Epiiiic

Just spent about four hours with Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth and Hiyao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle on in the background. I stayed in after an invigorating Friday night performance of La Boheme (must remember to take all this stage makeup off!) just so I could reorganize my music for Broadway auditions.

It made for a really exciting evening - for me, at least. I just learned "Zero to Hero" from Disney's Hercules, which I am SUPER into. I mean, how can you not love something that starts with spoken lyrics like "He was soooo hot, steam looked cool."

'Twas quite the hack job I had to do to get a cut of music that I liked (fyi, typically one can only sing 16 or 32 bars in an audition room, which is equivalent to about two pages of music) from the eight pages of "Zero." Sorry, Mr. Menken!! After all the effort, I decided I may as well add some random new favorites to my binder as well: "Make You Feel My Love," by Adele, "I Want the Good Times Back" from Little Mermaid (on Broadway, this song's not in the cartoon), "Not for the Life of Me" from Thoroughly Modern Millie, and "Show Off" from Drowsy Chaperone.

The showbiz among you will recognize there's a wee bit of Sutton Foster evolution in music going on in my new songs. To my immense surprise, my vocal teacher thinks I'm kind of like Ms. Foster in terms of type (physical look and voice quality) as well as personality... so I should have some of her standard songs on hand. It's sweet of my music teacher to say such a thing (even though it's so not true - except maybe Sutton & I share some quirkiness in common). .... Still, wouldn't it be wonderful to have a skill set, a pair of legs, and a career not unlike hers!?

That said, it's crazy how much effort and tenacity a serious Broadway dancer/singer/actress should put in to keep his or her auditioning preparation in top form. For my "book" (that's what we call our immense binders of sheet music) alone, I have to keep several songs that are well prepared (with good musicality + specific acting choices), not to mention that the songs must be well suited to the "type" I portray.

*** "Type" is a weird thing to explain... it's basically the way that other people see you when you enter a room, so your personality and often your body type have a lot to do with it (e.g. I give off more of a chorus girl or quirky character actress/singer vibe than that of a leading lady, a matronly person, or say, a nun). Moreover, it's an increasingly difficult task to figure out what music best shows your strengths when the "type" that casting directors see in you is in flux. ***

Such is the case with me... apparently I give off "quirky, fun" vibes, but I'm told I am moving away from the "cute" and into the more "grown up" realm. God help me if another production assistant asks me if I'm grown up enough for my age range to be 28-35, though. I think I might pop a blood vessel somewhere in the vicinity of my scarcely existent smile lines!! (Just kidding, that's my dancer humor, I know I'm not "old."Actually, lately, I've been realizing just how young I am and how much about the world I have left to learn).

The performing arts industry is so interesting when it comes to age, look, and character flexibility. I like to think that I can understand and therefore portray many different types of people, so I make effort not to pigeon-hole myself into one category. Yet my personality, without my permission, seems to have a mind of it's own!  I'm lucky to benefit from great teachers and coaches like Bettina Sheppard at Broadway Dance Center, and Bryan Wade, who both help me find material that works for me. Can't wait to try some of these new songs out on the Wicked and Mame auditions this coming week!

Hugs and Love (and a post Turkey day spin class in seven hours... eek!)

A Broadway Baby