Yay! I got the call - I'll be at Fireside Dinner Theater in Wisconsin from February through May in their production of Music Man. It makes for a full beginning to the year:

Corinthian Club concert for Syracuse Opera (Ensemble) - Sondheim
FUUS Concert (also Syracuse Opera) - Operatic Favorites
The Three Little Pigs (Syracuse Opera Ensemble - school shows!) - a John Davies/Mozart

and then

Road Trip!

Wow - two new gigs for the local company. One, a Sondheim concert in January, and then the brand new outreach program in Februrary with John Davies directing his Three Little Pigs with 3 of my favorite local performers: Ivy Gaibel, Jimi James, and Tom Anzalone. I'm flattered that I was thought of. That's in addition to the January concert where I hope to have the chance to try one of two new arias out. It would be great to do both pieces, but one can't be greedy on a shared concert.

I also really hope this Music Man gig comes through. It's a show I love, I'm right for and know inside and out. It's also vocally friendly and I already know the choral music. They said by Christmas, but you can't help getting antsy when you have that great an experience at callbacks. It's no guarantee, I realize, but I can still hope.

Another positive audition experience. The standard 16 went pretty well, and it was really great that the AD knew the show - most people don't (or at least they don't say anything). I love my 16! I ended up with a callback, so spent the night in NYC brushing up my Irish accent (One of my favorites! I had to help Jay with it for a show he did and have loved it ever since!). Was able to pick up the vocal selections for Light in the Piazza at Colony (yay!) and tripped around midtown for part of the morning in the rain before heading to Nola early, because I knew it would be warm. I love these group callbacks - working the PickaLittle number with the other women and the 2 Harolds was a delight. I'm glad I'm not the AD and have to pick - there was a lot of talent there. I did get measured, just in case, so I was thrilled to have made it that far. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

New idea: there is a credit card sized dental floss out there. Thank heavens, because I had seeds in my teeth from the Jamba Juice side trip after Colony. Thanks to the fellow auditionee who gave me some dental floss! Have dental floss in the audition bag!

Side note: Goal for next year: pick up a couple more accents. Keep the old ones fresher.

Side note 2: Keep focused on the goal of learning roles during your down time. Learn the standards - the classics - first. Have them solidly under your belt. Know shows before going in to audition for them. (I grew up on the standards, so I need to learn the post 1970's era shows better.)

Note 3: Keep working on the weight. The costume measurements showed that I had lost some - WooHoo!

I'm beginning to love auditions - sick, I know. It's a chance to perform - totally perform, sometimes for a new audience. Sharing one's passion in life is so totally amazing a priviledge. I even love the group auditions - a great chance to hear other singers - their style, their stance, their audition habits - I learn a lot.

Amahl audition - went well (need to work on total focus, though - it was weird trying to come out of that aria without the "Thief!" interruption!). Didn't get it - either due to what I need to work on, or that they simply were looking for someone else. It happens - just because someone doesn't offer you the contract doesn't mean that they don't like you. They just want mustard on their sandwich instead of mayo.

Ok - so I need to catch up on posting, but here's a challenge I've been thrown, and I want to remember it. More AW posting to catch up on later tomorrow. Many thanks to my fellow singers on the Vocalist mailing list through Yahoo!Groups for this challenge.

The challenge is to learn a new aria, art song, or oratorio piece in
two weeks. Since this is a challenge and since I wanted to shut my
internal critic up before it starts telling me two weeks isn't
enough to perfect a song. *YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT*. This
challenge isn't about getting the music perfect. The music doesn't
even have to be memorized. What I'm trying to do is to carve out a
niche of time for musical exploration.

Much like clothes, some of the pieces you work on will fit and
you'll decide to wear. Some you'll just try on and put back on the
shelf. But each piece you decide to explore has to be worked on for
two weeks.

After a year, you will have explored about 26 new pieces of music.
Not too shabby an accomplishment in my book.

OR this one:

Learn a major role (music and words memorised) in the 3-act opera of your choice in 2 weeks.

Think it can't be done? Guess again. Just ask Placido Domingo.

Thanks, you guys, for throwing the gauntlet down. Now to get to work! I'll sleep on my decision tonight and post here in the morning.

