🎼I Will Be Right Here Waiting For You🎶…

Hello Gentle Reader!

The other day I was driving home from work. Usually I have my music on my phone playing on random for all the tracks on the device and I have about 30 gigs of just music downloaded onto the SD card. Imagine my surprise when a non-song begins to play.

By non-song, I mean something that is not played on the radio, an audiobook chapter, or even a YouTube video. What began playing was the first run through of music from our production of Little Shop of Horrors last year, (technically, 2 years ago because we premiered on NYE 2019 before the chime of midnight, I guess.) For those that are unfamiliar, when you work on a musical, there comes a point when you try to sing through all of the music for the show in one rehearsal to see what needs some fine tuning or clarification.

Anywho, it made me really miss the cast and the theatre something fierce. Then my eyes decided that it was the perfect time to start burning so I had to blink a lot to make the burning go away. I happened to catch some lady staring at me while we were waiting for the light to turn green. Her face read as “WTF?” so I can only imagine the faces I was making. 😂😂

As the country continues our tortoise-like pace to herd-immunity (I really don’t like that term,) I can’t help but to be so excited for all the projects that I am seeing audition notices for. Even the shows that I know I am not interested in doing, I am just thrilled that the show is happening. It’s like me being excited for you to eat a delicious dinner that I am not invited to. I am just being a cheerleader on the side.

Can I just say, Dear Reader, that while I can’t mention the show, I recently just had something offered to me for later this year? I am over the moon to have SOMETHING on the books for 2021. Now, I just have to be practice a little patience and wait for rehearsals to begin in a few months. Hopefully then I can say what I will be working on.

I think what I can say is from reading the script is that no two performances are going to be the same! 😄 However, one thing that I do know is that even if everyone is vaccinated, some people will continue to stay away from crowded areas and events, so I am really intrigued on how this is all going to work out. Will the show have a live audience or will it be live-streamed? Will an audience even want to come to a theatre to see it? What happens if the ticket sales are hindered by the people that are wary of live events still? I get it. I can’t do it, but I get it. I have so many questions and worries for the theatre companies, but I am still super optimistic about the great return!

I already let anxiety and fear prevent me from doing things I would have loved to do before the pandemic and it has given me a different outlook on what I missed from just that, so I won’t be secluding myself from getting back on that stage or mingling with casts and friends. I am really looking forward to hugging my friends. A LOT! 😂

Getting my second dose on Thursday and then I wait. I will sit in the corner of the room and clock watch until the time I can meet my new cast mates and we get to play! Or until I can go out brunching with friends. 🥓🍳🥂 What? I love to brunch! 😂😂

What is something that you can’t wait for once things return to normal-ish? Is it something that is done in big events, or is it something as simple as hugging a friend?

Until next time, Kind Reader, stay safe and alert, check up on your friends, and practice kindness. We are all in this together…

❤️

Relax! Don’t Do It…

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Hello Gentle Reader!

Once upon a time, I used to stress out about not having a production to work on right after my current project would end. With Little Shop of Horrors ending on Saturday, I am getting a little antsy about that very thing.

My logical brain knows that there will be a project for me somewhere at some point, but as I have pointed out time and again, logic is NOT my default setting. 😄

Having taken 2018 off (and most of 2019 too), I know that Theatre Arts will be around when I am ready for a project.

I used to be grateful that I had an answer for people when they asked, “what are you working on next?” Recently, one of my Lil Shop castmates asked and I said, “I don’t have anything coming up and I don’t mind.” I never expected the calm that I felt when I said that.

My Dear Reader, I know when the right project comes along it will call to me. I just hope that I can audition well enough to become part of the cast. Fingers crossed. Toes too! LOL 😂

I do have to say that I am so grateful at being a part of the thriving theatre community that we have in the Bay Area. From the actors, to the producers and staff, to the incredible artists that work on design elements, there are so many insanely wonderful people that are part of it.

So there shall be no freaking out! I hope. LOL! No, no. It’ll be fine. I think.

Yeah… just gonna wait for that project to call…

*sits and waits…*

*and waits…*

Altos!! I feel you!! Whew, child…

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Hellllloooooo, Dear Reader!!!

What a weekend it has been! Our little production has been a MASSIVE hit and the audiences have been NUTS this weekend. LOL!

It has been such a treat to work on this production. When I was asked to join the cast, I was thinking it would be for Mushnik or ensemble. Secretly, I was hoping it would be the dentist and the 3 people that offer Seymour contracts in “Meek Shall Inherit.”

And then, Gentle Reader, THEN director, Whitney, says “we are thinking you will be a great Ronnette.” SAY WHAT!!?? Of course, immediately I said “I’m in!!”

I didn’t realize the implication of what this role would take. I LOVED IT!!!

