Finals in progress 

Bits and Pieces from the week

So today was the most intimidating day at college for me so far. We had our auditions for the semester showcase which is coming up in a couple of weeks. Basically what this consisted of was singing any song that we have worked on in the year so far for the director of our showcase (Kevin Duda, Elder Price swing on Book of Mormon). I’ve mentioned before how i’ve had a lot of songs to learn in the past few months, and today, every single one of them had to be ready to be performed off-book. I immediately regretted having 25 songs in my book knowing i would only end up only singing a handful of them. In the end it wasn’t so bad. The songs he asked me to sing in the end were good options and i never dropped a lyric :) I’ll find out what i officially get in the next couple of days. But i let out a huuge sigh of relief after that class and feel like i can take on the world right now. Semester finals are next week and they seem like a piece of cake in comparison after that butt load of stress and work. I know it may seem somewhat over-dramatic, but im always cognizant of the fact that every time i open my mouth to perform here, it’s effectively an audition. Especially with all of my teachers still being working professionals. So screwing up, is not an option in my mind and subsequently comes the slight anxiety and nerves. I think this setup is a great simulation for how it will be when i leave NYFA so im happy that my first experience was pleasant.

I really don’t know why this may be, and i’ve delayed talking about it for a while because i thought it to be random. But after something repeats itself enough times it can no longer be deemed random. Basically, there have been several nights since i’ve been here that i’ve woken up and done something i have absolutely no recollection of. My roommate is somewhat of a night owl, and is often up until 3-4 AM editing or doing other work. Supposedly on Sunday night i woke up screaming, last night i had a full conversation where needed to know if he had something important to say and on previous weeks i’ve wanted answers to questions i never even asked. It kind of makes me feel a wee bit cray cray to be honest :/ im not typically a person who has memory failures. Don’t get me wrong, i do some really dumb stuff when i get tired, but nothing i have not recollected in some shape or form. It could just be the fact that i’ve always done this, but never had someone around enough to notice it. I dunno, it’s not particularly desirable, but then again a little bit of crazy never hurt anyone.

The weather is full on hormonal. It changes drastically day in and out. I kept going on about how summer was near last week and it’s basically rained nonstop since then. And it rains weirdly here too. Even in light rain the water buckets down and you get drenched in seconds. On Monday i was stupid enough to get caught without an umbrella and got completely soaked. Probably the first time since i was a kid running around in the rain that that has happened to that degree. Once i accepted the fact that i was going to be flooded, i actually enjoyed running through the streets of the upper east side in the pouring rain. There was just something oddly memorable about it.

This weekend i watched “A Streetcar Named Desire” on Broadway. Thoroughly overdone and well studied, most people should know this play or have some vague awareness of it’s contents or existence; even if it’s just the voice of Marlyn Brando screaming out “STEELLAAA” in the movie. I don’t pretend that everyone should love this play, it’s a Tennesse Williams classic that you either love or hate, but my reason for seeing this play (besides losing another lottery at Newsies) was that the cast was predominantly black. The racial stereotypes of the characters were not employed and in fact were intentionally different to what one would normally see. I enjoyed this device in almost every single character, especially Blair Underwood as Stanley, except for Blanche. Nicole Ari Parker is an astounding actress, and Blanche is an incredulously difficult role to play because of how annoying the character is off the page and i definitely feel as though she gave Blanche a touching humility towards the end of the play. However, there was something inauthentic about her journey in the production that i just could not invest in. The meer fact that my brain associates the nature of that character with a ‘white southern belle’ could be the reason, but it still didn’t resonate well with me and ultimately it didn’t 100% win my heart. Once again the lighting and set design was immaculate and the sound design was very well-informed and specific to this particular cast by having a grungy, jazz feel to it. The play definitely won’t run for too long, for the typical and unfortunate racial reasons, and also because like i said, the play itself is quite overdone. But im happy i was able to see it and experience the experiment that made me feel and think things about the story that i have never felt or thought before.

