Friday, April 4, 2008

Playing catch-up

Signing on to my blog this morning I realized I hadn't even mentioned last weekend's rehearsals or the benefit concert we put up for First United Methodist Church in Scotch Plains, NJ. I guess I got so caught up in my cupcakes and ranting against Jay Leno that I plain forgot. Though the cupcakes are long gone, I still hate Leno. No, I take that back. I don’t hate Leno - this is America for f*cksake and if you want to base your shtick on stale Brokeback jokes and homophobia - go for it. It’s a free country. What I hate is that an average talent is rewarded with big bucks and national recognition for not being very funny and for giving poor to mediocre interviews. Bitter, party of one? - right here, biyatches! And I want a window table, not the nasty one by the toilets you usually sit me at.

OK - breathe in, breathe out, think lovely thoughts. I’m fine now. Anyway, now that that is finally out of my system (doubtful), let’s move on. The benefit concert was "uneven," to put it mildly. We did raise $1300 for the church. So I guess it was at least a financial success since it definitely wasn't an artistic one. Though it didn't suck as badly as last year's Holiday concert, which could only have been made worse had we performed only in bikini briefs and covered in feces. No, wait. That might actually have been an improvement. Anyway, last weekend’s benefit concert was sort of a surprise to Trish and I since we had only found out about it the week before, after it was announced at the Easter Mass we were hired to sing at. Trish and I were under the impression that it was a "Juan and Val concert” and that we were added guests to help fill out the evening. Wrong. We were in fact given equal billing, which would have been great if this was Broadway and we had a nice four week rehearsal period and previews. Unfortunately, this was a church “cafetorium” in Jersey and we had about five hours of rehearsals and no previews. We basically rehashed old material and made up cheesy dialogue on the spot. Thinking I’d only be singing one song and a duet with Trish (I ended up singing those songs plus my Wizard of Oz medley, four ensemble numbers, a duet with Juan and accompanying most songs on piano) I foolishly decided I could brush up on my lyrics the day before. Let’s just say I took some artistic license and made some “in the moment” creative “cuts” to some of my songs without alerting the accompanist. I like to keep things fresh and spontaneous.

We’ll thankfully get a chance to redeem ourselves in two weeks when we present basically the same material, with the addition of songs by the opera company’s Young Artists, as a 50/50 benefit for LOC and All Saints Church in Scotch Plains. Keep your fingers crossed.

Rehearsals for Oklahoma! are progressing in fits and starts. It’s difficult because I think I’ve staged/choreographed a pretty great (pat myself on the back) “Kansas City” production number. Unfortunately, this makes it imperative that I top it with each progressive production number. But I’m so tired and drained that it’s difficult to continually be creative and energetic. Already I’m not too happy with “Many A New Day” and I’m getting very discouraged with the “Dream Ballet.” I’m trying to refuel my creative juices by watching a lot of dance videos and Youtube. I’m optimistic, but need some sleep. I can’t believe this week has already whizzed by.

No comments:

"I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing thana hundred people's ninth favorite thing."

Jeff Bowen, Lyrics "[Title of Show]"