I love my job! I love my job. I love my job?......

After thirty shows I can safely say that I am over this show. Tired of putting these stupid reindeer antlers on and squeezing my feet into Laducas (yes I bought them hehehehe) with two pairs of tights and socks on. Its so funny that no matter what a person does, if you are banker, doctor, or entertainer in the end its still a JOB and sometimes you REALLY would rather be doing something else. As the curtain goes up 2x a day, 5 days a week I say to myself silently "I love my job, I love my job, I love my job" But its getting less convincing as the days go by.

The show itself has been going well. I have managed to keep both of my shoes on my feet while out on stage, despite the fact that they have broken twice and at this very moment have a safety pin keeping them together. I have made all my costume changes and have not gone on stage missing any item, even though the zipper broke on a costume and I had to be safety pinned into it. Go Me! But there is one thing, one thing that continues to keep me from getting my shine on....

The ridiculously slippery stage. I will reiterate that this is a dinner theater; however, what I failed to mention before is that they serve the food buffet style and guess where the buffets sit? Wait for it...Wait for it... ON THE STAGE! Yes that's right folks. I dance on a stage that minutes before it had hundreds of people on it helping themselves to mashed potatoes, green beans, ham, a multitude of other things and lets not forget...the butter. Now, the management here will tell you that they make sure the stage is clean when they take the buffets down and they will also tell you that they clean the floor regularly. However, as someone who stands front and center during the Candy Cane tap number and feels her feet shooting out from under her unexpectedly almost daily, I will tell you that is a load of crap. Also, there is nothing like the look on an audience member's face as you come spinning towards them, Candy Cane flying, clearly out of control. They fear for their lives I tell you! Therefore, I have modified how hard I dance. I've decided its definitely better to be a little tentative then to face plant on the stage and stab the kid in the front row in the eye.

Outside of the show life has been good. We lost a girl to injury and that was really sad, since we have become our own little family out here in Springboro. We then had to have a replacement come in, which has meant more rehearsals, but no increase in pay. Booo. During down time we crochet and knit, yes apparently we are all secretly 65 year old women. Thus far I have successfully made a hat, a scarf, and a baby blanket. Its obviously not the most happening of places. I miss NYC and my home and the countdown to return is ticking loud and clear!

If you see it in the sun then it is so

I debated a long time about whether or not to update this blog with non-audition news. At the moment I have landed my first paying job in a long time and am out of NYC. Thusly, there can be no more audition updates for awhile. However, several people have asked me to tell them about my time on the job, so I have decided to blog about that for awhile. After all, I can always get rid of these posts later and return it to solely my audition endeavors.

I have been out on a job for the past two weeks for a dinner theater in the midwest. I am doing their Christmas show and it promises to be a crazy adventure. You know you are in for some craziness when the owner of the theater tells you that a Santa Claus type figure is going to pick you up from the airport AND when you are picked up you find that you are catching a ride in a car, that can barely go over 50 on the highway and is smoking and making grinding noises all the way to your destination! Heaven help me!

The theater has housing for its performers right on the property so it is only a 2 min walk to get to rehearsal or shows which is really nice. The set up is pretty much like a dorm room. I have been sharing a room with another girl for these past two weeks, and I will be moving into my own room sometime in the coming days after our show opens. The whole cast shares a kitchen, tv room, and bathroom. Which sounds more inconvenient than it really is. I am looking forward to having my own room, but haven't minded the current living quarters at all. Yet there are some ridiculous rules for the housing facility i.e. we are not allowed to open ANY WINDOWS AT ANYTIME! Not if its blazing hot in your room, the room starts smelling like old socks, or you burnt something in the kitchen and there is smoke so thick you can't see 3 feet in front of you. DO NOT OPEN THE WINDOWS OR YOU WILL BE FIRED. Also, they don't believe in recycling....???

