Link love and Madama Butterfly Memories

As I had mentioned in this post, I wanted to give you the website for World Cafe Live, which I had the pleasure of going to last Friday night to see Seth Walker who is incredibly talented and also a fellow Texan!

Steppin' out with my baby.

 

 

 

 

 

In other news, the Opera Company of Philadelphia is doing Madama Butterfly, and Maren is playing the role of Kate Pinkerton!  If you have been reading my blog over the past year, you’ll know that I left OCP in a decision that was a long time coming.  I needed room in my schedule to pursue Musical Theatre and Jazz/Broadway opportunities, like the Voices of the Pops.  It was such a hard decision.  I was just telling a colleague this week that, for me, I had to “sink my ship in order to learn to swim.”  Madama Butterfly, the first production I did with OCP holds memories both good and bad.  I remember getting the call in which I was asked to fill in as a sub on the chorus roster.  It was my first opera gig in Philadelphia.  If I’m not mistaken, it was the week just after September 11th.  I had hung up the phone and turned to a co-worker and saying that this week ”was the best of times and the worst of times”.  Later that season when rehearsals were underway, my grandmother had passed away and I had to fly out to her funeral.  When I returned just days before we opened, the entire chorus had signed a sympathy card for me.  I was so blown away by this.  The performance was, of course, beautiful and bittersweet.  Fitting accompanying music for my life at the time.

So, Toi Toi to Maren, Chorus and the rest of the cast Madama Butterfly that I’m sure will be wonderful!

Bite the bullet in Brief

The podcasts just keep on coming!  This is another great website called the Broadway Bullet to peruse if you are looking towards the musical theatre genre and, particularly Broadway.  In my efforts to become more educated about this today than I was yesterday, I started perusing the site last week.  Great interviews with people in the industry. 

Friday Fermata – because acting is the new singing

We’ve read it in the recent cover article from Classical Singer magazine in their interview with Natalie Dessay and we’ve seen article after article on it.  We knew it was coming, and we should be glad.  The days of “Park and Bark” are over.  Audiences, as well as people sitting behind the audition table, want us to be skilled actors as well.  I welcomed this as I had been (I thought) acting all along.   I was confidently singing with all of the “instincts” I would need.

What was I thinking?

It only took one day (my first day) in a course at the Walnut Street Theatre to realize that I was not prepared.  At all.  I realized that a pretty voice would take me only so far, and that my “instinct,” while great, was no where near an actual SKILL.  Despite the embarrassment of that first day, I was determined to stay the course and use this experience to make me better.  By the end of the course, I had learned so much.  I learned interesting things about how to study a monologue and tools such as scripting between the lines, information that blew my mind.  I’m not done yet.  There is another acting class I would like to take this coming spring.

As part of my continuing effort to get educated, I stumbled upon a podcast site that I have to tell you about.  I was researching prices for headshots because I am SO DUE for new ones.  I had decided that I was going to go with Kristin Hoebermann, who did Elisa Matthews’s headshots, which are spectacular.   When I went to the site, I saw that Hoebermann Studios was featured in the book, How To Be A Working Actor.  I clicked on the book link and was taken to a podcast hosted by the website, Everything Acting, in which the author of the book was interviewed.

The website housed an archive of podcasts such as this.  Interviews with people in the industry, etc.

On the Everything Acting’s About Page, they state that “Each episode you will hear tips and information from legitimate industry insiders. Casting directors, agents, producers and directors will offer insights on pictures, resumes, auditions, reels, and what happens when you get the job. Get inspiration from real life audition stories; find out who got the part and how they got it!  Join us as we inform, inspire and demystify the actor’s journey.”
During the first podcast, I was grabbing for a pad and pen to start taking notes and had the sheet filled up after listening to a few more of them.  They not only give practical information but give inspirational insights that I didn’t expect.  Insights on how to stay confident, positive and motivated.

The brainchildren behind this website (and who are also your podcast hostesses) are Darbi Worley and/or Rosalyn Coleman whom are both established actresses in New York.

Acting is the new singing.  I need to embrace this and get as educated as I can. This website is a good start!  Thank you Darbi and Rosalyn!