From
the Green Room:
We're open! 'S Wonderful is thrilling audiences at the Jaeb Theater in the Straz Performing Arts Center every night! But it didn't happen without it's fair share of challenges. Our cast was struck by a stomach bug that hit every cast member and cancelled two shows (including our scheduled Opening). It was awful, but we recovered and have been having great shows since. This show is such a crowd pleaser and so much fun to do. Because we play a 300 seat cabaret venue, it's very intimate and we build a great relationship with the audience. To thank them for being a part of the show, we go into the lobby after for a “joyed it” line, where we shake hands and hear everyone tell us how much they “joyed it”. It's neat hearing little old ladies saying how they knew every song and felt like they were 20 again. Besides the show, I've been organizing postcards to send out to agencies in an effort to hopefully gain representation this summer. I have also been in touch with a few Tampa photographers to see if I can't add a couple more looks to my portfolio for print work as well. No rest for the weary!!
From Outside the Green Room:
I'm glad we're open so now I can start to live a “normal” life again. I love my cast and we've been having a great time hanging out. Chris (Harold in the show) and I spent some time working together to write a song which turned out to be really good. I've also been playing with my new Canon T3i to see if I can create a music video for some of my other songs. I'm really interested in photography and cinematography, so this is a good way to play and learn more about both. I will definitely be looking into classes when I'm back in NYC. Other than that, I've seen a couple movies and was able to see my good friend and fellow Musical Theater Arts Camp alumni Matt Hydzik in Flashdance again. He crushed it, of course... I also knew some of the crew from South Pacific, so it was great seeing them too! I was able to make a quick trip up to NYC to visit Morgana this week. She'll be down to see the show in March. It was great to be back in the city with her, but it was FREEZING! I'll be glad to go back in May when it's warmer! Lastly, I joined a gym, so I've gradually been getting back into that. Gotta get that beach body back... I live in Florida!
We're open! 'S Wonderful is thrilling audiences at the Jaeb Theater in the Straz Performing Arts Center every night! But it didn't happen without it's fair share of challenges. Our cast was struck by a stomach bug that hit every cast member and cancelled two shows (including our scheduled Opening). It was awful, but we recovered and have been having great shows since. This show is such a crowd pleaser and so much fun to do. Because we play a 300 seat cabaret venue, it's very intimate and we build a great relationship with the audience. To thank them for being a part of the show, we go into the lobby after for a “joyed it” line, where we shake hands and hear everyone tell us how much they “joyed it”. It's neat hearing little old ladies saying how they knew every song and felt like they were 20 again. Besides the show, I've been organizing postcards to send out to agencies in an effort to hopefully gain representation this summer. I have also been in touch with a few Tampa photographers to see if I can't add a couple more looks to my portfolio for print work as well. No rest for the weary!!
From Outside the Green Room:
I'm glad we're open so now I can start to live a “normal” life again. I love my cast and we've been having a great time hanging out. Chris (Harold in the show) and I spent some time working together to write a song which turned out to be really good. I've also been playing with my new Canon T3i to see if I can create a music video for some of my other songs. I'm really interested in photography and cinematography, so this is a good way to play and learn more about both. I will definitely be looking into classes when I'm back in NYC. Other than that, I've seen a couple movies and was able to see my good friend and fellow Musical Theater Arts Camp alumni Matt Hydzik in Flashdance again. He crushed it, of course... I also knew some of the crew from South Pacific, so it was great seeing them too! I was able to make a quick trip up to NYC to visit Morgana this week. She'll be down to see the show in March. It was great to be back in the city with her, but it was FREEZING! I'll be glad to go back in May when it's warmer! Lastly, I joined a gym, so I've gradually been getting back into that. Gotta get that beach body back... I live in Florida!
Lessons Learned:
This is something I learned on South Pacific, but just gained an even bigger appreciation for this past month. Understudies. In my opinion, it's the most thankless job in all of theater. When the plague hit our cast opening weekend, we turned to our understudies. Now, remember, this was still in previews. They had no rehearsals, no notice, no time to watch the show... and both of them stepped up and were ready to go on. Just the epitome of professionalism. We barely knew our own track, and they had learned all two or three of theirs. Hats off. Now, because the plague took us all out, they didn't end up going on that weekend and we had to cancel the shows, but they were ready... and that will never cease to impress me. We had our first understudy go on this past Sunday for the role of Nina and our talented understudy Kali was phenomenal!
