1. Get back in Shape 2. Start dance classes - i keep putting this off. Need to do it 3. Continue Vocal Lessons 4. Do 2 Shows this year 5. Clear up skins 6. Eat Better 7. Stop drinking pop 8. Read all my readings and plays for all my classes 9. Be more social 10. Pull up Marks - I have a B+ average at the moment. An A average would be nice 11. No writting papers at 4 in the morning. - Okay I got an A on that paper last year but it was still awful 12. Save $1000 and don't spend it 13. Pay off Visa and start anew.
Okay so it's only mid-summer for us lazy university students with our 7 1/2 months of school, but still. I'm going stir crazy. Everything is now officially finished for the summer, no more vocal lessons, no more guides. Recitals are done (more on that later) vacations are done (more later)
I really wish I had a show to rehearse to occupy my time. I'm still really sad over that fact that I couldn't audition for Urinetown. I know I know I can't complain because I was in New York, but I really wanted to do it. The good news is is that my friend Jordan (technically my brothers friend, but he's mine two) got a role in the show, he's in the ensemble and has a featured role a sone of the cops. It's so amazing to watch someone's passion for theatre grow. He was a last minute replacement for the Steward in our high schools production of Into The Woods and then this year he was cast as Kenicke in Grease.
I'll take anything at the moment. Someone give me something to audition for!!!
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On the subject of theatre, finally finished my course selections for next year, how I hate doing them. Here's my schedule for fall term:
Along with the theatre required courses: Theatrical Worlds in Transition and Ideas of the Theatre. I took two more theatre courses: Acting Shakespeare and in the winter Voice and Speech I I also have two English courses: Comics and Cartoons I & II, II is in the winter term. One Film course: Hollywood: Old and New in the winter. And finally a music course: Rock and Popular Music.
I'm a little worried that it's a little light sounding but I'm having the hardest time making courses fit to my schedule. I might me insane but I'm thinking of maybe minoring in anthropology. I can see anthropology and theatre going well together, have to talk to my parents about it. Maybe dropping the comic book class and replacing it with Visualizing Ourselves, Visualizing Others: Media, Representation and Culture
The description for the course is: This course interrogates the relationship between media and culture. It focuses on media representations in different cultural contexts in order to develop critical analytical skills for understanding the processes through which identities and social inequalities are produced, contested and transformed.
Just looking through the courses, in third year they actually have a course about the anthropology of the arts. I was a little disheartened by the anthro course I took this year but maybe it was just the type of anthro, I've always been interested in anthropology and archeology and maybe this would be a good way to tie my interests together. My parents are always on me about having a backup and a teachable, etc, etc. Maybe this will make us both happy.
----- Soo I talked about my recital earlier. I shamefully have video. I was in two numbers, my solo and a group performance.
Due to stupid plane madness I didn't get home until 2am Sunday morning when the recital was at 5pm that day. Was able to sleep until noon and then got up to get ready. I wore the same dress as my competition for my solo and wore one of the In Harmony dresses for the group.
My solo went okay. I'm still wrestling with the singing alone in front of people as myself thing. I was way better in rehearsal. I also got really scared when I saw my high school drama teacher standing in the back. I feel this overwhelming urge to prove myself to him, haven't succeeded yet.
At least I feel better about this one that I'll actually post it. I also promised I would. sooo here it is.
The song is 'Christmas Lullaby' from the Jason Robert Brown musical Songs For a New World. Please don't laugh
On the other hand the group performance when really well. All the older girls from the theatre school performed 'Maybe This Time" from Cabaret. I'm the second person to perform (Maybe this time first time..) and I sing "All the Olds are...) after the key change.
----- As for the trip? I took my friend Elora to New York City for the first time. We stayed with my uncle and ended up seeing three shows. I don't think she liked the city that much, she said there was too many people and too loud. I think she enjoyed the week though. Upset that was didn't get to see Hair, but that was my fault and I felt really bad about it. We did get to see three shows though and they were all amazing in different ways.
