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!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
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
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