The Adventures of Jack and Matt.... Master Thespians
12/01
Well this is the week! Thursday is the big opening night. I think I'm ready. My main goal for Thursday is to make sure I'm on stage for the scenes that I'm supposed to be in. I'm in the backround for alot of them so it can get confusing sometimes.
Tonight is dress rehearsal so I get to see what I'll be wearing. I hope I get a top hat. I bet people wore top hats alot back in the 1840's.
11/19
lots of politicians would probably love to be able to have the opportunity to "sweep the mayor"....I've told Matt that he might be witnessing the beginning of a political career for himself here...provided, of course, he doesnt get arrested for assault with a broom.....
the production, at this point, is at that awkward place were little bits of it feel right but most of it feels like we're gonna look like idiots up there....having done a little theatre work in my time, though, I know that this is just a part of the process and we're gonna be first rate by the time the curtain goes up on Dec 4....and make no mistake.....doing theatre is like eating chocolate....you might think that you can put it away from time to time, but once you get the taste of it, you're pretty much addicted......and, ultimately, it's all about having fun...which all of these talented folks are......we look forward to seeing all of you there....just watch out for that guy with the broom.....
11/18
This play keeps getting closer and closer to opening night and it seems like every time we reherse they put me in more and more scenes. Last night I found out that I have to act in a scene with the mayor. Not only that, I have to swing a broom around and just barely miss hitting him in the head with it. It sounds pretty cool but if I get the timing wrong, I'll smack him right in the face! Its never a good thing when you injure the mayor of the city you live in.
More practice this week, Lord knows how many parts I'll have by the end of this thing. Lets hope I don't kill the mayor.
11/6...
one of the fun things about community theatre is the way that maximum use is made of available resources......case in point...I was originally cast as "charity man two" and will, in fact, be playing that part....but I also will appear in another scene as "the baker"......several of the cast members are doing double duty, crowd scenes, etc.....when you see the play you might find it fun to see if you can pick out the people you'd swear you've seen already in the play....because chances are...you have!........
meanwhile, Matt tells me that his part involves some kissing.......I think that's what they offer in local theatre in lieu of pay........as for me, I'm satisfied to perform sans pucker....
and we hear that the tickets are going fast, already!.....so if you dont want to miss your chance to see a fine production featuring two of your favorite day time radio personalities, better hurry and tie down your tickets......
11/6
Guess what, I finally got some lines in the Play! All togather I think I have 3 lines that I know of. I've been working on my fake old english accent all week. I can't wait to break it out on opening night. It also seems like I'm toasting to something in every scene. I guess they drank alot back in the mid 1800's. I would have to I guess. When there's no TV, what else are you supposed to do?
If I get more parts in this thing I'll let ya know!
11/4
Well, were exaclty one month away from opening night. I think things are going well so far. The Director Jimmy keeps putting me in scenes. I get to be in the chorus and I also play a puppeteer of some kind as well. Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings.
My singing is getting a little better but its still not very good. Hopefully as time goes by it will improve. So far the cast is really great and I think this thing is gonna come togather nicely by opening night.....lets hope so anyway.
and yes, I'm gonna be big time someday. Just call me Bill Shakesphere.
10/29
last night's rehearsal was another blocking of a couple of new scenes...included in the scenes is some singing, solo and group....at this point the whole thing feels very awkward...a lot like when you take dancing lessons and all the steps feel left footed...that said, it's a lot of fun and everybody is enjoying and working diligently to make work out the pieces, one at a time, that will come together magically at some point down the road.....think of that scene in "The Karate Kid" when Myagi shows Daniel-san that all that "wax on, wax off, sand the floor, paint the fence" stuff has actually been the pieces he simply had to put together to be one kick a** karate man......
and it's fun to watch Matt go from rookie to "play"boy......you should probably try to get his autograph now....sooner or later, he wont be returning phone calls....:)............
10/28
as Matt mentioned, last night as a gathering of the "chorus", made up of both speaking character parts and folks who "just" sing.....I have to admit that the methodology used to teach everyone their singing parts is, by my experience, unique....these folks are accomplished little theatre personnel and I'm sure that it will all come together before we get to opening night....but, right now, it's kind of fun to learn the melody and/or harmony parts of the various songs we all do by using what I call "the christopher columbus method"...basically, we're just all sailing around until we find the right notes.....
my guess is that Simon, Randy and Paula won't be seeing any of us show up on their doorstep this coming season.....:)
10/28
Last night was my first night rehearsing for the chorus. I didn't get any speaking parts in this thing but they did stick me in the chorus. The problem with that is that I can't sing...at all. I'm like one of those joke auditions you see on American Idol. I'm just gonna try to blend in.
So far its been interesting. Last night I got to see the Mayor sing "I hate people" as scrooge. He was really good. I got to see jack sing too. He has a suprisingly lovley singing voice.
friday, october 24
.....first "blocking" rehearsal last night.......blocking, for folks who have never done stage work, is just the tech term for "figuring out where to walk to and from and where to stand when saying lines during a scene"...the scene we were working on featured Scooge, Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's nephew Fred and my partner, "Charity Man One".....I think I may have neglected to mention that my character is "Charity Man Two"....my new friend Josh and I are C Man One and Two, respectively and after getting past the initial "two left foot" feeling that naturally occurs in the beginning, we started to get a nice little groove on......it helps enormously that all the players are enthusiastic and giving it their all right out of the gate......and I realized last night that although I havent been on a stage since high school (not counting the countless stages I played music from through the years), it really did feel very much like home up there under the lights.....who knows.......this could be the start of yet another career in a life that has had more than a few already.......next week: more singing......eat your heart out, Archuleta........
wednesday, october 22
....had our "table read" last night.....that's show biz jargon for everybody in the cast who has speaking parts gathering together for the first time and reading through the play......good fun getting to meet everybody and running through the parts with voice, etc.....there's a lot of talent in the cast....the young ones especially......and Mayor John Robert Smith returns as Scrooge...he's already fully into character and is inspiring everybody to go full steam from the get go..........coming up....musical rehearsals and blocking for scenes........tune it later to hear what THAT means :)......
hi.....
since neither of us seems to get to a place where we're getting too much attention, we thought it would be fun to try out for parts in the Meridian Little Theatre production of "A Christmas Carol"....
we never counted on anybody actually giving us the parts!...
but give us the parts, they did............so, here, for the next few weeks, Matt and I will be sharing with you what it's like to be a part of this show....we're looking forward to having fun with it...cause after all....there's no business like show business!....
stay tuned for the continuing adventures of Jack and Matt.....Master Thespians!!
Darrin Scott
