Monday, March 22, 2010

Stardust!

I haven't made a post for a while, so I figured I would post something. I have been SO busy lately. Between my birthday a couple weekends ago, school, work and theatre. I just haven't had time to breathe much lately.

We will start with my birthday, which was absolutely FANTASTIC in every sense of the word. Everyone should enjoy their 21st birthday as much as I did. I went to New York City and spent some time with my two best friends on the face of the Earth, Kelly Colburn and Pamela Morris. I hung out with Kelly the first couple of days, and went to some of her classes at the glorious New York University where I learned a lot in just a few hours. Maybe this makes me a nerd, but I loved it. And I also got to watch her act in some of the classes, which was awesome because she's amazing and has come so far since high school (Mrs. Meers!). And then I was with my friend, Pam, for the rest of the weekend. She hooked us up with the NICEST hotel room I've ever been in (the bed was SO comfortable). And we spent all of Saturday walking around the city in the pouring rain. I went to the Museum of Modern Art, ate New York pizza, went to Ripley's Odditorium in Times Square, then to Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum right next to it, got hit on by some guy at the gelato place ("what country are you from?" followed by me saying "...really..."). We were supposed to take a train out to Brooklyn to catch a show after that, but the power was out on the ACE line, so we got stuck in Manhattan. I was pissed. We went to Ellen's Stardust Diner as a plan B and that gave me a complete attitude adjustment. I love that place, I'm going to work there at some point. Our waiter kept bringing me free drinks that I didn't ask for, so that was fun, but I think he had alterior motives (just ask Pam). The next day, we packed up our stuff and headed out to Long Island for Pam's concert that night. It was a concert for the Oceanside Concert Series. It's a series of concerts (duh) presented by Broadway pianist and all-around amazing musician Donny Jones with the goal of connecting amateur performers to performers who have been on Broadway, in National Tours, and recording studios. Act I is comprised of 6 to 8 amateur performers who each sing two songs, while Act II is where 1 or 2 professional performers sing a set of 10 or more songs. The group I saw was absolutely spectacular! There was a little girl, Rachel Krevans, who was absolutely adorable and definitely a gold-mine of talent waiting to be discovered. Andrea Arias-Martin and Stephanie Horowitz offered a lovely and fresh take on some opera classics. And of course, my friend, Pamela Morris, entertained the small crowd with "At Last" by Etta James, and "Astonishing" from the musical adaptation of Little Women. It was SO GOOD. And then the pro's took the stage. This time it was Scott Barnhardt who appeared in the Broadway revivals of Big River and Bye, Bye Birdie, and Erick Devine who appeared in Broadway's Ragtime, Seussical, Cats and Sid Caesar & Co., as well as the National Tours of Big River, Annie Get Your Gun, Grand Hotel and others. Great voice and amazing stage presence from both performers! Alas, the best weekend of my life had to come to an end, so I went home the day after. Sadface.

Upon getting home, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I had a lot of school work to do, some choreographing to do for one show, and some audition preparation to do for another show. Talk about a wake up call. The entirity of the last week has been jam packed with stuff to do! Luckily, I am all caught up and ready to turn in my final projects for the quarter. As for choreographing, if you read my previous post, you might remember that I am choreographing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for the Tantallon Community Players this spring. I put a really cutesy, fun, physical movement piece together to "Pandemonium" for the audition and was thoroughly happy with the auditioners ability and how fast they picked it up, and honestly a little surprised at how decent the piece looked when everyone was together. Yes, I am patting myself on the back. It was a very small turn out of auditioners on Saturday. However, based on the actors who did audition, the show CAN BE CASTED. That's a definite sigh of relief, because we were definitely nervous for it. I have to teach the choreography again tonight for a small group of auditioners, and then there is callbacks tomorrow. Good times. In addition to working and choreographing for ...Spelling Bee this weekend, I had auditions for A Chorus Line with a group called Wildwood Summer Theatre. I was not sure how I did after my dance audition on Saturday, but I felt pretty confident about the singing portion. Apparently, I did well enough, because I got a total of three callbacks! The roles I got called back for are Mike (which is one of my dream roles), Greg and Mark. So I went back up to Bethesda yesterday to dance and sing some more as well as to do some readings. I got there at around 2 to get warmed up and stretched out and did not end up leaving until 715. It was a long day to say the least. The combination I was taught for Mike was AMAZING. It definitely sealed my craving to BE Mike. I really hope I get that role. I sang for that role later, as well as sang and read for the roles of Greg and Mark. They also asked me to read for the role of Zach before I left, so I technically got 4 callbacks. All in all, it was a lot of fun and definitely a learning experience, and I got to meet some new people. If offered anything, I would probably take whatever they offered, but I'm REALLY REALLY holding out for Mike.

Anywho, I need to actually starting getting prepared for auditions to night and getting dinner ready for myself... sooooooooooooooo check back soon for more!


All images owned and copyrighted by Scotty Beland.

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