Viva La Vie Boheme!!!

Well, I made it. Back in LA, safe and sound. The sunny warm weather is helping to distract from the sadness of RENT being over and me missing everyone like crazy. I really do... nearly every show that I've done, the cast and crew had become a sort of new family, but this one was like nothing else.

When we got to the theatre I handed out personalized notes that I had written for everyone. Ben was practicing "Today For You" on stage so the rest of us ended up in the girls' dressing room dancing and singing. It was wonderful. Definitely bittersweet to have that explosion of joy all together, to put on the costumes and make up for the last time, to take pictures backstage before it was time for places. The show went really really well. I think all of us used the emotions we were feeling appropriately during the show. When the second act started I was all smiles. It was like all of us up on that stage had our own mini season of love..

From that point on though it got more difficult. I felt like the performances were fantastic, though there were definitely more tears than normal. I really started feeling it in "Without You", and was nearly crying by the end of the song. As soon as I started saying Angel's eulogy that's when I could no longer hold it together. And for me, the hardest part was, by far, trying to sing "I can't believe this is... goodbye". I don't think it was easy for any of us. When we were singing the Finale B, I don't think there was a dry eye on stage. Probably in the audience too.

After a lot of hugs and a few more pictures, we all made our way over to the J.Clyde for dinner and drinks. It was really great to have that time together, to wind down after the show and say our final goodbyes. We even sang Finale B for our waiters, though it was a good two or three steps too high. My fault, I take the blame. We sounded great though. After a few hours we all started to disperse... it was so so sad. The amazing Lauren even gave me her favorite scarf, which I had been begging to buy off her earlier in the day. I will cherish it forever and think of you every time I wear it L!

Ben, Dylan and his friends Kurt and Stephen, DaWonye, Stephanie and myself went over to the hotel and hung out at Ben's place for a while. I realized I still had to pack and gas up the car, so I made a fairly early night of it and headed over to the car. While driving to the gas station I realized I totally forgot to pay my bill at the restaurant so I went back. William, one of our waiters for the night, had worked some kind of magic on the computer and took some items off so it apparently ended up being like $5. I stayed there talking to him and Mae, our other waiter, for a while. Such nice people in Birmingham.

When I got back I packed most of the rest of my things and tried to get to sleep. I failed. I didn't get a wink of sleep for hours. I think I finally started dozing around 500 am, but I had to get up in order to shower and finish packing. Earlier on Sunday I had spoken with Susan, the woman who had picked me up from the airport when I arrived, and she said she was dropping me off as well. When the time came to meet her downstairs, I text'd her to let her know I was almost ready and I'd be down in a few minutes. I got a call from her immediately after that saying she had spoken to Kim and was told I was dropping the rental car off so I didn't need a ride. Luckily that was the original plan so it still worked out fine.

Even though I sent a 10 pound package home, I had bough a few other things and I had to put 5 pounds of things into my carry-on so as not to have to pay for the extra weight in my suitcase. I had a basically direct flight from B'ham to LA, but we stopped in St. Louis and Salt Lake City on the way. I arrived at 1:20 and was greeted by Evan. He drove me home so I could take a much needed nap, and then we went to dinner at Aroma Cafe in Studio City, one of my very favorite places ever. My neighbor Shaun had a screening of the first episode of his web series, Project Hollywood, at the Bungalow Club. I've always wanted to go there so it was nice to be able to check it out. My dear friend Sari also showed up which was a pleasant surprise.

I've got all day today to relax before I get back to work tomorrow. I'm already itching to do another show... Hopefully that will happen soon. Maybe I'll even audition for Disneyland so I can work with Ben! I'm going to have to plan something with the LA RENT people soon.

That's it for my RENT journey. I plan on keeping up with this blog and writing mainly about projects I'm doing. In the meantime... check out www.laurenab.wordpress.com. She always has fun things to say.

xoxo

I Can't Believe This Is... Goodbye

Sunny? Yes.
Warm? Well, maybe later. The weather looks promising. There's not a cloud in the sky for the very first time since I've arrived. Going to the pool still ain't happening though, it's still too cold and I have to start on my hair by 11:30.

Our show last night went really well. A few lines were flubbed, a couple light cues were off, and a few notes were wrong, but nothing that totally messed us up. And the audience was FANTASTIC. Right off the bat they were laughing at everything. There were never any awkward moments when they weren't sure weather or not to applaud, they just did it. By far, the most responsive audience we've had yet.

After the show we headed over to Dylan/Lauren's place(s) to have this previously mentioned "hall party". It was more of a "apartment migration" party, but moving from one apartment to the other did require us to utilize the hall, if even just for a few seconds. I think the majority of it was spent in Lauren's, even though she just moved in and doesn't have much furniture. We started off by spreading out her comforter on the floor and having a fast food picnic. There was also wine, beer, and chips. Pretty classy, I know. The majority of the cast was there, plus Kevin, Chase from the band, Kim and her hubby Josh, and some peoples friends. It was really nice. And we didn't even stay our till four! I think I was back at the hotel and under the covers by 2:30. Make that 2:40 - I had to brush out my hair. Only one more time though....

Ben and I decided it would be a good idea to take advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel one last time. He text'd me at 9:10 to remind me. I was going to just grab it and go back to my room like he did, but I realized I certainly can't not blog today, and as long as I'm down by the lobby... here I am, blogging.

This is it. My dream come true is coming to an end. Talking to kevin last night, we agree that this process has gone by so fast, but at the same time it hasn't. I guess anything you love doing seems like it's gone by fast once it's over, but remembering the process it seems like it's lasted a long time. I believe the plan for after the show is that we're going to the J.Clyde one last time to have dinner all together. I know a lot of people are going to be a total mess. This has really been a journey, and it's really special that we've all gotten the opportunity to take it together. The past couple performances have been more emotional than ever, especially the second act. Everyone is really using their feelings about this show ending and putting that in their performances. I really don't know what I'll be like tongiht, but I'm pretty sure I won't want to leave the stage after the curtain call.

