Thursday
Well, it's day four of my daily blogging experiment. It's going well, I think. So far I've had enough stuff to blather on about for three days. We'll see if today's any different.
In grade twelve I helped out a friend who asked me to help him do the sound for the school's production of Working, a weird little amalgam of songs and soliloquays about the jobs that people hold, everywhere from the Paperboy to the Prostitute. It was a strange play, but the more I helped out on it, the more I learned the songs and the more it grew on me.
I began to feel like I wanted to get back into it. It's fun to work on a production, it's a special little club with its own in-jokes and language. I began to want to be part of the after parties and comaraderie again. I decided that I would try out for next year's production, whatever that was going to be.
Well, it turned out to be nothing, and a whole lot of it. Our drama teacher/director had decided to put together a bunch of stuff from a whole slew of musical plays and call it On Broadway. Man, that was the worst musical play idea since Cop Rock. It was just a bunch of snippits of songs and monologues from all over the place pasted together to form a two and a half hour train wreck (well, the first night was that long, the next night he cut a bunch of stuff - but our poor loved ones on that first night).
I had a solo, a song from Oklahoma, "I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say No", which is the song I happened to audition with a capella. The director said, "great! That's in the show!" and never bothered to get anyone to accompany me. "No, no, you're fine" he said. So it was the only a capella song in the whole freakin' thing (apparently I could say no to a pianist), and it stood out like a sore thumb. I had that familiar feeling of mortification, but luckily I had padded the audience with different friends and relatives each night so that they could tell me that I didn't suck as horribly as I must have.
Man, I was so pissed, though. Other schools were doing stuff like Little Shop of Horrors or The Sound of Music, something fun that had a script and acts and stuff. But noooo, we had to do little bits from Godspell, West Side Story, On Broadway, Cabaret etc. and monologues from various other plays... just enough of each to make the audience wish we'd have stuck with any one of those just so they didn't get whiplash from trying to follow it. Oh, and he threw bits of monologues from movies in there, too. And other little things that didn't make much sense, either. Like...
Oh, no. Oh, man I just remembered something that I probably blocked out on purpose. Oh, ick! The shame, the horror. The director was also my drama teacher and one of our assignments in that class was to lip sync and act out a song. It was a lame assignment, but I guess it's not too hard for highschool students to do, what with all the videos they watch. But oh, man, that's right. He put my horrible miming lip sync thing in the "play". What has that got to do with being on Broadway? Oh, no, no, no, no... I think it might have been a Lisa Lisa and The Cult Jam song, too. Why would he do that? Why??
(Great, now I'm going to need therapy to get rid of that memory again. Thanks so bloody much, Blogger!)
Anyway. Even though the monstrosity we put on has obviously caused serious psychological damage to me and probably others, it was still fun to do and rehearse. The wrap party was fun and at least I wasn't alone on the sinking ship. We had a good time making fun of our director (one of my favourite teachers, but still, c'mon) and making fun of our own material. And thankfully, only moms and dads ever saw the productions so I didn't get too many slut jokes about my solo from other students.
Nevertheless, that was the last play I ever did. I graduated that year, took a year off from school, then came university. I didn't have the time or the inclination to be part of those productions (like I've said before, the people who take it too seriously get on my nerves something awful, and in University it's all people grooming to do it professionally).
Still, whenever I go to a live production I get that same feeling again, that feeling of excitement and nervousness and fun. And I think that's maybe why I like musicals so much, not because I believe they could ever happen (who breaks out into song while hanging out with their tough 'hood gang?), but because I know how much fun they are to do. Funny that I haven't done anything like that, though, in fifteen years or so, eh? Well, I've been a stage manager, but nothing actually on stage.
Hm... which reminds me. I've got one day left to fill and I've never done anything else in the theatre. Oh, well, I've done something on video in the last couple of years. That's probably the last kinda "in front of people" thing I've done ever. And at least that had a script. Yeah, maybe I'll write about that. Okay, see ya tomorrow!
outro
Dun. Dun. Da da da. Dun dun.
Dun. Dun. Da da da. Dun dun.
"They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway..."
