Getting There

With the auditions for RENT looming in the immediate future it was time to meet up with Eva again tonight.  When we last met Eva told me that I would need to find a monologue to rehearse and also gave me some tips on my voice.

I’ve been rehearsing the song but more with the original song than with the background track I have.  I’ve discovered this might have not been the best idea…but I have another week to work on that.  I also had been on the hunt via the internet for a monologue to rehearse.  I didn’t like a lot of the ones I found but settled for one that seemed to be fairly simple.  The problem was I just never quite jived with it.  I could do it, but I found it not as easy to memorize as I thought it would be.  I hemmed and hawed for a while.  Trying to memorize it but still trying to find a better one.  Finally two nights ago I found the one I wanted.  It was all about father issues so I could pull from experience.  Bonus, there was a youtube video of someone doing the monologue.  I’ve always been able to memorize better from audio than visual so that helped a lot. 

So tonight, exactly one month later(totally not planned), I headed over there tonight to get her opinion on how I had progressed.   But before I get into that I had another huge step for me happen this afternoon. 

My girls and I headed out to lunch today, which we try to do once a week or so.  On the way back to work the subject of me going to Eva’s tonight came up and so I told them about the monologue I chose and then they asked about the song.  I told them it was an Idina Menzel song and Paula said: “Let’s hear it.” and turned the volume down on the radio.  I didn’t protest.  I thought, how can you go sing in front of a bunch of people you don’t know if you can’t sing in front of your best friends??  With only a second or two of hesitation I launched into the song acapella and sang the first verse and chorus.  This was HUGE for me.  I always say no when someone asks me to sing without preparation and usually WITH preparation. 

As I got back to my desk at work and the shaking subsided I was blessed with the biggest adrenaline high I have had a in a long time.  It was pretty amazing.  I actually found myself thinking:  “I can’t wait to sing for Eva tonight!”  🙂

So I showed up at Deborah and Eva’s a little early.  Eva had just woken up and was in her room.  So Deborah and I played with the dogs and chatted for a little bit.  When Eva came out we talked a bit more and she answered some questions I had about the auditions.  Then it was time to sing.

Last time I sang for them I had to face away from them.  This time I faced them.  I even looked Eva in the eye one or two times.  🙂  When I was done they both told me that they noticed I seemed less nervous and my vibrato was less this time(I’ve been working on that but I wasn’t sure it was working…).  Eva gave me a couple more tips and then she sang the songs she was thinking about auditioning with for me.  That girl is sooo freaking talented!  She has a huge range!  I was impressed.  Then we sang “Take Me or Leave Me” together(girl duet from RENT).  That was fun.

Finally I did my monolouge.  I had to read it as it wasn’t totally memorized but when I was done I was happy when Eva said she that it was good and she had no advice for me on it.  That was really good to hear because, while I sing all the time, I had never done anything like acting before.  It almost made me more nervous than the singing!  🙂

After the hard stuff was out of the way we talked a bit more before I headed home.

Today was a really big day for me.  I did a lot in the way of realizing and calming some of my public speaking/singing fears.  I’m quite proud of myself actually.

One more week until auditions.  Wow.