Marc's Journal

Sold Out!

42nd Street is officially sold out! During the interval of watching Never the Sinner last night, my fellow 42nd Streeter, Chris Eaton, told me that the final four performance of 42nd Street have sold out. How good is that?! :)

We had a pretty good Sunday matinee, too. We got a standing ovation! How sweet is that! The show has been going pretty good for me lately, after probably Friday night. I blitzed the opening routine, which put me in a fantastic mood for the rest of the show. Even Saturday night's opening seemed easier now that I'd actually blitzed an opening.

So I'm not throwing up before curtain opening anymore.. hehe I think I'm finally really enjoying each moment of it, by final night I probably *will* be a blubbering mess 'cos I'll be missing everyone.

Oh a similiar theatre note, I spoke to a *fantastic* musical director the other night, who'd been told about my intent to direct a show at the Hills next year. Of course, no one can talk about *which* show until the rights have been secured, but I told her anyway and she was very eager. I was most honoured, firstly because she's just fabulous, but secondly that she said she saw my performance, was very impressed with my style and acting, so she has utmost confidence in me to do the show. How good did I feel? :)

So yeah, everything theatrewise is looking pretty good. I ordered the book, the DVD and the vocal score for that show from Amazon, and that arrived the other day, which was great. Sat and read the book, then watched the DVD. I can't believe I have to wait until second show next year to put it on. Oh well, knowing me, it'll be blocked, the set will be designed, the poster will be done, and the programme will be ready for printing, all by the end of this year.. hehe It's my first show, I can't be too prepared! :)

I also spoke to a number of friends and important-type people about directing a play for the Adelaide Feast Festival this year. I ended up seeing the director out in a pub on Friday night, so we chatted then, so that's looking pretty good. Just have to find a company to produce.

Yay! I'm all theatre excited :)

Never the Sinner

Independant Theatre has done it again. Not that I saw either of the other productions of Never the Sinner, but this show is brilliant.

Never the Sinner tells the tale of Leopold and Loeb, two young rich guys in Chicago in the early 1920s. Inspired by Neitzche's ideal of Ubermensch, the two commit murder "to see if we could". This play takes you back through the times leading up to the murder, as well as the gripping court battle that ensued.

The two leads play well against each other, and lead you down a cleverly written and captivating path towards the murder, and beyond. Personally I liked Dai Davidson's Leopold best, it's amazing to watch his character's development from a quiet bird watcher, through to killer, and back again. I had to restrain myself from cheering at one point where the normally meek Leopold bites back at Loeb who'd always had such control over him.

Alan Munn is fantastic as defense lawyer Clarence Darrow, delivering every line with intent and emotion, bringing tears to my eyes at one point. His legal summation brings up points I love to debate: are killers born that way, or is it something they learn? Should we be prosecuted for something we couldn't help? What is the meaning of "sane" anyway? Great stuff.

John Logan has written a brilliant script. By all accounts, it *should* be brilliant by now, for he's re-written it a number of times. It's just amazing. There's not a spare word in this play, everything counts.

It's worth seeing, definately. It's currently showing at the Odean Theatre, Norwood (Adelaide).

42nd Street update...

On a much more pleasant note, rehearsal last night was great. I still feel like I'm going to throw up in the few minutes before the curtain rises, but that's probably because I'm right at the front of a stage full of people tapping, and I'm the first thing the audience sees. And I've only had half the rehearsals everyone else has. But thankfully I can do the tap, I just have to make sure I can do it with an auditorium full of people.

So once that's over, I think it's the relief that gets me through the rest of the show.. hehe

There's still a bit where I'm faking the tap, but apparently no-one can tell. I'm sure they're just being nice to me, I might take the handycam to rehearsal tomorrow night and get someone to film it. I did that for the opening number and have been able to make some slight changes based on what I saw.

So yeah - from here on in we're full costume and makeup. And we're not stopping the show anymore, everyone is getting everything right. Which is rare, with two more rehearsals to go. Normally things are only slotting into place on the final dress rehearsal, sometimes on opening night. So we're ahead by a few days and it's a great relief. Doing the show is fun now, if only I can manage to ignore the audience. I enjoy the people, I'm really relaxed and always laughing in their company. Great people.

:)

Trouble in paradise..

I'm a little bit shirty today, I'm sorry to say. Here's the situation. I presently don't have a car, yet my boyfriend does. I have a carpark space at my apartment, but only one. If I got a car, we'd have to get an extra carpark space for Craig. So we were happy with just using his car, when we needed a car, which wasn't very often. I'm now doing a show, which I can't really get to by public transport, and it goes later than the public transport so I wouldn't be able to get home. So I use Craig's car. All well and good, until you throw his parents into the equation.

The other night, I was going bowling with some friends, Craig was invited too. He decided to have dinner with his mum instead, so I dropped him home, before I went to bowling. Apparently his mum was disgusted that I had the car, when Craig had to catch the bus home. Chances are, Craig wouldn't have driven to his mum's place anyway, he'd see that as a waste of petrol, when he's so used to taking the bus.

