Chess Success!

It was so nice to get back to the theater last night and see my lovely chessers! We had a fantastic show on Sunday, perhaps even better than what I had written about for Saturday. It may have been a personal best for everyone in the show to date!

This week in between was a busy one for me. Lots and lots of work - we're looking to fill another receptionist position, so we're rearranging to schedule for the end of the month, I've been calling applicants and setting up meetings, and doing my regular work stuff too. I also went to the Red Sox/Angels game (the Sox won! Yay!) with Evan and my roommates and neighbors and friends, went to trivia night for the first time at Q's Billiards, and had an audition. A productive and fun week.

The audition I went on was yesterday morning for Kevin Smith's new horror movie, "Red State". I was auditioning for two small rolls and I think it went fine. One of them was actually supposed to be in her 20's, which was nice. The other one (or two actually, it was for Girl 1 AND Girl 2) is a 17 year old high school kid. Not that I'm unbelievable as a high school student, but when the other people at the audition talk about living with their parents or having their mom drive them there that morning, I feel pretty seasoned. I have no doubt that I'm doing fine at the auditions, I just need to find where I fit. Soon enough we'll figure out where the industry sees me and I'll start booking things, I'm sure of it.

We were called to the theater at 6:30 to do mic check and run a few numbers. Everything seemed to be going along pretty smoothly, and it's always reassuring when you remember your words after nearly a week of no shows. We were all having fun backstage getting ready, and at our half hour i started getting dressed, only to realize I couldn't find my shoes. They're fairly simple black heels, but since I had worn bright pink polka-dotted galoshes there, it was very important to find them or some other alternative. There was a dance show at the theater over the week and our choreographer was in it, so she text'd all the girls to see if anyone had grabbed them by accident. In the meantime, there were some short boots at the theater from a past production of Oklahoma that almost fit and that's what I wore for the first act. It did throw me off a bit. I want to feel very strong and womanly and these shoes didn't allow that. I felt like my acting was a bit off and I did forget some of my words, but hey - it could have been much worse. I'm sure it's better than to have had to go on with the pink rain boots. I didn't even realize until people told me when I got off stage what a huge applause I got after "Nobody's Side".

Luckily one of the dancers had grabbed the shoes, thinking one of her fellow dancers left them behind, and brought them back so I had them for the second act. I felt like that went much more smoothly for me, and we had an amazing audience. We had a woman in the very front row - closer than normal because of the added seats - mouthing every.single.word of every song, which is impressive because most of us in the show couldn't do that. And our musical director pointed out that you know you've got something really good when the audience starts applauding before the song even ends. Josie, one of the cast members, said there were critics in the audience and they absolutely loved the show. I also had a few friends in the audience, people with whom I've worked on projects before, and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

We actually oversold for the night, and even after bringing in more chairs we had to turn a lot of people away that had comp tickets, including another castmate's agent. My manager is coming with a casting director tonight, so I told her to let the people at the box office know who they are just in case we oversell again.

And for those people that got turned away, they'll have six more chances to come see it because we've officially extended the run! Unfortunately not everyone will be able to do the extended shows, so we'll have 2 weeks off to rehearse and put in a few new people, and our extended dates are August 19-21 and 27-29. We're going to record some audio at tonight's show to use as promotional samples on the ticketing websites, and I wouldn't be surprised if we sell out each of the new dates.

After the performance last night a bunch of us went to The Other Side, a piano bar in Silverlake where our pianist plays weekly. People bring their music books or choose songs that he knows how to play and sing along, a kind of live karaoke. I think almost all of us from the show sang at least one song, if not backing up someone else. Sad that we're all really starting to bond when it's the last weekend for some people, but better late than never.

I have a great feeling about tonight, I have at least six people coming to see me and I'm very excited. We've decided to have a cast/crew potluck afterward which I think will be the perfect way to top off a fun/busy/productive week, and send off those that won't be able to continue the extension with us. Our pseudo-closing night is going to be fantastic.

