"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!

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