"That was our shoooooooOOOOOOOoooooow"

I was going to go with the cliche' "And now the end is near...." thing but in all honesty the times now past, it's not near it's gone :( Yep that's right 'Urinetown - the Musical' is all done and dusted and I can't believe it! As you may have noticed I haven't updated in awhile and purely for the fact that once we hit production week it was too full on with travelling to Papatoetoe every night from my day job in Takapuna and then travelling back to CBD afterwards to bed, I was lucky to make it home before midnight. To those of you who don't understand about musical theatre in New Zealand, the majority of it is classed as 'amateur' which means NO, we do not get paid for this (you have no idea how many times I'm asked this question) but YES we still have to put on a performance that not only comes across as professional as possible on a much smaller budget but we have to work our day jobs to afford the petrol to get to these rehearsals and shows (as well as you know, to survive). So I'd say that's my only negative about doing the show is my bank balance, I'm penniless until Wednesday, my savings are gone but thankfully I wont have to "pay to pee" hehe. That's not to say it's MPA's fault at all and I knew what I was getting myself in to but since i didn't know the full extent of the money thing it does mean I won't be be auditioning for the next show but provided I'm still around next year then I will most definitely audition for something later in the year because MPA is <3.

So while my bank balance decreased drastically so did my weight, from the time I got the role in late July to now I have lost a considerable amount of weight (getting down to the double digits for the first time in 14-ish years!) to the point that the final few nights of the show I was scared my pants were going to fall down in Run Freedom Run. That song is actually one of the main reasons for the weight loss, seriously if you're a guy and you have some weight to lose just do Run Freedom Run about 3 times a day with your knees going really high and bam you'll lose it.

Production week as you thespians know was looooooooooong, this is the point where we basically figure out the lighting queues so we have a Technical Rehearsal which often means you don't need to perform the whole song/scene unless the lighting requires it, all you do is stand where you're told and it can take some time. The other nights were just tightening up any loose ends and adding in costumes when they were finished being made/sought out. Chanelle who played Hope had her dresses made and the material was awesome, one was cherries and reminded me of the movie 'Crybaby' and the other one had green & red apples which had me singing "apple bottom dress with no boots and no fur..." to myself most nights. On the Tuesday night while we were getting notes I could feel I was getting sick, I get this weird feeling at the back of my throat so I instantly went to McDonalds and brought 2 cups of orange juice (as this was the only thing open reliably after midnight that sells it) and surprisingly that was all I brought. Woke up the next day with a full blown cold with a fever and everything and somehow made it to work and got through that, however at rehearsals that night I put my all in to it but the sweat was dripping and by the end of the run my shirt was drenched and even my bottom part of my pants were too so thankfully Adey uttered those words I always hope for in production week but is not always guaranteed, "you can have tomorrow night off", YUS!!!!! So Thursday I still went to work only because I had no sick leave and I had leave already planned for Friday so instead I went to the pharmacy and drugged myself up on Codrel Night & Day as well as some Hi-Dos Vit C which I mixed in with Orange juice and gradually got better but I had to admit I think I had sweat out a lot of my fever in Wednesday's rehearsal so wasn't feeling so bad but I made the most of Thursday night off and my Friday day off and slept a lot. What I did know was that the cold hadn't gone instead it was basically lying dormant and I was just hoping to get through the season and then die lol unfortunately that wasn't the case and 2 days before closing night it was back and I made it through final night with my first 2 cracks in my high notes throughout the season. Friday's final dress rehearsal I was feeling a lot better and we performed the show with minimal glitches but boy was I freaked out once it hit me that we start the next evening (eeeeeeek).