So yeah, Craig is thinking of selling his car. I said I'd prefer he only did so in 3 weeks time, when my show will be finished and I will no longer need the car. He thinks that's fair enough. He asked his dad if he wanted to buy the car, and he was interested. I think he wants it sooner, rather than later. I'm sure they also want it because they're annoyed at me using it. His mum actually expressed annoyance because she'd paid the registration, yet I was using the car.

My point? I guess the $80 a month I'm paying for Craig's gym membership, and the $70 a week I'm paying as his half of the rent, not to mention everything else I've spent on him, has nothing to do with it. It's not like we're in a relationship and share what we have. If she likes, I'll invoice Craig for the gym and the rent, and use it to pay her for the registration. It'd probably pay for the car, actually.

I hate it when people presume I'm the only one getting anything out of this relationship.

Grrr.

Long time no update..

Gosh, ain't it just been too long! I guess my prehensity to blog is like my moods - they come and go. I really should blog more.

So what can I tell you? Well, I went overseas and came back. That was an experience. Taking my boyfriend to places I know and love was great fun. Highlight was hiring a car and driving through some of the most bleak landscape I'd ever seen: Northern Scotland in the winter. Brrr. Horrible. But so horrible, and so different, that it was amazingly beautiful. I'll attempt to post some pictures at some stage :)

Rehearsals for 42nd Street are going really well. We're ahead of the schedule, which is rare, especially for such a full-on show like this. We open in ten days, and we're already running the show. We just have to weave in the costumes, lighting and scene changes and we're done. I'll be nervous as hell on opening night - I'm still faking some of the tap steps. Will have to take some time every day at home to get them right - dancers in the audience will know I'm faking and I don't want that :)

The cast is fun - having arrived halfway through rehearsals the cast had already bonded, and I was like a spanner in the works. I was already quite comfortable with a large number of people, and I think I shocked a few people with *just* how comfortable and relaxed I was. Guess I shouldn't have told some of those dirty jokes. But it's all good, and we're a pretty close bunch of people. Great people, too, I really feel at home with them. It's been 6 years since I was onstage, so it's lovely to be back around theatre people so much. I missed it. It's a whole different level of interaction - there is no pretence, no walls - just raw emotions and open minds. It's great.

Flirting is fun, too. There's a gorgeous guy in the cast who has taken to flirting back, which is always a bonus. I was flashing some flesh across the stage from one wing to another (as you do) to a girl, but this guy though I was aiming for him. It was just my nipple, don't worry dear readers. But he responded by lifting his shirt and rippling his stomach for me. Yum. Such a sweetie to flirt back :)

One of the other leads has relaxed a bit too - I think he felt a little threatened at first, but we've quite warmed to each other, and the joking is a lot of fun. There's a bit in the show where he falls on the ground, and invariably his t-shirt rises and I get to see the top of his underwear. He's supposed to be "dead" but my comments about his underwear always gets him laughing. Now he's taken to picking it out especially for me. "Calvins tomorrow night ok with you Marcus?". Such a sweetie.

So yeah - I'm right back in the debauchery that is musical theatre. I'm like a pig in the mud.. *grin*

Work wise things are good - I'm back at a contract 3 days a week, which is a lovely pace to be working at. I've also had some luck in other business areas - a friend and I have a contract to supply some software to a couple of business in a state-wide franchise. If we're lucky, we'll eventually get all of the franchises in the state, which will be *very* nice. So nice that I'll be able to make that my only source of income and work, giving me time to expand on it and hopefully sell it interstate, and maybe even overseas. But that's in the future - we have to write it first!

Which leads me to other news. I've always wanted to go to uni to study stuff for fun, but what has stopped me is my love of money, and the lifestyle to which I've become accustomed. I don't want to be a poor uni student. With decent franchise contracts signed, I'll get a guaranteed income over the next two years without lifting a finger beyond the initial work on the software. Which means should I want to go to uni, I don't *have* to be that poor uni student. So, all things going well, I'm going to apply for university next year. I've already decided on a double degree of International Studies and Media. So I can do my film and television production, screenwriting, all that sort of fun stuff. And I can also debate/learn international politics and policies and all that stuff, which I find more and more fascinating. The International Studies degree also involves a year of abroad study (optional, but highly recommended) meaning I'll get to go back OS and keep studying, which would be *fabulous*. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to the prospect of working on the business only a few hours a week, and immersing myself in studies which I'll find to be fascinating. I hope.. hehe

Oh - I also wrote a letter to a politician here in my electorate. I decided enough was enough and I wanted my say. I also wanted to test the governmental process - just how much can one person actually affect anything. Can one person make a difference? Or will I just get a "thanks for your letter, we'll consider it" standard reply? No idea, I look forward to the responses. I copied the letter to two other senators (in different parties) so it'll be interesting to see the responses, if any.

Well, that's enough of an update from me :) I'll try to be good and get back more often. But ciao for now! :)