Well, the journey to 42nd Street is over. Thank you for following this blog and hopefully enjoying a chance to see the process of putting on a musical. If you were one that also had the opportunity to come see the show, thank you for attending! It would not have been as much fun without you there laughing and cheering us on. Though the show is over and life is supposed to go back to normal, that has not been my experience. Reason: I went ahead and auditioned for another play the day after our closing show and have jumped into rehearsals this week already! Due to my self induced crazy rehearsal filled life, I have not been able to post the kind of final 42nd Street blog I had in mind. You know, with pictures and maybe a final video. If you're an avid blog follower (all 2 or 3 of you out there), stay tuned for pictures. I'm hoping to post a satisfactory closing 42nd Street blog soon.
Side note:
My next adventure - Little Women. I'll be playing the role of Jo March at the Driftwood Theater in Aberdeen, WA this May. Maybe I'll just keep blogging here... about my journey back to 1863!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
First weekend of shows = a success!!!

What a weekend! Our first three shows were so much fun! It was wonderful to be able to finally perform in front of an audience! And what responsive audiences they were!!! Each show was different - the crowd laughed and cheered at different parts, but that's what was so energizing. Just knowing that the audience was giving their honest reactions to what they were experiencing, whether funny or impressive, seemed to feed the cast with just the right amount of energy we needed to pull off a great show each night.
Everyone did a fantastic job. The orchestra sounded amazing - as always. No surprise there! The tappers were FULL of excitement and energy and tapped their little feet off! Everyone who delivered lines seemed to have this extra boost of energy and pizzazz. The solos sounded strong and full of life!! Sometimes it's easy to have a good show and then have a not so good show the next night, due to the performers thinking they don't have to work as hard since they did such a great job the night before. Our director warned us of this tendency and I believe it was a warning well heeded. I personally felt that each show was an offering of our best! None of the performances this weekend were exactly the same, but all of us gave it our all and as a result, I believe we had audiences that were thoroughly entertained.
Some of my favorite moments from this weekend’s shows:
- Passing by my sister and dad back stage throughout the show and whispering to each other comments like, "Great job! Nice tapping out there! They think you're so funny! The audience loves you!" What a family memory we're making - I just love that!
- Honestly, coming out to take my bow at the end and seeing people clapping for me and rising to their feet felt pretty good. I felt a great sense of accomplishment during the curtain call each night. This whole cast has worked so hard and to hear the cheers from such a large audience was such a great confirmation that all of our hard work was worth it!
- Cast parties. There were two different cast parties I was able to attend on opening night. I was up really late, but none of us seemed to mind! We all had a great time just hanging out, enjoying each other's company outside of a rehearsal setting.
Now that this first weekend is over, it's all about getting rest for next weekend. I want to be sure to stay healthy so that I am able to give 100% to the audiences we will get to perform for this coming Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. If you have not yet bought tickets for 42nd Street, I highly recommend that you click on the link above and get yourself to the Bishop Center this coming weekend!! We would love to take you on a journey to 42nd Street!!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Home Stretch
I can hardly believe that 42nd Street opens in a matter of days. All our hard work is just about to pay off with the incomparable thrill of performing in front of an audience. We're in the final stretch of rehearsals and it feels like life is flying by 100 miles a minute. I'll just touch on a few fun 42nd Street related activities I've experienced in that last few days.
Tech rehearsal - on Saturday I was one of about 15 cast members that got to hang out in the theater for 8 hours! I don't know where this particular rehearsal got its nickname but everyone calls this rehearsal, "the lottery." If you are chosen to participate then you have "won the lottery." I spent all day waiting to feel like a winner... Though it was a long (and sometimes boring) rehearsal, we got some free meals out of the deal and over all a lot of technical details were ironed out including lighting cues, scrims flying in and out, and curtains opening and closing. Overall, it was a very productive day at the theater.
Promoting the show around town - I've had the privilege of attending a few community club meetings to perform a few numbers from the show. The response has been all positive and I'm having so much fun meeting some future audience members and giving them a sneak preview of the show.
Radio fun - I was also invited to join a handful of cast members and our assistant director, Debbie Scoones to promote the show on the air! What a fun time!! I studied speech communications in college so having just a few minutes to clearly communicate and cleverly promote this show is right down my alley. A bunch of us will be on the radio again tomorrow morning!
First dress rehearsal - last night we ventured into our first of three dress rehearsals this week. Wow, suddenly this show is so different!!! Everyone's in full costume, make-up, and fun hair-dos. That alone is enough to distract me a bit, plus we now have cool lighting, full orchestra, enormous set pieces, microphones, scrims coming in and out, etc. It's taking every ounce of professionalism within me to not let these fun additions throw off my focus. It's pretty crazy how the littlest thing can get me distracted for even just a few seconds!
Last night was a lot of fun. Though it was a late night, we're all starting to get a real sense of what our hard work is accomplishing. Scene changes are getting smoother, CRAZY fast costume changes are starting to work, and with each scene we're getting that much closer to Friday's opening performance. After two months of HARD WORK, I believe we have a show, folks!!
Tech rehearsal - on Saturday I was one of about 15 cast members that got to hang out in the theater for 8 hours! I don't know where this particular rehearsal got its nickname but everyone calls this rehearsal, "the lottery." If you are chosen to participate then you have "won the lottery." I spent all day waiting to feel like a winner... Though it was a long (and sometimes boring) rehearsal, we got some free meals out of the deal and over all a lot of technical details were ironed out including lighting cues, scrims flying in and out, and curtains opening and closing. Overall, it was a very productive day at the theater.
Promoting the show around town - I've had the privilege of attending a few community club meetings to perform a few numbers from the show. The response has been all positive and I'm having so much fun meeting some future audience members and giving them a sneak preview of the show.
Radio fun - I was also invited to join a handful of cast members and our assistant director, Debbie Scoones to promote the show on the air! What a fun time!! I studied speech communications in college so having just a few minutes to clearly communicate and cleverly promote this show is right down my alley. A bunch of us will be on the radio again tomorrow morning!
First dress rehearsal - last night we ventured into our first of three dress rehearsals this week. Wow, suddenly this show is so different!!! Everyone's in full costume, make-up, and fun hair-dos. That alone is enough to distract me a bit, plus we now have cool lighting, full orchestra, enormous set pieces, microphones, scrims coming in and out, etc. It's taking every ounce of professionalism within me to not let these fun additions throw off my focus. It's pretty crazy how the littlest thing can get me distracted for even just a few seconds!
Last night was a lot of fun. Though it was a late night, we're all starting to get a real sense of what our hard work is accomplishing. Scene changes are getting smoother, CRAZY fast costume changes are starting to work, and with each scene we're getting that much closer to Friday's opening performance. After two months of HARD WORK, I believe we have a show, folks!!
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