Wednesday/Thursday – Day 104/Day 105
November 16, 2012
The slog continues. Today I made up the remainder of my workshop hours and unfortunately spilled a can of paint over my runners (sneakers), destroying them in the process. I managed to make it to algorithms this morning, but by this point the combination of coding, solving and singing was really taking its toll. Though my voice was slowly coming back, every day my eyes drooped a little more and I was a little less attentive in class.
Tonight’s rehearsal was much the same as the previous nights, though this time we entered into act two and I was even given a little more of a role with a cameo as the prison guard in a few scenes.
Thursday was the day of the show and, thankfully my voice was back. As I’m writing this a week later I admit that I can hardly remember the day, only to say nothing of note really occurred, the usual classes with a just in time submission of some physics work and more struggles with my code.
Finally tonight the show opened and, as per usual, I was running about like a mad man, performing transition and, occasionally delivering a few lines. However, the show also gave me the opportunity to bond a little more with the other cast and crew members, culminating in a pleasant dinner after the show in which I got to talk in depth to Lauren and Anais amongst others.
I needed my sleep tonight more than ever and thankfully, I received it!
Friday – Day 99
November 12, 2012
Friday was a large buildup to the performance and as a result I hardly payed attention in classes. Even when my singing lesson hit, I was both too exhausted and too pumped up to really focus well. Despite this, Brian noted that my singing was coming along well and I too felt I had been making good progress since coming to Penn, particularly in practicing on breathing from my diaphragm.
The evenings performance was just about sold out, with the theatre full to the brim. Our numbers were well received and I even managed to catch Shabbat dinner!
Our show opened with Footloose a combined dance number:
I’m not sure which night the video is from and this greatly affect how strong my dancing is, in addition in the videos I’ll be posting I’m rather hard to spot. However, the show still looks great, even without yours truly.
Glee’s next number was a piece I truly love by American composer Randall Thompson who has always had close ties with the Glee Club. The piece is titled: “The Last Words of David”
After the show and dinner I headed straight to sleep for a huge day of performances on the morrow.
More videos to come!
Tuesday – Day 61
September 28, 2012
Today was a mad rush! Erev Yom Kippur (the evening before) and I had still so much left to do, plenty to arrange and even more to eat. By this point I was feeling rather ill, with little voice left, and was severely sleep deprived due to the combination of retreat and hours of work.
Thus, I dragged myself through the day, through the various meetings I needed to before heading to Hillel for Seudah (feast) with Michael Altit, a Jewish friend from Sydney. (For those Hineni-ites following, he is best friends with Dee Smith’s sister). After that it was up to my room to prepare punctuated by a brief trip to the fourth floor to borrow a shirt from another Jewish guy below.
Michael and I walked along Locust Walk together at around 6:00 for the minyan at 6:15 and as we did so, many other Jews around us walked too; all to Houston Hall where the orthodox service was being held. Kol Nidrei was packed. I estimate around four hundred student, alums and family members attended the service and as a result there was a strong musical feeling to the service with everyone singing with great fervor. A few Israeli’s left when Ma’ariv started but otherwise it was still packed right through.
After shule I chatted for a while to Aviva Koloski, a new friend from the Hillel and, subsequently realized I need to go to PGC rehearsal. Though it may not have been a particularly traditional thing to do on a Yom Kippur, I figured acapella singing is one of the few things that are actually permitted on the day and so excepted myself to leave. However, this turned out not to be so wise as rehearsal ran for five hours, and with a sore throat, no food, no drink and no water, I felt like I was about to perish by the end of the musical marathon.
I trudged back up to my room, lay my head down on my pillow and, instantly fell asleep.