Day 6.

Day 6: A moment you wish you could relive.

Actually, I have a lot of those. Not all of them are captured on film, either. But this moment is definitely up there in places in my own life I would return to if I had a time machine.

"Masquerade" in our production of Phantom of the Opera! I'm in the red dress in the front (my favorite costume ever.)

That was definitely my favorite scene. Being in it was a sort of dream of mine ever since I watched Phantom of the Opera for the first time, and it was one that I never though would be fulfilled so soon! It was just so, so much fun to be in (even though the first sopranos - which I am - had some ridiculously high notes)...I love the music, it was absolutely full of dancing, and the entire scene was so exciting and full of energy, since everyone in the entire show was in it. The end of Masquerade in our very last show was such a sad moment for me!

It's over now, the music of the night.

*happy/sad/bittersweet/nostalgic sigh* The Phantom of the Opera. is. over.

:(

:'(

:)

I'm just sort of in awe of how awesome the entire experience was. Every single performance was absolutely incredible, and the only time we didn't get a standing ovation was one of the school shows (and that was the audience's fault ;)). As I've mentioned before, all of our leads and the entire cast were phenomenally talented and absolutely amazing. The crew was extremely dedicated and there were no technical glitches, and the orchestra sounded wonderful.

Of course, there were a few defining moments.

* The very first show. It was a school matinee at 9 am (we had to get there at 7 am!), and so many people were so, so nervous. But the whole show went wonderfully, and we recieved a standing ovation. That totally blew us away, seeing as it was a school show and our very first performance, and several people, such as myself, started crying during curtain call. :) I was already crying, actually, because of the Phantom's amazing performance in the lair scene.

* The Bathroom Boy Singers. haha A lot of the guys had learned this song called The Prayer of the Children in men's choir at their various schools, and one day they decided to sing it in the bathroom because the acoustics were amazing. So about 15 of them crowded in there and the girls clustered around the door in the hallway, and they sang that song. It was so, so beautiful, and one of those funny, awesome moments where it's really beautiful and touching, but kind of weird when you stop and think about it. But that's the best kind of wonderful moment. So they became known as the Bathroom Boy Singers and gave several performances during our breaks between shows, and "The Prayer of the Children" became our theme song. I'm listening to it right now...gah, it's making me cry! It's always going to bring back so many wonderful memories and make me nostalgic...and it just happened two days ago! It's such a beautiful song.

* Something that the man who played the elderly Raoul said before the last show. He's a music professor and the choir director at the college in town and had led a lot of the vocal warmups the week of the show. Just after warmups before the last show he told us, "There is so much ugliness in the world, but you all have brought so much joy and beauty to so many people in the past few days." That was awesome...that's exactly what I love so much about the performing arts.

* Spending about half an hour on the last day sliding down the hallway in rolling chairs. The dressing rooms were in extra classrooms off the main part of the school, and the girls' dressing room was accessed by a sloping hallway. On the last day, two other girls and I entertained ourselves by rolling up and down the hall on rolling chairs. :D Naturally, everyone who saw us had to laugh and shake their heads, but we just told them that it was tons of fun and that they shouldn't judge. ;)

* The last show. It was absolutely wonderfully epically perfect. It was so bittersweet, but so beautiful. Hearing the overture and watching the chandelier go up for the last time brought tears to my eyes...I love that part. It makes it so easy to believe, as you stand warming up backstage in your Hannibal costume, surrounded by your friends who are also dressed in exotic costumes, that you really truly are a member of the ballet corps of the Paris Opera. Masquerade, which I've decided is my favorite scene to be in (and definitely my favorite costume!) went beautifully and was full of energy and excitement. Then there was the lair scene. Ahhhhh. *blissful sigh* The entire cast has to crowd into the two wings to sing the "Track Down this Murderer" parts, and usually I would stand with my friends and dramatically pantomime what was going happening on stage, but this last time I just wanted to watch what was actually happening on stage. So I sat in the wings, my vision slightly dimmed by the fog machines, just a few feet away from the action, and watched. They all gave it their all...it was absolutely incredible. The Phantom was really, truly crying, and I was almost afraid he wasn't going to be able to sing the emotional, sorrowful, and, on that night of nights, so very poignant last lines of the show: "It's over now, the music of the night." But he did, and he sang them the best he's ever sung them.