Half the reason why people had to see it more than once

Opening night was a great night with a really appreciative audience, there was one point right at the start of Act 2 where I say "I'll explain along the way Ma, c'mon lets go" and I run from the top platform to the other side and when the police whistle blows I then have to stop immediately and turn around and go back across the platform but the whistle was really delayed that night so I made it further across the platform than usual and when I went to spin around my foot was right on the edge of the steps and I fell, I quickly got back up and kept on trucking and supposedly it just looked like it was part of the show. Apart from that the audience enjoyed the show and we had finally unleashed the hilarity that is Urinetown on to the unsuspecting public and every night we got great reviews from friends, family & complete strangers. What was interesting also was getting an audience and finally figuring out where the laughs were going to be in the show because often when you rehearse and rehearse you lose the original freshness of things like jokes, characterisation and energy so once an audience is added you get those back too. Another thing you should know (which I also get asked a lot) is that shows in Auckland rarely get reviewed unless you ask them too be done or they are professional shows and I think if you want it in the Herald it costs money, so unfortunately we never received a single review which really is disappointing because you want to know if you were talked about, who got praised, what was wrong with it, what was right with it and ultimately if the review was an overall positive or negative one because often your family and friends can be too complimentary lol. I really do think that there needs to be something done about this for amateur shows though because you can't compete with big shows like Mary Poppins, War Of The Worlds & Little Shop Of Horrors that are currently on in Auckland under the "professional" label because they have more money to advertise while not only did Urinetown have to compete with them but we had to compete with other amateur companies, Centrestage's Me & My Girl, North Shore Musical Theatre's Into The Woods plus others starting on our closing night, AMT's Downtown & Harlequin's All Shook Up. With a review done on a well known theatre website or paper it really could really help a show like Urinetown that really only theatre geeks that follow every years Tony's know much about it, sell more tickets because it was a real shame that we rarely saw the theatre full even with all the positive comments we received, however we did manage to get people coming to see it more than once because they thought it was that good. But if there was a way to for amateur shows to get this publicity through these reviews it also means you don't always have to do Annie or Grease or Sound Of Music to get bums on seats (if anyone knows anything about this or would like to discuss it with me more I'd love to get something, anything done even it's just to throw around ideas on what could be done then contact me).
OK back to Urinetown now, of all the shows I've been in I have to say this show had the most injuries, from bruised ribs to sprained wrists to pulled back muscles (that one was me after falling on opening night) to general colds, lost voices and a few self-inflicted hangovers. Apart from the latter a lot of this wasn't due to carelessness as such but because of the dedication to their characters, I may have just said it's the show with the most injuries that I've been in but I also have to say that it's the first show I've done where I could barely catch a person out of character throughout the season, I think I speak for most people that amateur theatre often has that one person who can bring a show back down to amateur status because they often are there for the fun of it or they were dragged in to it due to the female to male ratio being vastly different (yes that does mean I'm saying that 'that person' is usually a male) and they don't often don't realise that it's more than just about singing and dancing and ETHNIC MOVEMENT (hehe that last one was for you Nicolette). It's not to say that they shouldn't be doing shows because that's what community theatre is about, it gives everyone a go and it should never change and those of us who do lots of show we just expect that there will/can be a few of them in each cast, but when you don't you really do realise how much of a difference it can make, it was so great seeing Erwin always having a little focus session before each show, Nicolette disappearing to god knows where each half time for a chill out and re-focus session, it just shows how passionate this cast was when it came to the show and performing at their best each night.

Says it all really

So yes the show is over but it certainly wont be forgotten anytime soon and I'd like to thank each and every person who came to see me or expressed their desire to come but had legitimate reasons why they couldn't. This show meant so much to me, not only was it a chance at a bit of redemption on some things that happened earlier in the year but it was my first role that had more dialogue than singing in years, I had a lot to prove and I really feel like I did prove it. I've learnt so much about myself too as cliche' as it sounds, I'm a much more confident person in my own life and in my abilities as an actor, singer and even a runner/singer lol due to this show and the people involved in it, I learnt how to find a character by drawing from different people/characters and your own ideas and then really dive in to it's psyche, I learnt how to build a character from the start of a show to the end instead of starting it out with all gun blazing and having nowhere to go. Again I'm just so appreciative of everything that happened in regards to this show and my next post will be my individual thank yous so I'll leave you with this "I said freedom.......I said freeeeedoooom........I said freedoooOooooOooooOoooom ruuuuuuuuuuuuuun freedom ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun...........awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

"It's my line isn't it?"