Though I has seen Next to Normal in October Elora hadn't and the cast had changed a bit (including an extremely interesting one that I was ecstatic about) so I was fine with seeing it again. By some box office magic we were able to get tickets in the orchestra for $40. Great seats missed one thing but that was fine. Amazing show yet again. The cast change I was excited about was one Brian d'Arcy James in the role of Dan (the dad). I've talked about him before, he is one of the most amazing talents on broadway at the moment. Love him.
He'd originated the role off-broadway but left to do Shrek the Musical before it moved to broadway. After seeing clips of him in the off-broadway production I was anxious to see him in the broadway version because of all the changes the character went through. The Broadway version is a completely different man. I was not disappointed. MY GOD he was amazing. I was stunned AND he was super nice at the stage door. (not that I've met anyone who wasn't) but in a show where the leads don't usually comes out he stayed for a good half an hour signing and talking to people.
A clip of the current cast. PLEASE, if you don't listen to the whole thing listen to the song 'I've Been' (starts at 5:05). It was one of the additions to the broadway production and adds so much to the character and Brian sings it amazingly
SLIGHT SPOILER: During 'I've Been' Dan is cleaning up after his wife tries to commit suicide (not seen, it's off stage). In a brilliant theatre magic moment; he takes a clean, white sponge, wrings it out in a bucket of clean water and cleans the floor with it (still white). He then dunks the sponge again and wrings it out but now the sponge has turned red and the water is red as well. Brilliant every time.
Brian d'Arcy James and I :)
I'll finish up talk about New York next time but here's a little something for you, two clips from the other two shows we saw.
I'd love to draw your attention to a blog written by a fantastic up and coming musical theatre performer named Matt Doyle. It's about his experiences with Bullying.
My elementary school years were horrible because of the effects of bullying. By some miracle the bullying stopped towards the end of grade 8. And thankfully never got as severe as Matt's story but it still happened. I've been called some awful things in my time, and I hope no one ever has to be called them again.
I don't really know where I'm going with this but after reading this on his blog today I just had to share his story.
1. public transit is evil. seriously 2. making up stories about the people on the bus with you is the only way to survive if your iPod dies 3. it sucks living closer to streetsville than to square one 4. mississauga transit is out to get me 5. there is no one way to learn about acting 6. it isn't all about conservatory 7. conservatory is Communist 8. I really have no idea what I'd doing 9. my one time dream of being an anthropologist/archeologist - not going to happen 10. sparknotes is my lifesaver 11. university makes you hungry all the time 12. everyone hates facs 13. I write awesome essays at 4 in the morning 14. no one can decide where I belong 15. I really need dance training 16. living at home sucks 17. it's also awesome 18. university can be lonely 19. so much food 20. I'm not really cut out for the lecture style classes 21. tutorials are really no help 22. university library fines are ridiculous - really $5 a day? 23. I love the sound and moving image library 24. Chocolate Bunnies & Pirate Cats 25. It's worth it to take production classes to have Peter McKinnon 26. Fothergill has an unhealthy obsession with Helen Mirren 27. I hate general education courses 28. Doing scenes from different plays and skits with theatre students...very different from high school 29. I miss text books and notes given to me 30. I miss exam review day :(
University's kinda like a bubble, sorry I haven't written in forever. We're nearly half way through second semester already and school will be coming to a close. Next year is already on the horizon, and it might bring some huge changes and it might not... I've decided to do what I chickened out of last year and audition for the musical theatre program at Sheridan. A lot of my friends have had this moment over the past couple of months where they realize they are in the right program at the right school....I never had that. A similar moment happened outside of the program during a showcase I did called One Song Glory '09 I held my own with people who had been doing musical theatre since they were little and were in high school and college for musical theatre, and I was fairly good at it. I thought I'd share some feedback that I got send after everything was over. You cyberspace are the first people to see this other than my family. Dan Rutzen was the musical director for our section. He was great to work with and a fantastic musician. Ashlie Corcoran was our director for my featured number (On My Way from Violet the Musical). Tamara was one of the producers of the show, who actually introduced me to the program (I knew her from working with the Guilty Ones Toronto last year) Here it is:
Dan Rutzen: Caitlin surprised me with her hard work. In a large group number, I had originally ridden her off to the back of the chorus. She absolutely proved me wrong by being fully prepared on her part, energetic in her delivery and great to work with in rehearsal. I see potential in her Soprano voice and I hope she continues training her voice.
