The day after my audition (friday), the school gave us a tour of Broadway.
- And being with a recent musical performer, our teacher, it meant that the first thing we got to do was to go backstage in a Broadway theatre!
Our teacher, Thom, who has our 'History of Musical Theatre' classes is playing 3 different roles in 'The Lion King' (one of them is the bird Zazu)! So that's the theatre we went to!
The Minskoff theatre is the very first theatre that opened on Broadway, - and it is probably also one of the biggest.
The backstage was enormous - which is really needed for the Lion King, because they have a great amount of costumes. The scenography is also massive. We got to see and touch everything. It was unbelievably awesome!
My teacher demonstrating how he controls his character!
I'm going to try to make this post a short one, but I'm struggling, because there are so many things I want to say!
What I found interesting on the trip to The Lion King theatre is the costume designer's thoughts behind the animal characters.
In many ways she wanted the costumes to be rational, meaning she wanted to give the audience a true feeling of that specific animal's shape and movement. She didn't want to repeatedly remind us that this was 'just' a human personification of an animal.
Therefore all the designs were made with the realistic size and shape.
*The giraffes are dancers (really trained and well balanced) walking on stilts, with a huge extended neck attached to the back of their head.
Many of the animals are controlled with strings, so that the wings of the bird and the eyelids of the zebra has an effect too.*
On the other hand the designer didn't want to hide the faces of the actors, because the live expression of the actors is what gives spirit to the costumes.
Just saying - whoever wants to give me a treat - this show is it!
Before closing the tour in the theatre, we talked about the ghost light.
On stage a small solemn lamp shined vaguely on centre stage. The ghost light is a tradition that comes way back from the times of witchcraft and superstition. A single lamp was to be placed on stage over night (as the only lid lamp in the building), this was to keep away the ghosts. Or phantoms in the operahouses - who knows..
Me and my new friend Ilda from Panama.
WE just click - as much excitement from her side, yay!
One day, you'll see me here. Soon.
After Minskoff theatre we walked to The Drama Bookshop - yes a whole bookshop JUST for plays, acting/directing/screenwriting/you-name-it books. They had all the Meisner, Shakespeare, Stanislavskij books and a whole archive of books describing the development of the theatre in the past 50 years. And no, of course I couldn't help buying more, than what the school implied I needed. My budget and I decided that we'd rather have less food, but own another drama book!
... And just saying again... for the ones who come over close to my birthday, this is the only store you're allowed to look in, the days up to!
Then we went to Capezio - the biggest edition of that dance store, I've ever seen. I have enough shoes and dance wear .. but it was tempting.
The last thing we went to was Lincoln center - there I saw the New York City Ballet in person, including the places they filmed a big part of the movie 'Black Swan'!
But what was really cool was New York Public Library of Performing Arts.
Only permitted entrance for special students of the performing arts! What they have in this library is phenomenal! The exceptional storage is this: they have all the CD's you can imagine from all the musicals you can imagine, all musical scores for the shows, and the best part - I can go there an afternoon and watch whatever show/play I want, with whatever cast I'd want. They'd even have taped editions from way back the time they only just invented film.
The original cast of Phantom of the Opera - they'll have it.
The 2005 edition of Annie - they'll have it.
The dozens of Shakespeare plays - they'll have them.
The first Broadway play or musical - they'll have it.
- and it's the only place in the whole world that has those tapes, and offers this.
---> NEW YORK, HONEY!
Now to a very cool story! The world famous actress and screenwriter/director, Helen Hunt had decided (and I have no idea why) to shoot her new film at my residence! A couple of days ago she was suddenly on my floor, looking through the rooms to find a suitable room for her shoot!
And then the whole Saturday she and her crew filmed and people could watch and take pictures of the set!
Jessica from the residence told me that I should look out for pink signs on the streets. Whenever there's a film crew in town, shooting a film, they will hang pink slips all the way down the streets they need to block.
13th street closed for cars, while filming 'Ride'
Usually you're allowed to stay around and watch, and if not you may just catch a glimpse of - who knows - Leonardo Dicaprio (who was actually seen by a girl from my class recently!), Sarah Jessica Parker, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep?! After all, New York is one of the biggest and most popular destinations for the 'big budget' movies!
The same night I received my final schedule for this semester, and it looks too exciting! They really understand the terms 'hardworking' and 'determined' for their students.