Heeeeeellllloooooooooooooooooooo people! Are you ready for another instalment of my blog? Too bad because I am J

I can’t really say it was the most exciting of weeks mostly due to the cast getting really stuck in to the blocking so I don’t think it’ll be a very long blog this week (famous last words though). The set has been painted again as I thought it would and from now on I’ll not be taking any more pics that will show the stage because it’s certainly something that needs to be witnessed in real life but below I’ll give you a hint, also any type of photos of any of us in costume can’t be shown either for legal reason of course, but I’ll still be updating this blog so don’t you worry too much.

A clue?

It really dawned on me that there was only 4 weeks to go on about Thursday when we went through the same blocking for the 3^rd time and I still didn’t have my book down for this specific scene so I knew that the weekend was when I was going to have to have these lines memorized to the best of my abilities. Luckily I kept my word to myself and did get stuck in to it on Saturday night and came in to our Sunday rehearsal with my book down and although there were quite a few moments of awkward silence, I can say that only every other time it was me haha. The funniest was in ‘Act One Finale’ which I’ve mentioned previously as being a mammoth song in itself but we also have dialogue throughout the song and it’s all very fast and energized and so every time there was silence I’d be like “oh it’s me isn’t it?” to which most of the time it was except for the last time where it wasn’t anyone we just had been thinking someone most of had a line. Needless to say that I need to figure that scene out, while I have the lines down it’s just knowing where they go that can get to me confused especially when you learn lines alone. Nevertheless books for the rest of the cast are slowly being put down and by the end of our Sunday rehearsal we did get the call to have our books down from now on, so I’m sure that will kick a few people in the pants who were using it like a security blanket like I was.

I feel you Aragorn!

We’ve also started trying on things for our characters and I certainly had an interesting one, the description for my costume was that it be tight fitting which is not something that ….. hmmmm ok I’m not going to beat around the bush and I’ll be honest, the word tight fitting is not something I ever associate myself with, I’ve grown up as the big guy who was bullied for a large portion of my high school years and sometimes I revert back to that insecure boy. This was one of those times. While I am sure the director wouldn’t put me in to anything I wouldn’t look good in once I put on those pants that were hugging my butt really tightly I may have had a little breakdown in my mind haha I’m just not used to feeling my outerwear so closely to my body that I was CONSTANTLY thinking about it as I walked around the stage. But I think they thought of the shirt was my biggest concern because as I’ve mentioned in an earlier blog, I’ve lost a considerable amount of weight in a relatively short amount of time, so with that it means my body is a little crazy looking and I have quite a bit of loose skin so me in a tight shirt doesn’t look very good, instead it looks like a pillow was stuffed up my shirt :S Thankfully I didn’t make any type of scene and the Director didn’t like the way they looked on stage so since I wasn’t needed for a while I got to look around the costume room and found an outfit that I’m very happy with and very much the kind of clothes I feel that Bobby would where (because at the end of the day it’s not about me, it’s about the character). HOWEVER who knows the finished product might not be what Adey would want and it's his show and I want to give him what he wants, so if it goes back to the tight pants I'll rock them because Bobby would've rocked them I'm sure lol. Anyway what do I know about fashion? I wear waist coats, shirts and pants allllllllllll the time haha. While the costumes were being tried on Marie had to find an old woman wig for her character and that gave Sharon, Deborah & I a chance to play around with some wigs with her which was a lot of fun and if I had my phone with me I would’ve taken pictures to see Marie, Sharon & I wearing some uber chic and somewhat identical Cleopatra wigs and Deborah doning an Elvis wig.

Instead you'll just have to see these stunning look a likes of us

 

Now the Black Baby has turned up again! So as soon as I saw it I took these photo’s for you to realize the creepiness of it. Now I don’t know too much about the actual story of where it came from or anything but as far as I’m aware it’s been around for quite a bit and when people come in to the theatre the Black Baby seems to be in a different place and no one knows who’s moving it. Of course it could just be different people each time just placing it around the theatre but that’s no fun to think about is it? When I took the photos the Black Baby was hanging from a door, when I came back again it was on the set. Supposedly in Oliver, Jack had said that it once was hanging from a noose above the curtains! Whether or not there’s a supernatural force controlling the baby or it’s all just myth it still makes for a great story to tell new members of MPA & gives the theatre its own folklore.