Ten Down, Two More To Go

Our show on Thursday ended up going really well. There were times where my voice wasn't working the way I would have liked it too but I feel like my acting made up for it. I felt great about the show. The audience was fantastic too. It's always a good feeling when they sand up before we even finish the last song and start the bows.

RMTC does film each production for archival purposes, though the performers never get to see it. Boo. Anyway, they filmed last night. The girls felt that we were really on, but the boys had an interesting night. A few lines were skipped or forgotten, that's never happened before. I don't think it was nerves from knowing the cameras were out there, it was probably just a brain fart. Hopefully they'll film tonight too.... if not, they were just little slip ups so oh well.

We had a packed house again and they seemed to like it fine, but we hadn't expected what happened when we came out from backstage. People were there waiting, with programs and cameras in hand, for us to give autographs and take pictures. They cheered and gushed about how much they loved the show. It was pretty crazy, I've never had an experience like that. I've gotta admit, it was kinda cool.

When we managed to get out of the theatre, a group of 12 of us went to the haunted house. it was about 20 minutes away, and we made a stop along the way to get snacks because, as we found out, the wait to actually get in was 2 hours. The weird thing was we paid $2 to get in, and then we had to pay $15 for tickets (tokens, actually). They had a movie playing for anyone that wanted to pass the time. I think it was Candy Man. We opted to go back to the cars and hang out where it was warmer.

Some time after 1:00 we finally got to enter. I was anticipating being terrified so I clung to whoever was closest to me throughout the maze of a pathway. Fortunately I was hardly startled and more entertained by my friends in front of me who were close to peeing their pants. I even took a picture with one of the clowns that popped out and tried to scare us. I think it took 15 or 20 minutes to get through and it was actually really fun. They had one of those rooms that spin while you're walking down a pathway... it's making me dizzy now just thinking about it. I don't know why those are always in haunted houses. They aren't scary, just really weird.

When we exited, the warehouse that had earlier been packed with waiting patrons was completely empty. We were the last group to go through. After that experience we weren't tired so we headed over to Dylan's place to hang out some more. His lady friend Brook came over too which was a pleasant surprise. We didn't realize how late it got until Ben got a text from Lauren, who's bedroom apparently shares a wall with Dylan's living room area. At that point it was after 4, later than any of us had planned on staying out. *I didn't call Evan because it was so late but I should have, and I am very very sorry that I didn't.*


It's freezing outside. It was yesterday too. I had hoped that we could get in the pool before we had to leave but I don't foresee that happening. The hall party was rescheduled to tonight so that's what we'll be doing after the show. Hopefully I won't be out until 4 again tonight, especially since the matinee that is tomorrow afternoon is the last show we'll all do together. Probably ever. I turned in my script yesterday... it took me probably 10 minutes to erase all of my notes from it. I also sent myself a package so my suitcase won't be so heavy. Hopefully those 10 lbs of stuff will be enough to keep the suitcase under 50 lbs this time. I don't know what we'll be doing after the show tomorrow but we'll all be together, I'm certain of that.

The Final Countdown

Happy Thursday everyone! Yesteryday marked our last full day off of this trip. We didn't really do much of anything... we looked for a mongolian bbq place but it was closed so instead I tagged along with Ben and Casey to Chipotle, and we ended the night watching tv. Big day. Michael's back now though so it was nice to chill with him too.

On Tuesday Ben, Casey, Stephanie, DaWonye and myself went to see Dylan in The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe at the Childrens Theatre. He was fantastic! That kid is so talented. After that I took a nap, and then we went to Walmart to get supplies for a cook out thing. I made a really good salad, Stephanie make this awesome cornbread thing, we also had baked beans, hot dogs and burgers, chips, cookies, ice cream... mmm, it was good. It was the five of us who went to see the play earlier in the day, plus Cecil and Dylan. Food was eaten, pictures were taken, conversation was made. It was lovely.

Lauren is moving into an apartment across the hall from Dylan, so tonight after the show we're going over to their place to have a "hall party". Tomorrow night we have plans to go to a haunted house called Atrox... I'm pretty frightened already. I've made everyone promise to keep me surrounded so the people that work there won't get too close to me. I'm pretty sure I'll survive as long as there aren't little people grabbing at me with white-gloved hands. Talk about creepy.

I'll write later, hopefully today's show will go better than last Thursday...

Weekend Number Two

And just like that, our second weekend is over!

After I picked Sarah up from the airport we went to Sonic for her first experience. Mmm, delicious. I think she's hooked now. As am I... I'm not looking forward to having to drive an hour to go to one. Oh well, at least I'll have In 'n' Out back. How I've missed it. We started our Saturday morning by meeting up with my mom and John. Sarah heard there was a bacon waffle at The Original Pancake House so we went there to find it. The wait was a little long (even beside the fact that they skipped our name on the list at least 3 times) and the service could have been much better, but man oh man was that bacon waffle good. I got that and Sarah got the pecan pancakes, which were nearly as delicious.

After our meal we found our way over to the Botanical Gardens. It sprinkled a bit on and off but nothing too bad. The gardens were beautiful, and so big! I think we were there for at least 40 minutes and probably didn't get to see half of it. At one point along the trail, an orange tabby cat ran up to us, as though he were late and catching up. He liked us so much that he walked along with us through most of the gardens we visited. The plants and flowers were incredible and serene, but that cat was my favorite part. I miss him already. After a while I started feeling a little off, me ear was doing that weird thing again and I was probably in a bacon-waffle-induced-semi-coma, so I went back to the hotel for a quick nap before I had to start doing my hair for the show.

