The concert was just an awesome experience! I remembered that I had such talented friends in college, but I think I forgot how good they really were. The host was Jenny Frogley, who I had met briefly once but did not know personally. She has fabulous pipes and is super, super nice. I really hope to see her perform again sometime, and I have my fingers crossed that I'll be invited to participate next year in the concert (which I'm sure she'll host again).
One of my old college friends in the show was Chris Higbee, who sang "Anthem" from Chess and "Bring Him Home" from Les Mis. He was, is, and has always been thoroughly amazing. In fact, he is so amazing that he came within inches of being cast as Jean Valjean in the National Touring Company of Les Miserables. Alas, he was considered too young for the role. It's a little bit of a shame, because he really would've been amazing. But he has a wonderful career in business and managament (doing something great currently with the Deseret News), and he and his wife Katie have a wonderful family and a great life together.
Another great, uber-talented pair are Allison and Brian Clark. I hadn't known that Brian had actually toured with Les Miserables playing the role of Javert, which explains his thoroughly awesome performance of "Stars" (one of my favorite songs from that show). Seriously, I remembered that he was good, but not that good! Go Brian! And he and Allison gave an hysterical performance of "A Song Like This" from Spamalot. Delightful! I must also mention other amazing school-fellows and their pieces Kathryn Matis-Adams (a rocking out and funny "Find Your Grail" from Spamalot), Michelle Gardner (a feisty and flawless "Don Juan" fromSmokey Joe's Cafe), Amanda Crabb (a beautiful, heartfelt rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" despite having a terrible cold - BTW, she's an alto in MoTab), and Nicole Riding (singing "Trouble" - I think- from Smokey Joes Cafe and a FACE MELTING "No Good Deed" fromWicked as well as another solo from Rent). What amazing talent I was associated with at BYU! It really was nostalgic to see and perform with them.
The performance that moved me most was the song "I'm Here" from The Color Purple, sung by Josephine Dinnell. Oh. My. Goodness. It was SO powerful! I was a sucker for the film as a teenager (saw it dozens of times), and so I'm familiar with the basic storyline (at least to the film version). That song is touching in the musical, but never as much as it was when Josie sang it. I think it almost helped that I was backstage watching and could hardly hear the piano, because for me the song is all about Celie standing up for herself after a life-time of severe abuse and neglect and saying that she is beautiful and loved and worth it. I was so moved that I was whimpering as I cried. Honestly, just thinking about Josie's voice, honesty, and vulnerability gives me goosebumps and makes me tear up. It was so lovely!
But let's admit, you're here to hear about me, aren't you? Ha ha!! Just joking. But seriously, I was so nervous about how my song would work out. When Ben and I decided on "The Winner Takes It All," we put ourselves into a bit of a pickle. The song is very long and somewhat repetitive, and Ben was unable to find a track that he liked for the show. In addition to that, I was unimpressed with the ending. As you know, the original radio version fades out - not very workable for live theater. And frankly, I don't like the ending in either the movie or the actual show. Finally, I was not going to have any back-up vocalists, and I didn't really want any. So I was pretty unsure how I was supposed to rock it out.
So my answer was to strip the song down and just sing it with a piano. I shortened a couple of the choruses, moved some lyrics around, changed the ending, and when it was done it was a vulnerable song performed as a monologue with a passionate, very belty ending. My final chorus of "The Game is on again" etc. was somewhat ad-libbed with vocal licks and runs, and my last "The Winner Takes it All" popped up to a long, loud, held out D flat. (Ben did say to rock out, right?) I was wearing a yellow flowery halter-top dress with no shoes and simple make-up and slightly frizzy hair. (For some reason, I was thinking SNL's Loraine Newman, but not quite as hopped-up looking.) :) It was very fun!
We had technical difficulties in the first performance when my head-mic didn't work. Some of the audience members were laughing because it was so uncomfortable for a second or two (they thought they were uncomfortable!). Then LOVELY Jenny Frogley ran out from the wings with her hand mic and told me that we should start over. So we did, and though I didn't love the hand mic thing, it went fine. The second show was much better. That time my head-mic did work, and I was able to give the full performance with my hands free to really act out the song. I hope the somehow I'll find video of one or both performances, and if I do I will post it. Despite the challenges, I felt pretty good about it, and I got wonderful compliments all around.
So what next? I'm in a show! I've decided that I'd like to fit one full show a year into our lives, and I'm very excited about this show. The play (not a musical) is called The Plan by Eric Samuelson, and if we can do justice to the material, it will be something very special. Eric is hands down my favorite LDS playwright. I've always loved the quality of his writing, but nothing I've read of his has ever moved and impressed me the way this play does. It is a series of short plays/long scenes featuring the following people: Gaia (a premortal Eve) and Lucifer, Bathsheba and David, Ruth and Boaz, Leah and Jacob, Rahab and Joshua, and Eve and Adam (on Eve's deathbed). The cast is just wonderful, and I will be playing Bathsheba.
This is no My Turn on Earth or Saturday's Warriors. Eric's material is thought provoking and asks powerful questions. And, for me at least, the closing scene with Adam and Eve is genuinely spiritual. I hope that a lot of friends and family who are local will come and see this, because I really believe it's going to be amazing and powerful. If you are interested in seeing more about it, checking the running dates, and possibly purchasing tickets, here's a link to the Covey Center website. It's a very small space, so if you would really like to come, it might be wise to buy tickets early and online. I can't remember the exact number, but I think there are less than 40 seats in the house. But that means that audiences won't miss a word and every seat will be great! And oh how I love acting in a big black box!!!! So please check it out and mark your calendars!
That's all for now, but I'm hoping to post some pics of family and the concert very soon!
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