A Wand'ring Minstrel I
Hey Livejournal. Uh, long time no see.
My Christmas was good. How about yours?
As is my usual for the first week of January, I auditioned for the Durham Savoyards' yearly show. This year we're doing The Mikado, which I'd already gotten a bit excited about and made a few posts.
I auditioned for the role of Peep-Bo, reasoning that I really probably ought to sing in my own range (well, close enough. I was NOT going to try for Yum-Yum), or at least biological sex, if I wanted to actually have a chance at a named role. And that the Japanesse-style costuming wouldn't trigger my "dress D:" reaction the way Western women's clothing does.
I did not get a call-back. This caused me an unexpected amount of distress, not so much at the rejection (there was that too, and angsting about whether I had any actual talent or not), but in a large part because I was having full-on anxiety attacks about having to play a girl in the chorus. I nearly considered pulling out of the show because I wasn't sure I could handle it. Nevermind that I JUST DID IT last year in Trial by Jury. I think I might possibly have deeper gender issues than I've been allowing myself to think for the past several years. I think I've gotten so settled in my in-between fauxtokoyaku state that it's a huge shock now to be forced out of it, even for theatrical reasons.
But this post is not about analyzing my gender and other mental issues. Stay on task (another thing I need to work on). It turns out I had nothing to worry about, because despite not auditioning in that range this year, I was asked to sing tenor in the stage chorus, as I've done for the past 3 years. And that was enough to make me excited about doing the show again. (edits And it was reassuring to realize that I hadn't been called back for Peep-bo because they really needed me to be in the men's chorus; we've got 4 women singing tenor in the stage chorus this year and only 2 men!)
A few hours after I got my role offer, the cast list went out, and there was a rather GLARING "T.B.A". in the understudy column for the role of Nanki-Poo (the son of the Mikado and the tenor lead). My brain, it teemed with endless schemes... or one scheme in particular. I discussed this with kibarika, tribalkittykat, and pseudokiwi, who, by the way, are the understudies for Pitti-Sing, Peep-Bo, and Yum-Yum (the "Three Little Maids") respectively. They agreed that I had a chance and that it would be pretty awesome if I did it. And since we're all significantly shorter than our, um, "overstudies", we could call the understudy run-through The Minikado.
So after our first rehearsal last Thursday (to which I wore my purple kimono that was a Christmas present from windstar127 which everyone thought was pretty awesome), I worked up the courage to ask our director Derrick about it. And he told me that he had already been considering me for the part and just needed to check with Alan, our music director, to make sure he was cool with it.
Today it was announced that I would indeed be the understudy, and since it was a chorus-only music rehearsal, I already had to sing some of the part since the actor playing Nanki-Poo wasn't called. I'm feeling pretty awesome about it. I mean, I know that understudying is kind of a thankless job, because you do pretty much all the work of the principal usually without any recognition in the actual show, on top of your chorus role, but I really just want the experience more than anything. I have so much to learn about building a character and performing as an individual, instead of in a group.
My Christmas was good. How about yours?
As is my usual for the first week of January, I auditioned for the Durham Savoyards' yearly show. This year we're doing The Mikado, which I'd already gotten a bit excited about and made a few posts.
I auditioned for the role of Peep-Bo, reasoning that I really probably ought to sing in my own range (well, close enough. I was NOT going to try for Yum-Yum), or at least biological sex, if I wanted to actually have a chance at a named role. And that the Japanesse-style costuming wouldn't trigger my "dress D:" reaction the way Western women's clothing does.
I did not get a call-back. This caused me an unexpected amount of distress, not so much at the rejection (there was that too, and angsting about whether I had any actual talent or not), but in a large part because I was having full-on anxiety attacks about having to play a girl in the chorus. I nearly considered pulling out of the show because I wasn't sure I could handle it. Nevermind that I JUST DID IT last year in Trial by Jury. I think I might possibly have deeper gender issues than I've been allowing myself to think for the past several years. I think I've gotten so settled in my in-between fauxtokoyaku state that it's a huge shock now to be forced out of it, even for theatrical reasons.
But this post is not about analyzing my gender and other mental issues. Stay on task (another thing I need to work on). It turns out I had nothing to worry about, because despite not auditioning in that range this year, I was asked to sing tenor in the stage chorus, as I've done for the past 3 years. And that was enough to make me excited about doing the show again. (edits And it was reassuring to realize that I hadn't been called back for Peep-bo because they really needed me to be in the men's chorus; we've got 4 women singing tenor in the stage chorus this year and only 2 men!)
A few hours after I got my role offer, the cast list went out, and there was a rather GLARING "T.B.A". in the understudy column for the role of Nanki-Poo (the son of the Mikado and the tenor lead). My brain, it teemed with endless schemes... or one scheme in particular. I discussed this with kibarika, tribalkittykat, and pseudokiwi, who, by the way, are the understudies for Pitti-Sing, Peep-Bo, and Yum-Yum (the "Three Little Maids") respectively. They agreed that I had a chance and that it would be pretty awesome if I did it. And since we're all significantly shorter than our, um, "overstudies", we could call the understudy run-through The Minikado.
So after our first rehearsal last Thursday (to which I wore my purple kimono that was a Christmas present from windstar127 which everyone thought was pretty awesome), I worked up the courage to ask our director Derrick about it. And he told me that he had already been considering me for the part and just needed to check with Alan, our music director, to make sure he was cool with it.
Today it was announced that I would indeed be the understudy, and since it was a chorus-only music rehearsal, I already had to sing some of the part since the actor playing Nanki-Poo wasn't called. I'm feeling pretty awesome about it. I mean, I know that understudying is kind of a thankless job, because you do pretty much all the work of the principal usually without any recognition in the actual show, on top of your chorus role, but I really just want the experience more than anything. I have so much to learn about building a character and performing as an individual, instead of in a group.