This time I went for a week. I planned on auditioning for about 3-4 shows and of course, see some shows too.
Tuesday, January 15
I took an early flight to LaGuardia. Things looked good since the pilot wanted to leave early. However, when we were just about there, we had to hold in the air for about 30 minutes - so delaying us for 30 minutes. Eeek! Luckily I still had a lot of time before checking in for my audition. Got off the plane, went to my friend, Mitch's place and dropped off the bags and headed straight to the Equity Offices to audition for Phantom of the Opera.
This was my first time there since I missed my auditions months previous (look at past blogs for more about that). I was a bit disoriented in finding the studio, but found it soon enough with plenty of time to take a moment to just relax. Since I couldn't sign up for this Equity Chorus Call (ECC), I had to wait in line until they read every name on the list of 308 before I could get a number. Well, not so bad, I got 120. Seems that people don't show up to the call or they sign up more than once just in case they are running late.
Well, after waiting over 3 hours my group of 20 was called to line up. When I got in there, the musical director immediately left to go to the bathroom. So I had to wait until she got back and had some very small talk with the casting agent. The accompanist was very stoic and didn't say a word when I was showing him my music. Anyway, I sang my "I Have Dreamed" and everything went well until that high note. I hit a flem ball and it didn't sound good. Ah well! I am not using that song anymore. Seems that it has run it course - so back in a drawer.
While I was there, I signed up for The Little Mermaid ECC on that Thursday and also the ECC for The Producers at the Pioneer Theatre in Utah. I signed up as #301 for Mermaid and #187 for The Producers. I also saw my friend, Rick, who I did summer stock with in Galveston in the early 90's. After the audition, I went to TKTS and grabbed a ticket for Spamalot BEFORE Clay Aiken went in. I got a front row seat, off to the left. It was a pretty good view. Show was very good. I saw it on tour, but wanted to see it again in hopes of auditioning for it someday. And before the show, I had dinner with my friend, Bob, formerly from Houston.
Wednesday, January 16
Next day was a day off from auditioning. I woke up semi-early and went to the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre box office to see what they had for the matinee of The Little Mermaid. I got 4th row center!! I grabbed that immediately and got some breakfast. I loved the show. I heard the critics were not too nice. I think they were a bit harsh. It's a beautiful show. I was looking at it since I was auditioning for it the next day. I'm glad I did to get a sense of the music. I was going for Chef Louis, and I probably could do that someday, but I think I would be also right for Scuttle played by Eddie Korbich - who is a favorite performer of mine.
Later that evening, I met with my friend, Kelli, to see a show that a muscial director friend wrote called Trumph, the musical. Yes, it was as bad as it sounds. We went to Vinyl afterwards and caught up. From our conversation, I realized that I've been way out of the loops. I really couldn't update her on much.
Thursday, January 17
Next day was the Mermaid audition. This time I got #59, so I was done by Noon. I had a great audition. I sang "Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat" and I was pleased and they were smiling - so who knows? Afterwards, I found a Whole Foods Store and got some salad and pasta for the day. I then waited in the TKTS line and got a ticket for Mary Poppins for $59. Are you noticiing a pattern? Later that week, I stayed with my friend Scott on 59th and 9th. Hmmm, interesting. Maybe I should make 59 my lucky number. Mary Poppins was a pleasant show. After I saw it, I realized that I wouldn't be right for the show. But maybe if I got my tap dancing up to par, I might.
Friday, January 18
Next day I was supposed to audition for Legally Blonde but since Mermaid wanted 2 resumes, I ran out. I'm really not right for the show. I wanted to tone up a bit more before letting their casting agents see me. So I ran around the city and also found a Bally's gym and did some cardio. I met up with my friend, Michael and ate at a vegan restaurant. I had a bacon double cheeseburger vegan style and it was awesome. Also had a vegan brownie - yum!! I got a ticket for The Farnsworth Invention that evening online at tdf.org. The seats were not that great and I missed half of the stage. The play was very interesting, but I think I was miffed at such bad seats. I think I will go again.
Saturday, January 19
The next day I moved out of Mitch's apartment and lugged my stuff to my friend, Scott. Whoa, very nice place and great location. He let me sleep on the bed since I guess he likes to sleep on the sofa. He was heading for work a couple hours later but we got to catch up. I was going to see a show that evening, but since the weather was so cold and the apartment was so nice, I decided to stay in and watch DVD's. Scott came home around 12:30pm and we talked and talked until 4am. Yikes! I hadn't done that in a while.
Sunday, January 20
Next day, we had brunch with Kelly (not the same Kelli from Wednesday, but yes, ANOTHER friend from summer stock years ago). We went to this Mexican place for brunch and I did more catching up. That evening, I saw my friend Michael again and we had sushi and tried to catch another movie, but ended up in the wrong place and just grabbed some coffee. It was just too freakin' cold!
Monday, January 21
Next day was my last full day in NYC, so instead of going to The Producers call, I stayed in from the cold. Later I met up with another friend, Jim, for movie and dinner. I was headed back to the apartment and felt a little guilty of how little exercise I did and went to the gym. By the way, I'm really getting good getting around the city by subway.
Tuesday, January 22
I got up REALLY early, hailed a cab and headed back to LaGuardia where I found out later that I was on the first flight out. Got back to Houston and got another cab and went straight to work! Hi-Ho, The Glamorous Life!
