A Bean Can Begin an Adventure

I had my audition today (Saturday, August 29). I'm really not sure what to think. "Still Hurting" went wonderfully. I was really proud of it. "The Trolley Song" was not as good. However, since I memorized it on Friday night and put it with the accompaniment on Saturday morning, I think it went okay.

Paul said to check the board on Tuesday for the Callback list. So basically I have two whole days to sit and obsess.  I'm trying to tell myself that the important part is that I actually had the courage to go in and audition at all, but let's be real. Everybody who auditioned did so because they want a part (except maybe a few scholarship kids) and there's only about 18 parts. If I get any part, I will be happy with it...I guess.

Seriously though, I just want to be in another production. I haven't been in anything in over a year. Not since "The Language Archive."

It's interesting to me how much my voice has changed since I was in high school. I used to sing soprano, and now my voice has dropped to mezzo-soprano, if not all the way to alto.

First Midnight

The first step to staging a show is always casting. For the actors, this means preparing an audition. In my case, Paul (the director) wants us to have two musical selections prepared--one up-tempo and one ballad. We only have to sing 16-24 bars, which is about one verse OR one chorus. Approximately.

I had a much easier time settling on my ballad. I chose to sing "Still Hurting" from The Last Five Years. It's a really moving piece sung by Cathy (the female protagonist) to/about her husband, Jamie, of five years, who has just left her.

Jamie is over and Jamie is gone/ Jamie's decided it's time to move on/ Jamie has new dreams he's building upon/ And I'm still hurting

Jamie arrived at the end of the line/ Jamie's convinced that the problems are mine/ Jamie is probably feeling just fine/ And I'm still hurting

The full song is absolutely gorgeous. It's heartbreaking, especially when it is well performed. As a bonus, Anna Kendrick plays Cathy in the 2014 film of the same title. Watch her full performance if you want to cry.

I'm the first to admit that I'm better at singing ballads than upbeat. In my opinion, it's a lot easier to make a great performance by singing something that really tugs on the heart strings.  Upbeat songs, while they can definitely pull on your emotions, tend to be more for fun than for making a dramatic statement. Please understand that I am not saying that ballads are the only songs worth singing or listening to, I just mean that for me it is easier to sell my performance with a ballad.

Not surprisingly, my upbeat song took a lot longer for me to choose. For various reasons, I switched my choice several times. I finally settled on "The Trolley Song" from Meet Me in St. Louis. In contrast to "Still Hurting," "The Trolley Song" is about falling in love for the first time.

With my starched white collar/ And my high top shoes/ And my hair piled high upon my head/ I went to lose a jolly/ Hour on the trolley/ And lost my heart instead

With his light brown derby/ And his bright green tie/ He was quite the handsomest of men/ I started to yen/ So I counted to ten/ And I counted to ten again

The song was originally sung by Judy Garland. (Yes, she did more than just The Wizard of Oz.) Her performance is hard to match, but wonderful to watch.

You May Know What You Want

Basically Into the Woods is a huge retelling of a bunch of fairy tales all twisted up together. All the stories take place in one magical forest, and there's only two adulterous princes and one cursed witch for all of the characters to share. Cinderella, Jack, Red Ridinghood, and Rapunzel all have something that the witch needs to reverse the curse her mother put on her, so she sends The Baker off in search of them in return for lifting the curse she put on his family for stealing the beans that caused her curse in the first place.

Act One ends pretty much with the Happily Ever Afters that the Grimm Brothers left us with.  Jack and his mother have plenty of money from the gold-egg-laying-goose that he stole from the giants, Cinderella and Rapunzel have their respective princes, the Baker has a baby, and the witch is pretty again (think Tangled).

Sondheim's special twist really comes into play in Act Two.  Apparently Happily Ever After actually only lasts for like, a week.  Then the money isn't enough, the Prince loses interest, the baby is a loud smelly pain in the butt, marriage is boring, and giants come down for revenge.  Oh and everybody dies, except like five characters.

The whole show is really just making a point about greed being part of human nature. Everybody gets exactly what they wished for, but then its not enough. To top it off, when everything blows up in their face, nobody wants to admit that they screwed up so they go in circles playing the blame game (literally there's an entire song about it).

If you want specifics, check out wikipedia.org. There's literally a summary that's like four pages long.

Even better, check out the original Broadway cast production.. It runs about two and a half hours but it is definitely worth a watch. Below is a slideshow featuring the main characters of the production.

I Wish...to Welcome You

Hey guys! Welcome to Just a Moment: Into the Woods. My name is Jamie. I'm a dual major at Washburn University in theatre and mass media with a PR emphasis. I invite you to come with me for just a moment as I journey into the woods at Washburn. We'll start with my auditions and wrap it all up with the production in November. Don't worry if I don't get cast. By the time the show opens we will all be experts on what goes into putting on a stage production, both on and off stage.

Photo courtesy of gatewaymacon.org