A Lair of Vipers

Do you know what season it is?

'Tis Broadway season at Cantilon Choirs!

Our annual "Broadway Gala" is coming up this weekend with two performances. One on Saturday at 730 pm and the other on Sunday afternoon at 2pm at the Arden Theatre in St. Albert, AB. Please check out this link for more details and tickets.

Today we had our first blocking rehearsal. Since it is the "In Concert" version of Les Miserables, there's isn't much choreography, more so just different arrangements of groups of people to set the scene for particular songs and a line of microphones at the front of the stage to amplify the soloists. I was in awe of the fact that we were able to finish all our blocking for the shows in one day. Usually we spend weeks on the choreography and it is usually a back and forth learning process. In the past, we have ended up retracting and relearning choreography continuously, changing it ever so slightly each time we run it that the resulting product is never the same. Thus, it is hard to learn and especially difficult for those absent to fill in what they missed when the routine they learned the previous week no longer exists. Not good. However, it looks like that is less likely to happen this year since the choreography complexity has been greatly simplified.

As well, I always forget how much amazing music Les Miserables contains. All the musical themes throughout the piece are fantastic! And extremely catchy. "At the End of the Day" has such crisp diction that echos the stinging reality of their poverty, "The People's Song" has an epic anthem quality to it, and "Lovely Ladies" has such a gritty dirtiness that masks the hollow loneliness of a prostitutes life. Mentioning "Lovely Ladies", I was hesitant to whore-suit-up (my parents will be coming to the show), but thought it would be good fun with all the other ladies in Belle Canto and chance to expand my stage bubble. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It is extremely cathartic to play a character that is vastly different than the persona I have molded for myself. We received directions to assemble in a tightly layered group on stage and wave our arms in undulating "come hither" gestures so that we resembled a lair of vipers. Vipers? I can do viper. Afterward, I received a comment on how believable I looked as a whore. It's what every girl hopes for :)

In the next few days we will be running through Act I and Act II of the show on separate night complete with costume changes. Other than checking on some words which still trip me up and reviewing my entrances and exits for all the scenes, I think that everything is in control this year. I feel very little panic. Usually, we're rehearsing choreography backstage still on the day of the performance, but I don't forsee that as something that will occur this year. I also was saved a ton of work in the costume department because lovely Victoria from Belle Canto provided a box of costume pieces for us to borrow. Thank goodness because I definitely do not own a corset.

I'll keep you posted on the Broadway happenings. Here's a taste of what the concert version is like:





Until next time, take care readers!