That night we had our best audience yet. Every last seat was filled, and they even brought in extra chairs to accommodate more people. They laughed and cried and cheered as much as we could have ever wanted. The performance itself was also fantastic. I can only say that from a performers point of view of course, but the show felt so good. It helped that I could actually hear myself and hit all my notes with confidence too. It's right that we gave such a good show for such a deserving audience of family, friends, and other enthusiasts. And from the amount of dewy eyes we say when we came from backstage, I'm positive we did a good job. I took the family to The J.Clyde for a couple beers and one of the best blt's I've ever had. I love me a good blt, but with fried green tomatoes? Come on! Wow. I also enjoyed a Good People Coffee Oatmeal Stout (brewed at the Good People Brewery in B'ham) and Sarah had some mild wings. Delish.

After a quick IHOP breakfast this morning, I bid my family farewell and got to my preparation for the show. Today was our first real matinee since last week's was delayed until 5:30 in order to allow us to sing after the AIDS walk. The audience was pretty much what you'd expect from a matinee audience. Not terrible, though definitely a chance from what we've been getting. But hey, what can you expect from a southern audience who just saw RENT on a Sunday afternoon? We played the show for us and we had fun. Afterword the majority of the cast plus Kim and Josh went out to get some dinner at Sabor Latino, a decent Mexican restaurant neat our hotel. Definitely better than the place Evan and I ate at Five Points so I was happy. By the way Birmingham people - or those in the know - is it proper to say AT five points or IN five points? Just Curious.


It seems like everything goes this way, but it feels as though we've been here forever and not long enough at the same time. It's hard to believe that just weeks ago we arrived and met everyone for the first time. Ron's been gone for over a week now and it seems like forever since we've seen him. I can tell it will be a sad sad day next Sunday when we have to say goodbye. We've all been blessed to have done this project together. Ugh. I don't wanna think about it. I'll just enjoy these next few days off, hopefully cramming them with last minute cast hang out time. Ben and I are already making plans to do and see things together when we get back. That makes me feel a bit better. Plus, there's always Rancho Cucamonga... (fingers crossed!)

Back In The Game

Yesterday, while recovering from my unwise decision to mix alcohol with several prescribed medicines the night before (btw, the cut below my lip came from me falling out of bed and hitting the night stand. Oh, Nicci...), I had my first pang of homesickness. With all the hard work we've put into this show, and even with the days off that have been completely void of any set plans or things to do, I've been keeping myself happily occupied. Not that the fun of this new adventure is wearing off, but I'm remembering what it's like to sleep in my own bed and hang out with my roommates. I even miss work and all the girls there! I'm not aching to get home just yet, but i can tell it'll be nice to be back when I get there.

Tonight was our first show back after Mon-Weds off. And wow, what an interesting show. I'm so thankful that I got to the doctor when I did so I can be as well as I am right now. Still, my personal performance tonight could have been much better. With only 3 days of recovery under my belt, I still have a bit of a lingering cough. I hadn't realized it much until I had to sing, because that takes a greater amount of breath support than every day talking or singing along with the radio. And no matter how much cough syrup I down, I can still feel some crap in my lungs. As for that, I guess there's not much I can do but wait till it's gone. I also had a hard time hearing myself... kind of. Maybe I was subconsciously being extremely careful not to push my limits too far, but at the same time I felt like I didn't have enough control over what was coming out of my mouth. On top of this, my left ear has been doing some weird thing every now and again since I arrived in Alabama and that makes it hard to focus on how I'm hearing my voice.

Blah blah blah, complain complain complain. I don't think my voice cracked, at least not too much, and I didn't fall on my face, so what more can I ask for after feeling like I was deteriorating on Monday. I'm certain tomorrow will be a better show. There are a few other people that are sick now but they pulled through great tonight. The band was also a little in and out at some points but it just seems like we all needed tonight to get our bearings again.

My mom and her boyfriend arrive tomorrow afternoon, and I'll be picking up Sarah from the airport after out show. Michael will be driving to Georgia tomorrow morning to pick up his fiance Desi, who is on tour with Junie B. Jones (a childrens book made into a musical). His family is also arriving on Saturday, and I believe Casey's mom and perhaps some more of his family/friends will be seeing the show Saturday as well. I'm sure none of us will run out of things to do this weekend.

Bed time. I mean it this time...

Maybe I Should Have Gotten A Flu Shot After All...

I woke up yesterday with a tight feeling in the right side of my throat. It only worried me a little - about a week and a half into this trip I felt something weird with my throat but let it work itself out. Luckily it did. I think the majority of the cast participated in the AIDS Walk, which took about two hours. I opted out of it, primarily because I had to do my hair (really! it takes an hour!), but I'm glad I did because it was pouring rain and I'm sure that wouldn't help my voice. Once everyone from the walk arrived we packed all 15 cast members onto a 4x9 section of stage that was protected from the rain and sang Seasons Of Love. Our audience showed probably as much enthusiasm as they could muster while soaking wet in cold weather.

Casey's mom, who drove Casey Michael and myself to the park, also drove us back to the theatre where we had about an hour and a half until show time. Most people used this time to warm up and get into dry clothes, and I used the time to try to convince myself I'd do great. It didn't help that after the first number, someone in the girls' dressing room said "I think I saw Daphne Rubin Vega in the audience". Whoever this was wasn't the only one to notice either. I personally refused to even look at that side of the stage until my song Out Tonight was over. I don't want a surprise visit from the original Mimi on a night where I'm afraid my voice will go out at any second! As a matter of face though, I think I performed that song the best I have yet since opening, at least vocally, probably because I was being so careful not to push anything. Daphne or not, I felt good by the end of the number. When I got a chance to look over there later, I was certain that it was in fact not Daphne at all. Just an old lady with vaguely Daphne-esque features. She and the two other older women she was with did not return for the second act. That's the first I've noticed anyone had left before we were through. Well, good riddance.