   

Three weeks to go people and I’m pretty certain those 3 weeks are likely to go by pretty quickly so if you haven’t booked your tickets then remember to do so and I’ll see you next week.

Get ready for the Dancing Block!

So there won’t be a breakdown of the days in this week’s blog because we’re now getting into blocking/dancing and going through that process.

Why yes I am a dancing block (seriously this is all that comes up on google)

Adey has a different style of Directing from any Director I’ve worked with, however it does remind me of my Director Lawrie for RENT, Chicago & Miss Saigon and he certainly had a vision and it always came to fruition in the end. Adey’s way of blocking it’s to basically tell you where you should be in each scene while going through the dialogue on stage and then it’s up to us to remember it and then play around with it, he’s said to not particularly enjoy show’s that have been choreographed or staged to an inch of their life because it doesn’t come across as realistic. Thinking about it I’d agree with him for the most part, except that some shows just seem to work with a more structured discipline, however this is NOT one of those shows and that’s why I love it. Being given the opportunity to not be confined is quite an refreshing experience, it lets you understand your surroundings while trying things out and then note them in your head what is and isn’t working. Also to feel comfortable enough to tell a Director your ideas has been another great thing about Adey, Chanelle and I had seen some ‘Follow Your Heart’ scenes on Youtube and as you would know from previous posts I’m not really one to copy another person, but there was a bit in one of the videos that we both really liked and we suggested it and it’s stayed in the show! Honestly I don’t think we’ve quite got it down the way we’d like to but with more rehearsing it’ll be a nice little extra to look out for.

Probably about right haha

So throughout the week we’ve made it through almost all of the show now and it’s cool to see it come together and also to ‘get’ the show a little more because I’ll be honest, I read the script once and other than the read-through I couldn’t really remember too much that went on when I wasn’t on stage (vain much?). Ian Fenwick is doing a great job as Hope’s father Mr Cladwell and central villain of the show, he really understands the kind of show this is and acts accordingly while I don’t think I’m not there just yet but I feel like I’m getting there slowly. What I do think I need to do is just keep in mind a few things that were brought up in the character breakdowns like being alive/excitable/like an electric surge, you know foreign things to me that I’ve not really played before, if you look at my characters in some of my previous shows my characters can be a bit of a downer. You’ve got Roger the depressed HIV sufferer who’s girlfriend killed herself in the next room, Amos the lovable but invisible guy who’d even lie for his adulterous wife, John who although started out thinking he was amazing and treated the Vietnam war as a bit of a party and then doing a 180 and realizing the suffering the war caused so many half-bred children hmmmm yep major buzz kill with those characters. It was funny on Sunday though, the one time I don’t mean to act like Bobby I did, we’re missing a step on our set that helps you get to a higher piece of set and instead of sort of climbing up I jumped it and almost fell but then saved myself and Adey said that that was exactly the way Bobby would do things, so it was a funny happenstance that somehow worked out well (minus the nearly falling part). Anyway getting back to Ian, he’s got the facial expressions down so well, he seems to understand how most of the lines should be used in his scenes and I definitely look at him as someone who I could learn things from, Sharon has also been working super hard, not only with her characterization of the evil yet still endearing Ms Pennywise but also with her exercise routine, I haven’t known her for a very long time but from when we first met till now she’s certainly changing and looking FANTASIC! I have to talk about my Ma (Marie) too as she’s such a lovely woman and is doing some hilarious things with her role too. Plus I know she’s a reader of this blog so SHOUT OUT TO ALL THE MUM/MOM’S OUT THERE. This is the hard part of writing my blog because you’re slowly becoming closer with each other, you have different people shining at different rehearsals and you don’t want to miss anyone out or make them think that you think they’re awful but I can happily say that I love this cast and everything they’re doing. They’re passionate, hilarious, welcoming individuals and give great hugs, especially Amanda who seems to be the exact right height for me to give lots of standing up cuddles without getting in the way of other conversations (yes Amanda you’re now my accessory and you shall be by me at all times hehe).

