New York, New york, it's a hell of a town...

Mar 27, 2005 21:32

Alright, finally...

New York. I MUST live there. I was there for two days and one night and I know this!! I got on the little shuttle bus thing from LaGaurdia to NYU and I almost lost my mind looking at the city. I can still see it as though it were yesterday!! I just felt at home, but also in a fun, new foreign place all at once! Okay, so I loved the city, dirty streets, bums and all!!

My audition. I went to NYC to audition for phoenix productions tour of "Smokey joe's Cafe". It was great! When me, Eric Mota and Matt Redden (my two other friends I went with on the trip) got to the audition they anounced they were actually doing three auditions at the same time-"Smokey Joe's", "Fame", and "Grease". So, we did the singing audition and then after that specific people were called back for a dance/movement audition. Matt and i made it through to the dance call. Eric had a great audition and everyone who heard him outside of the door agreed, and so did the auditors, I just don't think he fit what they were looking for. Anyway, so Matt and I do this sickeningly easy dance call where they consider it a "trick" to do a double pirouette! So he and I both do the "trick" and are called back!!! He was called back for "Smokey's" as well as being the only dude they asked to read for Danny in "Grease"!! I was called back for "Smokey's" and I was the only girl they asked to read for Mabel in "Fame"!! I'm not sure how Matt's actual audition went cuz I almost missed my flight just to do the call back, so I had to leave before he auditioned so I couldn't listen outside of the door. I did another singing audition on tape, and then they had me read. Here's the problem, I do not know how to perform black vanacular. Okay, I admit it. When i try to speak that way i sound like a white person trying to sound black or I go into this hick accent, it's weird. So, anyway, I read the monologue to myself and I realize she could be played ghetto, but she didn't necessarily have to be played that way. So, i think, I'll just play her the best way i can using my normal non-accent and maybe the director will get interested in trying her a different way than the stereotypical black girl. Well, I was wrong. The director, in fact, after I read the monologue, told me he liked the way I did it, but wanted me to try it this time a little bigger and understand this girl is kinda ghetto. He said "ghetto". Well, i knew I was screwed, but I tried my best to give him what he asked for. I think the prob was i fooled him when I sang "hound dog" from "Smokey's" into thinking I actually speak the way I performed it. I can sing in that vanacular fine, i can be all sortsa ghetto when I sing if need be, I just can't do it when I speak! So, I did my best, took it as a compliment that he took the time to actually direct me in the audition, and if nothing else, he could see that i can and do take direction well, it's just a matter of if I can actually do what he asks. He reacted nicely to it, though, told me they were looking to replace Mabel in the tour "immediatly" and if they needed to see me again they would call me sometime in March. I ain't heard nuthin' yet so I've pretty much let that one go. "Smokey's" on the other hand, it could be anytime, I have no idea. Matt has not been called yet either.

First broadway show. i saw my very first Broadway Show!! Ever!! yeah, I'm a 23 yr old musical theatre major who had never been to NYC or seen a real Broadway show. I'd never seen a professional musical other than a free production of West Side Story at miller outdoor theatre, which was sub-par!! Yeesh!! Anyway, I saw "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" with Lithgow, Butz, and Rene Scott. I wanted to see that one instead of the other great shows beacuse i thought I should let me first Broadway experience be a musical and one with great musical talents like those three. i had forgotten that an alum from Sam Houston was the dance captian for the show!! The show was okay, I'm not running out to buy the cast album though. I am just such a musicician, and very critical, so it takes quite a bit for me to enjoy music. Not that it must be complicated with dissonances or modal progressions or in a complex meter, I just like variety, and i was disappointed with the fact that they had such singers as Sherri and Norbert and didn't even employ the use of the parts of their ranges or there voices that they are famous for. Norbert didn't even go into those gorgeous high full voiced notes until like the second to last number in the show and it was one note! I was soooo disappointed. It's a good show, but Joanna Gleason was not very impressive at all. I felt bad for feeling this way, but if I didn't already know who she was and her previous work I would have wondered why she was cast. I feel horrible feelin that way, but it's the truth. beyond these minor issues I had I thoroughly enjoyed just seeing a broadway show!! And Lithgow, oh, his comic timing is flawless. Flawless! He was wonderful. They all were with the material they were given. But I have to hand it to the chorus...they were on it!! Fierce!! Including our alumni Greg Graham. Rachelle Rak was in the chorus too, dancing with Greg. It was soo cool. I was like, "Hey it's the Fosse girl, dancing with Greg!". ofcourse she had the part in the DVD that I would love to have someday! So that was the show.

So, whew!! There was my NYC experince in a very large nutshell. Thanx for reading again.

Have a wonderful evening!!
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