Grandma's Wardrobe Crisis - The Wedding Singer

Sweat bands - Check.

Trainers - Check.

What next!?

For those of you unfamiliar with the film or the musical, there is a short scene in The Wedding Singer involving Grandma doing her excercises.  Now, these aren't just any ordinary excercises, these are excercises 80s style, and it's because of this I need your help!

With the power of google, I have narrowed my outfit down to four possible looks:

1/ Shorts and Leggings, legwarmers etc...

2/ Leotard and leggings, legwarmers etc... (there's a theme here, isn't there!)

3/ Sweatpants, and (yes, you guessed it) legwarmers etc...
4/ Shell suit

And no, before you ask, I am not going all 'Green Goddess' and wearing head-to-toe green lycra!

The only other consideration I really have is the colour, although for some reason I have my heart set on pink and grey which is odd, because as many of you know, I have an allergy to pink!  I swear, this is one of the shortest scenes I am in, yet the costume is causing me the most problems!

I've had a few great suggestions from twitter so far from @nikkicross (the shell suit) @Bobbybeebee (shiny shorts!) and have my ears and eyes open for a few more... come on guys, help us out a little!!!
Grandma!

4 Weeks 'til Curtain Up! - The Wedding Singer

I genuinely cannot believe how close it is until opening night.  Ok, so 4 weeks might not sound an awfully short time, but when you look at your outlook calendar month, and can see show-week without scrolling down, it does dawn on you how close things are getting.
Rehearsals have gone from flat out dancing, to scene-blocking, and back to the hard dance practice, except for one difference - that being that we have now blocked all the numbers in the show, so instead of just one dance we are now going through all of them!
I am also sporting a huge bruise on my right knee because the choreographer is trying to kill me.  We have now blocked Grandma's Rap, which now involves something akin to break-dancing (I kid you not, though thankfully a very watered down version!) and my knee has taken a serious battering with one particular move.  I swear, as the weeks go on, I feel more and more like my character, and after the show I doubt if I'll be able to walk without the walking stick!  I wonder if my Grandma, Grandpa or Great Grandmother (I only say this as my mum was unable to tell me exactly whose stick it was I borrowed) ever thought that their walking stick would be used by their descendant at the tender age of 29!  I hope they are looking down with some pride on my endeavours, or at least having a laugh at my expense!
Anyway, I've realised that I've meandered through this post without a clear goal in mind, so I shall sign off here.
Next post will be about the costumes... Ahhh the 80s, the decade that fashion forgot...

Auditions! - Thoroughly Modern Millie

Well, after the bravery, or stupidity (I haven't decided which) of auditioning for the part of Grandma in The Wedding Singer, I decided to set my sights a little more realistically for TMM when the auditions came around on Sunday, and aimed for the Chorus line.
This was a very last minute thing as I made the decision to take part in the audition a week before the final one - very little time to prepare, and with no knowledge (bar the 10minute opening of the film that I'd seen) of TMM, I arrived feeling very nervous.  I noticed after a few more arrivals that I recognised some of the other hopefuls from Rent, a production that I'd seen a few years back with the folks at the Talisman in Kenilworth.  They were good - and I knew this, so I started a little mantra of "You're only here for the chorus, you're only here for the chorus" and started to feel a little better.
Nerves aside, I expected the dance to be relatively easy as I'd been rehearsing twice a week for the WS for quite a while.  I was so wrong!  By the 4th run through of the first sequence I was drenched with sweat, and felt like my body temerature had risen by 100 degrees!  On the flip side, it was so much fun, with a few Charleston steps thrown in and the general feel of the 1920s I was soon getting to grips with the choreography (well... apart from a few little hiccups!)
Next up was the tap routine. Now I didn't necessarily have to do this one as I wasnt 100% sure if I wanted to audition as a 'dancer' only, however as I'd not done tap since I was about 13, I thought I'd give it a go just to see what I could pick up - minus the tap shoes!  Now that might sound a little silly, however as one of the girls that I spoke to there suggested - at least the choreographer wouldn't be able to tell when I was making mistakes, a very good point. It took me 24 hours after the rehearsals finished before I managed to get the moves straight in my head!
All-in-all it was a good morning though, and I'm glad to say that my efforts landed me a part in the chorus line.  Can't wait to swap the 1980s for the 1920s!

The Wedding Singer - 2nd Rehearsal

Well, I was a bit miffed on Friday to say the least that my dance-sneakers hadn’t arrived in time for my first dance rehearsal, but having pulled out a pair of character shoes that were around 15 years old, checked that they were still in usable condition and still fit (yes!) I packed them in my bag and headed off to rehearsal number 2.

The ‘Acting’

I had to get there a bit earlier than most of the cast, due to being one of the (eek) principal characters, although having said that I was conscious I was late having decided to have a last minute practice of the opening number in front of my mum’s piano.  I signed in and went upstairs to be greeted by a few of the other cast members who had already started their scene rehearsal.  Sitting down patiently to watch I cringed at the cheesiness of the lines, but thankfully the director’s vision made less of the cheese and more of the humour

The Wedding Singer - First Rehearsal Nerves!

Well, I admit that I was a bit nervous in the run up to our first rehearsal on Friday, as I was unsure what to expect - A new drama company, a new venue, and a style of theatre I hadn’t had performance experience with since the tender age of 15(ish). 

After half an hour of milling around, getting reacquainted with some of the cast I’d met at the final auditions, and sorting out some of the paperwork involved in starting with a new company, most of my worries seemed to have disappeared by the time we made our way up into the hall.  It is strange to think that this room was within 200-300 yards of where I had learnt ballet as a five year old, I’d practically come full circle!

The rehearsal itself was, I believe, a good one – especially considering that it was Friday 13^th!  We went through the opening number, one which we had some experience of from the auditions themselves, trying to gain an idea of which pitch we should be singing at – I fitted in quite nicely with the Lower Sopranos, a part which fits my range quite well, but thankfully doesn’t give me any of the scary notes.  After we’d settled into our group places, we focused on getting the harmonies right for parts where the whole company sang, and before we knew it, we were throwing out some very coherent cords and becoming more and more confident with each attempt – by far the best part is when the whole company shouts ‘Bang Your Head’ at the top of their lungs, it always makes me smile!

So, as first rehearsals go, we were eased in to The Wedding Singer quite gently, which was a good thing as we were told that next week we will be starting to block the dance moves.  

Oh well, I have been saying for the last six months that I need to get myself fit again…

"You broke the Rules"

A little song I penned (or typed would be more accurate) yesterday.

At first you were a distant hope,

a sparkle in my eye,

I was content just to observe you

As you wandered idly by

But then you moved the goal posts

And changed the way the game is played

You broke the rules

You broke the rules.

And now I don’t know what to do

You broke the rules

Now you’re acting oh-so normal

like it never crossed your mind

My head is overloading lately

And it seems that you are blind

To what happened on that night when

You brashly threw the book away

You broke the rules

You broke the rules

And now I don’t know what to do

You broke the rules

And now the game is over and

It seems like you have won

And now the game is over and

It seems like you have won

And now I’m sat here thinking

That you disobeyed the rules

I’ve tried not to make it show that

Now I feel like such a fool

You should’ve known you weren’t supposed to be

More than just a silly crush to me

You broke the rules

You broke the rules

And now I don’t know what to do

You broke the rules