If you're like most people......you're only exposure to GREASE is the movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John; it was a stage show long before it was a movie. If that's the case, then you've missed out on the two best songs in the show, "Magic Changes" and "Raining on Prom Night" (which gets reduced to a background snippet in the movie).
Well, it didn't rain on prom night, but I was sick for my birthday. I had this awful chest cold that knocked me on my a$$ for over a week. The worst part about being sick is the complete lack of energy to do anything.
Despite feeling like death warmed over, I was able to enjoy my actual birthday. I celebrated with 15 of my closest friends at a local restaurant. I really did have a wonderful time. I got a lot of great gifts, but the best gift I receive is looking around the room and seeing a large chunk of the people I care for most in the world, there to celebrate me and our relationship. It's very gratifying and I always walk away feeling loved.
En Garde!So rehearsals for the show continue to go well. We had our read-through the other evening (a full read of the script). My part is HUGE...the second act is like all about PJ...well my character!
I am so excited...I know I know...there are no such thing as "small roles, just small actors." That may be true, but la la I have a big part la la!!! LOL
This is one cheesy show!! I mean SUPER CHEESE, but I like cheesy. It's fun and it'll be a lot of fun to play the character. We continue to learn our music...little side note, I don't read music...I have to learn by ear, which can be a challenges at times. I'm also not the best at harmony...if my note is not the melody, I have a hard time. So, I have to work a little extra hard.
I realize how much I've looked forward to working on a project like this. It's nice to have rehearsals a couple nights a week. It forces me to be organized about the rest of my time, eat better (less likely to sit on the couch with snacks) and it gives me something to work toward. (I'm very goal oriented).
One, singular sensation...The point of how much I missed performing was really driven home while E! and I were watching "A Chorus Line," on Broadway. ACL is a Broadway lover's show! It's classic Broadway, on par with "42nd Street," "Company" and "Anything Goes." It's not a show for everyone. It's a minimal stage, and really about the performers songs and the dancing! I love love love it, but I don't think it was E!'s favorite, even though I think he had a good time. It made me extra glad I took a role in "All 4 One."
It's also the show that fills me with longing...and a little regret.
<PJ admitting regret?> No one ever wants to admit regrets...me included. Regrets can be a healthy thing...like mistakes, they teach us lessons about what not to do, or do the next time an opportunity presents itself. My regret centers around the fact that I didn't start early enough or with as much intensity as I should have to make my life as a performer a reality. I'm thinking about this...not just because of the show, but also because of the birthday.
Don't get me wrong. I love my life. I love the people in it, the things I've accomplished, the hobbies I have and do. Sometimes...though, I feel like there was a moment when a decision (or a few) was made, either by me or someone else, and I got a different life. I feel like somehow...I'm in the wrong life and mine is elsewhere. I also feel like at some point...that will correct itself.
Bah...it's something to work on in therapy.
And I am heading back to work.
Laterz...
Comments (12)
hey! happy belated birthday! it's never too late to become a performer. look at abe vigoda. and yes, he's still alive!
LOL.... bad bad flashbacks to a truly painful staging of Grease by a split-equity company and the choreographer screaming, "MORE PELVIC THRUSTS!"
@sean808080 -
Thanks...and yeah - hence I keep plugging along.
yeah, it's one thing to be a starving actor, it's another to be a starving dramaturg. i'm not having any regrets...yet.
Happy Birthday a little late! I'm a melody person myself, growing up as a Tenor 1 in choir (I should have been a Tenor 2 but I enjoy the melody too much). But harmonies can be fun, too. Also I agree with you on the regret thing. Without regrets sometimes you can't appreciate things. So I don't regret regret. heh
I'm contagious, what can I say? =oP
Sorry you were sick on your BD, but it sounds like you had a blast with your crew!
" My part is HUGE"...lol...you size queen!
@seraphimarts - It's just NOT a pretty show on any level...but I like those 2 songs.
Another Happy Belated Birthday. And good luck with the show!
I skipped out on prom just to drink.
I have always wanted to be on stage! I still listen to my West Side Story soundtrack (it's a tape!) and I like to pretend that I am Anita.
A boy like that will kill your brother. Forget that boy and find another...