Today.

Today was a good day, although exhausted isn’t even the word. I got up early and I had to sing at church, and then I went to my cousin’s (very belated) birthday brunch. I had a really delicious egg white omelet with spinach, guacamole, and tomato relish. We went to Keg & Kitchen in Westmont, NJ. I would highly recommend it. They have really good drinks, appetizers, and desserts. They have a flourless chocolate cake, which is awesome because I try to eat as much gluten free as possible because when I eat anything whole wheat or wheat and gluten really because when I did I would throw up and have serious problems with migraines. 

I also went to an audition today. I auditioned for a show called Thoroughly Modern Millie. The parts I auditioned for were Millie, the lead, and Dorothy, who is a supporting lead…MIllie’s best friend and roommate. It’s set in the 1920’s, and it’s just a really amazing show in general. I have been in it two times before. 

This time felt a little different though. I auditioned for Millie first. I sang last and everything came out exactly as I would have wanted it to. Millie is a small town girl with a really big loud personality who moved to New York City to change her life and make a lot of money to be rich. New age girl who wants to wear shorter skirts and have bobbed hair…just be completely new aged. Dorothy is the opposite. She is very rich, and wanted to live on her own as a “poor” person. They are complete and polar opposites. 

I sang the auditions songs for both of them, and I also read scenes for both of them. Even thought they were such different characters, I was able to turn one off and go into the other, and I feel amazing about that. My acting was on point, and usually I get nervous about my acting because I struggle with it. Everything felt so natural to me though and it was so nice. We also had a tap dance portion of the audition. I DO NOT tap dance. But let me tell you i gave it my ALL and tried so hard to do my best. I put on a smile and I faked the moves I couldn’t remember the best I could.

it inspired me to take a 6 week tap class with the choreographer. I will be tapping now 3-4 times a week. this is going to be a gread addition to my cardio routine.

I just felt so proud of myself for having the confidence to take the chance and have the confidence to do this. to take some chances. 

this is the beginning of something amazing.

“there’s one rose sweeter than any that grows” july 21.

As much as I would have liked to have work out more this week, I had a really great week. As I mentioned, I lost 2.4 pounds with weight watchers and I am so excited about that, but that isn’t what I want to talk about.

I am doing my first play in a very long time. To tell you a bit about my theatre background, I have been doing shows since I was about 9 or 10. I have taken singing lessons, acting lessons, the whole nine yards. It has always been a very large part of my life. I was constantly doing some sort of choir, performance, show, singing, SOMETHING involving doing what I love the most.

When I went to college, I had a musical theatre scholarship, and I thought that would mean I would be in the shows at my school. What it ended up meaning is that I got the scholarship money and I could audition for the shows, but if I did not get cast in the show, I had to work on it in some other way to keep the money.

The only show I was cast in was my junior year, and it was HAIR, which was amazing. I also took voice lessons and acting classes in college, but it wasn’t enough.

 

Here is me when I was in it. Try not to be TOO jealous of my costume.

All 4 years, I tried out for every single show that there was at my college, but I was only put in that one, but that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was being OBLIGATED to continue to do all this hard work, such as costumes, hair, lights, stage crew, ticket sales, etc… to make the show run, while everyone else had the opportunity to perform on stage.

On top of that, when I was cast in HAIR, we had an all day tech rehearsal. We were all exhausted, and we ran the main title song number so many times it would make your head spin. The woman who directed the show pointed me out in front of the whole cast and said I was tired because I wasn’t in the shape I should be for my age.

Little does she know she absolutely ruined how I felt about theatre, and even more importantly, about myself.

I gave up my scholarship, and theatre for the next year. I would rather give up money for college, than feel badly about myself.

I moved back home and started up with voice lessons again, and went on some auditions just to get my foot back in the door. I assistant vocal directed a show for children, and I really enjoyed that, so I also decided I would do a summer theatre show with that company. I did my very first show with this company, which happened to also be “Bye Bye Birdie”, and I have worked with them on a lot of shows, so I decided to go back. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

 

Me and two friends in our “Telephone Hour” costumes.

 

This show allowed me to meet some really, really incredible people, and also ignite that passion for theatre that I used to have. I am so much happier and I have finally found that little piece of me that I was missing. I have the amazing cast and production crew of the show to thank for that. It may make my life a little bit crazy, and I may get stressed out sometimes, but in the end I LOVE doing this. It is my main source of an outlet besides the gym, and I am just all around a better person when I have this as a part of my life. I cannot wait to continue doing theatre and work harder to become a better singer and actress as time goes on.