 Kinda like how thses guys take their dogs AND nana's outfits everywhere EVEN on a runway!

Now I said in the last blog that I’d give you the story about the Black Baby that turns up randomly but alas you’ll have to wait another time since it hasn’t appeared again (I may have also forgot to look around for it) and I want to take a photo so you can see the scariness of it. Other than that, the sets currently being painted and it’s looking very white at the moment and given the subject matter I don’t see that colour being the last coat lol. It’s all really coming together though guys and I can’t wait for you to see the finished product of this less than conventional show.

I LOL'ed at this for about an hour, it's true except some of my friends seem to think the show's I've done are as well done as Wicked........they're obviously uneducated :P

A big thanks goes out to everyone who’s keeping up with the blog, I’m getting more comfortable writing it and I’m sure you’ve now realized now it’s structure, punctuation and grammar are all out the door but  oh well, I’m not trying to win an essay competition with is this lol. Also a great big YEAH BOI to the 500+ visitors who’ve read the blog so far and I’ve worked it out that we have 16 in our cast and provided they’ve all read the blog (which I don’t think is likely) that’s only roughly 80 visits from them, then add in the production staff we’re looking at about 100ish views so there’s a possibility on average 80 other people are reading this per week which means (to those not affiliated with the show: BUY YOUR TICKETS, TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND COME ENJOY A GREAT SHOW

It’s An Unpredictable World Without Blocking

And it’s time for blocking which I’m pleased to say meant that 2 out of the 3 rehearsals I had almost all my lines down and considering the amount of lines I have I’m glad that I’m not behind on that or else I’d have A LOT of work ahead of me (still do really).

We blocked the first scene on Tuesday and it’s cool to see it all come together, it gives you a sense of what your character does, where you are situated and you also get to find out who you can converse with OR in my case I’m tallying up the books and working out how much the poor gave us (which means I get to use my real life math skills from work in to my imaginary account haha) and then I sweep & mop. Really it’s not that different from when I was working at a Luggage & Handbag store in Hamilton that was probably my least favourite job I’ve had so far, it also remains unknown which one were under better conditions lol. What I like about this scene is that it’s the first time I meet Hope (played by Chanelle), I was thinking about it and I don’t think my character really comes across that many girls that look & smell clean, instead I have a pregnant girl whose referred to as Little Becky Two-Shoes (a play on words me thinks) but I’m scared to ask how old someone referred to as ‘little’. So that was the thought I had when I first meet her in this scene, she’s clean, shiny and it does help that as far as I’m aware is wearing relatively tighter clothes than the poor girls wear (sorry dirty girls go join Christina Aguilera and add a double R and we might talk :P).

Hmmm ok maybe not

So a little update on my line learning, I have a habit of needing to learn things in sequence which is why I'd most likely never do well in movie, so for the first rehearsals I've been fine but then we skipped ahead to What Is Urinetown which is in Act 2! Let's just say I'm not looking to flash in the number yet so it's given me the kick up the behind I needed to get this lines under my belt. Some of the hard things with line learning is reading it in or out of an accent can change the way things a said, case in point Distributed now we say Dis-tri-bu-ted while American's say Di-strib-beau-ted and cast member's can vouch for me when I say that i've spent quite a bit of time on that one word. Another one that my fellow lead seems to be getting a lot is Legislature I listened to someone say it and I think it sounds like le-gi-sla-churr but it's still not an easy word to pronounce.

Yeah it still confuses me

Sunday's rehearsal was a pretty relaxing one for me, while the others were doing this:

I may have been doing this:

But in my defence I learnt a whole scene while soaking up that beautiful sun and since I was only needed for 1 scene that day I might as well have taken advantage of the weather hehe. In terms of more character development I've been watching the Canadian version of 'Over The Rainbow' where girls compete for the viewers vote and the winner get's to be on the canadian equivalent to Broadway or West End I suppose. Anyway the talent is stellar, like 180% better than the british girls so the judges critiques are a lot better because they're nit picking and there have been a lot of advising given to these girls that I've been able to think about with my own character and it's really helped form more of a bond with my character just through that.

