Minority Report

I recently had a callback for a company closer to home.  The callback was for, get this, the Color Purple, the musical.

What??

I auditioned during the general auditions, meaning I could be called or cast for any of their shows for the upcoming season.  I thought for certain after my audition that I was a different animal than what they wanted and would not hear back from them again.  So, when I got an email saying I had gotten a call back I was surprised.  Then, to find out it was for the Color Purple, I was shocked.

My first thought was, aren't I the wrong color for this show?  I mean, I was being creative when I wrote down the parts I thought I could play, but I didn't think they would take it seriously.  It was more a bold move at a new company that made me do it.  Guess it's paying off lol.

Don't get me wrong, I was honored and delighted to get a call back - my first ever, actually.  I was just puzzled as to why I made the cut, especially for this show.

Maybe they didn't have enough people so they had to be a little more creative?  I went with that train of thought as the most feasible.

I was wrong.  I got to the call back auditions and felt very much in the minority.  I know I got a few stares from the people already there.

We did 2 scenes and a bit of singing.  Overall it went well and I did what I could to do my best at the acting . . . the singing came pretty easily to me.  Who knows if they will pick me for any part, but they must have had something in mind to call me back in to audition again.  I'll let you know if I hear anything back from this whole experience.

There is a bit of a theme right now, first the Color Purple, next up is auditions for South Pacific - which is getting more and more racist as I research it.

I'm used to being a minority, and reveling in the fact that I am (half Taiwanese, half Scottish, fyi), but sometimes I feel we don't need to bring attention to that particular aspect of people.  I dunno . . . maybe it's something some people think about all the time, but I kinda thought we were past separation like that.

Although, I'm finding in the the theatre world, everything is up for scrutiny.

Anyway, just thought I would write about this little experience.  We'll see what comes out of it all :).

Whirlwind indeed . . .

So, I should update my blog since the lovely and social J put me on her latest blog for people to come check me out. I'm super honored to have this opportunity, but unfortunately it come right when I'm on a mini hiatus from blogging due to my busy performance schedule with the Music Man.

For those of you who are just joining me - I implore you to please stick it out for just about a week and I will get back to more frequent blogs and my regular scheduled "Five on Fridays" posts. I have a lot of things brewing in my mind and in my life. If I could, I would write 2 - 3 blogs a day, but I think that would be a little too much information - I do need to sensor myself sometimes :).

Anyway, a little about me, for those who are new to this blog:

Music is my passion - I have my Bachelor's of Music Arts and have been singing for many years. I currently am in a production of the Music Man and have a callback for the Color Purple, the musical later this month. I hope to get back to voice lessons and continue to grow in my performances. Music is what I do and who I am. I went away from it for a few years and my life suffered for it. I hope to have more posts about growing in my art and getting back to the Diva I once was and hope to be.

My husband has an incurable, debilitating disease: Diabetic Gastroparesis. I don't get too in depth with what he goes through, but I find that it helps me get through things to write about some of what goes on because of it. My husband is a private person, so I try not to divulge too much, but it's a daily part of my life and part of all of my decisions and thoughts, so it sometimes gets onto blog posts.

I work as an administrative assistant/project coordinator - I have a M-F, 9am-5pm job that provides the funds for the above 2 things. It's not glamorous, but it does get me a lot of the things I need in my life. I have good coworkers, but also the usual office politics as well.

I am a gamer/raver girl who reverts back to her early twenties every once in awhile - I have responsibilities and people counting on me, so I've had to limit my gamer/raver tendencies in my life. Check out the first installment about my gamer background to see where it all started. I will do part 2 and 3 soon, I promise.

I am a crazy cat lady lol - seriously, just ask J . . . she was around when I had 6 (yes 6) siamese kitties, all from one family. I'm hoping to write a blog regarding this for Cheesy Bloggers because my animals are my babies - as irritating as they can be, I love them so much.

Overall I am a busy, busy, woman who tries to find the good things in life that keep me going. I am easily amused and hope that I am not the only one who finds the things I do interesting.

I hope you continue to read my blog and, like I said, stay with me until after this weekend where I will get back to a more normal schedule. Feel free to look through my past posts and comment - I would love to hear from you!

Thanks for visiting! I truly appreciate it!

Life is for the living . . . and boy am I living

I didn't realize that I haven't posted anything since the end of September, but things have been busy. A couple of highlights:

1. Job position title change from Administrative Assistant to Project Coordinator
2. Title change also came with a promotion :)
3. The Music Man shows have been full force and lots of fun.