* The last curtain call. I cried, just as I knew I would (although I didn't completely lose it like I was afraid I would!). The audience rose to their feet right when the ensemble came out, as they had every night, and the clapping and cheering kept rising and rising, growing louder as Christine and Raoul came out, until it reached its crescendo as the Phantom stepped onto the stage. The energy, the joy, the excitement, the emotion of the audience is so palpable in those moments that it's almost overwhelming. And then, right as the lights dimmed and the curtains closed for the very last time, all 56 of us clustered together in a huge group hug. It was the perfect ending to what had been a perfect show.

Gah, I'm crying. :')

I am going to miss this show SO much, though! It's always hard when a show ends (unless you absolutely hate the show, which did happen to me once, lol), partly because it's just so sudden, but this one was harder than usual. We'd been there for hours every single day for the past two weeks and for three hours every week night for the previous month, everyone got along wonderfully and there was a real family feeling among us, and POTO is just such a wonderful, epic musical that leaving it was ten times harder than usual.

And there were so, so many wonderful moments, especially in the last few weeks. Blasting music in the dressing room (it's rather amusing to leave the hallway hearing "Il Muto" and then hear Lady Gaga when you open the door); singing show tunes at the tops of our lungs in the dressing room, makeup room, green room, and up and down the halls; incessantly curling hair; putting on what felt like way too much makeup; eating lunch that was prepared by the awesome moms in the commons and getting into shouting-and-chanting-and-pounding-on-the-tables competitions; knowing all the words to all the songs and mouthing them whenever we were waiting in the wings...oh, good times. :)

I also absolutely loved all the directors - they are AMAZING. Our main director is particularly amazing and we all love her! I think lots of people started crying during her last speech before the last show, especially when she said that, even though it sounded cheesy, she was going to hang the big picture of "Masquerade" we'd gotten framed for her in a very special place in her house because we all had a very special place in her heart. I'm sad that this is probably the last show I'll do with her!

So, to quote the Facebook statuses of practically the entire cast..."it's over now, the music of the night." I'm so, so sad that it's over and will miss it SO much, but I really am happy to have so many wonderful memories, the knowledge I was in such a great show, and the friendships I've made.

Update!

So I know that several of you have asked me to keep you updated on how Phantom of the Opera is going. In a word (well, phrase), it's going absolutely wonderfully! I can't believe we only have two weeks left of rehearsal before the performances - it's gone so quickly. This week we started doing full run-throughs every evening, late next week we'll begin rehearsing with the orchestra (in which one of my good friends is playing the flute!), and the week after launches us into 14 days of rehearsals and performances every day! We will have nine performances all togther - three matinees, six public performances, and three of those days will have two performances. It's going to be exhausting, but I can't wait!

I know that some of you were hoping for photos, but unfortunately I cannot acquiesce to your requests. :( It's actually for a good reason, though...we have a lot of costumes rented from a couple of professional theaters (who usually only rent to professional companies!) and their costumes are copyrighted, and there's also the fact that the rights to POTO were released very recently, the show is still being performed on Broadway, and there's just too many chances to get sued if a lot of pictures from our production got out. Sorry. :(

Being in this show has been such an amazing experience. Towards the beginning I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the rehearsals and everything, but now I really look forward to rehearsals (which is good, considering we have them every night for about a month ;)). And the talent is this show is incredible. Seriously, some of these people have it in them to go FAR! It's awesome to have the chance to work with them and observe and learn and marvel at the fact that we're all high school students. :D I think I've really improved a lot as well in singing, dancing, and acting. My voice has strengthened a ton and my range is better (I can hit the high Gs and Bs in Masquerade pretty easily now!), dancing on pointe every day can't help but improve you, and I think/hope I've learned to act better.

Watching the show come together and seeing everyone get more and more into character is SO much fun. I also have more of an appreciation for all the work that goes into the set and props and costumes...those people work so hard! And our set looks amazing. :D They covered the entire facade, painted it gold, and added box seats. The gondola is battery-operated (I want one! It's so cool!), and apparently it really will look like Christine is walking through a mirror. The set designer is also a professional illusionist, so that helps!

