and noted the dates, and it’s finally here. I got there a bit before the 7.30 start time and it’s like school’s back in after the Christmas holidays – so many old friends I haven’t seen in ages, so many kisses and hugs, it’s good to be home again.
So once we all said our hellos the night started with the usual introductions from the production crew- Brad and Lesley as co-directors and Brad as Musical Director; Matt, Assistant Musical Director; Caroline Stage Manager and Diva Control (again); Katie, the choreographer, (please God, no more tap dancing!); Ashley (my sparring partner) as set designer, and the usual suspects who are helping with construction and lighting. A surprise entrant this year is Jenny, as Costume designer. Last year Jen had a major role in Nunsense and it’s a shame she can’t be in the show this year due to other commitments. She’s a great seamstress though as proven by Nunsense and Puss in Boots, so I’m rather excited to see what creations she comes up with.
Anyhoo, after the intros, they got down to business talking about the auditions and what was expected, the characters, and what songs to sing etc. then we lined up, got our names down on the audition list and then that was essentially it. My audition is 9pm Friday night.
Oh bugger, they want us to do a 2-3 minute speech, learned from memory and I have 3 days to learn something…
For those who know nothing about Joseph, look here: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
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