First Rehearsal

Last night we had our first rehearsal for "The King and I." Just so you all know, I was right-Becky will be playing "Anna". I'm still a little sad I didn't get a larger part, but those that did were very deserving (at least on the female side). I got there and there were tons of children with their moms following close behind. A lot of them even stayed for rehearsal (which seemed silly to me-I mean, how are they going to go up onstage when they can't even go to rehearsal by themselves). I went and said hi to Jackson before we all went in to the choir room. Mr. Walsh (it's hard calling him Mike, even as an adult) first wanted everyone to introduce themselves, who they'd be playing, where they were from, and an interesting tidbit. It was nice to hear who everyone was and get a sense of their personalities, but it took forever. Because it is such a large cast (55+), we were doing introductions for 20 minutes. Seriously.

After that, we listened to a recording of some of the music from the show and got a brief synopsis from Mr. Walsh. Finally he wrote our rehearsal schedule down for the week (because our director, Tory, is out of town) and sent us on our merry ways. A few observations during read-thru (which really wasn't a read thru, more of a listen & sing thru):

-the stage manager, Wendy, seemed like a beyotch. When introducing herself, she said, "Hi, my name is Wendy. I'll be your stage manager and all I'll say is...watch out!" Really? In my opinion, to be that way for an adult show is fine, but when there are children involved, it is entirely inappropriate (especially because many of these children were too scared to even introduce themselves).

-the costumer told me I had a small waist. She had asked if she had costumed me for a show before (yes-"Guys and Dolls") and if my measurements were the same ("No," I replied. "Gravity has not been my friend after having a baby."). She took my measurements (which have, unfortunately, gotten a little bigger) and when she got to my waist, said it was small. I suppose it is small in comparison to a lot of the other girls in the show who are a little more thick in the middle-ala muffin top.

-the King-Lonnie-neglected to tell Tory and Mr. Walsh about his conflicts when he auditioned. Apparently, he cannot rehearse Tuesdays and Saturdays. Tory has conflicts on Mondays, so it should be interesting to see how this one pans out. One thing was certain, though-Mr. Walsh was not happy.

-I am a little disappointed in my lack of stage time. From what it sounds like, the wives are in, like, 3 scenes. I guess we'll see how long those scenes are when we have rehearsal with Tory later this week/early next week.

-I am going to be stuck being a "kid corraller" with Michelle T. (another one of the wives who's also a teacher). I'm okay with that, as long as the kids are good. I'm done with bratty ones for now.

-the cast really seems like a fun group of people overall. I hope that continues since I'll be spending the next 2 months with these people. Will keep you posted, though.