Getting the grease

Last Tuesday night I went to see a friend of mine perform in a workshop… he’d been taking an acting/improv class for several months, and this workshop performance was the culmination of their work. I had a great time, and was pleased to see how good he was (which I’d suspected), but also, it left me jazzed; hungry for a project.

The next morning I got a phone call from my friend Brad. He’d been trying for months to get clearance from a local community theater to do a workshop of his new and original musical, the Manson Family Follies, and that morning (last Wednesday) he got offered June 6th. The June 6th that’s like, any minute. I was among the first of his phone calls. He’d written the part of Squeaky Fromme with me in mind. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity. Would I be willing to do this project in such a compact rehearsal period?

Fuck yeah! I am squeaking with joy.

So I’ve been rehearsing and learning songs and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve never been part of an original project. And this is a dream role. Squeaky is my favorite crazy of all time.

Yes it will be a workshop format. Brad has edited the show down to half an hour (he may have more editing to do) and he cast it in one night and Shane, who wrote all the music (Brad wrote the book and lyrics) will be playing Charlie while handling the music direction and goodness knows what kind of performance this will be but Squeaky is the role of a freaking lifetime and I am loving it. It is such a great part but also I’ve never ‘created’ a role. I am singing songs in a show without a record to try to imitate, or try not to imitate.

And it is the perfect amount of extra energy for me to be spending right now. Dipping my toes into the water. But for now, I’m handling it well. And for now, when I leave the office at 6-ish, it’s not oh god there is nothing for me to do between now and bed.

I’m pretty happy about this one.