Now that Sweeney Todd has officially come to a close after three extremely successful performances, it's time to start looking ahead to September. At the end of the month I personally will be holding auditions for the play Red Herring which will be produced by Stagedoor at Limona Village Chapel. For those who know nothing about it, here's a bit of information:
"Red Herring"
by Michael Hollinger
Audition dates: Monday, September 28th @ 7pm
Callbacks: Tuesday, September 29th @ 7pm
Show dates: December 4th, 5th, 11th and 12th @ 8pm and December 12th at 3pm
All auditions and shows will be held at Limona Village Chapel
"Red Herring" is Michael Hollinger's spoof of the film noir spy movies of the thirties and forties. Set in 1952, America is developing the H-bomb and the Russians are after information. Unfortunately the spy they are using, Andre Borchevsky, is not very bright. Agents Maggie Pelletier and Frank Keller are trying to find him. They also are in love. Andre has been having an affair with his American contact's wife, and she has killed her husband to be with him. When the agents begin to suspect something, she persuades Andre to pretend to be her husband. Their plot works for awhile, but things go awry when the fiance of a naval officer who has the plans for the bomb tries to make contact with the dead contact. Hollinger creates a clever farce of mistaken identity. "
Performed at:
Limona Village Chapel
408 Limona Road
Brandon, FL 33510
This will be my debut as a director and I'm extremely excited about it. I need a minimum of three men and three women, and a maximum of four of each. The play is traditionally done with six cast members, but I'd like to do away with the need for so many quick changes for the more minor characters.
There's a lot of other exciting auditions happening in September as well. The Frenzie - Life Theatre will be holding auditions beginning tonight for Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead (www.thefrenzie.com) and on September 4th and 5th Village Players will hold auditions for Beauty and the Beast (www.villageplayers.scriptmania.com).
Stagedoor will also be presenting Steel Magnolias on September 18th, 19th, 25th, and 26th at 8pm and a matinee performance on the 20th at 3pm. Ticket information can be found at www.stagedoorbrandon.org.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Opening Night Excitement
It was a successful opening night for Sweeney Todd. There were the usual bobbles, as no performance will ever truly be perfect, but it was still an event that could be considered almost magical. The audience was transfixed, almost as if watching a movie instead of a live theater event. There were even very few noticeable comments from Maurice, who can usually be heard from the darkness whenever he is in attendance.
As I stood backstage waiting to make my entrance and sing "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" I felt a nervousness I had never really experienced before. I am not the type of person to suffer from acute nervousness, yet for some reason this show and this part frightens me in a way no other has before. The music, especially in the song "Kiss Me" is so incredibly difficult. One forgetful moment could spell disaster for the entire song. It is so incredibly quick with so many words...It's easy to get completely wrapped up in over thinking it.
About halfway through "Green Finch" I realized I was letting my mind take over, and not allowing myself to simply enjoy the performance. The moment I gave over to instinct I was able to let Johanna take flight. The notes were easier to sing, the words simply came out of my mouth instead of me having to force them...I allowed myself to put a bit of trust in my own abilities. That is not always an easy task for me.
I felt connected to Johanna and to my portrayal of her. Making her both vulnerable and incredibly strong is not an easy task. It's a fine balance I wasn't always able to find during the rehearsal process. So tonight, I hope to go into this a little wiser, and a little more comfortable with the character I've given life to. Tomorrow night, when this is all over, I'll be sad to let her go and say goodbye to the fun we created as a cast.
As I stood backstage waiting to make my entrance and sing "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" I felt a nervousness I had never really experienced before. I am not the type of person to suffer from acute nervousness, yet for some reason this show and this part frightens me in a way no other has before. The music, especially in the song "Kiss Me" is so incredibly difficult. One forgetful moment could spell disaster for the entire song. It is so incredibly quick with so many words...It's easy to get completely wrapped up in over thinking it.
About halfway through "Green Finch" I realized I was letting my mind take over, and not allowing myself to simply enjoy the performance. The moment I gave over to instinct I was able to let Johanna take flight. The notes were easier to sing, the words simply came out of my mouth instead of me having to force them...I allowed myself to put a bit of trust in my own abilities. That is not always an easy task for me.