Well, it's day four of my daily blogging experiment. It's going well, I think. So far I've had enough stuff to blather on about for three days. We'll see if today's any different.
In grade twelve I helped out a friend who asked me to help him do the sound for the school's production of Working, a weird little amalgam of songs and soliloquays about the jobs that people hold, everywhere from the Paperboy to the Prostitute. It was a strange play, but the more I helped out on it, the more I learned the songs and the more it grew on me.
I began to feel like I wanted to get back into it. It's fun to work on a production, it's a special little club with its own in-jokes and language. I began to want to be part of the after parties and comaraderie again. I decided that I would try out for next year's production, whatever that was going to be.
Well, it turned out to be nothing, and a whole lot of it. Our drama teacher/director had decided to put together a bunch of stuff from a whole slew of musical plays and call it On Broadway. Man, that was the worst musical play idea since Cop Rock. It was just a bunch of snippits of songs and monologues from all over the place pasted together to form a two and a half hour train wreck (well, the first night was that long, the next night he cut a bunch of stuff - but our poor loved ones on that first night).
I had a solo, a song from Oklahoma, "I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say No", which is the song I happened to audition with a capella. The director said, "great! That's in the show!" and never bothered to get anyone to accompany me. "No, no, you're fine" he said. So it was the only a capella song in the whole freakin' thing (apparently I could say no to a pianist), and it stood out like a sore thumb. I had that familiar feeling of mortification, but luckily I had padded the audience with different friends and relatives each night so that they could tell me that I didn't suck as horribly as I must have.
Man, I was so pissed, though. Other schools were doing stuff like Little Shop of Horrors or The Sound of Music, something fun that had a script and acts and stuff. But noooo, we had to do little bits from Godspell, West Side Story, On Broadway, Cabaret etc. and monologues from various other plays... just enough of each to make the audience wish we'd have stuck with any one of those just so they didn't get whiplash from trying to follow it. Oh, and he threw bits of monologues from movies in there, too. And other little things that didn't make much sense, either. Like...
Oh, no. Oh, man I just remembered something that I probably blocked out on purpose. Oh, ick! The shame, the horror. The director was also my drama teacher and one of our assignments in that class was to lip sync and act out a song. It was a lame assignment, but I guess it's not too hard for highschool students to do, what with all the videos they watch. But oh, man, that's right. He put my horrible miming lip sync thing in the "play". What has that got to do with being on Broadway? Oh, no, no, no, no... I think it might have been a Lisa Lisa and The Cult Jam song, too. Why would he do that? Why??
(Great, now I'm going to need therapy to get rid of that memory again. Thanks so bloody much, Blogger!)
Anyway. Even though the monstrosity we put on has obviously caused serious psychological damage to me and probably others, it was still fun to do and rehearse. The wrap party was fun and at least I wasn't alone on the sinking ship. We had a good time making fun of our director (one of my favourite teachers, but still, c'mon) and making fun of our own material. And thankfully, only moms and dads ever saw the productions so I didn't get too many slut jokes about my solo from other students.
Nevertheless, that was the last play I ever did. I graduated that year, took a year off from school, then came university. I didn't have the time or the inclination to be part of those productions (like I've said before, the people who take it too seriously get on my nerves something awful, and in University it's all people grooming to do it professionally).
Still, whenever I go to a live production I get that same feeling again, that feeling of excitement and nervousness and fun. And I think that's maybe why I like musicals so much, not because I believe they could ever happen (who breaks out into song while hanging out with their tough 'hood gang?), but because I know how much fun they are to do. Funny that I haven't done anything like that, though, in fifteen years or so, eh? Well, I've been a stage manager, but nothing actually on stage.
Hm... which reminds me. I've got one day left to fill and I've never done anything else in the theatre. Oh, well, I've done something on video in the last couple of years. That's probably the last kinda "in front of people" thing I've done ever. And at least that had a script. Yeah, maybe I'll write about that. Okay, see ya tomorrow!
outro
Dun. Dun. Da da da. Dun dun.
Dun. Dun. Da da da. Dun dun.
"They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway..."
posted by Alanis at
7:45 AM
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