Filed under: Writing | Tags: cindy ripley, don wesley, dorothy, finale, gowanda, gowanda high school, mr. wesley, mrs. ripley, musical, senior, show, the wiz, wiz
I emailed Mrs. Ripley each night of my senior show, because she was in China. I’m posting the three emails here because I feel like I should have documented my last musical at Gowanda somehow. So here they are.
THE WIZ: EPISODE ONE
We had fun tonight. Well, this afternoon. We did the energy circle thing (Taylor and I didn’t really explain it that well, though– we will tomorrow, since we instigated it). Bobby and Kris didn’t participate, but they’re losers. (Not really, but they’re lame boys and I’m sure that with the proper friendly persuasion they’ll do it tomorrow…ha).
The whole thing went pretty smoothly: there were a few instances where mics cut out; Glenn wasn’t there, either. I don’t know why.
I, um, may have gotten my only laughs from the crowd as soon as I walked on. Phoebe didn’t walk in a straight line and I had to try to scoot her out on stage twice-ish before she actually went, and even then it was kind of in a circle. So I picked her up and bopped across the stage, scrambling for the appropriate lines (obviously I couldn’t say “Come back here, Toto” if I was holding her) and I may have rammed into the house on accident with my shoulder.
Yes, I have a bruise.
Yes, the house off-kiltered a foot or so.
But it was funny, and even though I cracked up when I got off stage it ran nicely.
The makeup all looked really good; Zach and Kruszka and Taylor all got a lot of laughs; Chelsea and Dakota did too. Obviously my character isn’t funny, so they didn’t cheer so much for me, but that’s ok. I got home to Kansas and remembered to click my heels and it was all good.
I saw Kiener and Emma and Hannah, and that was pretty weird considering that in a year it’ll be me coming back to watch my friends. I don’t know if I’m okay with that yet. Stephen told me, “Well, this is it, this is your last show.”
And I could only smirk at him and reply that no, I had two more.
I just can’t think about this being “My Last.” It doesn’t sit well with me at all, so I think if I just don’t spend any time dwelling on it, it won’t affect me as much. I don’t want to get all watery and miserable on Tuesday.
But! All in all it was a good show and so far that’s what I’ve been hearing in reviews. “Great job,” “Good show,” “GREAT show,” keep being repeated. Some kids came back to us after and we (leads) talked to them and even got a picture or two with them (at parents’ insistence). The Lion, mostly, and (surprisingly) me were approached individually and greeted by toddlers and their parents, so that was cute. Mrs. Propp’s nine-year-old daughter Morgan had us all sign her program.
I think that tomorrow and Tuesday I’ll have more energy. I was thinking, by “Y’all Got It,” that I just wanted it to be done with so I could go home. I know that’s awful, but I was so so tired. The “easing on down the road” part of my job is straight up exhausting. I can’t dance anyway, so put singing and dancing together and I’m almost out by the time the Kalidahs get us.
Oh! And “Be a Lion” was good. Pretty darn good (the best time we’ve done it). I talked to Ms. Fried at intermission and she was really happy with it. Ms. Stoffel and her mom were really excited at the end, and so was Mrs. Hales. I think Mr. Wesley disappeared– we didn’t have notes and I didn’t see him at all after the production.
…and that’s all I know. It went really well. Tomorrow and Tuesday will be good also, I hope.
THE WIZ: PART TWO !
“AND JUST MAYBE I CAN CONVINCE TIME TO SLOW UP” — FINALE.
Filed under: Events, music, My Day, Random Thoughts | Tags: a lot, assignment, because, benefit, cat, cleaning, coffee, college, day, decent, dirty, dishes, do, dogs, english, essay, finish, get started, gowanda high school, groceries, here nor there, horse, hosseini, house, laundry, michelle, mom, musical, My Day, neither, nice, one of those days, outside, picking up, productive, school, shit, sometimes, stress, stuff, the kite runner, the new yorker, the wiz, things, thought, to-do, work
Productivity will come to me sometimes in waves, gallons, buckets. It’ll just swamp me and overwhelm me and all I can do is ride it out and leave a trail of finished things in my wake.
Today I am having One of Those Days, and it’s great. I was just outside with the dogs, and did horse/cat chores; one benefit of my dad being away is that I have the roam of the land. I can do my mother a favor and do chores, which I like to do when it’s nice outside.
It’s great to do what I like in my own house. My mom is less stressed because dad isn’t here dirtying up the house, and I can be relied upon to keep our living space decent-looking. With dad here, it’s like, it’s going to get shitted up anyway, so what’s the point of picking up?
But that’s neither here nor there, because I am having a Productive Day.
I’ve got the card table set up in front of the couch and am going to put some of The Wiz on so I can hear my thoughts without singing them. I’m going to memorize some more as I finish my English assignment with the New Yorker and then chop away at my Kite Runner essay. Then it’s lines, for the rest of the day, and once Michelle and mom get home I’ll put away groceries.
I’m going to get my coffee and get started. I’ve got a lot to do– laundry and dishes on top of school and college essays, too– but I’m ready for it.