I also watched a musical called “The Adding Machine” at Lincoln Centre this week. This show was an off-broadway hit in the early 2000’s based on a book by the same name written in the 20’s. It essentially revolves around of the invention of the calculator as a framework for how this creation inevitably retrenches an old man, called Zero, at his work. The man then kills his boss and gets sentenced to death after having worked 25 years in the same workplace. Basically it’s your typical feel-good musical :/ To briefly summarize, the man then goes into a purgatory state and discovers that his soul is in a perpetual loop of being pathetic and weak. It’s tricky to explain without coming across as waaay too metaphorical or up it’s own ass but for me it ended up being a hauntingly beautiful story about the fear of doing anything worthwhile. The score was very interesting having influences ranging from blues to opera and overall think that i definitely need to see this show again so that i can watch it without entering the world of the play so ‘cold’. I think i will view it much differently now that i know where the story goes. It was devised out of good improvisation so by virtue of that the show is almost impossible to predict. I deeply enjoy this kind of theatre because it gives the impression that it exists for more than just entertainment value and profit. It’s not a show that can or should be done anywhere, nor is it a show that i want to watch again very soon, but what i love most, is that that doesn’t mean i didn’t love it.

Im quite embarrassed to say this, but i guess i must. So last week i said i was going to start this whole food photo thing for whatever reason. And then this week i realised that every day i get so excited to actually eat the food that i forget to take a photo before. So only when i sat there like a satisfied fatty afterwards did i realise that i forgot about the photo. I can’t tell you how often this happened so i partially gave up on this whole plan. It will happen :) just give me some time to actually take photos of more than salad.

On Saturday i tried to go the Tribeca film festival to grab a rush ticket for Chris Colfer’s new film that he wrote, starred in and produced. But like true New York City fashion the lines were just out of control and the sheer magnitude of ‘Gleeks’ were making me nauseous. I need to get into the film scene a little bit more here. Because of the nature of my first year in the program i feel like im so deep into musical theatre that i need to remind myself that there are other reasons that i’m here. Im planning on going to see a couple of the Tribeca films over the next few weeks. I’ll let you know how this goes

I guess this is a pretty short and uneventful post, but sometimes no news is good news :)

Random things :

• The preacher at church preached about YOLO this Sunday, was a genuinely hilarious sermon<
• There’s this girl at the gym who looks exactly like Megan Johnson, i want to take a photo, but i don’t want to be ‘that’ guy
• 19 days till im back home :)
• Bumped into Jason Alexander this week, and Beyonce was at our studios one evening, but we weren’t allowed to stay within an hour before or after her time
• I went to an indie clothing store called urban and really didn’t like it though i thought i would
• I tried to be sarcastic in words in my review earlier, i realised how strange sarcasm seems in words
• Tumblr keeps trying to make me spell ‘realise’ like ‘realize’, but i shall not yield!
• My internet is being super slow, photo’s might only be up later

This weeks post feels like a fail, i don’t why. Maybe i’ll try post some random stuff during the week to make up for it. Or maybe not, we’ll see.

Until next week :)

Bits and pieces from the week

When i moved to New York, i never thought i’d be that guy that took the phrase “city that never sleeps” literally. This week, however, was the exception. I didn’t party my face off or anything, but for a myriad of reasons, i never got to sleep earlier than 2 and had to wake up at 630 most days. It’s really weird though; even though i didn’t get a whole lot of sleep this week i didn’t feel overtired or have much physical fatigue. On my first week here i think i mentioned the weird energy that this place has. And depending on your mood or general life circumstance, the city can either be empowering or draining. I guess what i’m saying in a roundabout way is that all is well :) i’m trying to find real things to complain about but it’s proving difficult. 

On that note : It’s getting SO hot :/ Today was 30 degrees celsius and if that’s any indication of the Summer to come then it’s going to be a sweaty mess in New York for the next 3 months. I dig it way more than the cold though so for now i say, bring it on :) BUT this also means the start of summer fashion, and i’m quite into clothes and seeing all the different styles in the city. I personally enjoy trying out new fashion so I’m interested to see what new trends are going to hit 5th avenue and how different or similar they might be to back home.

I saw TWO off-broadway shows this weekend at New World Stages. New World Stages is this really cool off-broadway theatre space that works kind of like a movie cinema with different floors, and on each floor there’s a whole 700 seater theatre with a decent sized stage needed for smaller scale productions. 

