Filed under: A Little Me, Good Things, On Stage, Plays/Musicals, Updates | Tags: 9 to 5, audition, cast, dolly parton, doralee, perform, rehearsal, show
You don’t know awkward until you’re talking with your company’s head honcho about if you’re going to be dressed like the “well-blossomed” Dolly Parton for a show… and then having him say, “We must have a Chamber night out to see it!”
I’ll be playing this! Guess I gotta go blonder…
Yep, that happened. And I was trying to not look down at my own chest, thinking about how I’m not sure I’ll need the padded bra the director of 9 to 5 suggested for the girls cast as Doralee (aka: Dolly Parton’s character).
I guess that’s my way of saying that I’ve been cast as Doralee in Empress Theatre’s production of 9 to 5 for the summer.
The support and excitement about being cast as Doralee is amazing! I’ve had several people say I’m perfect for it, and I definitely think I can relate to the character a lot, considering I’ve run into some similar situations as Doralee has in the past (judged because of how she looks, rumors spread that made her feel like a “bastard at the family reunion”). Let’s just say I’m super excited to step into this roll!
From the first couple of rehearsals, I can tell this will be a fun bunch of people to work with and this will be a completely different theater experience for me. There’s going to be a lot of character development (super excited for that!) and journaling apparently. I already journal, but whatever floats the director’s boat!
Another thing that’s different is that the lead roles are double cast. So that means, seven of the 14 performances, I’ll play Doralee. For the other seven, I’ll be a part of the ensemble and sing Backup Barbie in Backwoods Barbie (PS: That song is one of my favorites!). Should be a jolly good time, but if you want to get tickets… talk to me first so you get them for a night that I’m Doralee (as you should want to do!).
Do yourself a favor and go find the soundtrack on Spotify. The music for 9 to 5 is pretty much awesome… I don’t think people give Dolly Parton enough credit. The woman is a genius.
Under this hair is a brain, not that you’d ever care.
And you only see tits, but get this, there’s a heart under there.
Yep, pretty much. :)
Filed under: A Little Me, Music, On Stage, Plays/Musicals, Try | Tags: 9 to 5, addiction, audition, legally blonde, perform, performaholic, performer, rent
So… you know how I was going to take a break from doing a show for a while so I could work on some professional development stuff?
That promise may not last long.
Reason being: three shows that I would love to be in and have some of my dream roles in have auditions coming up in the next couple of weeks. The shows?
- RENT – Maureen is a dream role of mine. Even ensemble would be awesome in this show though. If all else fails, I want this one.
- 9 to 5 – Doralee has my name written all over it. Blonde-check. Country girl-check. Double D’s-check, check.
- Legally Blonde – Do I really need to elaborate again?
9 to 5 auditions up first on April 30/May 1. RENT on May 5. And Legally Blonde on May 20. So technically if one of the first two doesn’t work out, I can hope for Legally Blonde. And if none of them work out, I may fall into a hysteric depression and think that I’m not good enough.
Haha, that won’t happen. The hysteric depression might, but not the negative thoughts part. But it would still be disappointing. If I don’t get cast in RENT I may do the lip thing. You know… that lip thing.
But gah… why must I have all these things that I want to do and then a show I want to be in comes up and I’m just like, “I want it all!” It’s a problem and I have a feeling I have major ADD.
I want to be in all the shows all the time but I simply haven’t the time! (Alice in Wonderland, anyone?)
Well, we shall see what will unfold after I actually audition for the shows. Wish me luck!
Hello, my name is Mikael and I’m a performaholic. This meeting is now adjourned.
Filed under: A Little Me, Dork Stamp, Good Things, Movies!, RaNdOm, Remembering | Tags: dinosaurs, fantasia, john williams, jurassic park, jurassic park in 3d, obsessed, obsession, soundtrack
My fascination with dinosaurs started with Fantasia.
You know animation sequence where the dinosaurs are living and being joyous? And then all that is quickly squashed in the rain with a huge meat-asaurus (they say it’s a T-rex, but based on the animation versus bone structures I’ve seen, I beg to differ–the jaw bone is completely different) coming in and eating the poor stegosaurus. Which also happens to be one of my favorite dinosaurs, but I digress.
Oh, but then it goes through the extinction of the dinosaurs where the music actually totally creeped me out for the longest time. I’ll give Stravinsky his dues–he’s a musical genius–but man. That does not sound like springtime to me. More like Halloween…
MOVING ON.
From there, Jurassic Park came out when I was five and what did I get for my sixth birthday? The VHS. Yep, we’re talking retro 90s videos. I still have it in my movie collection.
Growing up, I never really gave up on my fascination of dinosaurs. Love natural history museums but only if they have dinosaur bones. Love documentaries and TV shows about dinosaurs. Whenever there was a dinosaur project in school, I was all over it to the point where I did a whole clay layout of a maiasaura and her nest. And I totally downloaded the Jurassic Park Builder game as soon as I realized it was available just so I could have a dinosaur park!
I mean, come on! They were the first living, breathing creatures on Earth (as far as we can tell) so the fact that these magnificent beasts lived at all is amazing. And then humans sprung out of the earth 65 million years later and all we can find are bones and footprints.
God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth.
My question is how can we not be fascinated by dinosaurs?
Oh, and I used to think that mountains got their shapes from the backs of dinosaurs. Like brontosaurs or brachiosaurs. Driving to Bear Lake was always a treat because I’d be watching out the window at the Wasatch mountains and thinking, “Man, dinosaurs were huge! I wonder why no one’s dug them up out of there yet.”
Young minds–gotta love them.
