Straw Hat take 2

The my evil plan, I think, did work out. All the theatres that I didn't get to see at Straw Hat saw me today. The theatre that I would consider the best theatre there (they actually have Broadway stars playing the leads already in most of their summer season - including an original lead of the Scarlet Pimpernel (no ...not Dougie...his nemesis.) actually called me back for the ingenue of Guy and Dolls. Well - THAT was unexpected. Too bad I have somehow gone through my entire life not learning the music to Guys and Dolls. So after a frantic phone call to my dad who held the phone up to a computer so I could hear the song at least once before I went in (see post from last year about how my dad is cooler than yours...) - I went in and the pianist had me sing...a rocking four bars. He didn't even tell WHICH four bars. He said let's begin - so I started where the sheet music begins. Turns our he had a different four bar cut in mind. Oh...I had to stop and ask him to start over again and tell me where he was starting from...and he played - as Candace would play after we've gone over it to give me an example of a worst case scenario accompanist. What does that mean? It means - he gives you NO HELP. No melody - just the weird harmonic chords. Well - damn. Glad I warmed up the hard opera stuff so the Fs and Gs in this song were super easy. (Most Musical theatre songs rest on a "middle E" or lower. It's rare to get stuff where the first note is an F. I'm wasn't worried about HITTING the notes but I just hope I sang the right notes for THIS song and wasn't flat. The director was SHOCKED I didn't have it memorized. (Now that I think about it - I do believe Alex told me I should get that song from the library and work on it...but it got lost in the long list of other songs he recommended...and I think IS IT REALLY ME was chosen over it...DOH! Need to stop listening to contemporary opera about obscure yet important political events and learn the classic rep to musical! GAH! I SHOULD know that song. Esp. now that I've heard it - it IS a really great song for me. BLARGHLEBOTS! Hope I didn't totally make a fool of myself. And I wish I could have done more than 4 bars --- the other 2 girls called back on got 4 bars too...) The director then asked me my least favorite question that isn't "do you top" or "can you sing a pop song." This question is - on a scale of 1-10 (Or in this case 1-5) how good of a dancer are you. (Apparently he wasn't at the dance call) Well - I said 5. And he said REALLY? ANd I said absolutely. What do you want to see? I will do it right now. And he said - he didn't need to see it - but asked a again - are you sure you're a good dancer? Me: Yes. I will do the dance call combination for you right here right now. He said - he didn't need it and he'd write me down as a 5.

I hate this question because it's so subjective and so circumstantial. What STYLE of dance? Tap dance - NEGATIVE 5. Flamenco a zero. Ballet for musical theatre dancers a 10. Ballet for professional ballet dancers in American Ballet Theatre...maybe a 1. Ballet for dancers at ballet florida...maybe a 6 with bigger thighs...Fosse -a 7...The jazz my favorite jazz teachers teach - 8-10 depending on the combo. Contemporary 10. Do you want me to mambo? I can't do that. I'm sorry. I send latin dance teachers into a tizzy. How important is flexibility to you? I can outflex everyone who isn't a contortionist. How important is rhythm? I'm not so hot at that. Do you want awesome pirouettes, fouettes, and fan kicks - I'm your gal. It's a horrible unfair question and everyone lies and exaggerates and when it comes down to it - it's personal preference of the choreographer. I think I am a great dancer - so do the teachers at STEPS - but for some reason I can't make it out of a dance call. I don't know why this is. No one seems to be able to tell me. If you want to know how I dance - dance me. Don't ask me. And dance everyone else for that matter.

But - at the end of the day - I was called for an ingenue! HA! FINALLY! At a good theatre. So - that in and of itself it an accomplishment in my book!

I was really scared actually going into Straw Hat - because I always talk about how if I was only SEEN then I'd get called back and/or hired. But I'm never seen. So what if I WAS seen and no one called me back! That would be horrible! I didn't do as well as the girl running around today yelling I GOT called back for 15!!!!! But neither did most people. The girl who sang right in front of me didn't get any.:-( I did get called back for every theatre but one looking for a legit voices - about 1/3 of the theatres there. That is what I have to offer. I obviously wasn't going to get called back for DOLLYWOOD (Dolly Parton themed amusement park) or The Rock'nRoll Review at a themepark show, or the theatres doing seasons of Grease, Legally Blonde, and 42nd street and The Buddy Holly story. I'm o.k. with that. I was more concerned about the theatres that do play to my strong suits, and in those, I did pretty darn well. So mission accomplished!

I'm ready for my card!

Which brings me to my next point - unions. Hrmm...unions. So problematic in my mind. I see unions being greedy - asking for things that don't make sense when you view the big picture. (I.e.- theatre unions complaining about greedy producers who want to get rich. DUH! That's why they are producing. YOU want them to get rich so the want to and CAN produce more shows! yes - it would be nice to be paid $5000 a week instead of $1500 - but if you do - there won't be a show to put on and we'll all be out of work.) Or - the fact that more money can be spend paying off pensions than on people in the actual workforce in certain unions. And - well - me and the police have a very special relationship...BUT Straw Hat made me realize how wonderful unions are. So while at first I thought that crazy governor in Wisconsin maybe had a point - now - I think he is that crazy governor from Wisconsin. I do not doubt that reassessing certain budget point that will effect unions is necessary for fixing the economy - but taking away a unions power is pretty horrible. And the way he is going about the whole ordeal is pretty horrible as well. I don't understand the bill entirely - and every paper I read is incredibly liberal - I asked my uber republican friend to explain it from his point of view...and it does make sense...until you go to straw hat - and realize that without a union you might be working for $150 a week driving yourself around for 15 hours a day and staying with host families in underpriviledged neighborhood. Maybe $50000 a year pensions for every year after the age of 40 are unncessary (though it would be nice...)- but a union still needs to be able to stand up for its workers and bargain fair working conditions.