Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Now We're Talkin'.

Ba bi da ba bi da ba bi da ba bi da ba bi da ba bi da baby! Bid a baby! Bid a baby! Bid a baby! *huge breath*

WHEEEEW!...Good gravy.

SO, last night we made it through the last of the music! I am writing this blog while  listening to "Money Honey" by Elvis for the, let's see...1, 2, 3, 4....24, 96....1,000th time? Starting to feel a connection with 'ol CB.

Last night's rehearsal was a lot of fun. I've found that in pretty much any artistic facet, one of the best things you can do for yourself to better your character, dance, sound, style, timbre, painting etc...is to observe. It's a fine line between "being influenced by" and mimicking, though. That's why I almost always rather play characters that exist only in someone's head. There is no wrong answer, and you don't have to forfeit your artistic expression by resigning yourself to a criteria or a "right/wrong" standard of performance. This is an interesting endeavor for me because CB is most definitely his own man. And a "character." A really fun one. But he is very clearly influenced. So, I have to be influenced by Cry-Baby who is influenced by someone else. The more parties you add, the more room you leave for miscommunication. It would be so easy to lose the authenticity through the multi-layer distance between my performance (today) and where it all came from. That's without having mentioned that his world exists in 1954 and I'm about as far removed as you can get from that era. It'd be easy to make him a cartoon. A "characature" of Elvis. But I can't. That's not what he is. He's a human being. Influenced by people just like I am influenced by Jim Carey and/or Kevin Spacey. The easiest way to capture that, I think, is to observe and find the admiration. I have to want to be Jerry Lee Lewis the same way and as much as Cry-Baby does. Which should be a blast (and is so far).

I'm starting to pick up on the little nuances of the casting choices and the interesting dynamics that make this cast so perfect and fun for this show. I'll explain:

1.) The Teardrops---> They, all three, look as though they belong to the same group. They look to be friends (in this world and Cry-Baby's): Short(ish), dark hair, spunky... But the unique sounds that each of them bring to their characters makes for a perfect distinction and identity. Marcy (Pepper) has a sound as big as a house. Huge voice. Sarah (Hatchetface, haha) has that Joplin rasp that makes you wish you smoked cigarettes. And Crissy's (Wanda) voice is perfectly sweet and pure. How cool.

2.) The Whiffles---> All of them have the perfect "blending barbershop" voices. Their timbres match. They bring an authenticity to it, too, by enjoying singing it. :) You can tell they have a good time. Because they sound brilliant!! And sounding great is ALWAYS fun. I can't pick out their voices individually, like I can The Teardrops. And that's the way it should be. It's perfect.

Drapes always want to stick out. Squares don't.-----> Fact.

Fuckin' Squares.

3.) The stark difference between my untrained voice and "Allison's"  trained (and beautiful) voice is really going to help paint the picture of this story (audibly, of course). There is an inherent difference between our voices as Ryan and Taylor. So buying into this "other world" will be a little bit easier because that difference isn't manufactured. It's organic. And fun.

As a cast I feel like we are starting to develop a personality. And we're only starting week 2 of rehearsals. I'd say I feel good about what's happening here, but that would be an understatement. Give us a couple of months and you'll have to pry my leather jacket from my hands during strike.

Now, I'm going to watch a little "Jailhouse Rock" before heading to rehearsal tonight for our all inclusive music review. Let's see what we managed to sponge up over this past week! Looking forward to working on the story, soon.  :)

Watch your ass,
CB

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