Singing and Swinging

Today was my first rehearsal for Best of Broadway 2. First off, everyone is really nice. They actually all know each other as most of them were in the show last year and all of them have been in Theatre Cambrian shows in the past. So, I pretty much am the outsider but they didn't make me feel that way. Whenever they referenced something that happened in the show last year, they made sure to let me know what they're talking about. The directors in particular were very inclusive of me and it seems like it's gonna be pretty fun to work with.

Rehearsals will be three times a week on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. This sort of screws up my plans to go back to Toronto every few weekends, but I understand why we have so many rehearsals. We're gonna be doing over 40 songs! And there are probably gonna be more added later - some choruses maybe added for transitions. Plus, a lot of these songs are full on medleys, so there are actually way more songs than just 41 or whatever the actual number is. CRAZY! Of course we won't be singing each song, as there will be solos and such, but there are usually some chorus parts and whatnot that must be learned by everyone.

The first song that we rehearsed today after we had a quick first meeting of going over the production handbook and introductions (and by introductions, I mean me introducing myself to everyone and everyone else introducing themselves to me), was "Stayin' Alive" from Saturday Night Fever. It went really well. Oh, by the way, there are only 14 of us. 12 were here today, but the show will only have FOURTEEN!

From what I could tell, everyone is really talented. There area few standout people that justifiably have most of the solos. The good thing is that everyone will have at least 7 or 8 solo parts throughout the concert, plus little featured back-up or one-liner parts. The musical director was just going through and informally letting us know what solo parts we have. Nothing's certain yet, but I think have some solo parts in some of the the Hairspray, Jersey Boys, Lion King and Dirt Dancing numbers to name a few. I won't really know what exactly are my parts until we get our music, which will happen little by little as we rehearse them. So, it's pretty exciting.

I'm not starting off on a good note (no pun intended...or is it?), but I'm gonna have to miss the next rehearsal. Since it's the long weekend, and I don't really have any plans here, I've decided to rent a car and go back to Toronto for a bit, but also see some of the surrounding areas. So, my plan is to rent a car on Satruday morning. Drive to Toronto and get there by Saturday afternoon. Maybe catch some Caribana festivities and then head back to Sudbury early Monday morning. Then, on Monday, I'll be back in Sudbury in the afternoon to explore the surrounding areas. Apparently there's a place that has really good fish & chips (shut up! I'll workout, don't you worry!)

Speaking of working out...another reason I want to go back to Toronto this weekend is that I'm gonna get my tennis gear and bring it back with me. There's a tennis league at the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre that I'm gonna check out this coming Tuesday. I'm not really sure how I'll do, since I haven't played in over a year. But, I figure it'll all come back to me. It's 2 hours long and you switch every half hour so between singles and doubles. And it's only $7 dollars for the 2 hours, as opposed to $12/hour to rent the court otherwise, and that's if you're a member. If you're not, it's like 30-something bucks! So, I hope that I have all that info down correctly that I don't need a member to play in the league. Anyway, I'll let you know how it all goes.

So long, farewell....(i don't think we're doing that song...pretty much the ONLY Broadway song that's not in the show! I'd let you know what the songs are, but for the people that MAY be coming to see me, I'll keep it a surprise).