To celebrate the completion of out first weekend of shows, we hotel people took ourselves to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Our waiter was fantastic, so friendly and helpful. I suggested we let the manager know how good he was before we left, but the boys shot down that idea. I don't think they wanted to wait around much, we were expected at Dylan's place. He lives in a great place very close to Five Points, a populous and collage-y area. Us and a few other members of the cast and Dylan's friends relaxed with some wine and passed the guitar around. It's difficult not to have at least a little of singing with so many musical theatre people in one room. We only got in trouble with D's neighbors twice, the we were actually pretty mellow.

I had a tough time falling asleep last night because of the dry burning on the right side of my throat and the coughing that came along with it, but managed to catch at least a few hours. When I woke up I was sure that whatever this is wasn't going to pass quickly if I just decided to ride it out. The pain was now in my entire throat, I had a bad headache, mild body aches, and my lungs felt slightly constricted. I waited about an hour to see if any of this lessened as my body woke up, but any dissipation was so minimal that I took myself over to the clinic that's conveniently just down the street from the hotel. When Casey had to go during the first week I'm pretty sure he waited 3 hours before he was seen so I was prepared to wait. It only took me an hour and a half in the waiting room, and another 40 minutes in my own room to get seen my an actual doctor. He said it probably wasn't anything more than a virus, but when I told him I'm a professional actor and I needed to be better asap he prescribed me 3 medicines and I got a steroid shot. In me bum. I haven't gotten a shot in the ass since my family went to Mexico when I was in second grade. Ouch. Those hurt.

For some reason I don't have my health insurance card with me, which worries me because I don't know where else it would be besides my wallet. I took my g-status hobble and my prescriptions over to the super Walmart. I was told it would take a half an hour to get the meds so I got a few things over on the market side of the store. I returned exactly 30 minutes later, only to have to wait another hour and ten minutes. I'm pretty sure they forgot about me. I was lucky (or unlucky?) enough to have a man with two little girls wait for a prescription at the same time. The girls, 3 and 5 years old, kept me company by asking which dog food container I thought was prettiest and asking me what happened to all the other people waiting. Adorable. I just hope I didn't get them sick.

After five hours or trying to get a goal accomplished, I arrived back at the hotel with a z-pack, prescription strength cough syrup, more steroid pills, and a bunch of soup. It's already easier for me to breathe, and the z-pack has never done me wrong so I'm sure I'll be at least 50% better by tomorrow. And only $200 for all this fun! Next step, find out what happened to my insurance card...

We Have Arrived

Sorry it's been a couple days. As I'm sure you can imagine, we'd been pretty busy preparing for opening night. So since Monday... Evan arrived in time to see the second half of our rehearsal on Tuesday night. Before we started we had a mini question and answer session with a select group of people who were there to get a kind of behind the scenes look at what the theatre does. I believe these were potential supporters of the theatre, or volunteers, or something along those lines. Aside from those from that group that chose to stay and watch the "performance", we had a pseudo audience - we were told we could invite a friend or two, and some kids from the RMTC children's program were there. We only had to stop once for a quick fix, and besides that it ran smoothly.

Wednesday Evan and I went to check out the Civil rights institute. It's located directly across the street from one of the churches that was bombed in the 60's. It was pretty incredible learning about what struggles black people went through for equality. I think it was equally inspiring and depressing. I'm so glad I live now instead of then. We are a pretty lucky generation.

That night was Media Night, the preview night I spoke of before. It was a pretty big house and the show went great. That made it feel like opening night, so on Thursday, our actual opening, some of the pre-show nerves were gone. Aside from me forgetting a part of my costume at one point, I had a pretty good show. Even with the abundance of older people in the audience, not a single person walked out or left at intermission (at least as far as I could tell). We've all had our fears about how this show would be received, but so far it's been great. We even have a review of our opening night that gave us 5 out of 5 stars. Read It Here!

Thursday afternoon before our show, we - as in me plus the 3 other boys at the hotel (and Evan) - took Ron out to lunch and Jim N' Nick's. It's a fantastic barbecue place. It was so nice to do something for him and just hang out outside the theatre. He is such an incredible man, and we all agree he's one of the most fantastic directors we've worked with. He's putting up another production in Rancho Cucamonga next year that we would love to do, and he told us he had been meaning to talk to us about that - he definitely wants the producer to see us. I don't know if this particular theatre would fly people out to be in the show, but we have so many gems in this particular cast, I think it would be worth their while.

The cast party was held at Rogue Tavern, a few short blocks away from the theatre. It had a pretty nice atmosphere and reasonably priced food and drinks, so everyone enjoyed themselves. We also presented a gift from the cast to Ron. It was Kas's idea and it was perfect - a big RENT book, all about the show and the lives surrounding it, signed throughout by the entire cast. I still have to find a way to upload pictures, there are some really great ones from that night.

I never know how to end these. I wish I was as good at coming around full circle as Lauren is in her blog. Check it out, it's http://www.laurenab.wordpress.com/
Oh, and duh - Evan reviewed the show too http://www.swanfungus.com/2009/10/birmingham-alabama-day-3.html

T minus 3 days

Ahhh, to sleep in. I slept until 11 today. Well, I made myself stay in bed until 11 today. The past two days we've had 10 out of 12's, which means we rehearsed 10 hours out of a 12 hour stretch. Saturday was all cue to cue (lighting cue to lighting cue) so it was a lot of hurry up and wait. It always is with cue to cue. All the actors are required to do is be in the places they're supposed to be while those in charge decide what the lighting should be. It's definitely necessary so I'm not at all complaining. The lights look fantastic. It just made the day seem really long.