Reasons

Godspell is now closed. I can't believe how fast those six weekends of shows went by! Our last few shows went very well. Evan came once again to see the show on Friday night - he's supposed to review the show, so if that ever does happen I'll post a link for all of you to read it. My mom and her boyfriend John came to see it Saturday evening, it was so nice to see them! Between the shows the cast had one of our traditional Saturday afternoon picnics, and as much as I tried to limit myself, once I met up with mom and John I didn't think I'd have room for any dinner. The nice thing about the theater, and this isn't a bad thing as long as you're on time, is that you have plenty of time before your food arrives. So we had some wine (only a little for me, I did have a show to do after all) and an appetizer, and the food came out about half an hour before my call time. This time I tried the tri-tip, as it came highly recommended, and it was great. I saw a few friends in the audience, and greeted them before I made my way back to the dressing room.

For me, there's always a bit of a different feeling at a closing show. Every line is a little more important or poignant, especially in a show like this. I think there was more energy up there than we'd ever had before, and it ended up being more emotional that I had anticipated. Between the acts Jackie and I brought our cameras on stage and hid them in a bookshelf so we could take pictures as soon as the curtain closed. We all cried and laughed and hugged, and eventually came off stage to get changed for our cast party. As soon as my pants came off, Diane burst into the dressing room announcing Jason Alexander was right outside the door. I froze for a second, trying to decide weather to put my costume back on or continue changing into my regular clothes, but I brought so many options with me that I thought the show pants would be my best bet. I grabbed my camera and went out to ask for a picture with him and thank him for coming to the show. Turns out Huck (the guy who played our Jesus) is his godson. He politely obliged to the picture, and then said "Nicci. You're non-Equity, right?"
"That's right"
"Hmm... Well, I'm the artistic director at Reprise. I'd like you to get in touch with me (insert his email address here)."
Then something about auditioning for one of the shows in the upcoming season of Reprise. They're usually not supposed to use non-union, but he though I would be great for a specific role. I said I definitely get in touch, and I got a headshot/resume for him from my car - cause you always have to be prepared for moments like these - and then just jumped around for a few minutes, changing my clothes and giggling, thinking (and saying) HOW COOL IS THAT.

Once I finally decided on what combination of things to put on my body, I set off with everyone else to Amy's house where she was hosting the cast party. Aside from the good food and company, we were all very much looking forward to a rousing game of Quelf. If you haven't heard of it, get into it. It's a hilariously fun board game that we all fell in love with last weekend while spending the afternoon at Amy's. So much that Trance and I both bought it this week.

Shortly after I arrived, I sent an email to Jason thanking him again for coming to see the show, what a surprise and honor, and that I was glad to be in touch with him (he wrote back a few hours later with some of the details. Turns out my manager knows the casting director, so chances of getting an audition are now huge!).

So the party was a success. I should mention - at one point during the run, Adam proposed to Diane because of her amazing baking, so when the pizza got there we took a break from Quelf to stage the wedding. David and I were the ring bearers, Huck gave Diane away, Loren did a poetry reading, and Neil married them. It was kind of unbelievable that we went to such lengths, but we are theatre people after all. There was a pizza reception followed by the continuation of Quelf. All in all we played for at least 5 hours. We even had to use things like a bottle of nail polish and tobasco sauce for extra game pieces. It was end to a lovely show.


I often think back to when I was so conflicted about turning down a job a few months ago. I stressed myself out so much over it, but my decision to stay here in California with Godspell did turn out to be the best one. Since that time I've secured myself a manager, and agency, gone on tons of auditions, and now this Jason Alexander thing... There are reasons that things happen the way they do. This summer so far has been a great reminder of that.

By the way, the Reprise show and role he has in mind for me is Gigi. And the audition will be in November, so I have from now until then to study up so I can ace the audition!


*PS. stay tuned for pictures!*

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.