Saturday, December 27

I finally saw This Wonderful Life last Sunday, and I was so very glad I did. I don't know the movie It's a Wonderful Life (which it's based on... but it's a one-man play), but I loved it anyway. I spoke with the actor (or should I call him "the cast"?), and he told me that he added eight pages of dialogue to the script. It was really delightful. And it really put me in a holiday spirit.

I went home for a few days (which caused me to miss three rehearsals for Winter's Tale and two for Imaginary Invalid), but I am now back and rehearsing again.

The version of The Imaginary Invalid that we're doing is sort of a musical. I mean, it's not the sort of musical where characters periodically break out into song while acting... But the prologue and epilogue are song/dance numbers, and there are also small pieces at the end of Act I and at the beginning of Act II.

The composer has come into town for the production, and today the actors recorded the chorus parts of the numbers so that they can be piped into the theatre over speakers to make the sound larger.

They needed an additional female for the recording, so I volunteered and went into the sound recording studio along with the actresses playing Béline and Angelique. I was completely nervous about it at first, as I haven't had any actual music rehearsals... I have the sheet music, but I've really just picked it up from listening during the rehearsals. But it went well! And I get a kick out of the fact that my voice is going to be in that show now, even though I'm not.

Tonight they're doing a full run of Winter's Tale, which I'm excited for. Paulina (the character I'm understudying) is only in the serious parts of the show, so I haven't really gotten to see the lighter parts (Act IV in Bohemia) yet. This production takes place in the 1950s and 1960s, so I've heard that the Bohemia section has some really great dancing and music. I'm SO looking forward to it.