Now I’m not sure if you know, but Jurassic Park recently hit the big screen again… this time in 3D. And I saw it and loved it even more than I did as a kid. It literally was like a brand new movie. Looked amazing, sounded amazing. All the above.
First off, the soundtrack is seriously one of the best parts of the movie. It’s one of the best in cinematic history (next to The Mission and Titanic). John Williams is just a magnificent genius. I’ve listened to the soundtrack probably 50 times in the past month.
And the dinosaurs look SO REAL. It’s like I really think they’re alive and I want to go to Jurassic Park and almost get eaten by raptors. Now that would be the adventure of a lifetime. And the IMAX 3D kind of helped make it seem that way.
And because it’s now 2013, I felt justified in updating my collection with the collector’s edition Bluray/DVD/virtual copy Jurassic Park trilogy. It came with an awesome hand-crafted/painted T-rex figurine. Check it out:
Now a fire has been lit under my butt for me to go buy a stupid HDMI adapter for my Macbook Pro so I can actually watch the movies in all their glory.
So I may be just a tad obsessed with dinosaurs. And Jurassic Park. And … yeah. My co-workers have noticed my insane enthusiasm for Jurassic Park and its soundtrack lately. To the point where one let me borrow her magazine since it had some inside scoop on the movies. And another started humming the Jurassic Park theme song too.
Some obsession is healthy though, right?
What’s your current obsession?
Filed under: A Little Me, Friends, Magic, Try, Updates | Tags: Goals, hobbit, new adventure, new podcast, peter dewolf, podcast
After a show, it’s usually a harsh adjustment for a performer to get back in the swing of things (aka: a life that isn’t as good as it is when involved in a show). So what did I do?
Launched myself into a new project… a podcast!
One of the best gifs ever, btw…
Technically, it’s not mine–it’s my blogger buddy Peter‘s baby. I just happened to be the first guest and the resident audio engineer for the time being.
If you want to take a listen to what Pete and I discussed in his first podcast last week, you can find all the magic here. Pretty sure that making a podcast is super fun!
The second episode is up as of this morning too! Sarah from Metamorphocity was the second guest and, though I wasn’t present, it was fun to listen to the two Canadians banter about everything from what got them into blogging, to running for Miss Canada, chicken fingers and crop circles. Tell me if you can hear their Canadian accents too.
This is not to say I’m not pursuing my new goals, I’m just adventuring into new territory, getting new experience and having a good time.
For if you can’t get off the path ahead of you to check beneath that unexpected rock, you may not ever find the treasure.
… That’s a good one. I think I’ll keep it.
Peace out!
Filed under: A Little Me, Health, Music, On Stage, Updates, Writing | Tags: baby steps, brandgasm, Goals, guitar, music, novel, patience, song, Song Writing, whole30, writing
January
Goal
- Completing the Whole30. — DONE and documented. Now eating that way about 75% of the time.
What else happened
- Auditioned for Les Miserables at Pioneer Theatre–not cast but that’s okay.
- Rehearsals for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
- Looked for a place to live and found one!
- Wrote my first freelance article for a magazine (wasn’t a goal, but it’s a step in another direction I’m tackling!).
February/March
Goal
- Edit my NaNoWriMo Novel and polish up the ending. — Got through one read-through and copyediting… nothing as far as really editing things that need to be added/changed.
What else happened
- Joseph: Rehearsals in February and performances in March.
- Moved into my new apartment.
Here’s where I need to start making adjustments.
So I have a confession. I want to do all the things! Things like:
- Start a side-business for copywriting and voice-over work.
- Finish writing and editing all of my novels so I can publish them.
- Compose and write more music for an album/EP.
All this along with being able to work out down in the fitness center at my new apartment complex, keep a sane head at work and start auditioning for shows again by May or June. Joseph just ended and girl needs a good break.
#AllTheHairspray Update: Ended up only using 2 bottles of hairspray during the course of the show. Finished the second bottle on closing night oddly enough. I need to go track down who guessed closest so I can send them a nifty giftcard!
But if there’s anything I’ve learned over the past few months is that you have to plan and that you have to take small steps to make big things possible. So I’m going to take a few “baby steps” in the next couple of months to get where I want to be.
Having a major Brandgasm between April 12 & May 31 to learn the tricks of the trade for good design/copy to make an effective business (step toward first bullet).
Learning to play guitar starting April 22 for six weeks (from Berklee College of Music, no less). Have you ever heard of Coursera? Because seriously… it’s awesome. Legit universities offering free online classes spanning hundreds of topics? Yes, please (a good step to have in pursuing third bullet)!
A reassessment of spirituality. This is more of a personal thing that I might go more into later. I’ve just been in a weird funk since this time last year, and it’s time that I address it. Gotsta figure out what I need to have a spiritual balance.
As far as music goes, my first goal that I want to do is turn Kellie Elmore’s poem “The Sweetest Thing” into an acoustic song with the piano. It’s rare that I read something and instead of reading it straight, my mind hums a melody with it… and she said I could. :)
Oh, and sleep. I’ve lacked a lot of that lately and that needs to be fixed too.
While focusing on those things, the novels will have to be put on hold unless I find a moment where I simply must work on them. Sigh.
Man, I knew I’d have to revamp my goals… but now it feels like a complete overhaul into taking baby steps. Which I will have to do again once my guitar and Brandgasm courses are done. You’d think planning baby steps wouldn’t be so daunting, but it’s a little scary to think… “I can actually do these little things… then I may actually reach that dream that I’ve always wanted to do!” A little scary, thrilling and all-together awesome.