I must admit, neither of the shows that i watched this weekend were my first choice shows, they were the aftermath of being denied from “Once” again and not winning the “Newsies” lottery. Im starting to get genuinely irritated with Once. I went to the box office 2 hours early on Saturday morning only to find a bigger line than i’ve ever seen before for the show (picture above). It’s not that tickets are impossible to get, but student tickets are pretty paramount in keeping me from going broke so i can’t really be blasting $150 every time i see a show. And every-freaking-body is talking about it so i constantly feel like that kid who didn’t get invited to the cool kid party. 

So on Friday i saw “Rent”. My difficulty in giving an effective review on Rent is that i love the show. I know the score as well as the characters quite well and have a deep appreciation for the musical itself. This specific production, however, was super underwhelming. With the exception of Collins and Angel, the entire cast was painful to watch as actors and i was left with the impression that they had no true cognizance of the weight that the show carried. It even made me wonder if Rent is actually relevant at all to life right now. The ensemble was average, uncommitted and sloppy for the most part and disappointed me consistently. The structure of the show was great and the set design was frame-like and skeletal as expected but it was truly down to the performers to pull off the show which they quite honestly decimated. It may sound harsh, but for me to truthfully consider that i could do a more impressive job than the entire cast of an off-broadway show is embarrassing. I don’t think this show will last the year.

But moving on from what angered my soul. On the other hand I saw “Avenue Q” on Saturday and it was the ish :). The show can roughly be described as a parody on sesame street revolving issues such as being gay, growing up and finding a purpose. If you’re not too familiar with it, the show is done mostly through puppets that are controlled by actors who act simultaneously as they maneuver the hand puppets which are roughly half the size of their torsos. A few character are written in as normal humans although in the world of the play there is seemingly no difference between these ‘people’. If you want a good laugh i suggest listening to this soundtrack on Youtube because it is genius and was hilarious to see live. The set design was simple yet multi-faceted; using pop-out windows and doors to show different characters’ living spaces in an apartment block in NYC. Basically just the perfect night of theatre. I see no real point in doing an in-depth analysis of the show itself, because it feels unnecessary. It’s funny, smart, relevant and I recommend it highly to anyone visiting New York. It is the best show i’ve seen off-broadway thus far.

After the show on Saturday night i went to an apartment warming/party/soirée/gathering type thing of a girl in my class in Midtown. The apartment is really nice and the night was chilled. The only downer was because of the dead slow late-night trains, which made me only get back to my room at 4AM. I basically passed out from exhaustion. Also coupled with the fact that previous night i decided to take my time walking around Lincoln Center and i came back at a similar time because the trains once again were being fail. If anyone ever comes to visit me here this will be one of the places i will take you. Especially at night. It’s just way too pretty, and calming. After the serious lack of z’s my Sunday consisted mostly of sleep, skype and schoolwork.

A relatively interesting thing that happened to me this week was on Tuesday. I went to go and watch the final showcase of the graduating musical theatre class of 2012 of a university called CCM at the Alvin Ailey theatre. At the risk of sounding like im over exaggerating, it is well-known that CCM is among the top 3 musical theatre schools in the world, if not the best. The kids that leave this place almost always get broadway work and are nothing less than star quality. Many people don’t actually know that Juilliard don’t have a musical theatre department and i’d say that CCM is basically what you would expect if Juilliard had one. My point in telling this story is that after being lucky enough to get invited as a spur-of-the-moment thing from one of my lecturers who directs some of their musicals i was able to gage the level of the best. Which was in some way satisfying for me because all i’ve seen so far are my classmates, and working professionals. The show was impressive to say the least. In the chorus numbers it was impossible to find a weak link and the solos were almost all flawless. A few of the performers really blew my face off and others were just merely solid but the most impressive aspect of all, was that not a single one of them left that show without an agent. One girl got 12 different offers. This showcase highlighted for me quite patently that it is not about how good you are. Don’t get me wrong, these performers were mad, but talent is the benchmark. I have seen equally, if not more talented students before but they were not positioned for success like these guys are. Positioning myself in the right place will be quintessential in my success here, without question. I’m happy i got to see this because it gave me this little revelation that put the importance of association into perspective for me in a light that i hadn’t seen it in before. 