We are now on hiatus with the Music Man, so I have a bit of down time - which is good since now I have a ton of responsibilities at work.

These are not new responsibilities, just now people are taking notice of all the things I actually do. I have to be accountable for my actions now instead of experimenting with what I can and cannot do. I love having an active day at work, but it does cut into the downtime I used to have to look at things online and blog. Plus since we moved I now have a 2 hour commute (one way) each day. It all adds up to not much freetime.

I feel like I get no time to keep up with my friends. I'm not even on Facebook as much so I miss out on updates (whichever ones I get with the new format). One good thing about my long commute is getting to ride the train with my best friend each morning. We both have busy lives (she has a family on top of work, unlike me) and even though we work a building away from each other we both have new responsibilities and lots to do, so it's nice that we get a chance to catch up each morning. It's nice to be able to hang out again after so many years of knowing each other. We've had our rough patch where we didn't speak, but having husbands that are best friends kind of stopped that from continuing - and I'm so glad it did.

I get emails of great deals on places to vacation and things to do around the area and ever since this summer (and probably before that) I've dreamed of actually going on one of those . . . but that will have to wait. My closest prospect is taking time off to be up north for our next performances of the Music Man. Last time I stayed in a super cold cabin on the islands, but this time it's looking like I'll be staying on a couch at a friend's. We'll see how that goes. I'm super thankful I even have the option of staying somewhere because the drive killed my car last time and I don't have the money to stay at a hotel, but it is quite a change for me to deal with, especially right now.

At any rate, I will try to update things more often while I have some time away from performances and other things. I'm trying to get back into exercising and hoping to get back into voice lessons too, but time and money are a real issue these days, so here's to hoping it all works out. Speaking of time, I need to hit the shower before it gets too late. I switched to taking them at night since I just cannot get myself to wake up any earlier in the morning.

That's it for now . . . which is probably just barely skimming the surface. More later :).

Five on Friday - Double dose in double time!

I realized I forgot to post one last week, so I made a list of 10 things this week to make up for it. Unfortunately I'm going to have to go into detail about my list next week when I have a little more time. For now, here are the 5 (times 2) things I am happy about this week:

1. Prayer
2. Internet
3. Inside Jokes
4. Costumes
5. Acne treatments
6. Free refills
7. Cubicle mates
8. Water
9. My bed
10. Sleeping in

I'm off to a dress rehearsal for The Music Man! It opens this weekend and I'm super excited to get all of this started.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Popular, you're gonna be pop-u-lar

GLINDA:
(Spoken)
Elphie,now that we're friends, I've decided to make you my new project!
ELPHABA:
(Spoken)
you really don't have to do that...
GALINDA:
(Spoken)
I know, that's what makes me so nice!
(Sung)
whenever I see someone less fortunate than I,
and let's face it, who isn't less fortunate than I?
my tender heart tends to start to bleed.
and when someone needs a makeover,
I simply have to take over!
I know I know exactly what they need!
and even in your case,
though it's the toughest case I've yet to face,
don't worry, I'm determined to succeed!
follow my lead,
and yes indeed, you will be...
POPULAR! you're gonna be popular!
I'll teach you the proper ploys,
when you talk to boys,
little ways to flirt and flounce, ooh!
I'll show you what shoes to wear!
how to fix your hair!
everthing that really counts to be...
POPULAR! I'll help you be popular!
you'll hang with the right cohorts,
you'll be good at sports,
know the slang you've got to know.
so let's start,
'cause you've got an awfully long way to go!
don't be offended by my frank analysis,
think of it as personality dialysis,
now that I've chosen to become a
pal, a sister and advisor,
there's nobody wiser!
not when it comes to...
POPULAR! I know about popular.
and with an assist from me,
to be who you'll be,
instead of dreary who you were...uh, are.
there's nothing that can stop you,
from becoming populur... lar...
la la, la la!
we're gonna make you pop-u-lar!
when I see depressing creatures,
with unprepossessing features,
I remind them on their own behalf
to - think - of
celebrated heads of state,
or 'specially great communicators!
did they have brains or knowledge?
don't make me laugh!
they were POPULAR!
please! it's all about popular.
it's not about aptitude,
it's the way you're viewed,
so it's very shrewd to be,
very very popular like ME!
(Spoken)
why, miss Elphaba, look at you.
you're beautiful!
ELPHABA:
(Spoken)
I, I have to go...
GALINDA:
(Spoken)
you're welcome...
(Sung)
and though you protest,
your disinterest,
I know clandestinly,
you're gonna' grin and bear it!
you're new found popularity!
ah!
la la, la la!
you'll be popular!
just not quite as popular as ME!

