Week 5 In The Life Of A Musical Theatre Fanatic
Posted on 10 November 2014
Thursday
It's half term, so for a lot of people the regular routine of life is broken. This means I have a very small Zumba class this morning. This is bad because
A. fewer people equals less money
B. No one likes playing to an empty theatre!
I read online that Wicked Sydney are running a competition to win a walk on part. They did this seven years ago in London, and obviously I entered. A friend and I hired a sports hall and trampoline and she filmed me bouncing up and down dressed as Elphaba singing "Defying Gravity" (it's on YouTube, check it out) It was great. I didn't win but they did give me some free tickets for getting to the final eight.
Off for a bit of horror experience on the trams in the evening. I'm working as an actor scaring people on Halloween tram rides in the evenings this week. It turns out that this could lead to a film role, although I'm playing a part of a crazed butcher's assistant, and I'm pretty sure my wailing and grunting aren't going to work well as an audition!
Friday
It's Halloween today and as I'm still suffering from a cold I take the morning off. Head down to the trams to get made up ready for tonight's busy scaring. I watch one of the make-up experts making some fake blood. She mixes it with honey, which makes it really sticky but also taste really nice! Weird!
One of my friends who is also doing the horror job is currently in her final year of Drama School and has just been given a lead role in their production of 'Witches Of Eastwick.' I love this show. I've seen it a few times and loved Marti Pellow in the lead role of the touring production. Marti was recently in the West End production of Evita and I love that auto correct changes his name to pillow!
Saturday
Lazy day and then another busy night at the horror tram! I will miss it when it's over. It's been real fun. Check Twitter while I'm there and notice that musical theatre has taken over the TV! Not only has Strictly got Elphaba dancing, but X-factor has the Phantom of the Opera. Hooray! World domination next.
We have a little chat between trams about it and one of the make-up experts corrects me on my pronunciation of Elphaba(!!) Any regular readers will know that not only am I a musical theatre fanatic but I'm also a mega Wicked fan. She says she has read the books and that's the way she says it. I 'Let It Go' and just explained under my breath that the name Elphaba is derived from the phonetics of the author of 'The Wizard of Oz', Frank M Baum.
Sunday
Full run of Jesus Christ Superstar today with costumes. The 'with costumes' is a little tricky as my daughter has lost half of hers in the pit that she calls her bedroom. I let her have mine so she doesn't get into trouble. Unfortunately this means I have to wear a very short skirt, with no stage shorts underneath. I'm sure I saw some wincing from some of the other cast members! I love the choreographer and the dances but I can't believe with two weeks until the show most of the chorus still don't know the words. They are doing that hermamurmerma with their mouths during most of the songs.
Still got this cough. It did give me an excuse to leave during the whipping scene. Rather than laughing till my tummy hurt I coughed until my chest hurt.
Have a little look on Twitter during the quiet bits and have a couple of lovely little chats with Ruthie Henshall (currently in Billy Elliot) and Dianne Pilkington (currently in Mamma Mia!) Have a look at my other blog for details.
Monday
Nice full Zumba class and a couple of new dances this morning.
Watched a trailer for the new 'In To The Woods' movie. It looks very exciting. As a big fan of Stephen Swartz's work I'm really looking forward to seeing it.
JCS rehearsal tonight. Judas was ill, so the director decided to try to sing his bit, but unfortunately spent most of the time sounding like his trousers were just too tight. Had to try not to get caught laughing. Hope Judas is well again for the show. He really is the best performer in it.
Tuesday
NHS heart Rehab day. It's my turn to give the health education talk today. I talk about the benefits of exercise. This has good and bad points. The good thing is that it's like a performance, which I love. The bad thing is that the clients generally don't like me afterwards when it becomes apparent that none of them are actually doing enough exercise.
Zumba in the evening and then a committee meeting for the other Amdram group I'm a member of. Most of the time in the meeting is spent discussing changing the name of the group. Lots of the clubs in the area have done this to try and attract new, younger members. They want to change the word 'Operatic' to 'Musical Theatre'. Some of the older members are resistant but I hope it will be past.
Wednesday
50+ exercise class this morning and I've started trying to encourage people to buy tickets for JCS. I'm normally really good at selling tickets but it's difficult to do a hard sell on something you don't have passion for.
It's opening night tonight for the West End production of Made In Dagenham and I enjoy reading all of the excitement. I'm excited for this one myself and it is potentially a show I might be able to talk my partner into going to because 1. Gemma Arterton is annoyingly attractive and 2. it is set in a car factory. Simple things!
By Nicky Sweetland
