And so it begins...

My apologies for this long post, but I want to bring you up to date.

Thursday night after rehearsal, Lori (who plays the ex-GF Sarah) invited everyone out to hear this DJ at the Gramophone club. Only a few folks took her up on the offer, so it was just Lori, Lori’s friend from France -- I think his name was Hensley, Mary (who plays ex-GF Charlie), Jeff (who plays Rob) and myself. It was great to hang out with folks from the show because I really don’t have that much of a social life so it’s cool to get out of the house and like, talk to other people. Anyhow, there were actually two DJ’s that do a show together and they were off the chain! I danced for almost 2 straight hours. They played such an eclectic mix of material, it was never boring and I really didn’t want to leave. Plus the place had this very cool vibe, with couches and comfy chairs to just chill out and listen to the music. Also, they had these really neat drink menus that were made from album covers that they had cut in half. Jeff watched the DJ’s as they were spinning, I think he got some insight into his character. I really enjoyed the evening because I got to dance until I couldn’t dance anymore, which is really something that I wanted to do for quite a while. Life is too short not to dance through as much of it as you can. I went home about midnight with my ears full of this great mix of music.


Friday I went to work and cut out early so I could get some rest. I have been having some kind of sore throat/head cold off and on for the past few weeks, I think due to not sleeping as much as I should be. I puttered around the house and ended up staying up till 3 AM reading a new book by one of my favorite authors.

Saturday we had “cue to cue” rehearsal where we basically are there so that the lighting designer can make sure that all the lighting cues are correct and that we stand where we are supposed to when we are supposed to. I had heard that it can take a really long time, it only took a few hours and I got the chance to hang out with Aaron, Zak and Amanda. We were going to meet up at the Renaissance fair in Tower Grove Park but it was over by the time I caught up with them. We ended up at Mekong, a Vietnamese restaurant on Grand. I actually had a very bad first experience with Vietnamese food so I was thinking that this would be a good night to just have soda. But I thought, maybe it won’t be so bad, and know what? It was really good. Then we walked it off a little bit and ended up back at Aaron & Zak’s to watch MST3K shorts until my husband called me to get picked up from the gig. Once again I got to spend some quality time with some cast members, which I really appreciated.

So, today was kinda hellish. I had a very early performance (7 AM) with orchestra for a church anniversary service, and also the 2nd service at 10 AM. My ride showed up just in time for me to get to the 1 PM rehearsal. Right now we are in the middle of our "sitz probe", which is just a fancy word for "running through songs with the band". I had heard that Scott can be a little, um, high-strung when we get close to the first show, and I have to say that he lives up to the hype. We have just started on the 2nd act material and it is about 3:40. I am actually waiting for Scott’s head to explode off his shoulders and I’m sure that what I am seeing is really mild compared to what it will be. I know that we actors cannot take it personally but wow is it hard! I feel like I’m back in high school and the teacher is yelling at me for some minor infraction. I can completely empathize with him being totally stressed out at this point.

We had a little delay getting started as there were some sound issues to work out, but once Steve (our sound man) got it going, it was great! This is the first time that we have played with the full band and they are getting used to us just like we are getting used to them. But I have to say that this show is going to ROCK once we get a little more comfortable. Already today I have seen how having live mics and a live band have transformed the other actors. I knew that this would be the case for me as I am way more comfortable in front of a band with a mic anyway. But Rob (who is playing Ian) and Jeff both got this gleam in their eyes when they stepped onstage. I have a great deal of trepidation going into Hell Week because not only do we have to get used to the band in three days, but also all of our costume changes, remembering choreography, dialogue, any last minute blocking tweaks, and on top of that, have 110% energy at all times. Yikes.

I feel bad for Rob who has had to use the bathroom since before we rehearsed “Crying in the Rain”. He is such a trooper, a real pro. I would have lost it by now (or soiled myself). We have two more songs and then we are done. I intend to find some kind of drink, maybe mildly alcoholic.

(note: I stopped typing here because I had to do the finale with the rest of the cast. The rest of this post is after going out with some of the other cast members after rehearsal.)


I am so stuffed! I am off of my meal plan, big time. I had salmon (OK), but then I had fries (not OK) and now I’m eating a chocolate chip cookie at BreadCo in the Loop (not OK). I really wanted a cigar, but HSB is closed today. Charles is coming to get me soon so I am just really passing time and I just thought about how neat the Loop area really is. Just walking down the street here, there are so many different shops and foods and sounds! Right across the street from BreadCo there is some sort of drumming circle going on. There’s really no place else in town where you would get this kind of vibe. It’s just such a fun place to watch people.

I am concerned that tomorrow is going to be a rough rehearsal, it’s really on my mind. I feel a lot of pressure since we open on Thursday so everything really needs to be in place by then. My main concern is really making the costume changes in a timely fashion and really nailing my lines. I am trying not to paraphrase at all costs, but it is so easy to slip up when thinking of the 900 other things that we have to do. Not that I am bitching (well maybe a little bit, waah waahh..), this is actually a very cool experience. I just don’t want to choke. That would be bad.
My main goal for this show is to not be that actor that Scott talks about to everyone else because she’s just that awful. I don’t think I ever realized why actors are so insecure until now. When you invest so much time into a role and you make it a part of yourself, it is very difficult to expose that part of you to an unfamiliar and possibly very critical audience. Nobody wants to be the one that sucks, it’s just too painful. It’s funny that someone’s opinions about a completely fictitious character could actually damage one’s psyche.

I am really trying to make these characters real, not just some caricature and I am feeling a fair amount of anxiety about how they will be received. It’s hard for me to really differentiate Jackie from Liz because to a certain extent, Jackie is really a construct of Rob’s and not based on a real person but rather created for Rob’s own devices. Is there a possibility that her aggressive words and attitude towards Rob are rooted in Liz’s character? I mean, “Number 5 With a Bullet” occurs after he has been reamed by Liz. As his BFF she is his truth-speaker and definitely has a strong impact on his thought processes. I only have one real scene to define Jackie and today I really tried to experiment with giving her more of an edge. Scott has been asking for us to make our GF’s more psychologically terrifying, so I am ramping up the bully factor. We’ll see how this develops in the next few days.

Since I have really been very verbose in this post (nice alliteration and rhyme, yes?) I probably will be short and sweet for the next few days since Hell Week begins tomorrow. Thanks for reading, though this is probably better for me than it is for you! Buona notte for now.