Ashlie Corcoran: Caitlin, you’ve got a lovely quality as a performer. Thank you for all of your professionalism, imagination and energy working on “On My Way.” It was a pleasure directing you.
Tamara: Caitlin, it was great having you in the show this year! I love how much you love musical theatre - it makes me happy :) Keep up the training. Your alto voice is so beautiful and shocked me when I first heard it - so I'd suggest if you're auditioning and such, use songs that show off your alto range; but when training as Dan said, keep working on opening up your higher register. Fantastic job; please keep in touch and let me know if you have any questions/concerns, need advice, what not! Take care.
So that was nice to get. I've been trying to get a full video of the two songs I was in, but so far no luck. One of the other members of my group did post some of it, mostly her solo lines. You can hear me at two parts, 1:02 (the high person) and at 3:54 (please ignore the bum note, it was rehearsal and the person that is singing that part hadn't released that wasn't the note.
So that was crazy awesome fun.... For Christmas I got Vocal Lessons :) Musical Theatre one, not normal ones. I have my third lesson on Thursday. I really like my teacher and I think she gets my voice perfectly. She might have a bit more confidence in my abilities then I do but.... At the moment I'm working on a song called "Goodbye Little Dream, Goodbye" from Anything Goes. She's also given me the sheet music for "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret for now. I think was talked about later looking at "Unusual Way" from Nine and "People Will Say We're in Love" from Oklahoma So I think from others I've done before I'll find two contrasting songs to do.
Then there's the monologue part of the audition. Luckily a monologue is the big assignment of the acting class I'm in. We had to pick three monologues to hand in to our teacher and he will then choose one of them for us to work on. I had a hard time choosing them as I'm not the most familiar with plays, something I'm planing on fixing soon. I handed in Val's monologue from A Chorus Line, the 'Night Flight to San Francisco' monologue from Angels in America, and a monologue from a play I found called Defying Gravity The dance portion I can't really do anything about, but I think I can keep up. The last dance audition I did okay at and was able to pick up the steps.
There really was a point to this entry when i started.....but now i can't remember what it was....
I bring you.....the video/song/show I'm currently got on replay Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party. (The Andrew Lippa part is important as there are two musicals that premiered the same year and are basically the same plot. Andrew Lippa's is just better in my opinion. (Seriously wanna start a fight in a crowd of hare-core musical theatre fans? Ask which is better) I think Andrew Lippa's is better, but to be far I haven't looked into LaChiusa's as much. Premiered off-Broadway in 1999, it starred Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Brian D'arcy James, and Julia Murney. Powerhouse cast featuring future broadway staples Jennifer Cody and Steven Pasquale in the ensamble. Being back in '99 the footage isn't the best, and I do try not to post bootlegs** but it's all we have. My three favourite songs from the production: Maybe I Like It This Way/What is it About Her
Brian D'Arcy James is arguably one of the best singers on broadway at the moment if not the best. Go on, youtube him, the man's brilliant. Paired with Julia's wonderful counter melody...gold.
The Life of the Party
Idina Menzel in her prime. Before Wicked damaged her voice. Look at her she's brilliant, I kinda miss this Idina Menzel. Still, excited for her to be on Glee.
Make Me Happy *spoilers in the last 10 seconds*
How the hell can they sing that well while fighting over a gun and all that jazz? props to them...
Well that's all for now.... till next time..