Yesterday we had our first full dress rehearsal. That's always a magical day; it's incredible how much lights and costumes and make up can do to help transform the show into something real. Believe me, it's so much easier to get into character wearing the Mimi costumes. I had a few chances when I wasn't on stage to see how everything else looked and it was fantastic. Especially watching the second part of La Vie Boheme - that number is so fun and has so much life. All in all the run through went relatively smoothly. A couple of things weren't pre set and a few things were forgotten, we stopped once in a while to fix the lighting, but we got through it and I'm pretty sure we all felt good about it.

Today we're back to a 5:00 rehearsal, although it could potentially to until midnight. That wouldn't be a huge problem except for the fact that we're called to the theatre at 5:45 tomorrow morning to do some spots for FOX News. We usually leave the hotel about 20 mins to a half an hour before we have to be there, and my hair takes, oh, maybe 50 minutes to do. Kim, the production manager, said we're going to do our best to get out before 12. In any case, it's going to be fun for do Rent (the song) at 6:15 am, especially for Dylan and Casey. Luckily, after we're done at around 9, we won't have to be back again until 5, so there's some serious nap time.

Wednesday night we'll have our first audience, although it will be considered a "preview". It's supposed to be our final dress rehearsal, but the people and businesses that have helped to support the show or theatre or promote RENT are invited. Something like that. Our official opening night will be Thursday, with a party to follow. I'm so excited - it seems like I've been here for so long, but at the same time I feel like we've gotten everything together in a short amount of time. I'm really proud of what we've got, it's going to be quite an experience for the people of Birmingham.

what should i title this one...?

Oof. Casey just put me and Ben through his ab work out routine. I'm happy to say that I completed all but one of the exercises. That's some pretty intense stuff. Standing doesn't feel right... I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow but it'll be worth it.

Yesterday we had a full and nearly non-stop run through of the show. Unfortunately two of the principals are on vocal rest so the energy wasn't at the level it should have been. We definitely all tried to give it the life it deserves, but it was admittedly more difficult when we had to think of the lines that were silent in order to time everything else out right. Hopefully within the next few days everyone will be back up to full steam.

I think this Sunday we're going to get the full band. I know all of us can't wait - it'll add so much of the needed energy into the show. Don't get me wrong, Kevin Finn is a fantastic pianist and musical director. It's just so exciting when we're getting new components of the show together. I worked with a few costume pieces last night... that was interesting. I have full confidence that my first act costumes will me fantastic. Second act... well, I remember Courtney (the choreographer) saying I'm taller than a lot of the Mimi's (or maybe she thought I'm 5'9" too), but that pink dress is pretty darn short. I guess we'll make it work, somehow.

Notes didn't go so well. It seems like although we've made a lot of great choices and done some really good work, some of us are taking a few steps backwards. Ron assured us that we have a great product, but there's also a lot of things we need to focus on. Keith (Cromwell, exec. director of the theatre co.) said it in an interesting way. He said we were all acting like it was the Church of Rent, like we had to tip toe through it and not shake things up. I know there's a few of us that have fallen into doing what we've been so used to over the years, listening to the OBC recording, or trying to replicate what we've seen from the last performance filmed live on B'way. I'm an offender too. But I realize when I am and I'm up to the challenge of making it work in the space we're in, and also personalizing it and making it my own. It's a great learning experience, and I think by the end of this I will have grown a lot as an actor.


After rehearsal last night a group of us went to The J.Clyde. It's a really good restaurant near Five Points with an abundance of college kids and a huge beer list. Some people had the chicken wings and they were very well received. I got their house made hummus and it was fantastic. Pictures were taken, conversations were shared, good times were had by all. Michael Wright (my roommate) even stayed out the whole time!! It was much appreciated, since his favorite pastimes is talking to his fiance for hours and hours. She's actually going to be on tour soon and he's going to drive to South Carolina or something like that to pick her up so she can see the show, and then he's going to drive her to the next city of her tour. We all can't wait to meet her.

After we got back I did have a bit of a tumultuous night. I love travelling and what I'm doing and I don't ever want to stop, but that may be causing big problems. I think that's all I want to say about that.

No rehearsal till 5 today, but thankfully there's been other things to do than just sit around watching Wife Swap. Actually, we watched Wife Swap while doing abs this morning. It was a mildly helpful distraction. Anyway... I've got birthday cookies to eat and groceries to buy. Have a wonderful day. I'll write again when I can.

It's m'Birthday!!

I've been anticipating this for weeks now - no not my birthday... getting the costumes for the show!! I've felt like I've been 24 for at least, oh, 8 months now I suppose. Actually being 24 doesn't feel any different than yesterday. What do you bet I start telling everyone I'm 23 now, like I should have been for the past however many months.

Ok! So, costumes!! They're so great - mine are just like the Broadway show. I got to see Ben in some of his Angel costumes too, they're fantastic. We're lucky though, there are some people who's costumes don't work at all. Amy, the costumer, was really frustrated yesterday. They had us send in size charts so they could order the correct stuff, but for some of the pieces it seems like the size chart wasn't considered at all. Like Casey, I think there's only one or two shirts that work for him. Everything else is too big or small or short... etc. I'm sure it'll come together though. I mean, it better - we open in a week!

Rehearsals themselves are going really well I think. We've got the whole show in place, now we're making sure the whole thing flows nicely. It seems like Ron is paying special attention to the transitions right now. Like he said, there's nothing that takes you out of a show like a bad transition. They can be so distracting if not done properly.

Word on the street is we're all going out somewhere tonight but I have no idea where yet. All I really want is to have a fun time with people who want to have a fun time with me. If it's just cupcakes and a few bottles of wine I'm good with that. But I'll let you know what's decided.

Alright, off to the gym once again. Do you have any idea what I'm wearing in the show?? Yes, off to the gym...

525,600

We looked it up yesterday. 1 in 15 people have HIV. Now we know it is true.