I felt connected to Johanna and to my portrayal of her. Making her both vulnerable and incredibly strong is not an easy task. It's a fine balance I wasn't always able to find during the rehearsal process. So tonight, I hope to go into this a little wiser, and a little more comfortable with the character I've given life to. Tomorrow night, when this is all over, I'll be sad to let her go and say goodbye to the fun we created as a cast.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
"If I Cannot Fly, Let Me Sing"
My first semester at American University I was assigned a song I had never heard from a show I knew virtually nothing about. That song was "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" from Sweeney Todd. It was an attempt on the part of my new voice teacher to appease my desire to sing musical theater pieces while still learning the fine art of classical voice performance. The first time I heard the song all the way through I hated it and refused to even finish watching the video of Sweeney Todd I had purchased.
It's always been a fact, and a fairly well known one, that Sondheim musicals are not among my favorites. They're extremely difficult, long, and often hard to follow. At nineteen years old I couldn't appreciate the music, nor the technique required to perform it wall. It wasn't a pop oriented Frank Wildhorn piece, and my idol of the time, Linda Eder, would never have been able to sing it. I wanted to be a belter like her, not what I saw as the weak character written for the token soprano.
When I was offered a chance to play Johanna, who sings "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" in an upcoming local production of Sweeney Todd along with serving as the musical director of the show I was torn over what to do. Having studied just that one song there was no doubt in my mind as to the difficulty of the show, but at the same time I knew it would be the challenge I was search for recently.
So, a year later I am just over forty-eight hours from our opening. My cast and crew have worked so hard to bring this show to life. Our Sweeney is one of the best I've seen, bringing depth to a character who can often be very flat. My best friend who is playing Mrs. Lovett has turned her into more then just an over the top loony, and our Judge, who is one of my voice students, is shining in his first endeavor into musical theater. I have never been more proud or more confident in a cast.
Johanna has come alive for me, and I've discovered that I was very wrong to judge her based on the early scenes of the show. She is not just some Disney princess knockoff who sings to birds and falls madly in love with someone she doesn't even know. She is a young woman with a very complex past, and who is being pushed to the brink of what any human can take. Having been locked away since she was a year old she is desperate to escape, first from the Judge who now lusts after her now that she is no longer a child, and then from the mental institution where he locks her away. Once can quickly see how that might push her to agree to run away with Anthony Hope, the young sailor who is determined to rescue her, and later take matters into her own hands and shoot the head of the mental institution.
As I've learned the music and really looked at the content of the lyrics, I have learned so much about Johanna. I've also grown to truly love this show for all of it's complexity. When the lights go up on Thursday night I will take the stage as a true fan on Sondheim and Sweeney Todd, something I wasn't entirely sure I'd say when I started this process.
It's always been a fact, and a fairly well known one, that Sondheim musicals are not among my favorites. They're extremely difficult, long, and often hard to follow. At nineteen years old I couldn't appreciate the music, nor the technique required to perform it wall. It wasn't a pop oriented Frank Wildhorn piece, and my idol of the time, Linda Eder, would never have been able to sing it. I wanted to be a belter like her, not what I saw as the weak character written for the token soprano.
When I was offered a chance to play Johanna, who sings "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" in an upcoming local production of Sweeney Todd along with serving as the musical director of the show I was torn over what to do. Having studied just that one song there was no doubt in my mind as to the difficulty of the show, but at the same time I knew it would be the challenge I was search for recently.
So, a year later I am just over forty-eight hours from our opening. My cast and crew have worked so hard to bring this show to life. Our Sweeney is one of the best I've seen, bringing depth to a character who can often be very flat. My best friend who is playing Mrs. Lovett has turned her into more then just an over the top loony, and our Judge, who is one of my voice students, is shining in his first endeavor into musical theater. I have never been more proud or more confident in a cast.
Johanna has come alive for me, and I've discovered that I was very wrong to judge her based on the early scenes of the show. She is not just some Disney princess knockoff who sings to birds and falls madly in love with someone she doesn't even know. She is a young woman with a very complex past, and who is being pushed to the brink of what any human can take. Having been locked away since she was a year old she is desperate to escape, first from the Judge who now lusts after her now that she is no longer a child, and then from the mental institution where he locks her away. Once can quickly see how that might push her to agree to run away with Anthony Hope, the young sailor who is determined to rescue her, and later take matters into her own hands and shoot the head of the mental institution.
As I've learned the music and really looked at the content of the lyrics, I have learned so much about Johanna. I've also grown to truly love this show for all of it's complexity. When the lights go up on Thursday night I will take the stage as a true fan on Sondheim and Sweeney Todd, something I wasn't entirely sure I'd say when I started this process.
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