I have songs bleeding out of my nose right now things are getting so crazy at college. For one class we have to prepare 7 different songs in 7 different musical theatre styles and are marked on the distinction between the styles in our performance. This is on top of learning a country song, duets, 4 chorus numbers, a quartet, the role i’ll never play song and the jesus christ superstar song; and that is just the singing part of this course. I am honestly loving it though :) Im feeling stretched vocally, and im loving getting a reputable repertoire of songs behind my back. This was a major contributing factor to my lack of sleep this week. 

After being inspired by Neil Patrick Harris and his twitter antics, im going to start doing a ‘food porn’ thing similar to his :) I realised that i’m often eating out and eating different things and i should probably show you that not all american food is just oil but that a lot of it is just oil :) This brain fart only occurred to me today so it will happen next week :) It’ll basically be photos of cool things i eat :) That being said, there is also a good haul of photographs from this week. Which always makes me feel like i’ve been semi-productive.

Random Things:

• This week i met 3 South Africans on separate occasions just randomly on the subway talking Afrikaans. Was weird for me to hear :) I was like ‘this horrible language sounds familiar’ :)
• I had Coldstone ice cream which was amazing
• Happy Birthday to my Grandpa for friday :)
• My trip back to SA might be cut a day short because of flight issues :/ which is rather unsatisfactory. But i am on a quest to alleviate such an undesirable circumstance !
• Extreme fatigue is what delayed this post by a day. I just came back from dinner, and a full stomach = a sleeepy brain
• I booked my ticket to Elkanah’s Hairspray :)
• I’ve been in a blink 182 phase lately. If you haven’t had them in your life for a while, do yourself a favour and remind yourself of the glory that was that band

Until next week :)

Bits and Pieces from the week

This week was possibly the most physically taxing week i’ve had to endure since being in New York. Although it only consisted of 4 days at actual college it took all of my energy to make it through. I will say, however that this was mostly my fault.

It all started on Tuesday really. The new 3D version of Titanic was premiering in America and one of the people in my class had the ‘bright’ idea of going to see the midnight premier. At the time it sounded greeeaat in my brain; i had a 1030 class the next morning, the movie supposedly would end close to 3AM and i would still get a good 6 hours of sleep. Worth the good company and a good movie. Haa, it was the biggest launch. We went to a cinema (which was insaane) on the Upper West Side of town which meant that after the movie finished (at 330 AM) i had to take a train long train ride back home. The trains were so delayed i only got back to the rez at 5 AM and fell asleep at 530 to wake up at 630 to be at college at 9 for an accompanist slot i remembered i had booked. I was a freaking mess internally for most of the day. And had both Jazz and Ballet which are no joke, especially when you’ve only had an hour’s worth of sleep. This was basically the ultimate rookie mistake, and possibly the biggest one i’ve made since being here. Let’s just say Wednesday was not fun, but i made it through and full on crashed when i got back later that day. 

The rest of the week was consumed with new songs and assignments to do that kind of made it feel never-ending. In addition to reasons pertaining to the spiritual nature of the day, i couldn’t have been more grateful for Good Friday. One new assignment i got that is quite exciting for the upcoming week is choosing a song to sing from a musical that i would NEVER be cast to sing. So like doing the song “And i am telling you” that Effie sings from Dreamgirls . This is an assignment that’s more for fun but im still keen :) Im busy listening to the Legally Blonde musical soundtrack for inspiration :)

Okay so, i need to deal with something has come up repetitively over the time i’ve been here and it IRKS me. The fact that South Africa is becoming more and more synonymous with Die Antwoord is kind of disgusting. Just because a few celebrities have tweeted about them and they performed over here doesn’t mean that they’re the only ‘good’ thing to come out of our country. I even met a dude who knew who they were and had NO clue who Nelson Mandela is. That for me was the line. Look, i’m not saying they’re painful to listen to, or that im not happy that they’re getting publicity. But seriously, can’t more important parts of our culture breach the borders of other countries? It was just so unexpected that i couldn’t help but let it piss me off a little :)

This week i watched the musical “Carrie” Off-Broadway. Carrie is a musical based on a novel of the same name by Stephen King. The original production is infamous for being one of the biggest flops to ever hit broadway. So let’s just say i didn’t go in with the highest of hopes. However, i thoroughly enjoyed it. This new revival, starring Marrin Mazzie, took an average musical on paper, and staged it in such a way that it was entertaining and meaningful, thereby earning back a lot of respect from critics and the general public. In my opinion, it is the perfect musical for off-Broadway. Certain shows just never work on broadway and seeing this one staged in a more intimate theatre was perfect. The show had some of the most intelligent and striking set and lighting design i have ever seen and the performers were all of a high standard (though admittedly, no one blew my mind). Definitely worth the cheap $20 ticket.

