August 16, 2009

rehearsal....of DOOM...

Yesterday was our first Rehearsal of Doom, otherwise known as pre-tech. It was basically a watered down version of what will come next Saturday, aka Tech Rehearsal, which is the major whopping Rehearsal of Doomness.

It started out at 9:00 in the morning. For me, Emma, Balin, Jazmin, and the Ewell clan, it began at about 9:14. We were late because of Perry's (Carisa's hubby) anxiety over their four boys' lack of hair combing. The Tornado of Hair commenced, with Perry squirting down each kid with water and slashing the comb through the hair. Voila. Perfectly straight side parts, with a masculine sweep across the forehead. Very dashing.

The girls and I didn't have anything to do until the middle of the first act (except me, who isn't onstage until after intermission). We spent most of the morning laughing and shrieking hysterically about nothing. Greg did make us collapse in fits of giggles when we saw him-the whole Gonzo Tin Man thing was still fresh in our minds from last night. Brenden laughed so hard when we told him why we were laughing at Greg that he couldn't make a sound. Greg laughed at first, but after a third retelling to passerby he growled. Really. That just made us squeal louder.

Thankfully we only had to run MOLO and Jitterbug once through. Doing it twice is death times twenty. Not good. Once I got finished with all of my scenes, I pretty much did nothing. I read some of the book that I brought ("Sister to the Wolf") and just watched the run of Act II. It wasn't until dad got there with Misty that we decided to go and get food. Yay!

Wal-Mart sandwiches are truly the bestest thing ever. While mom and Misty were being filmed for a couple of the scenes (Mom as Auntie Em inside the witch's crystal ball and Misty in the Wizard chamber), dad, Sister 1, and I went to the store to pick up some lunch. Sandwiches, chips, PowerAde, and some grapes made the menu. Misty had a little bit of the meat on my sandwich, but not much. Otherwise she gets WAY picky and won't eat anything. Malteses are like that.

So, Rehearsal of Doom ended at about 3:00 for my family. Naptime commenced, with me not waking up until 9:00. Haha. Oops. Since I couldn't sleep, I watched a few episodes of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" on my laptop. I like that show. Too much, probably.

Oh, boy, I can't WAIT for Rehearsal of Doom part two! It's going to be sooo amazing!

Not.

August 15, 2009

whack-a-mole...

Part of the stage at PCT is false, or fake, or just boards covering up a big hole where the orchestra can sit if they choose to have live music (which they generally don't; thank heavens). This works well if you want to have trap doors to make exits, like for a melting witch, or appear to have your legs removed, like for a Scarecrow Demolition Derby.

Last night was the first time they used the trap door in the front of the stage for the scene in which the Scarecrow is torn apart by the flying monkeys. As Brenden was lowering himself into the hole, Greg pulled out his axe and said, "Oh, yay! Whack-a-Mole!" He then proceeded to dance around the stage, miming smashing Brenden, Darren, and anyone else within reach on the head with his axe. It wouldn't have really mattered if he'd hit anyone; the axe is plastic.

That was definitely the highlight of last night's Act II run.

August 8, 2009

annual IHOP night...

is the best ever. From perfectly timed lemon arrivals during Greg's "Lemon Speech" to mystical water spills onto poor Brenden, it was great. I am SOOO glad that mom decided to let us go. It truly was the bomb diggety dog dot com.

There were probably 20 people there, give or take a few. There are 120 people in the cast, so not bad. About 1/6. We had an Act II run, so there weren't any Munchkins and we ran both dance numbers. Let me tell you, Jitterbug is no picnic. I am sucking wind like crazy! Bleh. I also tried on my costume for aforementioned dance, and I look hideous. I'm the only one who's saying that, but are you really going to be honest to a teenage girl wearing a skin tight unitard? Didn't think so. At least it's black this time. In CATS mine was white.

I also registered to take the ACT test. I do NOT want to take it. Do NOT. But I am, on September 12. Ew.