It’s just another One of Those Days.
Filed under: Events, music, My Day, My Explanations, Random Thoughts, Ranting, Writing | Tags: acoustic, acoustic guitar, advanced art, all state, all state solos, along, always, Andy McKee, ap, ap test, ap us history, art, audition, auditioning, away, bambi, baseball, baseball game, boys, can't, chem, chemistry, class, compelled, could, damn it, date, do or die, drift, drifting, drowning, dumb, essay, everyone, exhausted, exnay, explain, fail, feel, float, fond, fricken awesome, grade, guitar, ha ha, happening, have to, hello dolly!, history test, hollywood happening, hollywood theatre, home, importance, important, keep from drowning, keep going, kicker, legit, legitimately, let, level 6, level six, McKee, mention, move, muscles, music, musical, new, nice weather, nyssma, nyssma solo festival, nyssma solofest, out of it, percussion, percussive, pictures, puccini, pushing myself, relax, right now, rimsky-korsakov, shit, shit to do, song, stay home, strain, strains, stress, stressed, stressful, study, sweep, sweet, sweetness, tide, time passes, tired, treading water, try out, tryout, tryouts, twitterpate, twitterpated, unfortunate, until, up, varsity panthers baseball, vocal, voice, want, water, weather, wednesday, weekend, what's new?, why?, wish, wordpress, xylo, xylophone, yearbook
I wish I could do that right now. Just drift, float along the strains and percussive sweetness of Andy McKee’s fricken awesome song. But I can’t. Even though I feel stressed and out of it and tired, and like I’m just treading water until time passes, I can’t relax and let the tide sweep me away. I have to keep going, pushing myself and my muscles to move, to keep me from drowning.
I have sooo much shit to do. What’s new, right? But this time, it’s do or die. If I don’t bring my chem grade up, I am legitimately, for the first time in my life, going to fail a course. And I really want to get into Advanced Art. AND musical tryouts are coming up, and NYSSMA solofest is the weekend of the Hollywood Happening, and I am auditioning on level 6 All State solos for xylo and voice. And the kicker? I have an AP US History test this Wednesday, and hardly any time to study for it. Except right now. Ha ha. I have to go to a baseball game and take pictures shortly, also. Maybe I’ll beg off to stay home and study, but then mom would be confused and I’d have to explain the date and importance of that dumb AP test.
Oh, and did I mention boys? Always at the busiest times in my life I start to get exceptionally fond of them, and then I get even more strained. I think it’s the nice weather, everyone’s twitterpated. Ha, I love Bambi. :) But yeah. So, stress. Now I’m being compelled off of wordpress and toward my Advanced Art essay. Damn it, why can’t I just drift away?
Filed under: Random Thoughts | Tags: bum, Christmas, game, geek, hockey, intense, interest, loooooove, love, music, musical, opera, passionate, phantom, phantom of the opera, playlist, sabres, sentence, television, tv
I wish I could. Turn my music up.. the Sabres game is on, and normally I’d be watching that, but I need something a little more stimularing right now, and this is it. :/ Used to be, I could plop right down and stare at the hockey game and never lose interest.
Actually, in all honesty, I probably could still do that. But I’m a little stressy, and would be very fidgety if I sat down and just watched TV. Since we got our new TV (a Christmas present from my parents to the four of us who live here), it literally has only been shut off when no one’s home. I haven’t been here by myself at all this week, otherwise it would most DEFINITELY be off. If it weren’t for hockey and the news, I wouldn’t even want a TV. That is not to say that I dislike watching television– I just feel like a lazy bum when I do for “fun”… as in, when I’m not watching it with my friends or what have you. I have so much other stuff I could/should be doing that watching TV really doesn’t really appeal to me.
Oooh, Phantom of the Opera is playing now– I have iTunes on shuffle. I would kill to do that musical next year– it would be soooo difficult, but the music is so intense and passionate… I would loooove it.
Ha, there were a lot of ooooo’s in that sentence. : )
Hang on:
“…. The phaaaantom of the opera is theeeere…. inside my mind…”
Oh God, I freakin’ love it.
Ooooh. : D
I can’t help it. I am a music geek… for all things musical, not just classical and musical songs, everything. I just haven’t been exposed to enough diverse music yet, so I can’t explore the “rocking out” avenue. Haha, me, rocking out? You betcha. I can sing some fierce Pat Benatar and Heart… I just haven’t heard ENOUGH songs… I would love to get my hands on as much music as I can. And listen to it, then play/sing it. If I could do that for the rest of my life– just that– I would, in a heartbeat.
So I’m gonna turn my music up, hockey or no hockey. <3
Filed under: My Day | Tags: adult, alive, ariel, basketball, boy, brendan, cd, cds, chamber choir, childhood, choir, chorus, class, Damen, eighth, essay, essays, Grubbs, gym, interesting, lerew, leukemia, making music, meaningful, melody, mermaid, mr. lerew, music, musical, My Day, personal, piece, poignant, quotes, Ruth, sarcasm, sarcastic, serious, today, tres, unexpected, walker, Writing
I am busy uploading the nine CDs Katie made me into my iTunes.
