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keladry_lupinHoly cow! LJ seems to be working!
In the commentary to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Martin Freeman talks about getting a little depressed over his costume. Everyone else was running around looking really cool, and Martin looked frumpy and fat in his pyjamas and bathrobe. (His words, not mine.) The reason I bring this up is to illustrate how I felt Wednesday night when the first costumes for Into the Woods arrived. On the rack were lovely satins and crushed velvets in bright blues, greens, and pinks, glittery trims and epaulettes, baubles, bangles, and beads. I knew it was coming, but I couldn't completely stifle the disappointment when Marla handed me a white cotton nightgown for Granny's costume. At least I have a sparkly dress waiting at home for Cinderella's Mother.
They're talking about making vagina wall for me! I'm unreasonably excited over this one. It's made out of a door-sized frame with two pieces of knitted fabric stretched over it so there's a long ... ahem ... slit down the center, hence the name. The fabric can be painted to match its surroundings, and it has enough give to it that a person can walk through the two pieces of fabric. It lets an actor go on or off stage without using a traditional door or arch. It looks like they're walking right through the wall, especially when the lighting is low. They used it in Dracula and Scrooge and Marley to emphasize the supernatural aspects of the stories, and in Alice in Wonderland, they used it for Humpty Dumpty's scene to hide the rest of the actress when all they needed was her head.
They're going to put it in the trunk of the tree where Cinderella's Mother's ghost resides, and I'll emerge from it to grant Cinderella's wish (Mother's ghost takes the fairy godmother's place in this play) and then lecture the Prince when Stepmother dupes him into riding off with one of her daughters. I won't ever step out and leave my tree entirely, but my head, arms, and torso will be fully visible. They were originally going to make the tree like the one in the original Broadway play: there was a hole in the trunk with a scrim over it, and the interior would light up and reveal the ghost when she had something to say. I liked the idea of my vision being partially obscured -- yay less stage fright -- but this will be much more interesting. They're going to block the first scene so at the end of the part I sing, I make a giving gesture with my arms: "Ask the tree, and you shall have your wish." Even though Cinderella reaches for me, I can't touch her, so I vanish back into the tree. A little sweet pathos to drive home Cinderella's situation to the audience, even though I'm making it possible for her to go to the ball.
Tuesday's rehearsal was a vocal run through of scenes that have lots of people, and they went over the opening twice. I spent that half hour looking straight up and making my fellow actors wondering what the heck I was doing. The Mysterium's current location is a converted chapel, and the ceiling is wood with lots of knots and patterns in it, so I started to doodle the wood grain with a pencil and ruled paper. I've done wooden walls and doors for two fanarts, and I was more concerned with having fun with the drawing materials than caring about how wood actually looks. It was a good exercise and kept me from going nuts with boredom.
I keep finding more nerds and geeks in the cast! One of the girls playing a stepsister laughed at my Snape-themed license plate on my car Monday, and then she got a kick out of my "I see Thestrals" t-shirt last night. I described my old idea for a MWPP-themed t-shirt that I never quite finished, and she looked like it was Christmas. Hooray for Potter geeks! The girl who plays the other stepsister started strumming a familiar tune on her ukulele Saturday, and by the time she'd finished the Beatles' When I'm 64, half of us were singing along. And she loves Doctor Who -- she and her flatmate watch as much British TV as they can, so I recently told them about QI.
Sunday wasn't a rehearsal, though. It was a work day. We were all asked to come and finish striking the Glass Menagerie set and then paint the set pieces black while touching up other parts of the stage and theater walls. Out of twenty-odd cast members, six of us actually showed up. It would have got crowded if more than ten of us had showed, but we would have got everything done in very short order, too. As it was, we painted, hauled, hammered, stored, and organized for most of the afternoon; I finally went home after four hours of work, and I outlasted all but one of the cast members. I always dread the work involved when something like this comes on the schedule, but it turns out to be a good bonding experience; I got to know those kids a lot better because I made the effort to go.
Rehearsals are stepping up. I had all of last week off, and went back to work Saturday through Wednesday. Tonight is the first of four days (not in a row) that I don't have rehearsal between now and opening night, which is three weeks from tonight. It's exhausting (as you may have figured out by now), but I'm having a fantastic time.
It's official, sports fans: I am in love with Martin Freeman. I picked up the audio book of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe at the public library during lunch and put the CD into the car stereo as I drove back to work. Not even a full chapter in, and he's made me giggle several times. It's probably not a good idea to put it in while I'm at work when it makes me LOL, but I'm going to anyway.
I'm also in love with Mark Gatiss, though not quite as passionately as Martin (or Stephen Fry), because he keeps posting photos from the filming of Sherlock on his Twitter account. Yesterday, it was the skull with a Santa hat, which immediately became my desktop background for work.
