Monday, October 18, 2010

Show Report: Alice in Wonderland, The Rock Musical

Just now, did you have the same thought I once did? That thought being, A Rock musical? Seriously? But you know what, it actually turned out ok.

I'm not gonna lie... I was kinda scared there. Until opening night, we had not had a full runthrough with all cast members present. Ever. We had not done a runthrough with all props or sets... in fact, we'd never even done a runthrough on the stage. THAT'S how unprepared we were.

It all came together, though. Opening night, nerves saw us through all the awkwardness of learning how to handle the props/sets/everything, and after that it was smoother just because we'd done it once. Closing night was fantastic... one of my best theater experiences ever. The show was amazing, my performance felt great, and I  liked everyone in the cast. Except one person, but even that night I was kind of ok towards her. So basically, if every night had been like that one, I could have done it for a month straight.

Two things. I want to mention the girl I hated, not to trash talk her personally, but mostly to complain about unprofessional behavior. Y'all. If you are ever in a play, COME TO REHEARSAL. Even if you're only in like three scenes and only sing one song, come. Do NOT skip just because, do NOT come at 6:30 on opening night (I don't care if you're in another show and are running late because of rehearsals for it. Opening night is more important). Do NOT tell everyone in the cast to calm down at the end of a long hellish rehearsal that you only came to the last five minutes of. (At that point, I said something cutting to her, and four people thanked me afterwards.) Do NOT blab in the dressing room about how little you care that you showed up late for the performance. And do NOT rely on your friendship with the director to get away with all of this. Because even if you're super talented, it a)drags down the morale of the rest of the cast and b)reduces your chances of getting cast in another show. And that's all I have to say about that.

The other thing I wanted to mention is my favorite line flub of the show. At the last minute, the director added a line for Tweedle Dee, when several characters are sitting around talking about how they don't want to go to the Queen of Hearts' croquet match. He says, "Do you know how long it's been since I've been on a date with a woman? Held her hand, nibbled on her ear, and heard her sweet voice whisper the words, 'Call me again and I'll call the police!'?" Turns to the audience. "You know it's happened to you!" Pretty awesome in its own right, ok. But on closing night, he said, "... heard her whisper, 'Call the police... (3 second pause while he panics)... and I'll ... call you.' " Y'all, this kid is 12. It was priceless. When the director, who happens to be his older brother, heard, he totally cracked up. As did we all. :)

By the way, I was the Cheshire Cat. That's right; J.A. finally gave me that big part he promised me! And you know what? I was awesome. :)

1 comment:

  1. Wish I could have seen it! I heard it was great, and after all I did like all of you in Fiddler. But alas I had my own show and, like you mentioned about professionalism, could not miss even a single day.

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