Monday, October 11, 2010

...And so Full of Bananas!

Oh boy.  This show is funny...I mean REALLY funny.  Not just because the show itself has some real crack-up moments, but because this cast & crew is just funny anyway.  Perfect casting, if I do say so m'self. :)  I continually hurt  my body just laughing.  (head, face, upper abs, etc.)  You know, in the 'laughy parts'.

It's fun to relax just a little into the show & be able to focus on connecting to your other actors while staying REALLY present in every moment, using everything that comes at you.  Some really funny moments have developed since we opened, without changing any lines or doing anything different blocking-wise.  You never stop finding ways to make a line work better if you keep a keen eye and ear.  I remember at one point in my education hearing that Anthony Hopkins will read a script something like, 80 times.  THE WHOLE THING, mind you, not just his lines.  His point was that there is a LOT to discover in a script (it's like solving a mysetery really, clues everywhere!).  The more times you read it, the more you can piece together about what makes your character tick and how he/she presses buttons and affects others in that universe you've created together.

However, you can't relax TOO much...you've really got to be on your toes still.  It's weird though in live theatre...although you memorize lines, and music, and lyrics and blocking over the rehearsal period, learning to trust everyone onstage with you and the crew beyond...things can change at a moment's notice.  And by change I guess I mean, GO a little SIDEWAYS.  That's what makes live theatre kinda scarey.

For instance, on Thursday (I think it was thursday) our pianist, Justin, had played some telephone rings with a sound manipulator option on his fancy keyboard in one scene.  In the moments to follow is my solo song.  Before my solo, mr. pianist FORGOT TO CHANGE IT BACK TO THE REGULAR MUSIC OPTION.  So when my music started it was a JINGLE JANGLE type of effect that was a tad confusing.  I actually didn't hear the bells, I just didn't hear the music I normally hear.  But because my mind at that moment is so focused on coming in at the right time with the appropriate 'acting throughts' running through my brain,  so my loud ass just started singing and figured (in a fireball quick millisecond) that:
A.)everyone in that band is a TOTAL pro, they will hear me come in and follow along; and
B.) I'm LOUD as hell in this chesty, belty song, so we will be fine.  Again, THEY WILL HEAR ME AND FOLLOW ALONG.

Breathe. Trust. SING.

Later that night after the show, our wonderfully talented pianist apologized up and down (bless his heart!), but the point is, these things can happen.  You can't get mad about it, you just have to solve the problem in a TEENY TINY fight-or-flight second and..AND KEEP GOING.  Keep telling the story. 

Live theatre, ladies and gentlemen.  Scarey as hell sometimes, but if you just keep going, rolling with the occasional punches that can come at ya....stay focused enough to not get hurt...and react to whatever happens AS YOUR CHARACTER MIGHT REACT...

The audience either doesn't notice....or is polite and notices just a little but forgives you.

They stayed, they laughed, they clapped at the end of both that crazy song and at the end of the show.  Whew.

Acting really is reacting, huh?

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