Over The Rainbow with Kristen Chenoweth mentoring

What I love about theatres is that they all have their little stories, whether it be that night someone got so drunk they slept in a bush, the time one of the Von Trapp children spewed up all over the stage or the infamous theatre ghost. These stories are what shape the local theatres and make them what they are to the patrons, it gives them their history. So next week’s blog will include the tale of ‘The Black Baby’, it disappeared before I could take a photo of it but I’ve witnessed it and as I’ve been made aware, it’ll pop up again as it always does.

Ok maybe not THIS scary

So again another great week of rehearsals with only over a month to go until we open eeeeeeeeeek! Remember tickets are now on sale so get buying!

TICKET'S ARE ON SALE!

Click here for your Urinetown tickets
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You can do it put your Broadway in to it

So the week I was dreading is now behind me and I have to say it didn’t go as badly as I thought. We had ‘Run Freedom Run’ choreography on Wednesday and let me tell you now, I think it’ll be fantastic! Well judging by Wednesday’s rehearsal actually maybe not so much, but Sunday’s rehearsal was a lot better and has given me a little bit more faith in my own learning skills. We started off on Wednesday going through the song singing it first which actually was my first time singing it right through, needless to say I was both excited and nervous, nervous because this is probably the most iconic song in the show and people are expecting something great and excited because this guy (me) has a black woman constantly screaming to get out. The choreography is great and resembles the one that’s used in the Tony’s purely for the fact that it’s so iconic that the choreographer didn’t want to hurt anyone’s expectations for that number, as she said “there are some numbers in a show that you expect to see, you see 42^nd street and you expect to see them dancing on coins”. This got me thinking and I have to agree, I remember seeing a performance of RENT a few years back and there were moments that I expected something and they gave me something else and it let down the whole show, I’d definitely say that if I went to Legally Blonde I’d be expecting pretty much the whole show to resemble the amazing choreography from the one filmed by MTV or if I went to Mamma Mia I’d be expecting guys to be dancing in flippers (which they do), so it makes sense and I completely understand the logic for this.

Soooo much better!

On a slightly side nite: I’d like to let you know that in the last 2 years I’ve gone from 128kgs down to 102kgs where I’m situated now, this has been a mixture of bad tricks to start with (which NEVER work in the long run I must add, you lose weight but it piles back on almost instantly) to eating well and exercising which is my current routine, and since finding out I was playing Bobby I’ve lost 10kgs through this regime. So I came in to this rehearsal knowing that I’d struggle with the running but I really did not know that I’d struggle so much haha running and singing is NOT easy especially when you’re the one leading it, so it’s time for me to do some major high intensity training at the gym as well as skipping and we’ll hope and pray that by the time we get to production week this Bobby won’t be puffing as much. From what I could see I’m not alone in this realization either, I think we all knew that this would be a physical number but I don’t think it hit us in the first run through of the number but by the 4^th time running through it I was in full on shock mode.

                         

 I don't have a full body pic but Left is me at 128kgs and Right is me at 104kgs

Thursday’s rehearsal was just a recap of our songs again as well as finishing off ‘Why Did I Listen To That Man’ which is still a hard one to sing but we almost pulled it off after having to sing it in front of the rest of the cast. I just have to say that Chris is such a great Musical Director with a LOT of patience not only for our own antics but because this music can be frustrating and Kristen our rehearsal pianist has the patience of a saint too because you can tell this is not an easy score to play, so thank you both for being awesome.

 The amazing Kristen & Chris

Sunday was more ‘Run Freedom Run’ choreography, for this I had studied the Tony’s version since we weren’t going to go with the actual way it’s conducted by a conductor and were going for something like the Broadway one and WOW! Who knew how sore your arms will get when waving them about like that, today my arms and legs are pretty damn sore. I can’t say exactly how many times we did this number but it felt like 10 at the least (possibly me over exaggerating because I was dying), there is one point when Little Sally (Deborah) has to wipe my forehead with a towel due to the 'sweat' and THANK GOD she does because that towel is going to get some use out of it (ewww just the thought). After that people required worked on the ‘Mr Cladwell’ choreography which we got to see the finished product and I love it! I wish I was in it actually, it’s such a musical theatre type number with the kick line type stuff which is why I'm so entertained by it.