I thought i’d also quickly explain the difference between broadway and off broadway theaters for anyone who is remotely interested. It really is simple, the difference is simply the size of the theatre itself. Many people tend to think that it’s based on location, however, that is not what the theatres are defined by. An off-broadway theatre typically has between 100 & 500 seats and small things like union laws for performers are slightly different. In other theatre type news : I wanted to see the musical “Once’ again but the lead actor was out this week so i gave it a skip :)

Blogging is a weird thing for me. I’m sure anyone who has tried it at some point has come to the realization that it exceptionally difficult to get your ‘voice’ heard through words without sounding annoying or like you’re trying too hard. Every week i read what i have written and know that how it comes out is never quite like it goes on him my head. Then i realise that YOU still have to read it, interpret it and understand it for yourself. So no matter what i say, there’s a very small chance it will ever be perceived in the exact same way that the idea rests in my mind. It might not be completely polar, but definitely not the same. I don’t know, maybe what i’m saying is that communication is fundamentally flawed.  A quote i read this week got me thinking about this :

“You only see two things in people, what you want to see, and what they show you” - Dexter

• I shaved the fur coat on my face this weekend
• I finally found 2 minute noodles ! (Called Ramen noodles) - all is well
• I received a package from Mich this week :) it consisted of winegums that disappeared way too fast 
• The chinese laundromat keeps trying to steal my socks. Swine
• Im enjoying the word ‘visceral’ in my life right now
• Once again, i know this week’s blog title is killer :)
• My roommate is getting one of his videos put on MTV, yay for him :)
• The fact that this blog still happens is startling 
• Having Easter away from home was weird
• I will NOT be doing a day without shoes tomorrow. The subways are just way too infested with disease. I choose cake over death. Every time

Until next week

Bits and Pieces from the week - horrible selection once again. I’ll try harder this week :)

Even though i promised myself that i would try my best not to say stuff like what im about to say too often; i just can’t help it this week. I genuinely cannot believe how fast time is flying by. By the time you’re reading this, it will be exactly 40 days until im back in Cape Town seeing the people i love :) I don’t even know what to do with myself im so unbelievably excited.

So this past week was ahsum. College is now pretty much in full swing and they’re definitely not shy when it comes to the quantity of song assignments. In retrospect i’ve gotten some cool ones that i’ve been happy about and some particularly challenging ones. What i’ve recently become more comfortable with is choosing songs that i know are tough for me to sing, because if i don’t then being in school serves no tangible purpose. Bare in mind that I’m not trying to make any justifiable excuse for ‘sucking’, but i think there’s something way less dignifying about an underwhelming performance than a gutsy one. Also, if you do the same trick enough times, it has no choice but to lose its ‘waah’ factor.

Two people were removed from my program this week. The exact reasons for this, i can’t be 100% sure of, nor do i care enough to find out, but it was a firm statement from the administration saying that anyone who isn’t fully committed to the work will be kindly asked to leave. My feelings towards these individuals as well as their respective reasons for being kicked out aside, im happy that NYFA doesn’t let anyone take advantage of the privilege that it is to study in the environment that we are studying in. Im still in constant awe of my teachers and surroundings and feel compelled to work hard. People who don’t share that drive should be shown the door. And i say this without shame.

The weekend was also pretty successful. I watched two shows which basically means nothing could’ve happend to make the weekend poo. The first was an off-broadway experimental comedy piece. The ticket prices were cheap and even though my last experience with experimental theatre didn’t go so well i was still interested. The show itself was enjoyable on the whole, but conceptually it did a little bit too much for my brain. At times the comedy was so cerebral and witty that it was difficult to keep up and at other times it was either blatantly offensive or pure slapstick. I felt overall that the two of these styles combined disrupted the flow of the comedy in the show and made it difficult for the actors to feel the audience and find a rhythm.