Rehearsals for the show have been long. I rehearse seven hours a day six days a week, with an hour for lunch and my body was not prepared for this AT ALL. The show has been stylized in a similar manner to the Rockette's show so there is a lot of kicking and I'm always wearing heels to dance in, which can do a number on your legs. I really wish that I had splurged on LaDuca's (really expensive dance heels) before I got here, but I definitely plan on shelling out the cash for them as soon as I get back to the city.

One thing I wasn't so much planning on was all the ups and downs that go on behind the scenes. We have a really great choreographer and my castmates are awesome. Yet the owner of the theater has been a bit of a pain. He has spent so much money on these beautiful costumes for our show! I mean they are gorgeous, but they weren't created with dancers in mind. We have some crazily complicated and heavy hats that make it hard to do almost anything, including breath or get oxygen to your brain they are soooo tight! LOL The owner is so hands on, that he is consistently butting heads with the choreographer and director on how the show should be run and ends up saying that he HATES the show multiple times a day. Yet the man has no theater experience so he really has no idea what he is talking about. So anyways, major drama over here!

The show itself is about a little girl who's siblings don't believe in Santa Claus and she asks Santa to come help her convince them that he is real. Santa takes them all on a magical journey to change their hearts and minds about him. In the midst we dancers the "Holiday Bells" appear as flying reindeer, soldiers, candy canes and rag dolls for a total of six numbers. Not to mention my own special appearance as one of the three wise men in the nativity scene! It has been really hard to get the precision dancing down, we are always struggling to keep our lines straight, dance exactly the same, and be super sharp, but the show has slowly been coming together.

These past two weeks have flown by and we are going into tech this week, which promises to be some very long twelve hour days. Our show opens on Thursday evening and will run until New Year's Eve! I'll be sure to keep you all updated!

I'm dreaming of White Christmas!

Of the Broadway tap auditions I've done, today was by far the most challenging audition thus far. You see today was the audition for White Christmas an Irving Berlin musical that is put on during the Christmas season in NYC and on a national tour. The chorus call said that they needed good tappers so I went out to see what it was about. I woke up about an hour after planned and had to get ready in a hurry. I figured I would try to look the part for once and gave a good attempt at making myself a cute little updo!



I get to Ripley-Grier and the place is packed with girls. There were about 87 equity girls and another 77 non-equity girls there. While waiting until the non-equity time the equity girls were going in 35 at a time and others were watching through the window to pre-learn the combination. Unfortunately for them, as each group went in the choreographer taught a completely new routine so no one could be prepared! Completely ingenious on her part and absolutely horrific for us girls. Nonetheless, I head into the audition room in the last group of non-equity girls and she starts off with the combination. It was only four counts of eight, but she taught it faster than I had ever learned anything before. Holy Crap! and it had the gall to have very intricate rhythms going on. To top it all off after only going through it about three times, she announces that we will be doing it ONE AT A TIME. Awesome...luckily for me when it gets time for me to go, I nail it and make the first cut.

After this first round there were still about half the girls left and we went in, in two groups to learn another tap combination. It was about ten eight counts and we got the chance to really learn it this time and more time to practice as we were excused and groups of six were called to do the combo. I was in the twelfth group of six and in the first group of three girls to go. I did it beautifully the first time, but of course they made us repeat it and the second time through...well I always get this feeling about half way through a combo, its a feeling of running on autopilot and not knowing really whats coming next and it almost always means I'm going to screw up...and guess what I did! Boooooo! On the second to last eight count it all went up in flames and though I made my way back for the last eight count...I pretty much knew it was over for me.

Now, the casting director had told us previously that they would not be keeping anyone out of the 80+ of us for the rest of the day, instead they would be giving people calls to let them know if they should come back in. I find this highly annoying because although I "know" I'm cut...I don't KNOW KNOW I'm cut. But I know better than to expect a call after that. Anyways, it was a great time and a great combination and next time I'll know that um...this musical is not some simpleton tap combo....ahem Rockettes but they want the real thing.

Also, I notice that some girls were hanging around after they went. I have an inkling that they were asked to hang around to find out info on call backs. If this is true I'm even more annoyed because I'd much rather just be told "NO" than the infamous "Don't call us, We'll call you!"