It has been one of the most challenging roles to date. As a tenor, I automatically go for the higher notes in harmonies and the melody lines in songs. I know there is a tenor joke in there somewhere. (How many tenors does it take…)

Singing the alto line was SO much harder than I expected. It wasn’t the fact that it was higher than I usually sing, it was the fact that I kept trying to jump up to the soprano’s notes. It was so hard for me to maintain my vocal line. I know, I KNOW, singing isn’t my strong suit and this is my first major vocal role in almost 2 years. So I tried not to get too upset when I couldn’t get things right immediately.

To say that I leveled up my patience is an understatement. I know I had a crap ton of work to do. It wasn’t just because I was missing nearly half of the rehearsal time, but because the revival music is so much more complicated than the original.

My Dear Reader, let me tell you that the stress levels were high. Not only were the songs something to focus on, but I had to find my way through playing one of these roles in a gender bent versus a drag performance. I am so glad that the director wanted to try the gender bend because it gave me more of a chance to find ways to bring something a little bit different than what is already in the bones of the show. I kept thinking how can I, as a male counterpart to the two other ladies in the the trio, react to things in the script. For example, in Act 2, the Shoppettes, fawn over Seymour in Scene 3, which is right after Mushnik’s last scene (just to keep the details vague in case of spoilers, LOL) and I felt like that it wasn’t the right move for me to also make. Instead, I used the line that one of the other Shoppettes says “You’re going to be so rich,” into the start of my character arc building. I then went back through the script and used “Somewhere That’s Green” (we are on stage at this point) as my motivation to get out of Skid Row. Everything from that point on, all my choices are driven to be sure that #RonnettemakesitoutofSkidRow.

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Oh, Kind Reader, with only 2 more performances to go, it feels like we are still finding more and more joy each time we step on those boards at Pintello Comedy Theater and I am going to be so sad to see this production end.

Be sure you catch this show while you can! What’s your favorite song from this show? Mine has to be the title track. I am bummed that I only get to slip on my mermaid sequin green/black jacket two more times. That’s right. You’ll have to see it. Is there a moment in the show that you love? That would be mine. LOL! Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Until next time, Gentle Reader!

A New Post? Yup!…

HELLO Gentle Reader!!!

How have you been? What have you been up to? Chasing those dreams? I hope you had an amazing 2019! I really do. I also hope your holiday celebrations were amazing and filled with love and laughter with those you care for the most.

Can you believe it has almost been a full year since I last posted? 📆 I had to take some time away because I was having some personal issues with the old survival job that just made me feel like I was suffocating and regardless of what I tried I couldn’t seem to shake it. 😔 I didn’t want to inadvertently put any of it on you. What brought me to this decision was the number of times that I had noticed that I spoke before self-editing and realizing later that there was venom in my words. This, of course, compounded the feelings I was already dealing with so the easiest solution was to take a step back. That being said, I did miss you all.

I even did the same thing with theatre. I saw a few shows but didn’t participate in anything until October/November when I had been about 2 months into feeling more like myself.

My initial plan for this post was to go back to something that I used to do WAAAYY back when… try and decipher my Chinese zodiac horoscope. BUT I realized that a year away is a very long time in the blogging world so I should probably update you, Dear Reader, on what I did work on as far as theatre goes.

I was lucky enough to be cast in productions of…

AND

The toughest part about these projects was that they started rehearsals at the EXACT. Same. Time!😱

Star Wars had a shorter more intense schedule while Little Shop had 3 weeks more of rehearsal time. I am one lucky ducky. I had 2 great directors that were willing to allow me the chance to tackle this task. I know that they were nervous about letting me do this, and I hope it was the knowledge that I would work hard to bring my best to each show. I mean, not that I don’t work hard when I am in a single show. LOL!

Let’s first tackle “One Hour Star Wars Trilogy: Live!” A little side note: I LOVE THIS TRILOGY!!! ❤️❤️ Give me this before offering LOTR or Indiana Jones. I don’t care how much people like to talk smack about them. I know they are a little silly and not the best acted. I LOVE THEM ANYWAY.

This was a project of love, no doubt. I enjoyed every single moment of work on this show because it’s freakin Star Wars. Not only that, but I got reunited with a few people that worked on last year’s “Making of the Star Wars Holiday Special: Live!” I laughed so much during the process that it didn’t feel like work at all. There was joy in every moment we built and the process of collaboration was fast and furious. There were some ideas that worked and some that didn’t. I also got to work with a bunch of new friends that had the BEST quickly improvised ideas. The best thing about the production run was all the running around backstage to get to the different entrances in the theater. So much swearing! LOL! I think we said “shit!💩” at least 20 times a show. And the show is only an HOUR!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA😂

Ahhhh, Gentle Reader, I am gonna miss that show. LOL!

Next up, let’s have a chat about 🎶Little Shop, Little Shoppa Horrors🎵.

But we’ll do that in another post.

Thanks for reading, Dear Reader! I have performances Friday and Saturday, so I am aiming to have the Lil Shop post up by Sunday night.

Until then…

Let me know how you are and what your are up to!