....and we but merely players.
And Thisbe did indeed play.
Item #9 : Play a leading role in a Gilbert & Sullivan show.
A little background: Thisbe has played leads before, and performed with a G & S group last spring, and really wanted a lead this year. So she worked her a$$ off and auditioned for a lead in September, and was cast. Now, normally, Thisbe would have posted about this immediately, however 1) Thisbe is superstitious and was convinced she would be hit by scenery if she posted too soon; 2) At this point, several people involved in the show read the blog, and Thisbe was not sure they'd want to hear all of her "commentary". Distance was necessary.
For two weekends in March, Thisbe shed her boring "desperate housewife" persona and became the very "saucy" Phoebe Meryll, a protagonist in The Yeoman of the Guard. Her fortunes ultimately take a rather heartbreaking turn, but she perseveres.
This was by far one of the best roles Thisbe has ever played, but was not without significant challenges. Let us recount the good and the bad:
1) Good: Phoebe has 2 solo numbers, and a great deal of other singing and stage time
Bad: Phoebe is a mezzo-soprano role. Thisbe is a coloratura soprano. All songs were extremely low in Thisbe's vocal range. Thisbe had to work very hard to ensure that she didn't sound like crap. To those of you who came: Thisbe hopes she didn't sound like crap. This also meant that Thisbe was, to put it nicely, slightly stressed during the tech week and run of the show. Result: Thisbe didn't eat, so Thisbe lost weight. Overall, a net positive. See previous post.
2) Good: Phoebe is not a ditzy soprano with the brainpower of a rock.
Bad: Phoebe is, how shall we say, a bit of a flirt. By which we mean: take a look at the picture.* That is a real corset. Those are, Thisbe's real, um, "assets" so splendidly displayed. Thisbe? Not so much with the displaying of the assets on a routine basis. Or really, outside her house. On the plus side, this was also a real motivator for losing weight, and indeed, the corset was much smaller at the end of the run than the beginning.
3) Good: Phoebe is actually a humorous character. A character who gets laughs.
Bad: Phoebe talks. A lot. More than almost any other character. [Keep your snotty comments about Thisbe's inability to shut up to yourselves]. When Thisbe was 22, memorizing lines was no problem. Now that Thisbe is [mumble] and lost brain mass when she was pregnant, memorizing lines is something of a challenge. Thisbe can barely remember her own name.
4) Bad: The group Thisbe performed with is a community theater group. Thisbe loves them, but MY GOODNESS. The level of drama? Between group members? On practically a daily basis? Enough to send Thisbe to some sort of rehabilitation center after the show closed.
Good: For the first time EVER, Thisbe got her own solo bow. Thisbe might have cried a little when they told her that this was going to happen.
But overall, the good far outweighed the bad. Thisbe had a blast, and there does not seem to be any lasting damage done from wearing a corset for nearly 2 straight weeks.
*The adorable guy in the picture with Thisbe is her stage director, Jeremy. He rocks.
Level of Difficulty: Hard. Lots of Work.
Expectation vs. Experience: Excellent, very rewarding
Time to Complete: Approximately 1 year, although only 7 months since casting.
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