Once again, I am reminded of how much I love the theater and performing. I've had a profound post in mind to write about it, but now of course I can't remember it. :P I've said a lot of it already, but be prepared...there is one coming soon. ;)

And now I shall leave you with one of the most epic pieces of music from POTO: The Overture! Thank goodness I haven't gotten tired of the music yet...I'm beginning to think that it's physically impossible.

Snow

We finally have some snow! It snowed a lot just before Thanksgiving weekend, and Thanksgiving day and the friday after were both bright, beautiful, blue and white days. Being able to look out the window at work and see sunlight and snow and rolling hills and black branches etched against the blue, blue sky made working for 9 hours on Thanksgiving much more bearable! That, and the fact that I earned twice as much in tips as usual, not to mention I worked about 2 hours longer than I normally do - the specter of Christendom College always dances before my eyes, encouraging me!

For the first time ever, my mom, sister, and I went shopping on Black Friday. I actually had a lot of fun! Just two words of advice: 1. Don't go in a big city, if you can help it (in our town of 30,000, pretty much everyone we saw just looked like they were having fun...none of the crazed shoppers one always hears about...but I hear that in large cities in can be a bit different), and 2. 6: 30 am is just about the perfect time to go! It's early enough that you can have all the fun of getting up while it's still dark out (well, I find that fun, at least! ;)), it's well after the first mad rush, but it's not so late that people have started getting cranky. It was so weird to arrive at the mall at 6:30 am and find it as full as a busy Saturday afternoon! And everyone looked wide awake...that was the funny part! We didn't get anything terribly exciting, but the sales were excellent. When you're a poor student trying to save money for college, saving a few extra dollars is always a priority!

POTO (Phantom of the Opera) rehearsals started this week...my sister and I have been at one of the local high schools every evening from 4:00 to 5:00. It's not been terribly interesting so far, as we've only worked on blocking (which for me means lots of standing around!), but I can already tell it's going to be amazing. I'm really looking forward to starting to work on choreography next week! Oooh, and we also got scripts which we'll get to keep! I just highlighted and sticky-noted mine last night, and it already has copious notes...fun fun...official official! The scenes I'll be in in Act 1 are:
Scene 1: Rehearsal of Hannibal;
Scenes 2 and 3: After the Gala, Angel of Music, Through the Mirror (the ballet girls are in the background stretching, practicing, etc. the entire time);
Scene 5a: The Magic Lasso; and
Scene 7: Il Muto (one of the operas).
In Act 2, I'll be in Scene 1: Masquerade;
possibly Scenes 6 and 7: Don Juan (another of the operas);
and Scene 8: Track Down This Murderer (although I'll just be singing off-stage in that one).
I'm very happy with my part! It's fun because I'm actually a member of the opera company, and there will be tons of stage time!

Well, I really need to go study, write, and stop procrastinating! But before I go, I'll leave you with this beautiful song: Snow, by Loreena McKennitt. Nothing says "winter" to me more than this song.

The words are equally lovely and come from this poem, which is definitely one of my favorite pieces of poetry:

Snow

by Archibald Lampman

White are the far-off plains, and white

The fading forests grow;

The wind dies out along the height,

And denser still the snow,

A gathering weight on roof and tree

Falls down scarce audibly.

The road before me smooths and fills

Apace, and all about

The fences dwindle, and all the hills

Are blotted slowly out;

The naked trees loom spectrally

Into the dim white sky.

The meadows and far-sheeted streams

Lie still without a sound;

Like some soft minister of dreams

The snow fall hoods me round;

In wood and water, earth and air,

A silence everywhere.

Save when at lonely intervals

A farmer's sleigh, urged on,

With rustling runners and sharp bells

Swings by me and is gone;

Or from the empty waste I hear

A sound remote and clear;

The barking of a dog, or call

To cattle, sharply pealed,

Borne echoing from some wayside stall

Or barnyard far afield;

Then all is silent, and the snow

Falls, settling soft and slow.

The evening deepens, and the gray

Folds closer earth and sky;

The world seems shrouded far away,

Its noises sleep, and I,

As secret as yon buried stream

Plod dumbly on, and dream.

...til you drown in the light, in the sound.

I can't believe I haven't shared my exciting news yet! I got into Phantom of the Opera!!! I'm in the ballet corps and the ensemble, which means a lot of stage time. :) I'm extremely excited! The performance is going to be absolutely incredible...it always is with this group!