Rehearsal last night was like none I've ever experienced before. We finished blocking act II and then Ron had us all sit down and just talk about ourselves. It was truly incredible to hear everyone's stories. And these are just small parts of their lives. To hear about child abuse, dramatic weight loss, coming out to parents and friends, journeys to and through the acting world, blessed lives, tormented lives... and all of this to have brought each one of in this cast to this point in our lives... I'm not even sure what to say. I'm sure all of us definitely have a better understanding of each other now, and a greater love of this show because we all now have personal connections to it.

I'm not sure many of us really knew that we had these connections either. As we told our stories, Ron would interject with comments or questions that would help reveal how parallel our lives were to the show. Who knew our Dylan had so many similarities to Mark, the character he's playing, or that Ben basically got cast right when he walked into the room because of the joy he radiated, just like Angel. What are the odds that someone in our cast just came out to his mother a few weeks ago, or that one of the cast members was recently diagnosed with HIV. Everyone here has something to offer.

It's becoming more and more clear that the joy we find in living is the only thing that matters. Ron, on the first day, said that his vision of the show is that of unconditional love. There are so many people who only know of RENT because of Team America... aids aids aids blah blah blah. Sure it has aids and drugs and homosexuality, but I think Ron has the right idea. When it comes down to it, it really is just about unconditional love. Some of us are kind of weary about how this Birmingham audience will take it, but if we can let that love shine through I think they'll be able to appreciate it.


Tonight we began to clean up act I. I should say today actually, we got there at 10 this morning. It was a long day but a good one. We've begun to work out the kinks and fix transitions, the small but important things. I've got one pair of boots so far for the show so I got to work in them today. We've seen that a good amount of the costumes are in already but haven't been able to try anything on yet. I'm pretty sure it's because the costumer, Amy, is out of town until Wednesday. Hopefully when we do get to test everything out it'll fit. I'm still waiting on those blue pants...

After rehearsal nearly every person in the cast went out to dinner. I was afraid at some point it would turn into La Vie Boheme and we would all embarrass ourselves, but luckily the references to the show were kept to a minimum and we just enjoyed each others company. We went to the Mellow Mushroom, btw, and it was pretty good. From what I hear the pizza was good. I had a soup so I wouldn't know, but I trust it was.

Tomorrow we've got another 8 hour rehearsal day, 11-7. We'll be running the second act much like we did today, and then trying to run the whole show. Things are coming along nicely, I'm sure it helped that almost everyone knew the whole show by the time we walked in on the first day.

I never know what to write anymore. Busy days make a tired Nicci, and Nicci doesn't write much anyway, so tired Nicci feels even sillier writing. And - now I know it's time to stop when I start referring to myself in third person. Goodnight.

"It's magical, what's happening"

This is my third attempt at writing this entry...

Now we're getting into the emotionally driven part of the play. I don't know how he does it, what he says that makes something click inside, but Ron has a way of bringing out exactly what is needed of people. And not by talking about character, but by talking about us, the lives of the people playing these roles. Though the past two days have been emotional roller coasters, they've also provided us as actors (I'm pretty sure I'm not just speaking for myself) opportunities to dig deeper in order to make these people that we're playing real. After today, I am convinced that probably everyone in the show will have their moment of emotional breakdown. I think it may be necessary for the show we're doing and the message it relays.

We've just about gotten through act II now, I think we'll be finishing it up today. Definitely by tomorrow night. The first call time is 4:00 today, and most everyone comes in at 5. I guess it'll be nice to have some more time to relax (I think I'm going to need a nap later), not like there's much else to do. Although, Ron did tell us he's found a Bank of America. I'm half skeptical and half excited - it'll be nice to be able to deposit a check right away instead of cashing it or mailing it home to be deposited. We'll see if this fabled BofA in AL actually exists.

Fun fact I forgot to mention: I can't remember what we were talking about, but the first day we got here Michael (roomie) said something to the effect of "You're, what, 5'9"?". I asked Casey and Ben how tall they thought I was and they said 5'8" or 5'9". Being 5'5", if that, I find it funny... and awesome.

What else to write... I was positive I'd have so much to say. I think it was kind of an overload so I summed up what I really wanted to say in the first paragraph. OH! We had a performance of sorts. It was actually at the theatre we'll be performing at and it was for some sort of party for the members of the threatre company I think. Kind of a preview of the season of shoes this year. We went on first and performed "Rent" (the opening song, not the whole show) and it went pretty well. It was nice to have an audience, though I'm not sure what they made of it. The more the cast thought about it, the more we realized it wouldn't give a totally correct picture of the show by singing something like Seasons of Love. All the old church going people who don't know the show would come thinking it was a sweet beautiful show, and leave during intermission because of the homosexuality and drugs. Though "Rent" doesn't have these things in it either, at least it has more the style of music we'll be singing. Not very nice and sweet.

Ok, off to the gym now. We'll be filming part of the video portion tomorrow, I think that should be fun. This one is just going to be as ourselves, not as characters.

btw, the title is something Ron said last night. it really is magical :)

BAO Bingo

Yesterday we had our first day off of rehearsal. The boys and I went on a quest to find a Bank Of America. Now, someone in the cast says there's BofA's everywhere, and when we looked it up online I think it says there's at least two. Our first clue should have been that there were no actual addresses, just approximate locations. The first one we tried to visit was in what looked like an abandoned mall. The pin drop on google directed us to a stand-alone elevator at the back of the parking lot that went up about 2 stories to some grass and dirt road above. Uhh... weird. Obviously not what we were looking for. Our second search took us into a more industrial area. I think we should have just given up when we saw fire spouting out of a tall tower. Google took us to a road that dead ended into nothing. Thanks google, big help.