I loooovelovelove music (durrh), but I don’t get much of a chance to hear the contemporary stuff. Or really, any stuff besides classical and showtunes.
Soo, I am excited. Nine CDs. KT surely is my hero :D
I am currently listening to “The Little Mermaid”– still from a musical– but hey, I didn’t have it before… I freakin’ love music. Now, if dad would only shut off the boob tube and I could listen without worrying if it will bother him.
Hum da dum. There’s a lot to write about today, I’m just not sure about where to start. I think I’ll just wing it with my stream of consciousness and see what happens. Transitions from thought to thought might not be so hot. Haha.
Alright, so– today in chamber choir, we only sang for about seven minutes, but in those few short moments I felt like I was actually making music– and I have never felt that way when it comes to chamber. I always felt that, okay, this is a fun class, I learn some things and use my vocal chords. That’s good enough for me, I can make music on my own time. But today, we made melody come alive. And it was exciting.
We began the class with a powerpoint presentation. Mr. Lerew read off the slides, which all were comprised of quotes he took from our essays. We each were required to compose an essay based on what we were able to take fr0m one of our pieces, “How Can I Keep from Singing?” (arr. Gwyneth Walker). I, personally, think that the essays were a great idea. We all seemed to have essentially the same ideas about the piece, despite the numerous differences in our choir. The Walker speaks of music as a rock– it can help one get through anything. And it’s true.
The thoughts that were aired today in class were very meaningful, but the most poignant moment in class occurred when Mr. Lerew discussed his feelings about the piece, and what it means to him.
It turns out that our distinguished, sarcastic, and entertaining but serious teacher was diagnosed with leukemia when he was in eighth grade. I can tell you right now that my jaw dropped. My heart went out to that little boy, forced out of childhood so rudely, with such a serious condition. I felt like I understood my teacher a little more, now that he’d shared that very personal (or so it seemed to me) piece of his life with us. That was a pretty meaningful (and unexpected) part of my day.
Oh, and on a lighter note, Brendan, Damen, Grubbs, Ruth and I schooled up in basketball today.
Filed under: Events | Tags: 2, 7, acting, aida, amneris, anxiety, gowanda high school, jitters, monday, musical, nerves, peeing, performance, phenomenal, school, singing, sunday, tea, theatre, tylonol, voice, water
Holy Sweet Jesus.
Today is the day. Today we perform like we’ve never performed before.
Butterflies, dragonflies, all manner of insects are running rampant in my stomach. I haven’t had any water this morning for fear of peeing my pants. I’m nervous. I should also be saying “I’m Amneris.”
My eyes are tired, and I’m really warm. I’m trying not to think of the fact that I have to leave for the school in a hour, or that I should be making a jumbo batch of hot green tea with lemon and honey, or that at two I’ll be starting off the show and then pouring everything I’ve got into making myself into Amneris Neferahotep, daughter of Isis/Khasekhemwy.
At seven today, I’ll do it all over again.
I don’t know if I should get really worked up and nervous now, or if I should wait until later. I want to be nervous for the show so I can do a good job. Oh God, I don’t want it to be over, but if it really does have to end, I want it to be phenomenal. Phenomenal.
I love theatre, and I think I’ll do fine… but right now I’m jittery and have a need for tea and water and Tylonol.
But hey. Come see “Aida,” in the Gowanda High School Auditorium, today at 2 and 7 and tomorrow (Monday) at 7. It will be a great show.
Filed under: Random Thoughts | Tags: bittersweet, brisingr, crap, dell, eragon, mac, macs, minutes, musical, paolini, rainbow spinny-wheel of doom, time, yearbook
I absolutely LOATHE this freaking computer. If it didn’t belong to the school, I very well might have smashed it by now. Seriously.
I have seven more minutes until second period is over.
Six.
I haven’t been having the greatest time this week, and I can’t wait until musical tonight so I can make things happen, relieve some stress, and work on my character. Amneris is challenging, but she’s coming along. I go to see Mrs. Ripley this Friday for some character management help. : )
Ha, Mr. Bett just walked by and made a funny noise when he saw my blog title. (He’s producing the show.)
What’s wrong with titling my blog with my character’s name? Hrmph.
Three minutes. And then I can go return the book I borrowed from Miss Geist (Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, I love Eragon), then head to the mac lab to work some more on yearbook. Let me tell you, trying to edit our yearbook on THIS crappy-ass computer is a lost cause in itself. The mouse is a poor excuse for a useful object, everything takes twenty minutes to load, and the keyboard is discolored.In addition, the rainbow spinny-wheel of doom likes to terrorize me. Give me Dell any day.
One more minute! And I can leave the freezing-cold of the band room and travel the hallways. One more minute, and I can stop dwelling on the atmosphere of sadness that lingers in this frigid air. Almost everything’s been sad lately, or bittersweet.
Nine o’ seven! Off I go.