We've had two rehearsals so far - the first a general read-through and the second a vocal rehearsal of "Masquerade". I'm soooo excited about being in "Masquerade"! In case you've never seen or heard it, here is the movie version! That way you can see the amazing, incredible dancing, but I actually like the way the stage version sounds better. This is a dream come true...I've seen the movie so many times, and every time I would see "Masquerade" and think, "I would LOVE to be in that!" And here I am!

Our performances are the second week of February - we have 9 altogether! I've never been in a show that ran that long. Eeeep, I am sooo excited. :)

The ACT test date is fast approaching. I'd really appreciate prayers that I can stay on track with studying for it...I'm having difficulties with that. Thanks SO much! I've also been wading through website after website of scholarships... *starts to go crazy*

And Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Unfortunately I have to work, but hey, I need the money, and that way I'll have some extra money I can buy a few Christmas gifts without feeling guilty that I'm taking from my college fund. ;)

Oooh, one more thing...anyone else getting excited about The Voyage of the Dawn Treader? I know I am! The plan is to get a group of friends together and go see it the afternoon of the 11th (after my ACT!), and then go tubing!

*revives dead blog*

My blog has been rather dead-ish lately. I've actually been too busy to post on it, which is kinda nice for a change!

So, I have a few pieces of exciting news! One is that I'm auditioning for Phantom of the Opera next month!!!!!!!!!!!! :D There's a theater group in my town that does a really big musical every two years with students from all the area highschools. Their productions are always spectacular...it was their Les Miserables that was the first musical I ever saw (I was 11). I was literally struck speechless for about 10 minutes after it ended (I really couldn't talk, it was the oddest thing!), and ever since that night I've wanted to be on stage!

So I was eagerly watching for news of what this year's production would be (the other two were Cats and Peter Pan), and I was absolutely freaking estatic when I found out they're doing Phantom, one of my favorite musicals!!! They held three workshops a couple of weeks ago, two of which I attended, and after them I was even more excited than I had been before! The director told us a bit about what the production would be like, and it's going to be INCREDIBLE. This group always does a mind-blowingly professional job, and they have a $70,000 budget for it! She showed us the set designs, which look amazing (they're actually covering the entire archway over the stage to make it look like the Paris Opera House, and the niches for the statues will be the box seats!), and then we learned the music and choreography for "Masquerade". It was SO much fun! It was amazing to hear the melody come together, and the choreography is simply awesome.

So I'm suuuuppppeeeer excited for the auditions! I'm singing "Stranger in Paradise" from the musical Kismet for my song, and reading Galadriel's speech from the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring for my monologue. I'm also doing some pointework, since I'll be auditioning for the ballet corps, the ensemble, and Meg! I would love to be Meg, and several people have told me they think I'd play her really well, so perhaps the directors will agree! :)

Some more exciting news is that I'm visiting Christendom College in the near future! :D I'll have to be sure and post about it!

And...I'm doing National Novel Writing Month (commonly known as NaNoWriMo) this year! It's a challenge to write a 50,000 word (about 175 pages) novel in one month. It's other name is insanity, of course. ;) But I thought I'd give it a try, even though I doubt I'll make it to 50,000 words! Stranger things have happened, though. If you're doing it, feel free to add me as a buddy on the website! My user name is _Tinuviel_ (and by clicking on that link you can read the synopsis of my story...for some reason Blogger isn't letting me paste. :P).

I feel like totally re-vamping my blog. Well, maybe not totally, but somewhat. I've changed a lot lately (I'm not nearly as shy and fearful anymore!), and I just feel like this blog needs an overhaul. I'll see what I can do... Oh, and another weird thing that has been changing is how light my hair is getting! When I was born it was black, by the time I was about 6 it had faded to really dark brown, and then it's just been progressively getting lighter and lighter, especially in the last few months. It's definitely light brown now! Strange.

One last thing. I've discovered two new favorite authors - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie! Now that I'm finally no longer a constant nervous wreck I'm really enjoying mysteries. I think it's hereditary...my mom and sister both devour them too! I'm also reading more of Sir ACD's Professor Challenger books...I love them! They're science-fiction and sometimes hilarious and fascinating and really good.