Anywho, IHOP was awesome. Some of us late auditorium leavers began the festivities with a rousing line dance to "Boot Scootin' Boogy" on the stage. This included a few people who didn't go to IHOP, which was fine. They helped me kick off the night and tweak my back into the proper position (being a convincing and frightening J-bug can sometimes force your muscles into odd and rather painful positions). That was so fun, it really was. I didn't even feel stupid. Yay!

Brenden, Kaila, Kara, Erica, Necia, Greg, Celena (sorry if I spelled it wrong), Ramona, Laura, me, Meghan, Amanda, Michelle, Megan, mom, Miranda, and seven or eight other people I don't remember the names of (SORRY!!!) were at the restaurant when we arrived (we were the last ones there). Our waiter, Nic, was extremely friendly and put up with our ridiculous drama-ness. We're weird, and we know it, so deal. I mean, you cannot keep from busting up with laughter while watching Brenden run to the bathroom twice in an hour and a half after downing perhaps a gallon of Dr. Pepper, or fall off of your chair when ice is placed down your back, or lose your head when Kara tells you stories of Darren during her and her husband's dating years, or when Kaila grabs the waiter saying "Look what I've got! He's the bestest friend ever!". You can't help it. It's just too funny. Or do those fall into the category of you had to be there to appreciate it? Hm...

I was the only one who didn't order some sort of breakfast food. People got pancakes, omelets, crepes, sausage, bacon, eggs, hot chocolate, more lemons...but not me. Nope. I had a giant, beautiful, creamy, strawberry and vanilla delight of a Sundae. And it was truly fantabularifical (my word, you canNOT have it :D ). I want another one.

Another great thing about Annual IHOP Night was catching a glimpse of a late night Scrabble game over pancakes at one of the tables. I think that is a phenomenal idea, and I am so using it when I get older. Or at least if I ever have a later curfew.

OH BOY!!! ANNUAL IHOP NIGHT ROCKS MY SOCKS! Even though I wasn't wearing any at the time...

Let's do it again next year!

Uh, oh. I forgot I have work in the morning. *shrug* Oh well!

August 5, 2009

are you sure that's a munchkin?

Rehearsal yesterday was absolutely great. For once nothing went wrong, and no new problems were brought to Steve, Our Fearless Leader. That is, except for a couple of Munchkin costumes, aka Sexy Rainbow Brite and Miss Tie-Dye Flower Child. But those were taken care of. I hope.

Misty is doing a great job as Toto. She's learned to bark on command (I helped teach that one) and she's learned that baskets aren't so scary to get into because...there's ham hiding on the bottom! And you get some more when you jump out! Sweet deal, no?

I had a great time watching the rollerskating flying monkeys try and get enough speed to roll up the ramps to get onstage (long sentence and lots of prepositions...wow). Necia, one of my friends, tried first and sort of, well not even kind of, failed. She got about halfway up then began to slide backwards, resorting to crawling on her knees. Then two boys skated up to the top of the auditorium seats and came down the sloping aisles, aimed for the ramps, and whoosh! Up they went. I'm too scared to try it; I also don't own rollerblades/skates.

Posters are finished! I'll take a picture of one and post it on here so you can see. They look fantastic!

August 1, 2009

droppin' like flies...

Okay, so who was it who forgot to allow the Jitterbugs a drink break sometime during our two hour rehearsal period? Hm? HMM???

Oh. We all did. That's the problem with us. We get working and just don't stop, director, dancers, actors, all of us. Tonight it finally came back to bite us.

One of our J-bugs (we'll call her Coral) ended up collapsing last night after rehearsal. It was a good thing there were so many people there to help; she was found on the floor in the bathroom and we needed several people to help get her out. I really didn't do much; I made sure that Misty stayed out of the way and was quiet. Puppy knew something was wrong with Coral and wanted to help make it better. She's a good therapy dog.

