Whew! It has been a while since I did 9 shows in a row... I am definitely older (not sure about wiser) this time around. It has been a great run here in Providence, and I have really enjoyed my stay. We said goodbye to Ginny, who was kicked in the side of the knee during Step in Time during the previews in Charleston. She is off for 6 months having surgery:( I can honestly relate, as I hd to leave Les Mis for 4 months when I went home for back surgery. No fun, but has to be done.
I realized that I spent the entire week taking off my clothes! Not sure there are any other careers that you can say that sort of thing without censure from the public, but I did it... about 19 times. That is probably the most annoying thing, pinning and unpinning my hair, and getting dressed and undressed over and over. But, if that is the most annoying thing, then I count myself pretty lucky.
Few things come to mind for future performers
1. It is considered rude to vocally warm up in a shared dressing room after half hour.
2. Like the previous, talking on the phone in your dressing room is rude, take it outside.
3. If you have stinky feet, bag your shoes:)
4. Be aware of dresser tipping rules- $10 a week is a base, but if your dresser is working really hard for you, with lots of changes, then it is nice to up it, or buy a gift to go along with the tip.
5. Everyone talks, so don't give out information you would rather was private. Also, be careful how much you drink around management, things come flying out of your mouth and can get back to the production team.
6. Nice piece of advice we were given by the director. "If you choose to pay attention to the good reviews, then it follows that you must then give credence to the bad ones, it is better to disregard them completely."
(I think that is so smart, negative reviews can really stick with you and can affect your work. However, I did read a review from our first week here in Providence which said I was "hilarious and had a good voice and great physical comedy"... Can't lie, I was pleased:)
We had interesting twists and turns these last two weeks, the umbrella tore coming in and was swinging wildly (nerve wracking), we had exploding faucets in the sink that miraculously didn't injure Blake when they went off, broken boots, lamps falling off the wall, nursery molding breaking, too much fog, too little fog, and my personal favorite... my duster molting allover the floor as I am gesticulating wildly... oh the joys of live theater!!!!
Grand Rapids here we come.
Cheers
MB
Monday, February 20, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Made it to Opening
Well, we did it. Got to Providence and opened the show without too much trauma. We did have to stop the show for a few minutes with a slight malfunction, but then finished without a hitch.
The theater here in Providence is gorgeous, I played it back in 1997 with Les Mis. It also holds over 2000 people, and we had a full house. It was crazy around the theater, opening night gifts everywhere. The networks company gave us MP duffel bags, MP laundry bags and MP travel plugs with extension cords. The creative team had these lovely silver sixpence necklaces made for us, chocolates and spoonfuls of sugar, earrings... just like christmas!
After the show they threw us a party at the Westin, and it was really nice. DJ and food, drinks... lots of fun and we all had a great time! Tara Rubin and Eric Woodall came which was really nice, and Geoffrey Garrett left my answering machine voicemail... very fun.
We did have a hard time loading in, and I think it will take a while for the crew to figure out all of the ins and outs, we actually got extra time off as they weren't ready with the stage, and then on the fifth preview performance we had to stop for about a half an hour because the kitchen jumped the track and came off the back of the house while it was turning... again, the audience was really great, and thanks to our crew we got it back up and running.
On Monday (our night off) a group of us went to Al Forno, this highly recommended Italian Restaurant on the water, and had a crazy amazing meal. I had cassoulet with duck leg and sausage, and finished up with a chocolate bread pudding. Ahhhh food. I spent the day shopping and coming up with my opening night gift for everyone. I went to what is considered to be the best Italian bakery in town, and bought three kinds of biscotti (chocolate/pistachio, hazelnut, vanilla almond) and then bagged them (72 of them) I then got little recipe cards saying BRILLS BISCOTTI, from the kitchen of GERT BRILL. Then wrote the message
Congratulations on all of your hard work! Here's to a 'blooming' BRILLiant opening night.
I thought it was a pretty cute idea (thanks Jenee for helping me come up with it)
Cheers
MB
The theater here in Providence is gorgeous, I played it back in 1997 with Les Mis. It also holds over 2000 people, and we had a full house. It was crazy around the theater, opening night gifts everywhere. The networks company gave us MP duffel bags, MP laundry bags and MP travel plugs with extension cords. The creative team had these lovely silver sixpence necklaces made for us, chocolates and spoonfuls of sugar, earrings... just like christmas!
