Acting

When You Just Want to Sing

Theatre

After such a long hiatus from theatre, I couldn’t wait to get back into it with Our Miss Brooks, but what I really wanted to do was another musical. My mom also wanted to do a musical and she had decided to audition for Fiddler on the Roof at Westminster Community Playhouse. Unpopular opinion: I’m not a huge fan of the show. I don’t hate it, but it’s far from one of my favorites; however, I really wanted to do another show with my mom so I figured I’d go audition too.

Naturally, wanting to do a musical, I really wanted to sing. I wanted to play either Hodel, so I could sing, or Chava, for the really good acting scene. I’m a pretty good singer, but I’m a really strong actor so I tend to get the good acting parts, which is fine by me. However, I got neither of the parts I wanted and was cast as Tzeitel, the non-singing part. Since I really only auditioned to do a musical and work with my mom, I figured I’d just do it for the experience.

I wasn’t really surprised to be cast as the oldest daughter because I was so obviously the oldest girl auditioning for one of the daughters. The original girl cast as Hodel was 17, so that made sense, and I was certain that Emily (Chava) was 16 when I first saw her. Cue me feeling really old just as I was approaching yet another birthday.

The rehearsal process was challenging. We had no budget for the show so many cast members helped the director to make or alter costumes. With such a huge cast and various conflicts, we didn’t even have a full rehearsal with the entire cast until the Tuesday before we opened.

While the process was tedious and stressful, the final product was amazing. We received nothing but rave reviews about the performance and I hope we were all happy with the result. I feel particularly blessed because I made some truly amazing friends during this production and I want to keep them in my life forever. I also had the pleasure of working with some long-time friends who I had never had the opportunity to work with before.

Every experience has its ups and downs, including, but not limited to, a castmate who made many, including myself, uncomfortable and scared a few. I definitely learned a lesson about working with different types of people and how to work through situations that are entirely out of your control. Thankfully, I bonded right away with all the sisters and a few others so I had a wonderful support system backstage through it all.

Overall, it was a very special experience that I will always treasure. (Although, I’ll be perfectly happy to never have to listen to “Matchmaker” ever again.) Let me know about your most memorable theatre experience in the comments!

Any Dream Will Do

Acting, Theatre

I’ve had a conversation with almost every performer I’ve ever worked with about dream shows and/or dream roles. We all have them, no matter how out there or unrealistic they may be. I, for one, know all about the unrealistic as most of my real dream roles are men’s roles (hello, Ren in Footloose and Phoebus in Hunchback of Notre Dame). But, along with those that we know will probably never happen, there are also a few that we just can never stop dreaming about.

These roles and shows have been prominent in my mind lately because I’ve either seen or done some of my dream shows over the last year. One of my dream roles which I may never be able to play is Peron’s Mistress in Evita. I absolutely love the show and the music and I’m so happy that I was able to do the show last year as part of the singing ensemble, but playing Peron’s Mistress has always been a dream role of mine. Previously, it seemed like it could still be in reach, but at 28, I’m really at the edge of being too old, so maybe it’ll stay a dream forever. However, her song is a great audition song that I love to use, so maybe I’ll just continue to live out that dream in auditions.

I have other dream roles such as Joanna and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde, Lucy in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, and Kate (Lilli) in Kiss Me, Kate and The Taming of the Shrew, just to name a few. I’ve also been very lucky to actually get to play two dream roles so far, Sorel in Hayfever and Rhoda in The Bad Seed. I’ve played many different roles that I’ve loved and enjoyed, and also definitely played some roles that were not my favorite, but there’s just something about fulfilling those dreams that helps keep you going for future shows and allows you to continue to dream.

Beyond just dream roles, there are also so many dream shows that I just want to be a part of. While I would love to play Sally in Cabaret, just being able to play one of the Kit Kat Girls would be a dream come true. I love Les Misérables, and while I definitely connect with certain characters over others, I would be so happy to just be part of that show in any role. Other dream shows for me would be Hunchback of Notre Dame, Rent, 42nd Street, and Wicked, just to list the first few that come to mind. I’ve also been amazingly lucky to already have done one of my dream shows last year, Titanic: The Musical, and I will happily do that show over and over because I just love the music so much (top 3 favorite score, check it out!).

I find that dream roles and dream shows are interesting because they don’t always overlap. Just because you have a dream role from a certain show doesn’t mean you dream of actually doing that show. Often, I’ve found that it can be an all-or-nothing situation with your dream role because if you don’t get that role, it’s not worth doing the show. I can understand this on a few levels because I’ve experienced it myself. If you audition for your dream role and don’t get it, accepting another role in that show can be challenging. I think that it can create a natural separation or judgmental barrier between yourself and the person who has the role you wanted. Even if you don’t find yourself to be a judgmental person and don’t go looking for conflict, it’s only natural when you’ve dreamed of yourself in that role to compare what you would do to what the other performer is doing and evaluate their choices.

In my opinion, it’s not always a bad thing to compare how you have interpreted a character’s actions and how someone else has. Sometimes I see other performers at auditions or performances and think that I wouldn’t have made that choice, but that it’s interesting and different, and how it really works. However, I’ve definitely also watched and focused on choices that I really didn’t think worked, but that’s the very nature of interpretation.

Regardless, these dreams give us something to look forward to and strive toward. They keep us looking forward, continuing on, and learning new things. I will continue to strive toward my dream roles and shows and some will stay dreams, but some will become reality and that makes it all worth it.

What are some of your dream roles and dream shows? Let me know in the comments!