Coral told us that she has low-blood sugar at times, and we could all tell that she was dehydrated. Mom got her some juice, Darren let us put his lion costume under Coral's legs (treatment for shock-face is red, raise her head. pale in face, raise her legs.), Roger brought a blanket from his car, Brendon donated his Dr. Pepper just in case, Miranda brought a towel in to use as a pillow-there were so many people ready to help. Steve, Darren, and Greg all helped get Coral onto the bench, and Miranda called Coral's husband (we'll call him John). My mom felt that Coral needed to get to the ER fast, but waited for John because Coral started to panic about insurance and stuff. It's so dumb how people can be seriously hurt or sick and they can't be taken care of because they can't afford it. Ugh.

After John left with Coral, my mom, sisters, and I went to the ER to make sure that she was going to be okay. They let us go into her room to see her, and mom filled them in on the information that Miranda hadn't known. Everything worked out, and I hope she's doing better today.

So, word to the wise-if you have any health problems whatsoever, or even if you think that you're healthy, you MUST DRINK WATER. Or something with electrolytes and sugar in it to keep you hydrated and from wearing out, like Gatorade, Powerade, or some sort of juice. I mean, it's a no-brainer to drink something when you're thirsty, but don't wait till you're thirsty. All of you in the cast, and all of the rest of you out there, don't be dumb like we were. J-bugs are not invincible, and neither are you.

And just for the record, you don't give milk to someone who has low blood sugar and is dehydrated and in shock. Don't do it, even if someone who thinks that the way it is says to. :P

July 28, 2009

Act I...

No, it's not the ACT test. It's Act I, the first half of the play. The blocking was completed last Thursday evening, and tonight it was run all the way through for the first time. All in all it wasn't bad. Dorothy needs to be a little less nervous, and the Lion had a chest cold. The Scarecrow really moves like a scarecrow. The Tin Man needs a costume. The Witch needs to be more witchy, and Glinda needs to be less uptight and funnier. Those were just the things that I noticed.

I'm excited for the 21st of August because...WE'RE GOING TO BE ON TV!!! YAY!!! I think it's Good Morning Utah or something, from 6:00-9:00 in the morning. Big Buddha is coming to do the story. The last time I met him was when I was maybe five or six, when Fred Meyer opened close to my house. I was on TV then, too, dancing to the live band. Wow, I can't believe I remember that.

I'm so excited. The 21st is the second day of school (B day), so I'll probably ditch my classes that day and go to the rehearsal instead. I mean, how important is the second day of school? Well, pretty darn. But that's okay. I'll just check what classes I have, go talk to the teachers I have for B-days after school on A-days, and tell them that I won't be there because I have a film shoot and big rehearsal. What can they do? Sue me?

Tonight we start Act II, which is the only act I'm in. I belive we're working on the MOLO scene and dance number, and then Darren's "King of the Forest" number. I am SO excited to watch him play the Lion in that number. He is fantastic, seriously.

Sister 2's costume for the Munchkin land is finished. It looks so cute. Pink, blue, and white with red ruby trim on the bottom. The red is going to be throughout the whole show on everyone's costumes. I think it's the director's placement of the symbolic red and "no place like home." Everyone carries the color of home on them. Cool, isn't it? Sister 1's Ozzian costume is almost complete, and mine has been cut out. Yay!

July 24, 2009

lion's mane...

Darren, our resident coward, is absolutely fantastic. When he gets into character as the Lion, no one can keep a straight face. He is so hilarious! I cannot wait to see him do his solo number, "King of the Forest." I love that guy!

I was wrong-I didn't have rehearsal at all this past week. I stayed home by myself on Tuesday night and got thoroughly depressed; I hate being home alone for long periods of time, especially at night. Wednesday night I went with my sisters, mom, and Misty, and had a great time. Darren, Brendon, and Greg (Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man) are all so funny and fun to watch. Sister 1 is now a talking tree, and Sister 2 is still a crow. I'm not in the first act (thank goodness) because I have to work until 6:20 and it takes almost forty minutes to get to Payson from there. Second act is just fine with me. Being a J-bug and Ozzian is a full-time job!

