No Refunds This Is Urinetown

Just my luck, I’ve managed to get through the whole of winter without being sick, not one slight cold or sore throat, the odd sore stomach but nothing major and then my first week of rehearsals I’ve lost my voice, I'm extremely lethargic and I have a cold too :S I finally decided after 2 weeks of not getting better that I might as well go to the doctor and find out what’s wrong with me and it’s a good thing I did because I have bronchitis. So first day was a slight blur, I came in to the Spotlight Theater full of nerves due to not being good with new people, I’m one of those people who has every intention of introducing themselves with 100% confidence but as soon as I get in there I become completely shy again so so far not so good, I’m also dreading any type of singing due to my voice just coming back that morning and my singing voice not yet recovered. We start off with the usual, introductions from the President, Director, Producer, Musical Director & Choreographer plus the tour around the theatre, the one thing I really like about the spotlight theatre is how cosy it is, I mean sure some people would prefer something bigger but this brings me back to my days with the Riverlea Theatre in Hamilton where the theatre was a lot smaller but the show’s always had 100% more heart and soul in them than any other ones performed at bigger venues where heart & soul was replaced with pyrotechnics and too much choreography. Wh then quickly introduced ourselves and started learning the song ‘I See A River’ which is one of Hope’s amazing numbers where she has to channel her inner diva, something I know Chanelle can easily do, the sound we're making in our first rehearsal is great and it's definitely getting anxious as to what the next 2 months have in store for us.

Kathryn Holtkamp sings "I See A River" from the College of Sante Fe (I chose this because the full version gives the ending away)

Tuesday's rehearsal was our vocal rehearsal for 'Urinetown' which is a clever little number that'll let the audience know what they're in for for the next 1 and 45mins plus, my favourite line being "You're at Urinetown! Your ticket should say Urinetown! No refunds this is Urinetown! We'll keep that dough!", this is what I love about this show, it breaks the 4th wall so many times which helps engage the audience. 'It's A Privilege To Pee' came next which is a scene I'm in but most of it is sunga at me and my Pa (who hasn't been cast yet) but after our Sunday rehearsals I have to say that Sharon Hewlett has an AMAZING voice and you're really in for a treat with the character of Ms Pennywise, I can already tell how perfect she will be for this role.

It's a Privilege To Pee

Thursday we had Chris our MD away so instead of a vocal rehearsal we decided to have a full read through of the script which really helped everyone understand the show more and it also gave us a first look at the direction people were heading to in regards to their characters including myself who at the time hadn’t fully decided what kind of American accent I was going to pull out but I think I’m happy with how it sounded and it’ll certainly be a work in progress once I get some time with Adey. Sunday was full of more vocal rehearsals mostly going through what we’ve learned to far and polishing them as well as a ‘The Cop Song’ which I missed as I’m not in that number.

All in all Urinetown rehearsals are off to a great start, it’s only a cast of about 16 people so we have a big responsibility to get our parts right and sounding good since there’s only a few people for each singing part but I think we’re definitely getting there. This week comes to some of my solo songs ‘Look At The Sky’ & ‘Run Freedom Run’, it’s always nerve wracking singing for the first time in front of people you don’t know so once that’s over it’ll be a lot easier, I’m also hoping my voice gets back to normal as soon as possible because they’re both very big songs for my character and I’d like to have them done and dusted sooner rather than later.