We dropped Michael off so he could do some laundry and go to the gym, then the three of us decided to a) find the bank that distributed the checks so we could just cash them, and b) go to Sonic so I could experience it for the first time. You'd think it would be easy enough to find a bank that a check comes from IN the actual city you got it in, right? Well our first try was another strike. The directions took us to Virginia College, a nursing school, and said the bank was inside one of the buildings. Highly doubtful. We decided to go to Sonic, something we knew was absolutely there, before giving this bank thing another go. I got the Supersonic Cheeseburger - which... oh my god I just found out it has 898 calories. Whoa. Well... anyway, I got that and an apple limeade which was fantastic.

Side note: sweet tea. Have you had it? I don't know now it's still called tea. It's sugar water. I can't say I don't like it... it fascinates me.

After Sonic we went on our quest to find this elusive Bryant bank. At this point I don't think any of us were certain we'd ever find it. On our way to maybe or maybe not Bryant we saw the entrance to Vulcan Park and decided to go there on our way back from wherever it was we were going. I think the drive was about 15 minutes, it took us to a cute area with nice looking apartments and even a mexican restaurant, then - lo and behold - we found Bryant Bank. It was certainly a relief. Ben and I cashed our checks and we were on our way.

We found Vulcan to be, like many places we've seen in B'ham so far, void of people, save for the ones that work there. This Vulcan thing is a cast iron statue atop a tall pedestal of sorts. It was $6 to get access to the museum and the viewing tower that encircled Vulcan, but since there was thunder and lightening not long before, they weren't allowing people up in the tower.

And now for the title of this entry, BAO bingo. BAO stands for Birmingham AIDS Outreach. It was our first of a few performances we'll be doing for the organization. This was another tricky place to find but thankfully, like Bryant, it was actually there. The bingo night was held in the basement of the BAO building. We were to sing during intermission after an act called Obscenity. Obscenity, it turns out, is a drag queen who lip syncs to ABBA and collects dollars from bingo patrons who wanted to donate to her... cause. I'm not sure if the proceeds were going to her own personal charity or to BAO. We may never know. When out time came to sing we (I believe there were 8 of us) went to the front and huddled around two mics. They started playing our CD track, and just as the intro finished and we began to sing, the track went out. We continued to sing a cappella and made it through, staying on pitch and in rhythm. The 4 out of towners decided to end our strange day with HBO and a couple bottles of wine.

And that is what one does with a day off in Birmingham.

The Process

Alright, you can consider this much later in the day than the last post, or early early in the morning the next day.

As I mentioned earlier, we had rehearsal from 10-6 today. We started off by finishing the choreography for La Vie Boheme. It is such a fun number, but man oh man are there a lot of things to day! I think everyo ther 2 counts of 8 I'm on the table, then off the table. And I'm probably on my knees more than anyone else in the show (lets not get dirty now, people). It makes so much sense that knee pads were a part of the original costume for Mimi. I don't even want to look at my lower legs right now... it's not pretty.

We also finished Christmas Bells, another crazy number with people doing so many things throughout the whole thing. There's a lot to clean up, and we all have to find the places to just have fun and make it our own, but all in all everything is looking great and sounding even better. I think I mentioned it on twitter but not here - at some times during the process, I find myself taking a look at what's going on all around me and I can't help but smile. I think the first day I almost got a little emotional. This is one of the roles I've always promised myself I would play, and now I'm doing it with a cast and creative team that I love and respect. I want to travel and perform for the rest of my life. It doesn't matter if it even pays great or not. As long as I can survive and I'm happy, I could do this forever.


On another note.... the clouds here are unlike anything I've ever seen. I almost feel like a crazy person when I say this, but they're AMAZING. More 3D than I've ever seen clouds be. The sunsets in LA have been amazing lately because of the fires and the smoke, but we almost get that same hue here in AL, I can't explain it. I don't know why, but it's hazy and golden and wonderful. It's been a little rainy on and off, but more off.

We've decided how my hair is going to be - it's really exciting. I've never seen my hair like this before. There was a though of getting a wig for me, but I was pretty determined to get my hair to behave so the first thing I did when I woke up yesterday was started teasing my hair. I teased it and then curled it, and it was like nothing I've ever seen before. I'll get some pictures, you'll be shocked I'm sure.

We have another long day tomorrow - 2:00 till 10:00. We normally have Mondays totally off but we'll be performing for some AIDS outreach thing at night. At least we'll have all day to relax, and I can let my knees rest! Lord knows they need it....

No Time!

I'm a busy busy girl as of late. Or at least the past 2 days. Today we have rehearsal from 10-6, full cast, and tomorrow is another 8 hour day. Things are going well, I think we have almost the whole first act done.

I'll update this later on tonight when I have more time to myself.

I woke myself up early against my own will just for free breakfast.

I didn't end up being able to blog last night because rehearsal went till 10, and me and the boys (plus Mikey Sue eventually) came back to the hotel to decompress a little over some wine.

We did a lot of talking about the cast and the rehearsal space. The space - first of all, it's really cold! That will be to our advantage when we're dancing though. At least for those of us who will dance. It is a very intimate environment when you think about the show we're putting on. It's a relatively low stage without wings that comes out into the audience area. All the seating is set up as tables with chairs around them. I have a feeling, and I'm also hoping, that we'll actually be going out into the audience during the show. It's the Perfect setting for that.

The first rehearsal went well. Kevin really wants us to make the show our own, as opposed to emulating what any other cast has done. I think everyone involved is not only pushing for a great showpiece, but also for the themes to come through. Poor Casey's lymph nodes are acting up so his voice isn't at full strength right now, but even so I think our voices are going to sound great together. We took him to the doctor right after rehearsal and picked him up right before we had to be back. He waited 3 hours to be seen. I guess walk in clinics are the same everywhere!