All of the leads got their costumes last night; I've seen Brendon's and McKenzie's (Dorothy), but not Darren's and Greg's. I hope they turn out all right!

Now for a nice weekend, and off to craziness next week. Act II begins!

July 17, 2009

crowk...

Sister 2 is now a Crow. The person who originally had that part didn't show up to rehearsal, so Sister 2 got it instead. Sister 1 could potentially be an apple tree; she just isn't sure about the stilts. I wouldn't be either-even though I'm a dancer I'm terribly clumsy. Sister 2's only concern is changing from costume to costume. She's all ready a flying monkey and a Munchkin. She's crowking with concern at this point.

A crowk moment for me was going to rehearsal last night just for kicks and giggles with my mom and Sister 2. Erin, our dearly beloved choreographer, has struck again. This time she pretty much took over the blocking rehearsal to polish the Munchkins' dance. Not cool-Steve (director) needed all of the time possible to block the Munchkins, Dorothy, Glinda, Witch, and Toto. Again, I see the problem in dancers of too many chiefs and not enough indians. Ugh.

Speaking of plays (since this blog is dedicated to one :) ), I went to see my friend Ruthie's play tonight. It's called "The Promised Land", based on First Nephi in the Book of Mormon (yes, I'm LDS [if you didn't know that all ready :)], and to learn more email me at wannabkenobi at gmail dot com or check out mormon.org). Ruthie wasn't the only one in it; my friend Jordan had a major role as well, playing the youngest of Ishmael's two sons and the sort of flip-flopping between good and bad type. As I watched him, I began to realize how much I like him. Which is a second crowk...Ruthie has liked Jordan for a very long time. I've always tried to suppress the fact that I find him attractive (and gorgeous) because of this. Well, can't help it now. Just keep it between us, okay?

Crowks and more crowks. Sheesh.

July 16, 2009

off of seeing wizard...

No rehearsal this week. It's so weird. I had Girl's Camp last week, and now all of my evenings are free for another two days. What should I do? Practice my dancing? Go see a movie? Go swimming? Tag along with my mom to watch her rehearsal?

Or maybe I'll just catch up on my Health class, seeing as I'm on lesson six and there are seventeen and my final is on August 13. Haha. Yeah.

July 6, 2009

we're not here...

I'm off to Girl's Camp for the next four or five days (can't remember how many and too lazy to count), so I'll be missing three rehearsals. And let me tell ya, I'd so rather be at rehearsal than camping. No showers! :P

I hope we don't miss too much of the reviewing for MOLO and J-Bug. Erin is going to really be polishing things up and making it look good. Hopefully I'll pick it up quick enough to not get kicked out.

July 4, 2009

July 2, 2009

in the throes...

And I thought that the J-bugs were supposed to be wearing the Fab 4 out. Um, wrong. The J-bugs were more worn out tonight than our group of heroes! I am so tired. Last night all of the Ozzians worked on and cleaned up the big dance number in MOLO. I felt fantastic after that rehearsal was finished, and I could have gone on for two or three more hours. I was outvoted though, and Erin sent us home.

Tonight? Different story altogether. I was tired before we even started rehearsing, and by the time we had run the dance two times through I was about ready to drop dead and have the monkeys carry me off the stage and toss me into bed. My self-confidence kept dropping every time we ran the dance, and by the end of cleaning up and learning new bits I had tears mixed in with the sweat on my face. And yes, we sweat a lot. Like, liters and liters of it. Bleh.