Well, I've arrived back in Mesa after attending my grandfather's funeral back home. It was amazing - all the people that had so many wonderful things to say about my grandfather - and my grandmother too. They are inseperable in the minds of all who knew them. Pat did a beautiful job on the slide show at the end, and Kate ended up improvising one of the poems that she read - it was amazing. She has such a gift. Two of my young cousins were also impressive - especially the youngest, who asked to see the body before Grandpa was buried. Although he cried profusely, he took it better than most adults I know for someone who never really dealt with death before in his memory. He is a courageous kid who takes after his great-grandpa. I hope he can know that throughout his life. We're all going to have to work to come up to my grandparents level, I know, even though they would be the last ones to agree with that, as is evidenced by Grandma's Bible. She always felt like she needed to work on her behaviour - taming the tongue was a verse she particularly marked as "Focus on this".

Life continues here. I am looking forward to getting on with things, I guess. Being back here is harder than I imagined. I just need to keep pushing forward and working hard at both the craft and what God would want me to do personally.

I had a wonderful time at the show tonight - 2 of my high school teachers - Carol Jacobe and Nancy Rowe were at the show tonight. They just happened to be coming to Mesa for part of their vacation - how wild is that?! We also had a cabaret tonight - I sang Vanilla Ice Cream, and it went fairly well. There are some things I'd like to fix - namely working the new breath support into the mix. It's hard incorporating new stuff into MT repertoire at times. Anyways, Carol and Nancy had a great time, and had the best food they've had since arriving in Arizona. The show went fairly well - a few things here and there could have gone better for me (yes, I was nervous), but that's live theater for you. It keeps you on your toes, doing 62 performances of a show. I'm going to get to spend the afternoon with them on Wednesday, which will be fun, even though it's only 4 hours or so.

In talking with Mom this morning, she told me the police called. Because Grandpa was a former trustee and mayor, as well as the first Man of the Year (well, just read the July 3rd post), they wanted to give him a police escort to the cemetary. And the procession is going down the street named after my grandfather. Don't fuss, Grandpa - you've earned it.

In cleaning out my rehearsal notes, there are three things in particular that I want to remember:

1. The Illusion of the First Time
2. The 4th Wall and How to Use It
3. Buttoning Scenes or Songs

Old concepts, to be sure, but they are, nevertheless, things I want to rethink.

It's been so long since I posted any regular news - Sound of Music is keeping all of us pretty busy, but that's a good thing. I'd rather be making my living doing this than anything else in the world. I actually can't believe that I've ever done anything else - or did the other career for as long as I did. I wish I hadn't wasted so much time on something that wasn't right for me. Lesson for us all - and not just in careers. I'm learning a lot, too, which is always a plus. And a director that makes you think about and see new things in a show you've grown up with is also a major plus. I hope I can work with them again. Short post for now - more later, as we've got to get ready for this evening's performance.

WooHoo! I'll be spending June and July (ok, a bit of May too!) out in Mesa, Arizona - doing my first gig outside my general home base area! I'll be playing Sister Sophia and understudying the Mother Superior in the Sound of Music for Broadway Palm West (Prather Family Theatres). The audition was the greatest experience. I am thrilled beyond belief! The people I know that have attended shows by Prather are just thrilled for me and have been telling me how blessed I am - don't I know it! I just won the lottery! I'll chronicle my adventures here, so if you are interested, come on back! (and maybe I should change the title of my blog......)

Here's a link to the entire Prather site!

Well, I took some time today to update the web site: three pages worth, including the links page, where I somehow neglected to put the "http://" in front of almost every single link. Sigh. At least I know enought HTML to go through and add it in. Short bio and musical theater resume are also up there. Working on the long bio and opera resume are next. The headshot is up, after a fashion. I'll need to get someone to help me with that. Enough computer stuff for today - I'm going to practice!

I just learned about the passing of soprano June Bronhill, who died last week in Sidney, Australia. My favorite audition story concerns her - I sang I Know Now (the big love duet) from Robert and Elizabeth for my first professional musical theater audition, and the director turned out to be her nephew! Small world. It brought back good memories for him (even thought I didn't get cast). If you don't know her music, find a copy of Robert and Elizabeth. The Soliloquy for Elizabeth is a killer, and Ms. Bronhill is absolutely incredible.

I've adopted the idea of Cindy Sadler's theme of the year (at least she's the one I think I first heard it from). No more resolutions. My theme for 2005 is:


The Year Of The Businesswoman