These days, theatre has become an obsession. In high school and college, theatre was an important part of my journey to adulthood. The last year has been a sort of homecoming. I’ve written about this previously on my blog. These days I take great delight in imagining a future when live performance is a part of my regular routine. During callbacks for Legally Blonde, Katie Hahn, the director of the show, apologized to all of the participants for all of the time we were sitting around at the Paramount waiting for our audition. Apologize?!! I was grateful for the opportunity to sit there, to listen to other performers and to perform myself. When I’m around theatre folks, I feel like I’m around “my people,” so to speak. When I attend a theatre performance, I can’t help but root for the performers on stage. To see an actor nail a scene, to see a song performed so well that it sends chills down the spine… these are moments I relish.
We are finally in rehearsals for Legally Blonde! We had our table read two weeks ago as an entire cast. Waiting for the first rehearsal was almost like waiting for Christmas. It is so exciting to get to be around other theatre folks who know the joy of performing on stage. I already have some relationships with several of the performers who performed in Sweeney Todd, but most of the cast are new to the Paramount stage, and the whole cast skews much younger than last year. The majority of the cast consists of college students from our three local universities, most of them theatre majors.
My summer rhythm for this show is quite different from last year. Last year, practice was an every-evening ritual. Since our table read two weeks ago, I’ve had just two evening rehearsals. Callahan is an important character, but he isn’t on stage half as much as many of the other named characters. That said, Callahan has one of the best songs in the show, “Blood in the Water.” I’ve got the lyrics and music down pat and am so looking forward to staging the song next week. Being around these young actors is such a delight.
Outside of rehearsing for the summer show, my Spring semester has concluded, giving me more time to spend working on music. The last six weeks has been very frustrating. I contracted a minor case of Covid in early April. The illness left me with a lingering cough and chest congestion that has dramatically impacted my voice all these weeks. Normally I can’t wait to get into the practice room, but over the last several weeks the thought of practicing was something I found frustrating and dreadful. I finally went to the clinic to get medication two weeks ago, and I am so pleased that I am almost fully recovered, finally. Outside of the vocal drills I’m employing to work on the head-chest voice mix that I’m wanting to develop, a lot of my practice these days has me working on some Broadway tunes that I’d love to perform some day. Here’s a partial list of songs currently on my Broadway karaoke playlist:
- “Finishing the Hat” (Sunday in the Park with George)
- “How Can I Call This Home?” (Parade)
- “What Can You Lose?” (Dick Tracy–such a wonderful Sondheim tune!)
- “Bring Him Home” (Les Miserables)
- “Fight the Dragons” (Big Fish)
- “Anthem” (Chess)
- “Why God, Why? (Miss Saigon)
My pop acapella group, Backbeat, concluded its season two weeks ago. As part of our concert I surprised my daughter by performing a solo dedicated to her in honor of her college graduation, a cover of Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Cinderella”. My voice was not at 100%, but I’m still pleased with how the song was received. More to come! Be certain to snag your tickets to Legally Blonde this summer!