I do know the dances really well. I just feel like I'm not doing a good job, and I'm afraid that Erin will cut me from the dance. I was so tired that I could hardly move. Even when I push myself to be more energetic, I'm exhausted, and I'm scared she'll get sick of me being in it and kick me out. Half of the tap dancers in the MOLO number were cut last night, including Carissa. I thought that I should have been cut. Carissa is a better tapper than I am. I hope she isn't upset at me.

I like this song. The new Linkin Park one, from the new Transformers movie. I want to go see it. Maybe I will some weekend when I'm not dancing my legs off. My feet I think are all ready gone. Too small tap shoes. Not a good thing.

June 24, 2009

gone...

Buddy will never go to rehearsal with me again. It's so hard. He's gone.

June 20, 2009

so much for that...

I really didn't get much stuff done on my list. Oh, well. I guess it wasn't a big deal anyway. I had a blast with Carissa and my new friends (see The Author's Desk for funny pics and stories), and we're planning on another sleepover soon.

Some of the people in Jitterbug wanted to have an extra rehearsal on Friday morning (yesterday), so we did. It was...okay, I guess. There were maybe 12 of us there out of the 20 J-bugs, so good numbers. 3 of the people had no idea what they were doing because they hadn't been there for the initial rehearsal (out of town). I taught my friend Dawn, who I was in CATS with three years ago, the parts that everyone is in. She learns fast.

I am, in short, a horrible dance teacher. I go too quickly and don't know how to explain what I'm trying to say. :P

MOLO (Merry Old Land of Oz) will be choreographed this coming week. Nearly 12 minutes straight of dancing and craziness. Ugh. Not looking forward to it.

June 16, 2009

partay...

Carissa (See Author's Desk for info), invited me to a sleepover at her house tomorrow night. I haven't been to one of those in nearly seven years, and I'm pretty excited. Here's the "To Do" for tomorrow:

1. Get up
2. Pack and put stuff in trunk of car
3. Take neighbor kids out for snow cones
4. Pick up holds at Borders
5. Wash sheets
6. Library hold pick-up run/prize pick-up
7. Work
8. Pick up family, drive to rehearsal
9. Rehearsal
10. Follow Carissa home in my car
11. Partay!

The washing of the sheets will be somewhere in there. Dunno for sure where yet. So yeah. I'm excited!

June 11, 2009

di-di-dit...

I am so blasted sore. Catching other jitterbugs and throwing them is not good on the arms. And I'm kind of sad; I'm only in 4 sets of 8 counts in the main dance part. I hope that changes, because I'm also the only person who isn't involved in the rest of the dance (not the chorus part, with the di-di-dits and the ending). *sigh*

I got a lot of Health homework done though. I waited at the lip of the stage and took notes from my textbook. Hopefully I'll be able to pass my quiz.

Now I'm hungry. Bye.

June 9, 2009

ji-ji-ji-jitterbug...

Tonight was the first rehearsal for the Jitterbug dance number. My sisters and I went out with my mom even though we didn't have to be there because she needed help with the dogs and we almost got bugurglarized (tee hee) a few nights ago. She didn't want to leave us alone. Anyway, Meghan and I were not in the number until my nana had a fit and forced us down the choreographer's throat (nana's the A.D.). Well, my mom wouldn't hear of it. She talked to Erin, the girl who's doing the dance routines, and explained to her that neither of us would be upset if we weren't in the dance. After my mom talked to her, Erin wasn't mad (I think). She told us to try it out and she'd see what happened later.

I have not been so happy in the longest time. Being up on that stage dancing was amazing. I haven't taken any dance classes for over a year now, and I'd forgotten how good it feels to move. I hope Erin lets us stay in it, because it's amazing. The movement isn't very hard at all, but it's still a challenge to be able to learn it and remember it. Best thing ever, really. 'Cept for the stage lights. I'd also forgotten how hot they get.

The second dance rehearsal for Jitterbug will be tomorrow night. So excited!

June 3, 2009

rifting...

