Someone Else's Story

Apparently I was what they were looking for, because I landed the lead! I'll be playing Florence in Chess. Well, Chess in concert. Sounds to me like it would just be the music, but I'm not certain. I've never seen a play done "in concert", and I tried googling for the answer to no avail. I guess I'll probably find out at the first rehearsal/meeting this afternoon.

I was called back for two things - Florence and "featured soloist", the latter we all assumed was code for "ensemble". I saw a few people I knew there so that sped up the time between the two callbacks. For the first one, we were split up into parts and learned one of the hardest four part harmonies in the show, then sang in groups of four. Once that was done we waited and chatted until some of us had other parts we were called back for. I was the last of the Florences to sing, and out of 5 or 6 girls, I felt it was between me and one other girl. Luckily I didn't go right after her, because that would have been a little nerve wracking. She sings how I want to sing, just an absolutely beautiful and natural sound. Maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit in this, but I think in the end it came down to height. Though, out of everyone who auditioned and the few who were called back, it ended up being me! I'm proud and I think I did a great job so I think I'm giving credit where credit is due.

One thing that's crazy about this show is that there isn't one solid version of it. If you check it out on wikipedia you'll see that it started as a West End production, then when it moved to Broadway the second act was completely revamped, changed yet again when it went to Sydney, and productions since seem to have taken pieces from each prior production and combined them. I would imagine we'll do the same thing, especially since it's just in concert. We can have all the great songs we want and not have to worry too much about how it all fits into the story. I think. All I know is I'm really excited. I can't say it's a part I've wanted to play forever since I never really knew much about the show, but I've always loved the songs and they've been some of my favorites to sing since the first time I've heard them.


How was your 4th of July? Mine was very nice. Both Evan and I had the day off, so we went to Whole Foods to pick up ingredients for the dishes we were going to make and bring to a friend's house. I made the ever popular bacon wrapped water chestnuts, and a salad that turned out to be a hit. Evan created giant burger patties that contained, among other things, bacon. Yes, right in with the ground beef. He topped them with taleggio cheese and a home made spicy aioli. You can read all about our day on his blog here. Happy birthday, America!