Okay, this was a long introduction for my blog, but when I saw the Cheesy Bloggers theme of "popularity" I automatically thought of this song. In fact, I sing it in my head anytime someone says the word popular. It also helps set the scene for my thoughts on popularity.

I've read a couple of the blogs on this topic through Cheesy Bloggers and it seems like most of us were not in the popular crowd in school. It also looks like we kind of got over our need to be popular once we left the school scene and continued on to our lives. I think that is also mostly true for me. I do have a different aspect in my life than most of the friends I have or bloggers of the blogs I've read. I am a part of a culture that makes its business on getting people to notice them and acknowledge them as something special. If that doesn't happen, everything that they work for is for nothing. In essence, if something isn't popular, it is a failure. The culture I'm talking about is the musical theatre crowd.

I was writing a long explanation of how I got into the musical theatre arena, but that was turning into a book, so I decided to rewrite my thoughts a bit.

Where I went to school it was a big deal to be in choir . . . not like you see on Glee where they are outcasts. We also weren't like Glee in the aspect of a show choir either,we were just a large choir in velvet robes and satin sashes. We were not the outcasts; we were the people everyone wanted to talk to and get to know. I had a strange experience in High School when I was in Concert Choir (the highest auditioned choir in High School) where someone said they knew me and knew about me and I had never talked to them before. It was strange to think that people wanted to know about me just because I was a singer.

This only helped me when I entered college and had to audition for the college choir. I got my degree in Music Arts, but when I began college I was a Music Ed major. I had to be in choir and the top choir was what I and many other students aspired to be a part of. The people in that choir were the rock stars of the music community. I hated getting into the all girl choir as a freshman and sophomore. Then I tried out as an alto OR soprano my junior year and suddenly skipped over the intermediate choir and got to become a “rock star” for the next 3 years (I went to college for 6 years for my BMA, which is a whole other story). I became one of the “popular” girls for the second time in my academic life, but I was an outcast within the popular crowd, if that makes any sense. So even though I have been in the popular arena I still felt out of place and separated from it all.

Fast forward to now – I am part of my second musical theatre production with the same company. I have not gotten a specific role yet, but I’m working to get that accomplished. I’m on “the other side of the fence” these days when it comes to being a musician . . . meaning I’m older than most leads are in the theatre. I’m “over the hill” so to speak . . . although I still have a lot to do in order to reach my prime singing potential. The popularity that I experienced in school translates to the stage so well. It becomes almost political in nature. It’s like popularity on steroids in the music business. Especially for women and absolutely especially for women sopranos. It’s who you know and how you’re regarded that makes a lot of difference. I have to put in my time being in the background in order to get noticed enough to be brought forward. It hasn’t happened yet, but almost. I just have to keep plugging away.

All in all I’ve had my ups and downs with being popular, but would have never considered myself that. In retrospect, if I would have just realized I was popular in my circles it might have gotten me farther . . . or I might have been more mischievous than I was, but it’s probably better that I wasn’t.

I consider myself a gamer girl with a passion for music more than anything else. And I guess that’s all that counts in the end.

Five in Friday

1. Blue skies - it is so sunny and warm right now :). That natural vitamin D is doing me good.

2. New work responsibilities - while this might be a not so good thing, it's a good thing right now because it is stretching my abilities and making me feel like I accomplish things during the day rather than waiting around for something to do.

3. Meeting new people - again, because of the changes in my job, and again, could be a not so good thing, but not in this case. Because I have new responsibilities I'm meeting new people at work and getting to talk about my interests and who I am. It really makes me feel I'm going in the right direction after all.

4. Free Food - I'm kinda suffering from long term memory loss (not really) and only thinking about what is right infront of me, but I found some free food today just when I was feeling hungry. With everything going on I certainly could save some $$ and this came at the right time.

5. Grooveshark - I'm listening to my 3 audition pieces right now and I'm so thankful to have a media to do that with. Since I have been so busy moving and taking care of things I haven't had much time to rehearse, so listening to these songs on repeat while working really helps me out. If you haven't looked into Grooveshark, you should. Especially if you want to listen to a particular artist instead of just artists that are like them. It's free and commerical free (for now) and doesn't need any downloading to use.