*waves to the flist* I missed you guys!
In the commentary to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Martin Freeman talks about getting a little depressed over his costume. Everyone else was running around looking really cool, and Martin looked frumpy and fat in his pyjamas and bathrobe. (His words, not mine.) The reason I bring this up is to illustrate how I felt Wednesday night when the first costumes for Into the Woods arrived. On the rack were lovely satins and crushed velvets in bright blues, greens, and pinks, glittery trims and epaulettes, baubles, bangles, and beads. I knew it was coming, but I couldn't completely stifle the disappointment when Marla handed me a white cotton nightgown for Granny's costume. At least I have a sparkly dress waiting at home for Cinderella's Mother.
They're talking about making vagina wall for me! I'm unreasonably excited over this one. It's made out of a door-sized frame with two pieces of knitted fabric stretched over it so there's a long ... ahem ... slit down the center, hence the name. The fabric can be painted to match its surroundings, and it has enough give to it that a person can walk through the two pieces of fabric. It lets an actor go on or off stage without using a traditional door or arch. It looks like they're walking right through the wall, especially when the lighting is low. They used it in Dracula and Scrooge and Marley to emphasize the supernatural aspects of the stories, and in Alice in Wonderland, they used it for Humpty Dumpty's scene to hide the rest of the actress when all they needed was her head.
They're going to put it in the trunk of the tree where Cinderella's Mother's ghost resides, and I'll emerge from it to grant Cinderella's wish (Mother's ghost takes the fairy godmother's place in this play) and then lecture the Prince when Stepmother dupes him into riding off with one of her daughters. I won't ever step out and leave my tree entirely, but my head, arms, and torso will be fully visible. They were originally going to make the tree like the one in the original Broadway play: there was a hole in the trunk with a scrim over it, and the interior would light up and reveal the ghost when she had something to say. I liked the idea of my vision being partially obscured -- yay less stage fright -- but this will be much more interesting. They're going to block the first scene so at the end of the part I sing, I make a giving gesture with my arms: "Ask the tree, and you shall have your wish." Even though Cinderella reaches for me, I can't touch her, so I vanish back into the tree. A little sweet pathos to drive home Cinderella's situation to the audience, even though I'm making it possible for her to go to the ball.
Tuesday's rehearsal was a vocal run through of scenes that have lots of people, and they went over the opening twice. I spent that half hour looking straight up and making my fellow actors wondering what the heck I was doing. The Mysterium's current location is a converted chapel, and the ceiling is wood with lots of knots and patterns in it, so I started to doodle the wood grain with a pencil and ruled paper. I've done wooden walls and doors for two fanarts, and I was more concerned with having fun with the drawing materials than caring about how wood actually looks. It was a good exercise and kept me from going nuts with boredom.
I keep finding more nerds and geeks in the cast! One of the girls playing a stepsister laughed at my Snape-themed license plate on my car Monday, and then she got a kick out of my "I see Thestrals" t-shirt last night. I described my old idea for a MWPP-themed t-shirt that I never quite finished, and she looked like it was Christmas. Hooray for Potter geeks! The girl who plays the other stepsister started strumming a familiar tune on her ukulele Saturday, and by the time she'd finished the Beatles' When I'm 64, half of us were singing along. And she loves Doctor Who -- she and her flatmate watch as much British TV as they can, so I recently told them about QI.
Sunday wasn't a rehearsal, though. It was a work day. We were all asked to come and finish striking the Glass Menagerie set and then paint the set pieces black while touching up other parts of the stage and theater walls. Out of twenty-odd cast members, six of us actually showed up. It would have got crowded if more than ten of us had showed, but we would have got everything done in very short order, too. As it was, we painted, hauled, hammered, stored, and organized for most of the afternoon; I finally went home after four hours of work, and I outlasted all but one of the cast members. I always dread the work involved when something like this comes on the schedule, but it turns out to be a good bonding experience; I got to know those kids a lot better because I made the effort to go.
Rehearsals are stepping up. I had all of last week off, and went back to work Saturday through Wednesday. Tonight is the first of four days (not in a row) that I don't have rehearsal between now and opening night, which is three weeks from tonight. It's exhausting (as you may have figured out by now), but I'm having a fantastic time.
It's official, sports fans: I am in love with Martin Freeman. I picked up the audio book of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe at the public library during lunch and put the CD into the car stereo as I drove back to work. Not even a full chapter in, and he's made me giggle several times. It's probably not a good idea to put it in while I'm at work when it makes me LOL, but I'm going to anyway.
I'm also in love with Mark Gatiss, though not quite as passionately as Martin (or Stephen Fry), because he keeps posting photos from the filming of Sherlock on his Twitter account. Yesterday, it was the skull with a Santa hat, which immediately became my desktop background for work.
*waves to the flist* I missed you guys!