I wouln'd have created it much better myself - maybe several more classes with Kristy Cates (but then again she wouldn't be able to stand on Broadway besides her teacher job!;)
Mon. (9 am - 7 pm): Meisner, Performance lab, Shakespeare
Tues. (9 am - 3:30 pm): History of Musical theatre, Jazz and Theatre dance, Ballet
Wed. (9 am - 6:30 pm): Speech, Meisner, Voice studio lab
Thurs. (9 am - 7 pm): Jazz & Theatre dance, Ballet, Showcase practicum, Music theory
Fri (12:30 pm - 3:30 pm): Song interpretation
FINALLY - a times table without Science, History, Maths and Biology. No school days hanging on the stool, trying to be a good and hardworking student, always trying to dedicate myself to what was needed and important at the time... and in those years always knowing that my place and biggest talent was in a completely different field.
Now I'm here.
And it really is an excellent journey I have taken. During the 12 years of school, all through the 7 different schools..
But without even having been to my first class yet, in the 8th school, I know that this will be the best so far.
Oh, my treasures!!
- And hard to pick which one to start reading..
Don't worry I had a collection before I entered the drama book store!
Best decorated school folders ever!
The Wittenbergs came to the city on Saturday and we had a really nice time walking around in Greenwich village. - The cute little part of town I spoke about some days ago... only this time I got to really explore it!
You walk down a street in Greenwich village, and this is what you see: a classic Italian Ice cream store, a Mexican restaurant, a french ceramics shop, a Greek restaurant, an English tea place, a fish & chips place, a tailor, a sangria cafe, a hummus store, an English candy store, New York's oldest live jazz cafe, a flower store, a Spanish/Portuguese wine shop, a tea store, a coffee store...
I could GO ON forever, only my mind has registered SO many things at once I can't even remember all the things I saw.
I mean like;
- if you tasted a special cheese in the Southern France - you'll find it here.
- if you wish you'd bought more ceramic bowls from the town in Portugal you once passed 10 years ago - I wouldn't be surprised if you'd find the same pattern in a shop here.
- if you've searched all the food stores for the tea you always had in your home country - they'll probably have it in Greenwich village.
They had the Parisian 'Kusmi' tea, that I thought you could only buy in Europe, they had a hand made sculpture of Columbine the Commedia dell'arte character, an 'Accessorize' store, Danish aebleskiver (spelled 'ebleskiver'!), homemade macarons .... and I am literally tearing my mind trying to remember all the things we saw. There were so many things!
- For instance, I once tasted a freshly homemade cherry ice cream in Rome that I still remember as being one of the best I've ever had, and I bet ya it'll be in one of the Italian ice cream places I saw in Greenwich village. And I just can't wait to re-experience that taste!
We saw the 'Friend's' building (the building the characters from the TV show Friend's live in!). Funny thing is, Phil and Susan realized they'd sat underneath those apartments several times, eating in their favorite restaurant which is just underneath the Friend's building! The building is of course supposed to be right next to Central Park in the TV show, but this was just a small street corner of a small village. However, so many tourists stopped in front of the building to have their picture taken in front of it. If you didn't know where the building was situated, you'd never know it was the Friend's building just from walking by it!
So Greenwich village is probably the most wonderful part of the city I've seen so far. In its own way. This is the younger part of town, and there's a lot of life in the evenings, from the numerous restaurants. This is where I'd like an apartment!
But I do love Times square too! And Central Park! - And my location at Battery Park!
The good thing is, you can always find something that suits your mood and whatever you're searching for the day.. because New York truly has everything.
It's quite remarkable.
After walking and walking and walking and walkin and walki and walk an wal a wa..... (but not as far as my marathon walk with the boots last week obviously!)....the three of us sat down on a really cute small cafe. The coffees/teas/lattes were really good! And I had a huge fruit bowl that filled me up for at least the next 4 hours!
Cozy ;)
(The one word I've implied the true meaning of in the family!)
We found a jazz group on one of the streets - a trio with a live band: bass, drums, guitar and creative percussions. They were amazing! It was what I'd imagine it would be like to walk down a street in New Orleans.
They mentioned that they had a free CD
... but with a 15 dollar donation!
*The musicians reminded me of the story our teacher told us on the tour. - Each and every singer/band has to pass an AUDITION to get their permission to play on the streets or in the subway.
The atmosphere in New York is special, and being an entertainer you have to be GOOD and live up to the special surroundings in New York.
And it's really true - all the entertainers I've heard are really talented.
It makes you love the city.
You don't need to shop on 5th avenue to get the full experience - it's all served on a silver plate for you ;)
And this makes me think that the city isn't just built up out of millions of pieces dumped randomly together in a big square - they really are creatively planned out to create the atmosphere everyone loves, - each and every piece in a joint picture.