Well, I should get some things done before I have to jet to rehearsal and cleaning later tonight.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Five on "Friday"

Well, it's been a super duper busy weekend, so I didn't get to my Five on Friday. I've been moving and going to rehearsals all weekend as well as house sitting too, so I will list some things now. In no particular order . . .

1. Working vehicles - We have had our ups and downs with cars over the years and thankfully *knock on wood* we have had 3 vehicles to help move right now. It sucks with paying for gas, but at least we can do it.
2. Reliable relatives - my husband's cousin has been helping us since last Thursday with moving and just being around. He has always been willing to help and does things without being asked. It's just nice to have that after all the trials we've been through recently.
3. Sunshine! - even though I don't get to be out in it much, it's still nice to see the beautiful sunny days that we have been waiting for during the summer.
4. Dubstep - it is my new music genre that I love to listen to for a pick me up or when driving. Skrillex is my favorite right now, but I'm trying to branch out and learn other artists.
5. Nurses - the nurses at the hospital were so great and helpful the entire time I had to be at the hospital, and more importantly when my husband was there. I never see a doctor because of when I could be there, but the nurses were always nice to me and accommodating to my husband. I've become sort of a connoisseur of hospitals over the last couple years and have had some bad encounters with nurses and doctors, so this last time was a pleasant experience.

That's it for the last week. I will hopefully have enough computer access and free time to get it done on time this week.

I hope all is well with you!



P.S. Not my kitty in the pic. I will try to get pics of my meezers in boxes if I can :).

"The colors of the wind"

I was randomly listening to tracks from the Hangover Soundtrack and it got me thinking about all the different CDs I used to have of movies I liked. I used to love getting them after I'd seen the movie and sometimes in anticipation of seeing it. My best friend and I used to go to the music store and specifically look for good soundtracks to buy. We've always had similar tastes in movies so it was always fun to see what the store actually carried. Once I started working in a music store (Camelot - they no longer exist, well now they are FYEs, but I think those all closed too) I was almost unstoppable. I had a huge CD collection until we got rid of them a few years ago when we converted to mp3s.

Some of my favorites in no particular order:

The Matrix

Strictly Ballroom

Sliding Doors

That Thing You Do!

Stealing Beauty

The Phantom of the Opera (although this was WAY before the movie came out)

The English Patient and many more.

I even had the sheet music for the theme to the English Patient; it is still one of my favorite movies. I also bought the soundtrack for Pocahontas before it came out in the movie theaters (hence the title of the blog). I memorized all the songs on the soundtrack and sang them in my room before the movie was out in theaters so I knew them before going to see another Disney musical. I still remember listening in my room and singing along to the music, trying to picture what the animation would be.

Movie soundtracks were fun to get after seeing the movie because it always reminded me of the scenes from the movie associated with the specific songs. Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs are some good examples of that. It's no wonder that my first ever CD I bought with my own money was the Twin Peaks soundtrack. I played that CD all the time and loved hearing the orchestration of Angelo Badalamenti along with the songs by Julee Cruise. Ahh the memories.

Soundtracks also provided more variety in one CD than most musician's albums. Hackers was an album of electronic music, but it had a bunch of different artists with different bpms depending on the style. Scream had some great remakes of classic rock songs done by artists of the moment. The Truth About Cats & Dogs got me into Suzanne Vega again and also got me into her poetry. Soundtracks opened me up to new artists and genres, but allowed me to have favorite songs and movie moments all in one CD.

If you haven't thought about listening to movie soundtracks I highly recommend it. You don't have to like every song on the album (Boogie Nights, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Cruel Intentions are some where I liked some songs, but always skipped others), but it's nice to have some variety sometimes instead of listening to the same artists the whole time. Not that I don't like that, it's just for a change of pace.

If you haven't noticed, I have a specific number of years (mostly the 90s, which might date me) that I collected soundtracks until I stopped pretty abruptly. Hence why I am talking about it now and reminiscing a bit. As a final thought, here are some others I used to love to listen to:

Corrina, Corrina

High Fidelity

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory - Gene Wilder version

Amadeus

Circle of Friends

Now & Then

and The Wedding Singer.

What soundtracks have you listened to or wanted to have?