Sadly there are already rifts among the cast. The choreographer decided that she didn't think any of us greenies would be able to learn and perform her "extremely difficult" movements. She tried to solve that problem with recruiting her dance troupe. They've canceled because of conflicts during performances. The choreographer still is not happy. Um, Earth to Airhead! Your job is to teach the people in the cast movements to their capabilities. If you can't handle making it fit the people you've got, then get another job. We're not here to see you show off.

Bugs me how people are so elitist.

May 20, 2009

music...

Time to "Ding, dong" the bells, 'cause the witch is dead. You heard me. She's dead.

Yes, first music rehearsal was last week. It was not too bad. Loud, but fun. There are so many people in this cast, it's crazy. I was in tears halfway through again, just because I felt totally useless and no good. *sigh* I'll have to figure that out soon.

April 27, 2009

calling all greenies...

Well, first cast meeting was on Wednesday last. We are now, officially, wizardous. I call us "greenies," because it's the Merry Ole Land of Oz and such. So, from now on, the cast members as a whole will be known as greenies.

I found myself in tears three if not four times because of fear. I am so terrified to be in this show. The last one I was in was way harder, but this one has over 170 people in the cast, most of whom I don't know. I'm older so I'm being given more responsibility, and I'll also be away from my mom a lot. I've never been far from my mom during a show, which is really important to me because she's pretty much the only reason why I don't collapse from fright. I've always been able to look over at her while she watches me practice and been okay. Now she'll be off training Misty for the role of Toto, and I'll be alone with oodles of people I don't know. Many of them are men, as well. CATS (in 2006 I played Tantomile and was offstage for all of two numbers) had over 38 women in the show and four, maybe six guys. I'm not used to working with guys or large groups.

Super excited for special effects. Now that I know a lot about what the tech crew is talking about (concerning set building, props, lighting, sound, etc.) I can actually be excited. I don't just stand there saying "Oh, cool!" while thinking "What the freakin' heck are they nattering on about?" I can actually understand what was previously just "talking shop." Yes!

So I'm terrified. Seriously. But I'm staying in, even though my mom keeps saying it might be a good idea if I drop out. She tells me that she thinks all of the arguments I've come up with in favor of saying in the show are hollow and that I'm just trying to force myself to believe it. She is probably right. Still, I don't want to be left out, and I don't want to be left home alone every night all summer.

First rehearsal is on May.....hm...12? I think so. May 12th. We'll see how that goes.

April 19, 2009

rehearsals...

I found out what the schedule is going to be for practices this summer. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (I'm pretty sure) we will rehearse. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays we have off. This means that we start in the beginning of May and work all through the beginning of August. *sigh* I wish we would have rehearsals Tuesday through Saturday so that we could start rehearsals in June, not May. Oh, well.

Hm. So this means that I'll have classes at 8:00 in the morning, go to work at 11:00, and head to rehearsals straight from there at 6:30. In a scout uniform. Hm. I'll have to pack a change of clothes. Dancing in canvas slacks in a high school auditorium on a black wood stage under bright lights with no air conditioning doesn't sound like fun.

I'm so excited to do this play! Squee!

March 31, 2009

off to see the Wizard...

PAYSON COMMUNITY THEATRE PRESENTS:
THE WIZARD OF OZ

Well, we're for sure in the play. My family will be playing the following roles and participating in these general areas:

Dad-Uncle Henry, Winkie General (?), Ozzian
Mom-Aunt Em, Ozzian, Toto Trainer (?)
Me-Ozzian soloist, Jitterbug Dancer, dancer, other (which I don't know yet)
Meghan-Ozzian, Jitterbug Dancer, dancer, other
Amanda-Flying monkey (who actually flies in the harness system)



My dog Misty might play the part of Toto, but I'm not sure. She's kind of slow, to be perfectly honest. I think it would be cool if Professor Marvel had a dog, too. Perhaps my dog, Buddy. I don't know though.

Rehearsals won't start until the end of April. I'll post more then.

Oee oh!
Georgie