"You're Mr Cladwell"

While choreography was still going on in the next room the rest of us were measured for our costumes and briefly told what we may need to try and get ourselves and also what the character’s wearing, and just the thought of a poo stained apron is enough to make me gag let alone the thought of ever having to be put in that situation where I had to do that as my job* lol. We then sat around the table and were asked by the Director (Adey) about our characters, thankfully I had already addressed this in my blog plus I had a few more ideas that had come to mind since so I was prepared for this question (even if it wasn’t half as articulate as it was in my head haha) and he seemed to respond well to the ideas. I’ve also been told to check out Babes On Broadway with Judy Garland & Mickey Rooney for more ideas about my character, but  so far I’m pretty happy where my version of Bobby is heading so far but theres a lot more to work on. HOWEVER every musical theatre geek who’s watched the Urinetown stuff online always mentions the one Bobby that’s basically the best on youtube and I just feel a real pressure to make those people happy, however I’ve never been one to ever copy another actor, in fact usually once the show starts going in to rehearsal I find I never watch the show. I do this because I need my own ideas and thoughts to be put in to the character, but this is the first show where people are particularly fan girly about this specific Bobby and I can’t help but feel super nervous that this is the guy I’m going to be compared to, so know that I’m not going to be that Bobby but I hope I can still do this role as much justice as he does to the role.

 Damn you Bobby Strong (Adam Garst)

So that’s it! All the vocal rehearsals are pretty much done and lightly dusted, it’s been a month since rehearsals started and I’m beginning to feel comfortable with my cast members, forming some friendships, quoting such great movies as Mean Girls (“You go Glen Coco”) and TV Shows such as Summer Heights High (“Ecstasy, Ecstasy, E, E, E, E, Ecstasy”) and Buffy most importantly the ‘Once More With Feeling’ episode (“I’ve got a theory it could be bunnies”). I’m having such a great time doing this show and I hope that all of this love and passion show’s on stage for you guys because you must of realized by now that this is an exciting show for me due to you getting a (most of the time) weekly update on what’s happening.

Tickets will be on sale soon and once they are I'll update the blog with the deets :)

*NOTE: No disrespect to anyone who deals with excrement on a daily basis as their job, I was only stating that I could never do it.

It’s all in the character

Tuesday's rehearsal had a little switch around, we decided to do ‘Tell Her I Love Her’ first since the whole cast was in it and Little Sally aka Deborah Simmons has her character down so well already, she sounds like the Broadway recording but also enough of herself to know it’s not a carbon copy of another person’s Sally, I can tell now that she’ll be an audience favourite. Both Deborah & I have solo/duet lines in this and it’s such a beautiful song that we both agree it needs to be longer and it really sits in a nice place in the show considering what’s happening at this time in the show. Then we came to the other song on our schedule which was ‘Why Did I Listen To That Man’, sooooooo just when I thought we’d gotten through the toughest song in the show (Act One Finale) this one comes along and is just as hard, I think the hardest thing about this song is that you have no one else to rely on with your part it’s all solo lines mashed together with Bobby (Me), Hope (Chanelle), Pennywise (Sharon), Fipp (Jack Barry), Barrell (Amanda Leo) & Lockstock (Tom Coup) singing something slightly different, there's cad, dad, man etc... all said simultaneously from different characters, it's intense.

Amanda hard at work, FYI it's probably me who txted her

Between Tuesday & Thursday I tried to learn more of my lines, I’m down only 3 scenes and I want to have it all down before we go through the blocking but I am struggling, I worked out that the last time I had a role that required learning lines was back in a Christmas show in 2009 and since then the show’s I’ve done (Miss Saigon x2, Another Christmas Show & Song’s For A New World) have only required me to sing my lines. But I am getting there and as a friend of mine Pauline Vella mentioned, you’ll find it when you have the character, so this got me thinking, during the month of August I’d done some research on the part, my initial introduction to the character was the character description of Bobby when I auditioned, he was described as a Clark Kent type so that’s where I started my research.

Christopher Reeves is amazing!

