Hey All!
“Callin’ out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat?
Summer’s here and the time is right for dancin’ in the street.
Dancin’ in Chicago, (Hawks Win)! dancin’ in the street!”
While the celebration for the Blackhawks keeps on keepin’ on, I’m back at the office callin’ out around the world roundin’ up the cast for Miss Saigon all the way to China and South Korea! If all goes well, efforts to bring fresh perspective and energy into the familiar portrayals will pay off tremendously. Stunning fresh singing and acting talent may find their way onto Paramount’s stage bringing dazzling new voice to the 11th longest running show in Broadway’s musical theatre history (after a record breaking advance sale of $24 million back in 1991). Fingers crossed!
“RENT RENT RENT RENT RENT”…Rent auditions this past Friday and Saturday brought over a hundred actors/singers/dancers to Aurora. They were everywhere! I love the sight of Chicago actors on the streets of downtown Aurora strolling their way from the Stolp Garage or the Metra to River’s Edge Café and our rehearsal hall at the Elks. This show seems to bring out something very special in everyone. Their individuality is liberated. All the practice and preparation is released in a stream and scream of purpose! How rare to have the chance to play yourself. Your defiant, rebellious self. Your fed up self! So much fun and at times surprisingly moving. There is a great human heart at the core of it. Jonathan Larson started writing Rent when he was about 29. He lived in poverty with his roommates in a fifth floor N.Y. loft with no heat at Greenwich and Spring St., dating a dancer who left him for a woman. Just before turning 36, he died of an aortic dissection, a result of undiagnosed Marfan syndrome, just before his show’s first preview in 1996. The illegal wood burning stove, the broken front door buzzer, the bath tub in the middle of the kitchen, all made their way into the play. He wrote from his life. Great characters. Compelling, theatrical, beautiful rock score. Finding his authenticity in ourselves is the challenge.
Got a lot of work to do, sorting and narrowing the pack for call backs…see ya next time!
-Jim