Wake Me Up!
I felt good when I arrived at the theater before the matinee today and went through my usual warm up:
1 hour--prep water/gatorade for the show, get humidifier and shower going (to steam the room). Clean up dressing room from previous show.
45 minutes--start physical warm up (warm up my legs with squatting and lunging, plyometrics; warm up my whole body with jumping jacks/push ups; then do some light yoga for breathing and stretching; roll out on a foam roller.)
Half-hour--start make-up/hair and depending on how voice feels, light humming.
5 minutes--read through a passage of Romeo and Giulietta in Italian and do short vocal warm up.
By the places call I'm still warming up my voice (I have about 3 minutes extra before my entrance) and then we're off!
Only today I got out on stage and just had nothing. After a great warm up I got out on stage and felt like I had heavy legs, heavy eyes, and difficulty keeping my energy up. Because Fabrizio is such a physical role, I was not looking forward the next 2 1/2 hours.
Instead of faking it or pushing an energy I didn't have, I took the opportunity to try and find new things in the show. I figured it was a matinee audience and maybe they'd be a bit sleepy as well? :) But despite my efforts to just let things be, I kept having to push through my body's feeling of being asleep. It was such a struggle. I whined backstage the show about how tired I was and yada yada yada.
In the second act, things brightened a bit. And by the end of the play I felt more myself.
Ultimately I realized that without my energy Fabrizio just isn't the same and the story isn't nearly as strong. Romeo and Juliet can't possibly grab our interest if Romeo is a zombie when the two lovers first meet.
By the time I got back to my dressing room I just wanted to put this show behind me and gear up for show number 2. Of course as I'm leaving to grab some dinner, I see Rob Marshall in the hallway who introduces himself. You never know who's coming to the show and when right?!
So I did exactly what I just wrote about not doing and I beat myself up and felt it difficult to accept Rob's compliments. But you know what, with 8 shows a week, they ain't all gonna be perfect. I'm proud I got through it and went on to have a better show at night.
posted by Aaron Lazar @ 8:47 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Aaron,
Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your experiences and insights . . . and great advice. For a beginner, like me, one danger is to imagine that professional actors live in this perfect world, 'gods' inhabiting a world unattainable to mere mortals. Your writings, interestingly, make it seem like what you do is potentially doable, subject to the range of my talents and gifts. I may never be as successful as you, but your writings somehow inspire me to use fully what I've been given . . . and to always push to grow & learn & stretch beyond what I think is possible, which I'm beginning to think is what I'm really here (in life) to do. Thanks again Aaron.
- C
Aaron,
I saw you during the night show, and no worries. You were fabulous :o) I can't wait to see and hear more of you in the future!
-Sara
I know that you told us last time to stop beating ourselves up about our imperfections, and then, i read this entry, and, basically...all i want to say is thank you for caring so much about what you do. It means a lot to me as a theater goer when an actor is so passionate about what they do, as you obviously are. (especially when it begins to inhabit their everyday thoughts!) Thanks!
Wow!!nice blog and websites. I found my way here thru an actorsjourney. Good luck in the future.
I was at that 2pm show on January 7th and thought it was fabulous...matinee audiences are often full of "blue hairs" (my family's endearing term for senior citizens), so I can imagine they are hard to get through with a low energy level feeding off of you. But I was there with my family (including my Gram, who LOVED it) and we thought you and the rest of the cast were terrific! Sorry if we were kind of a crappy audience. :) As a musical theater performer myself, I was stunned with what I saw up there from you all. That's probably why I, for one, was a little quiet.
I recently purchased the cast album in hopes of learning Clara's solos and can't wait to see it again. Magnifico!
-Aly
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