I watched the first Superman movies (the ones with Christopher Reeve) and as much as I like him in that movie, from what I’d read from the script I didn’t get a vibe that Bobby was that specific Clark Kent, I mean I did enjoy that he was a little geeky and a bit of a bumbling fool at time but I decided to research the old Superman comics. I had a feeling it was more about the kind of 60’s campy Clark Kent then the one portrayed in the movies, however what I came to realize is Christopher Reeves is pretty close to the Clark Kent of the 60’s, I guess considering the ‘BAM’, ‘SMACK’ etc… of the Batman in those days I assumed that it’d be just as gloriously cheesy, but the tale of Superman seems to have stayed relatively the same (minus the Superman persona that originally had him pretty soulless and then changed him in to a Justice of Peace type character). So I’d like to keep him naïve and bumbling but also add a dash of the 60’s Robin from Batman, Robin seems to be easily excitable and impressionable and I think Bobby is a lot like that to a degree, Hope has him immediately listening to her every word and he takes her advice very literal which is a characteristic of Robin. 

Hmmm so I think I'll be wearing pants for my costume :P

I’d just like to make Bobby's transition from unsuspecting hero/revolutionist a realistic one but also obvious enough for the audience to understand that this is a changed person from the beginning of the show to the end, so that there lies my basic research for my role so far.

I bet you’re not expecting me to say the Thursday’s rehearsal involved us doing ‘Act One Finale’ did you :P LOL well first we did ‘We’re Not Sorry’ which is a cool little number that I think is cool because it gives some of the chorus a chance to sing by themselves, I know for me when I’m chorus I’m just dying to just have a line (something I missed out on in Miss Saigon being the Under-study) and in this one we get to hear Little Becky (Nicolette Ness) who has a great voice, Hot Blades Harry (who may be played by Ian or George Everts, this hasn’t been decided yet), Soupy Sue (Erin Wallace), my Mom Josephine Strong (Marie) and a small but NOT easy part for Billy Boy Bill (Shaun Jenkins). Without giving too much away this is very much a rebellious number which will be very interesting for the audience to see, probably quite unexpected also.

And finallyy Sunday came and we needed to be there earlier for our headshots to be taken for the programme, let me be the first to say that I absolutely loathe this part. I’m a person who likes to take the photo see if it looks nice and delete it if it isn’t and with this you’re kind of just given a glimpse of what it looks like and then it’s up to chance as to if it’s actually good and in my case I’ve not enjoyed any picture that’s been in a programme so I’m not looking forward to this one even though the photographer seems to know what he’s doing. 

What do you mean, I am looking at you

We then ran through as many songs as we could because apart from the end of ‘Why Did I Listen To That Man’ we’ve finally made it through the whole show! We still have a few kinks to work out on some songs but the majority of it is sounding great and vocally it’s really going to be a great show.

Next week we start choreography, this will be the interesting part of my blog I think since I don’t have any dance training nor do I think I can dance very well BUT I'm known to practice and give my all in dancing because frankly I don’t like looking like the incompetent out of time one that often show’s up in amateur show's I’ve seen or been in, actually minus Anything Goes, I don’t feel like I saw anyone dance bad in that show. Anyway I hope you’re enjoying this insight in to my time with Urinetown, I’m going to try and get some of the others to write up something for the choreography night’s I’m not required and I'll let you know when tickets finally go on sale.

I have to say although I am really enjoying this show and the rehearsal process especially Chris’ vocal warm up’s (“c’mon everybody do a big HAH now a big HA HA”), my favourite part is my drives home with Amanda who is playing Officer Barrell. I’m educating her on the joys of music that flies under the radar, some of it’s also just from before our time so that’s understandable that it’s not common knowledge. I’ve managed to get her in to Rumer who is basically the new Karen Carpenter and before you raise up a finger and say ‘Helllllllllll No!’ I’ve attached a video below for you to listen to, I’m a HUGE Carpenters fan so for me to compare them and make that statement is a big deal. Other’s I’m introducing her to is Missy Higgins, Bread, Chicago, Anne Murray, Badfinger and basically anything Folk, Pop, Rock in the 70’s which seems to be my favourite era at the moment.