It's Thanksgiving day. I do not have a rehearsal pianist. I emailed three people I know and I still don't have one. I emailed a friend who's good at organizing and asked him for advice. I would like to rehearse in December. I think it's a good thing. If I don't get a pianist, i cannot rehearsed. Worried? Yes.

I can see myself totally waiting until the very last minute and then throwing a show together. I do not want that to happen. I want to make every effort to get rehearsals at least once a week for December.

Work takes up a lot of my life right now. This shows seems like it might be a project too large for me to accomplish. Maybe I am feeling a litte stressed. Hopefully it will get better. I just want to start!

(My show is me doing musical improv with monolgues and scenes in between- I write down my ideas for the show here, like an open book. If you have suggestions definitely leave them in the "Comments" area. I would love your feedback during this creative process. Thanks!)

Ok, so here's brainstorm number two:

Wants:
-a handheld mic, perhaps connected to a shit kareoke machine. But maybe the sound actually comes from real speakers in the theater (that I probably have to lug to and from the theater).
-fog machine
-spotlight

Feeling in general I want:
The songs sound real, have a high standard of quality to the singing, words and style, are funny. If I break from the reality of the song, it's because the audience is going with me. It's like I am not even singing, but we (me and the audience) are listening to a record together and laughing.

Ideas:
Have 5-6 people offstage in charge of props and set stuff. We'd have set materials liek glitter, confetti, rolls of toilet paper, streamers, balloons, magical Celine Dion props. I'd let them incorporate all of this into the show as it goes, trusting that they would find good spots to add set dressing, movement with props or shit falling from the celing like confetti.

Songs:

Evil huge dramatic tango song
This could be about something or someone I hate. Or someone the audience hates. I have to know who they are, or at least have one word to describe the person they hate.

Mariah ballad- like Hero, Butterfly
maybe I raise a butterly flag at some point. Or maybe there's a three minute Mariah montage tribute like that film that used to be in the waiting room before you watched Captain EO at Journey Into Imagination, and the film that Kathleen Turner narrated in the waiting room of "Living Seas," both at Epcot.

Dance number a la "All I Need is the Girl" from Gypsy
I'd love to do some dance improv so long as it didn't look like I was desperately struggling to come up with steps. If it were funny, like lyrical with batons and large shards of fabric, props, etc.

Sondheim serious ballad
This would be just a spotlight, piano, a mic and some drama. I'd get a suggestion from the audience like "Give me something serious to sing about." This song could end on a "to be continued" feeling and I could break into it at random point in the show. Like when I am bored or when someone in the audiences says something I "don't like."

Jazz scatt song
I'd want to avoid doing Mariah here and stick to that Ella/jazz/50's feeling. I'd like to totally go crazy on this one and get all jazzy.


Be rude to tech as running joke through show. This would work if I had someone like the SAK techs working on the show. They know the character I get into on Wednesday nights- it's this diva/bitch character who storms around, complains about lights and bad blackouts and generally becomes a sort-of villian. In this show, I'd antagonize him and he's take it. But then I would push too far. He'd shut off my mic. I make the most of it by doing some kind of "unplugged" country song or some Mariah unplugged (it's one of her albums) tribute

Celine Dion Cirque/dance number- with circus performers: this is where I see my improv friends coming in the most and playing. They could wear their own costumes, and whatever the suggestion was for the song, they'd be responsible for enacting the idea through dance in the style of the Celine Dion Vegas spectacular.

I know the following about my show so far:

I want
-monolgues and songs, all improvised
-a pathetic gay character, sad, despondent, but funny
-piano player and 1-2 supporting improvisors
-a stool
-some audience participation: "This song is about...?"

The feel I want
-I did a song a few years ago while sitting on top of a piano in a Gen S show, being all camp and dramatic, with Matt Soule playing the piano. I sang something like...Night is day, day is black, hop in my potato sack..And then I started laughing and couldn't stop. The audience went with me. That's the feeling I want. Fun, crazy, spontaneous. Silly

Song style
-ballads and a few up tempo
-maybe one Sondheim near the middle or end
-a few simple ballads, jazzy, in the beginning
-one or two up-tempo (those are hard)
-one song where I tap dance or lyrical dance with a baton

Crazy ideas
-have a middle or high school dance troupe do some kind of Celine Dion Cirque number where they dance and do acrobatics while I sing a made-up power ballad. If it worked, that is something I would like to see

I know I want to do songs and things and moments I enjoy doing. Ballads, dramatic monolgues about weird stuff, dancing... One thought I had while I was panicking today about the show was that I might be panicking for no reason. I have time. I have some ideas. It might not be as hard as I think.

Involving the audience would make them have more fun because it would involve them and empower them to have a voice in the show. It might be fun to pull people out of the audience and sing to them. Ooh- what if I pulled a plant out of the audience and when I sat on his lap in the middle of the song I was singing, he jumps up, punches me and runs out. Then I sing a strong woman song.

I'm in the Fringe! I just found out tonight. My email is not working because I was told by two people that they emailed me and I have not received anything from them, one being Beth Marshall, the Fringe head. I happened to walk by her office on my way to Soap Opera workshop (7-9pm SAK) and her door was open and she was there. My friend who knows her made me go in (Thanks!) and ask if I got in. There were warnings all over the website and in her emails to not contact her to ask if you got in, so I was weary at first. But she was super nice and told me I was in and that the reason I didn't receive any emails or calls is that I got drawn in the lottery early and got my first-choice venue. Woo hoo!

I'm really happy that I got through so easily. No venue change or number-of-shows change or anything. So, in May 2006 looks like I'll be doing a little Fringe show!