After the show they threw us a party at the Westin, and it was really nice. DJ and food, drinks... lots of fun and we all had a great time! Tara Rubin and Eric Woodall came which was really nice, and Geoffrey Garrett left my answering machine voicemail... very fun.
We did have a hard time loading in, and I think it will take a while for the crew to figure out all of the ins and outs, we actually got extra time off as they weren't ready with the stage, and then on the fifth preview performance we had to stop for about a half an hour because the kitchen jumped the track and came off the back of the house while it was turning... again, the audience was really great, and thanks to our crew we got it back up and running.
On Monday (our night off) a group of us went to Al Forno, this highly recommended Italian Restaurant on the water, and had a crazy amazing meal. I had cassoulet with duck leg and sausage, and finished up with a chocolate bread pudding. Ahhhh food. I spent the day shopping and coming up with my opening night gift for everyone. I went to what is considered to be the best Italian bakery in town, and bought three kinds of biscotti (chocolate/pistachio, hazelnut, vanilla almond) and then bagged them (72 of them) I then got little recipe cards saying BRILLS BISCOTTI, from the kitchen of GERT BRILL. Then wrote the message
Congratulations on all of your hard work! Here's to a 'blooming' BRILLiant opening night.
I thought it was a pretty cute idea (thanks Jenee for helping me come up with it)
Cheers
MB
Friday, February 3, 2012
Pizza with Cameron Macintosh
Well, I am back. Sorry about the delay, but the last week has been HECTIC! We have started our preview performances here in Charleston, and they have been going really well. The audience here is very responsive and delightful. This was also the week all of the big wigs came to town. Tuesday night was our last invited dress rehearsal, and Tom Schumacher (head of Disney) came in, as a result we had notes and work session on Wednesday. My greatest fear was fanned when the note I received was they were going to have to age me as I looked too young. Seriously? What do I have to do? I have often teased about going and tanning myself to a crisp and taking up cigarette smoking, and I might need to give it a try. I took off the last 5 years, giving myself time to age, and it comes back at me again. Anyway (other than that), they were happy with my performance. So that evening I added LINES to my perfect 16 year old skin:) and was a nervous wreck because Cameron Mackintosh was coming. The last time he came to see one of my shows (96 Les Mis) he decided to fire the entire company (I was sent to the tour thankfully) so needless to say I was feeling a little concerned. It was our first preview performance and it went really well. Our crew is SOOOO good, and they are doing an insane amount of work (this show is a massive technical nightmare) and it was super smooth. Afterward, the producers threw us a little party, and we ate, drank and were merry ( the kids had gotten all decked out, and were just darling, they were taking pictures with everyone).
Thursday, we came in for notes and a work session, and were told that Cameron was very happy with where things were (big sigh of relief, we all still have a job) and then were given notes and went into another work call for the day. After the performance Networks/Disney threw another little party at the hotel and Cameron came. So, I shook his hand and he told me I was doing a lovely job as Mrs. Brill (I am happy) and then proceeded to say how impressed he was with our accents, and that they were better than the Broadway company (I chose to have that be a compliment directed solely at me:) but there were three other people standing there if truth be told. And then he stood and chatted with us for about a half an hour, telling us all about the new movie musical version of Les Mis and that sort of thing. He was very gracious and it was fun.
So the stressful part is over, I am happy as long as all of the creative types are happy with me! Ready to get on the road and get this going, and amused that I had pizza with Cameron Macintosh.
Thursday, we came in for notes and a work session, and were told that Cameron was very happy with where things were (big sigh of relief, we all still have a job) and then were given notes and went into another work call for the day. After the performance Networks/Disney threw another little party at the hotel and Cameron came. So, I shook his hand and he told me I was doing a lovely job as Mrs. Brill (I am happy) and then proceeded to say how impressed he was with our accents, and that they were better than the Broadway company (I chose to have that be a compliment directed solely at me:) but there were three other people standing there if truth be told. And then he stood and chatted with us for about a half an hour, telling us all about the new movie musical version of Les Mis and that sort of thing. He was very gracious and it was fun.
So the stressful part is over, I am happy as long as all of the creative types are happy with me! Ready to get on the road and get this going, and amused that I had pizza with Cameron Macintosh.
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