The first full rehearsal with everyone went well too! We've got a pretty strong cast. There are definitely a few characters mixed in, but it's going to be a fun ride I'm sure. On our first break, it seemed like everyone knew eachother already. Oh, the wonders of facebook! Apparently they're going to try and replicate the original costumes totally, which means I'll get those famous bright blue pants and whatever the hell mimi wears around her torso. It's always looked like a lanyard to me, anyone else? Ben, who's playing Angel, says I have to teach him to walk in heels. And if they really are going to get shoes like the original ones, I think he's going to need a lot of practice. I don't even think I could walk in those things!

Think I'll go for a swim now. There's a guy working on the treadmill, and that space is small enough anyway, I guess I'll just let him do his thing. Rehearsal at 2, then at 6, and perhaps some bonding with everyone afterword.

Good Morning!

I woke up around 7 this morning. I tried to fall back asleep but it just wasn't happening so I managed to get myself up at 8, the CA equivalent of 6:00 am, and take advantage of the free breakfast. I was pleased to find out it was more than just danishes and coffee - they actually have sausage and eggs and yogurt, and you can even make your own waffles! Mmm, waffles.

After breakfast I went to the "gym", or fitness center, or whatever they call it here. It consists of 2 treadmills, a stationary bike, a stair machine thing, and some free weights. Good enough for me. I did a half an hour of jogging and a little bit of free weights, and all before what would normally be before 7 am for me! I think I'm off to a good start.

I think that will do for now. As I said yesterday, I've got rehersal at 1, and then again at 6. I'll write back later and let you know how it goes!

Arrival

I did it. I arrived save and sound in Birmingham, Alabama. It's been a long day, I'll try to make as much sense as I can.

I got of the first plane in Phoenix and was on the next within a half an hour. A woman named Susan, a volunteer for Red Mountain Theatre Company, picked up myself, as well as the music director, Kevin. We took the short drive to the hotel and checked in... or tried to. At first the woman at the desk couldn't find me in the system so I called around trying to get someone to help me, but she soon realized that I had already been checked in when my "suite-mate" (i think i'll just call him a roommate from now on, easier that way) arrived.

When I got to the room I was greeted by Michael, my roommate. I could tell right away that we would get along. By the way, this hotel is pretty darn nice. we each have our own rooms and bathrooms. It even has a decent mini kitchen! Michael and I chated a bit, and then he decided to take a nap so I went over to the room of the other two boys from out of town, Casey and Ben. We decided there wasn't enough to do at the hotel so we drove around to find the theater and see what downtown is all about. And what is it all about? Umm.... I'll get back to you. Maybe it's just because it's labor day and everyone is spending time...uh... not outdoors? Like, at all. The streets were nearly empty. We did pass one man, and short man with a ponytail, who gave us a friendly "how ya doin". Casey, who's from Nashville, said that was to be expected from nearly everyone you pass on the sidewalk, and apparently it's kind of rude not to say hi back. This souther hospitalithy thing...I'll have to see if I can step out of LA mode and actually look people in the eye on the street. It's going to take some work, but I'll try.

We made a couple quick stops at the Super Wallmart for minimal groceries and Chik-Fil-A (is that how you spell it? My first experience there) for dinner. When I got back to my room I enjoyed my surprisingly delicious chicken sandwich and talked with Michael some more. Apparently RMTC left gift bags for all of us out-of-towners, containing the following:

-the local city paper (remind me of the LA weekly)
-pamphlets about wineries, attractions, events, etc.
-m&m's, other snacky things
-mini first aid kit and hand sanitizer
-RMTC printed hand towel
-RMTC printed chocolate
-RMTC printed playing cards
-RMTC printed notepad and pencil

A pretty sweet deal I think. So far things are going well. Flown out here and staying in a hotel on the theater's dime, I can more than stand at least a few cast mates so far, and even a goodie bag.

Tomorrow will be out first rehearsal day. I will actually be the first to rehearse, at 1:00. The whole cast doesn't even meet until I believe 6:00 when we have our meet and greet. These are going to be long days, but fun days I'm sure. I'll try to figure out a way to put some pictures up on this computer (the hotel's computer). Until tomorrow....

xoxoxo

Packing

I've been packing all day. You'd think packing would be easier... you make a list of what you need, make sure you have that stuff and that it's clean, and you put it in your suitcase. And yet somehow, it always takes waaayyyyyy too long to get finished. Especially when you're packing for a month and a half, like I am. I've never taken a trip this long. I think the longest I've ever had to pack for was 2 weeks or so, and even that was terribly difficult. This is THREE TIMES as long!

At least I'm almost finished now. Or so says my list, I'm sure I'll find more things to put in my bags. I waited until just a few days ago to put my room up on craigslist to sublet. I was hoping a friend of mine would take the room and didn't come up with a back up plan until after he found out he'd not be able to take it. But I got one, he seems like a cool guy, and hopefully the guys I live with won't be too upset that I didn't find a girl. I did what I could! I think he'll fit in here. He and myself even share the same birthday! That's a good sign, right? Another Libra in the house will keep it balanced.

These past 3 or so weeks have gone by really fast. I remember thinking they couldn't go fast enough, and now I'm going to be leaving the smokey skies of Los Angeles behind tomorrow to discover what Birmingham, Alabama is all about. So far, nearly all of the cast are friends on facebook, which is nice because it's daunting enough to meet a cast for the first time anyway, let alone being in a completely new place and not being able to go home to people you know. I even some videos of a couple people on youtube - from what it seems there are going to be a lot of talented people in this show. I can't wait to really get it going!

What else.... I've kept a journal most of my life, but i've never blogged. Not really. I mean, I had a xanga account in high school but that hardly counts. Here, read it. Ok, i guess I kept it up a little after high school, but look at the stuff i was writing. who cares about that?? Come to think of it, who cares about this? Except Evan. I'm sure he'll be checking this every day to see what I'm up to and, like he said, make sure I'm staying at the hotel and writing instead of having fun. We'll see, Evan, we'll see.