Finale Ultimo

At the behest of my grandmother, (shoutout to Grandma Jude), I am finally going to continue on this journey of finishing my blog. Granted, I have been home for a couple of days now and the season has been wrapped up, but better late than never, right?

After my off week, I began work on Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening) and Kyle Jarrow's (Whisper House) new musical, Noir. It is a very interesting piece, paying homage to the film noir genre as well as the old-fashioned radio crime dramas of yesteryears. The process was interesting right form the beginning due to the fact that our number of rehearsal days (not hours) was shortened down to approximately 1.5 weeks as opposed to 2 and we were also without a director and musical director for the first part of that time due to prior commitments/productions, etc.

The first days of rehearsal were spent reading through the script and learning the music and beginning some basic movement so that we could really hit the ground running upon the arrival of the director and musical director. The other thing about this particular Musical Workshop was that the creators elected to go with a more realized production than the previous two workshops. Partly because they had already workshopped the piece over in Germany back in 2014 and were ready to work out more visual kinks along with the typical writing kinks that are worked out. Once the director arrived, we began staging the show, going through the show from the top and working through to give the show the staging and movement that it required.

The next day, Wednesday, was our allowed 10 out of 12 rehearsal which is typically when the technical elements are incorporated, but because of the nature of our truncated schedule, we elected to build in the technical elements while we went through the show. We were able to complete all of Act One in those ten hours and then the next morning, on Thursday, we completed the rest of the show so that we could do a full run-through that evening. All was a success that evening and we met again Friday morning to work out some kinks and run the show one more time before we presented it in front of an audience. The first presentation went quite well and we met again Saturday morning to do some fixes and re-works before the show Saturday night. By then, the company had found their groove and things went smoothly for the remaining two performances. With the closing of our show brought the end of the 2015 Powerhouse season, however we still had a great deal of work to do.

The next day began our week of strike which means that everything that NYSAF brought to Poughkeepsie had to be packed up and shipped off to storage in either Poughkeepsie or in NYC. The SMInterns were responsible for putting back and re-organizing everything that we had unpacked in our first week. We went through our list in approximately 2 days and by Wednesday, we were in good enough shape to be helping other departments with their strikes. On Wednesday afternoon we were given time off so some of the SMInterns and myself decided to go sit out and relax on the hill that overlooked the lake.

Because I had some time, I decided to look at getting tickets for The King & I for that night. Unfortunately, the cheapest tickets available were about $170 so that was a no go. Then that night, I was talking with a friend who had seen the show and their words about the show made me want to see it more, so I decided to look to see if I could find tickets for Thursday night. It's not like I had that much to lose, right? To my surprise, StubHub had some last-minute tickets for sale at a total of $76 so I snatched one up and was able to get the afternoon off the next day so that I could FINALLY get to see the show; the one that I had been wanting to see my whole summer out there.

After a bit of work in the morning, I ran home, showered, got a ride to the train station and hopped the 2:54 train into Manhattan. Once I arrived in the city, after a nice, relaxing train ride, I walked to the StubHub storefront near Times Square, got my ticket in hand, and then walked uptown to Lincoln Center, one of my favorite spots in New York City.

Once I arrived at Lincoln Center, I decided to go sit up on the grass roof and relax a bit. I then ran to Starbucks to grab a quick bite of food and then went back to the theatre to sit and wait to go into the auditorium. I did check to make sure that Kelli O'Hara was in the show that night (she was out sick the last time I tried to see the show) and, to my delight, she was. Soon it was time for the show to begin. All throughout the show, I sat with the excitement of a little kid, soaking in every minute of the production. After the final curtain, I stood in amazement at the sheer beauty of the production that I saw. Everything about the production simply radiates elegance from the performers to the costumes, to the lights. All of the production elements came together to create a beautiful night at the theatre. Once the curtain fell, I made my way down to the Stage Door so that I could meet the cast and creatives.

Thankfully, I was able to secure a nice spot at the Stage Door, which allowed me to get to meet Kelli O'Hara, Jose Llana, and the rest of the wonderfully talented cast. It was an added bonus that I got to see Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and Kate Mulgrew (Orange is the New Black) who were coming to visit Patti LuPone at her production, Shows for Days, also playing at Lincoln Center. After waiting for a bit, Kelli and Jose finally made their way out to the Stage Door to greet their fans. I was lucky enough to get pictures with both of them; I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my time in New York.

I made my way back downtown to Grand Central Station, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and hopped on the 11:47 train back to Poughkeepsie where my wonderful friend Taylor waited to pick me up from the train station in the wee hours of the morning. The next morning, I was able to sleep in and enjoy my day. Once I woke up, I completed some packing and then met up with some of the SMInterns to get one last milkshake at BurgerFi. We then walked back to campus and then made our way back to the hill to enjoy some sunbathing before our final company dinner at the local restaurant, Gusto.

After a delicious meal, we made our way back to the theatre to watch a slideshow that they put together celebrating our summer at NYSAF. We were then each given a sweatshirt with the company logo on it which brought a nice end to our summer. A couple of us then walked back to the bridge leading up to our TAs and decided to split off and say some goodbyes; some of us were going out for drinks and some of us still had to pack. After we said our goodbyes, a couple of us made our way to the bar to enjoy one last round of drinks and fries at the Beech Tree. Once we made our way back we headed in for the night to get ready for our long days of travel ahead.

I woke up at 7:45 the next morning and finished my packing and then went to hand in my keys and hop the van to the train station. Once I got into the city, I took a cab to LGA and said "see ya soon" to one of the cities that I absolutely love. Once I made it to the airport, I did the typical airport stuff and made my way to my gate to sit for a couple hours to wait to board my flight. After a very crowded, yet surprisingly quick flight, I arrived back on Wisconsin soil, happy as a clam.

While I am sad to be leaving New York and cannot wait 'til the net time that I can make my way out east (hopefully permanently after I graduate this coming May) I am happy to be back with my friends and family starting my final year in school: moving into a new apartment with my lovely sister Molly, starting rehearsals for Oklahoma!, getting to PSM two shows in the spring, and many other adventures in between. It was definitely an adventure this summer; I learned a lot about myself, the business, and my career, and I am thankful for the people that I got to meet and the connections that I was able to make because, who knows? If the Mother Abbess taught us anything it was when one door closes, another one opens. Until next time!