Random story for fun from later that night : a guy who was with us jumped a turnstile, got caught by the police and got slapped with a $100 fine. I won’t lie, i’ve done this a couple of times since i’ve been here when i was late(obviously) but now that a dude has been caught i’m staying clear of any fines. I will just add that i haven’t been officially late once yet :) which could be an indication that im losing my mind. But in all seriousness he was actually pretty paranoid that he was going to get deported because he’s an international student, but all was chilled in the end. Besides the $100. That’s not chilled. That’s just plain unfortunate.

On saturday though, i watched “Porgy and Bess” on Broadway. I have heard various things about this musical and have been wanting to see it for a while. After being turned away from another new musical called “Once” once again because it was sold out after waiting in the cold rain and snow out i made a decision to see this one instead. For those who aren’t familiar with this play i’d loosely deem it ‘The Black Phantom’, even though it was written in the 30’s. The cast consists nearly entirely of black performers and it revolves around the lives’ of a paraplegic man and the woman he falls in love with who is a cocaine addict from New York. The story is hauntingly beautiful and ends incredibly profoundly with this man going to search for the woman who has screwed him over and left him. The set and light design was raw and had a wooden, earth-like feel to it which i quite enjoyed. The performers, Norm Lewis, Audra Mcdonald and Joshua Henry were all outstanding and the ensemble was possibly the most invested group of actors i’ve ever seen on stage. The play is not packed with dance or much ‘razzle-dazzle’ but what it lacks in choreography, it makes up for in it’s genius score. It has all the structure of an Opera however it’s coupled with jazz undertones that are applied subtly and skillfully by the orchestra and the ‘soul’ of the vocalists. It was a sound quality i’ve never heard before and it took me by surprise. I can honestly say that it was in the top 3 plays i’ve seen since i’ve been here. I will say, however, that it’s not for everyone. Im more than certain that i enjoyed it so thoroughly mainly because it appealed to my interests that are not necessarily universally shared, especially not in this case.

I watched the show with two friends from college whom im really starting to like and missioned around times square until like 3 that morning. So a successful weekend it was !

The weather has been doing the biggest “muhk”/”mik”/”muhck” (you choose) on me lately. I was properly convinced that we were heading into Spring. But last week i freaking froze on some days and it even snowed a bit. So i don’t know what’s happening here.

If anyone has read the news lately you’d see that there’s been some uproar about an impending attack on New York from Al-Queda. Although i did some reading and supposedly there is no real imminent threat. It was just some bad photo found on an Al-Queda forum (supposedly they have those ?). So whether you knew about this or not, or even remotely cared, i just thought i’d clear that up for my own peace of mind more than anything else. OH ! and also, there was this REDONKULOUSLY outrageous lottery this past week. Something like $640 million dollars to the winner, and i think 3 people won. If i’m honest, to me that seems like an enormous and pointless amount of money for a country with a dept ceiling within the trillions. But yeah, so that happened. And of course like a rookie i forgot to buy a ticket though, so i guess im just mad :)

I got my first official bit of post this week :) Granted it was from my mom and it was medication :) but it still felt cool. And my mom snuck in some packets of wine gums for my cravings to settle themselves down :) Which made me a happy panda.

Random Things :

• Hannes Otto, a graduate of UCT drama school became the first South African to be accepted into the Juilliard school of drama. So happy for this guy, talented as balls and one of the most genuine people i met in my time at UCT.
• Im so proud of Hope for making an impression on the SYTYCD guys :)
• A peed a lot this week
• it’s 1 AM , and words are starting to blend into one pixelated mush.
• Listen to Gethsemane - JC Superstar, Left Behind - Spring Awakening, Moving too Fast - Last 5 Years and Fine - Ordinary days if you want to hear some of the stuff im singing right now.
• The bathrooms at my studios always smell like poo on audition days. I laugh. I just can’t with people literally crapping themselves with the prospect of getting onto broadway.
• I bumped into George from Grey’s Anatomy today 

Okay so my brain has officially clocked out for this evening, i’ll reread this when i wake up and make changes if there’s anything else :) 

Until next week :)