springtime

There's been a happier vibe among Chicagoans with last week marking 8 days straight of record high temperatures. It hasn't ever been mid-80's in the past two springs that I've experienced. The first day of warmness caught me off guard--I wasn't mentally prepared for having to think about spring outfits! That made studying my Instyle and Glamour magazines and a trip to the thrift store high priority.

 Although I'm always thankful for my day job as a nanny, I'm even more thankful on gorgeous days as those we've been having. You get paid to take kids to the park and soak in sunshine and fresh air. I've gotten to take my nanny child and play at the park with my fellow singer/nanny friends Tiffany, Jill, and their nanny children which always prove to be adorable playdates. On Tuesday, the first day of spring, I brought a spring surprise for Sofia and Alexander--a net, magnifying glass, and a little bug viewer. It's about time Alexander gets trained in the ways of bug catching from me, the bug catching expert. haha. I love how excited he is about it every time we get home from school. Maybe one day I can also pass on my knowledge of lizard catching. I know you're so proud, Mom! ;)

Two weekends ago, I went to see my first production at the Lyric Opera through such a sweet Christmas gift from my nanny family. I brought Jill with me, and it was so refreshing to fancify for an opera once again. An elite feeling fills you as you're walking to the opera house with other fancy opera lovers, and then you're overwhelmed with the gorgeousness of the building. We heard Verdi's Aida, and it was such a beautiful experience. The singers, set, and orchestra were amazing, of course!

Sunset Boulevard rehearsals get more and more exciting. As hard as it is to believe, our sitzprobe is a week from tomorrow, and we open in less than a month. What adds to the excitement is that my brother is flying in one weekend and the rest of my family will be joining sometime, too, to see the show.

 I've been in the thought process and also speaking with our makeup/costume person Lindsay about the possibility of going blonde with clip in extensions instead of a wig for the show. We'll see what the conclusion is soon. :)

Recently, I've had a lot of Million Dollar Quartet experience with getting to see my friend Michael Goodman (who is understudying in the Chicago cast) go on as Carl Perkins. All of the exposure to the show not only made me fall in love with the role of Dyanne, but also helped in preparation for an unexpected audition I had last week. I had been hoping for a bit of time to audition for the role, but from the cast's knowledge, I knew it could be a while due to no Dyanne contracts being up soon. It had been a while since I had checked my e-mails from Actors Access of new casting calls posted, but last Tuesday I randomly decided to check it. Claire Simon had just posted a casting call for Million Dollar Quartet Chicago/NYC/Tour casts, and I immediately submitted. Thursday morning I received a call to audition the next day, so in a matter of hours I memorized two songs from the show as well as sides, and had Rebecca consult me on the perfect audition dress which I made a special thrift store run for--to find authentic 50's dresses. The audition was a fantastic experience! It was adorable and flattering that they kept on commenting on my dress. I learned a lot through the preparation and the audition which will help me perfect everything the next time auditions for Dyanne roll around.

happenings

Quite memorable events filled my last week. Rehearsals for Sunset Boulevard began, the first performance of our improv class took occurred, and I flew home to North Carolina for an audition!

Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard being my first lead role in Chicago, I was extremely nervous going into rehearsals. So many different scenarios were playing in my mind. Shortly after I stepped into the rehearsal room and saw dear friends that I had been in shows with previously at this theatre, my nerves were calmed. I knew it was instantly going to be a fun show. Every single time I listen/sing through the music/even think about this show, I get super excited. Next week we begin staging, so this weekend I'm going to be doing a lot of character analyzing and memorization.

I'm so proud my fellow improv classmates and myself. We have been together for 6 months! Last Friday was our first performance. About an hour before the show, we were all asking each other the level of nerves we each were experiencing, and I said with a wink, "Nope, I'm not nervous! I'm used to performing." Hah, I ate my words 5 minutes before we went on stage. Improv performance nerves are a completely different category than I'm used to. The show was lots of fun, and according to classmates my nervousness didn't show through, so that's good!
Our first class of level D was this past week, and it was quite intense. We're going to get to learn how to do hosting so that we can run our own show, and we also get to have a class dedicated to learning musical improv! One of the many things I took away from class Tuesday was the fact that I need to get on educating myself in the movie world. My family and I didn't venture far from Disney movies growing up, so there is a lot of catching up to do in order to be able to adequately perform on audience topic suggestions. Besides that, as can be confirmed by friends, there's a lot of movie quotes/moments that fly right over my head. Another thing I struggle with in class that I've mentioned before and that I just need to get over is to stop over thinking. Just go out there and do it.

After a good bit of mind debating on what the smart decision would be, I chose to fly home to NC for the weekend to audition for CPCC Summer Theatre. My sister, Rebecca, has done a lot of fantastic set design/painting for them over the past couple of years, and when she heard of the upcoming auditions, she encouraged me to attend. I've felt guilty for hardly spending any time with my family the past couple of years, and I realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to spend a bit of time with them if I was cast. The theatre's summer lineup would be so amazing to be a part of! I flew in Saturday morning (this was the day after my improv show, so I was dangerously running on 2 hrs of sleep for this audition). The audition went very well, and I loved being introduced to people that Rebecca has worked with previously at this theatre. I won't find out until shortly after March 23, since they are holding another round of auditions at a theatre conference in TN. As always, it was so nice to be home, to get to have chats with Mom, spend time with Becca, and catch up with my little brothers.


Lastly, today would have been my dad's 56th birthday. In the days leading up to his birthday/passing/my parents anniversary, I'm reminded of  "O lieb" which is a poem by Ferdinand Freiligrath set to music by Franz Liszt. I sung it in my senior recital as one of the songs in memory of my dad. Here's the poem and below is a lovely performance I just found. It's even more gorgeous if you just listen to Liszt's Liebesträume no. 3 which is just a piano solo.