Maybe this is taking it a bit too far from speaking of the audition for a street singer. But I think, and hope it makes sense to you. I will make sure to keep my eyes open for more examples that proove how everything is created for the community.*
So back to my day with Phil and Susan -
On top of the cafe treat, we walked by a Mediterranean baker plus a massive cheese shop. This was our perfect dinner: fresh olive bread with a salty Irish cheese and a mild Brie.. top dollar! ;)
Greenwich, close to dark:
Culture
Look at the colours!
Dad - "Where is Perry?!"
The 9/11 memorial tower, taken a couple of streets away from my room!
I forgot to rotate this picture - but please turn your head,
because it's such an amazing picture! ;)
Greenwich apparently also has a 'Walk of fame' ;)
Saturday night I chilled out 100 % with Susan watching a TV show called 'Once upon a time' - a show where all the Disney characters come to the human world - cool huh?
Lovely evening, Susan <3
I had a good cry out in church for my grandma, slowly realizing what had actually happened exactly one week ago.
But that's what church is for - revealing your humble and vulnerable self.
I'm just glad I wasn't alone. For both the person who held my hand all through the meeting, and my grandma who warmed my heart anyway and smiled at me when I sang.
But that's what church is for - revealing your humble and vulnerable self.
I'm just glad I wasn't alone. For both the person who held my hand all through the meeting, and my grandma who warmed my heart anyway and smiled at me when I sang.
I also did some ballet exercises today, just to be with my grandma.
And I've also done my morning stretch/dance program the past 2 days!
- Quickly getting fitter and feeling healthier, stronger, smarter and happier!
At 5 pm I headed back home to Manhattan, so I could spend some hours revising my Meisner technique and possibly read some Shakespeare, to prepare for the schedule tomorrow! - which I haven't started yet.. but when you're really eager about something, tiredness kind of doesn't exist, and I'm sure my eagerness will pull me through the super exciting day tomorrow, even if I won't get up to 8 hours of sleep this night.
How cool recognizing your school on an ad in the train?!
By the way.. I've already spent 5 hours writing this post - can you imagine??! - but then again - people have said I could publish the blog as a book in some years, if I keep on going with it.. so I guess it's just all the work for that I'm doing already!
On my way back to the residence I came across tons of families and friends saying goodbye after a holiday/weekend together; and this I'd of course noticed in the first place, because I was thinking about the goodbyes I'd dealt with in the past few weeks.
The goodbye to my family and friends in Copenhagen airport, the goodbye to my grandma who passed away, the goodbye I say to my family over the phone, and time after time - the goodbye to the Wittenbergs.
And all the goodbyes are hard. Really hard.
But recently, I find it most hard saying goodbye to the Wittenbergs.
Even though I love my family in Denmark more than anyone, I think I have somehow accepted that they're not around.
The fact that they're so far away, that if something happened to me, or if I had instant news, or if I needed a shoulder to cry on, or if my mind was just bursting with great stories from my day... they would be out of reach (and even though it's just a phone call away, they would most likely be fast asleep during the time I was most awake).
But in all these occasions, I turn to the Wittenbergs.
One thing all the goodbyes have in common though, is that they're really not goodbyes - they're a "I'll be seeing you". Sooner or later.
And in the time apart, both parts have grown; independently, but also in the love of the other part.
And when we reunite again, it will be with a greater anticipation and a stronger, more independent self.
So that's what I love about "I'll be seeing you's". Even though they're difficult, you look forward to see what happens during the time apart, and how you learn from that.
I have a new favorite song, that I'd like you to listen to: Gravity. The song is about a girl who is in love with someone. The relationship destroys her, because she's not treated right. However, she always comes back to him, because she's not strong enough to say goodbye and stand on her own feet.
The song is beautiful, but my point with this theme is that goodbyes - whether they feel like actual goodbyes or I'll be seeing you's - are important.
If you don't take that step and let yourself leap just beyond the safety line, you will never know what was beyond that point. You won't let yourself grow or learn or dream.
Your hopes remain hopes, but you'll never see how far your hopes could have brought you in life.
So cherish your goodbyes. Don't cry if you're saying goodbye to someone you love, who loves you. Because you'll always reunite.
*
Tomorrow's my first day at school! Cross your fingers till they hurt.
X
Good luck - I am sure your day will be fantastic! Also, if you see her, please say hello to Helen for me.
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