** a note on bootlegs. I do try not to post or watch (though I fail at it) bootlegs that people put up on youtube of shows that are currently open on broadway or anywhere else. Those actors are working their butts of every night to preform and we should respect that, try and go see these shows. This is not to says that actors in shows that have closed didn't work very hard but that bootleg is now the only way to preserve was a kick-ass job they did, especially if they were a replacement and no official recording was ever made. That's why I don't mind posting them, actor's equity doesn't seem to have a problem with those ones either. Something that recently got my attention, because an actor had been talking about how upset they were that it was on youtube is when people post scenes from shows like Hair and Spring Awakening that have nudity in them. I've been trying to report ones on youtube that I've found like that in the past couple of days since I heard about it. That's got to be a shock going online and seeing yourself naked on youtube.
Okay so that title doesn't make any sense what so ever but whatever. I'm trying to write this now because I can't sleep, even though I'm exhausted and the episode of Angel I'm trying to watch isn't loaded yet. I've been using Angel to avoid my tons of homework. I just can't bring myself to do it. No matter how hard I try...I manage to avoid. I admit the shiny new macbook isn't helping but still.
When I look at the list of stuff I have to do for school it doesn't seem like a lot but it turns out being a lot. It doesn't help that Mondays and Tuesday I'm at school for over 12 hours including travel.
I'm going to try and get some done between classes tomorrow before I have to get downtown for the field trip my FACTS class is taking. (i hate FACTS by the way)
Here's how my classes are going at the moment.....
Mondays.... are evil. No breathing room what so ever. One class to another class to a tutorial. My acting class is way hard. It's hard to describe, all very touchy feely and what you feel and all that stuff and I just don't get it. I'm one of only two people in the class who has never taken formal acting training and I'm also one of the youngest in my class. I'm just starting to get comfortable with them and trying to be more open but it's taking a lot of time especially if we only have the class once a week. Also not allowed to wear shoes or socks, i'm not very comfortable with that and I keep them folded under me.
Origins is okay. I find ancient greek plays harder to read then Shakespeare. I'm mostly skimming through them and reading the detailed summaries I find about them and it's getting me by. That's really it about it.
Tuesdays... are less active but way longer than mondays. I have my stagecraft practical at 8:30. We rotate through wardrobe, carpentry and lighting. I got wardrobe first, tomorrow's my last class in it. I've discovered that my path doesn't lie anywhere near the costume room. I suck at sewing, whether by hand or using the machine. I can't even mix paint for a color wheel right, I was the last person to do it, it took me three, three hour classes to do a basic one.
I then have a three hour break between classes where I wish I could go home. I tried to just sit and relax under a tree but the two times I did that I got attacked by Jesus people (Have you been saved? Do you go to church? - Depends, what answer will make you go away) and now it's to cold anyway. So last week I just wandered around the campus for three hours because there never seems to be somewhere to sit down anytime I'm looking. Unless it's the fifth floor of the library which is kinda scary.
THOUGH, highlight of my week last week. I was wondering through the theatre and film section of SCOTT library (the big one) and I found all these Playbills from the 1970's (the programs on Broadway). They have the original Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and Equus just sitting there. So tempted to steel them, but I won't. I keep planing to get pictures but i forget my camera. Tomorrow.....
Then I have to sit through FACTS also known as Arts and Ideas. The most pointless course ever. Every Fine Arts student has to take it and it's annoyingly boring. I'm so glad I have my laptop now so I can do some work in that class instead of fall asleep like I did last week.
Then the three hour bus ride home on the most ineffective bus system ever. Potential commuters listen, if you have a choice live on res. (not that I did) DO IT. Unless you live like 5 minutes from the school and don't have to take 8:30 classes. You also miss out on a lot of stuff living on campus. So many opportunities missed. Like "Oh we're looking for a couple of people to be on a special backup list incase someone misses crew. It's a great way to get yourself recognized in the department. Oh wait it takes you three hours to get here if there's no traffic? oh sorry." this has happened a couple of times to me, or everyone is friends because they met in the dorms and you only ever see them in class for the couple of hours.
Though, probably none of my homework would get done if I was living on res because my mom wouldn't be there. I'd be sitting watching tv or movies on my computer till dawn.
