Okay, its been a while since I have had anything to say here, but folks, what can you do when we haven't even started rehearsals yet? I have been in touch with a few of my fellow Thespians, and we are all very excited - but we have to wait until 17 November before we, ahem, get cracking.
The other day on my long, laborious train ride home, I ran into Jamie Tampion, a tenor I know who confirmed that he is in the Thespis chorus. He seemed jolly tickled at the idea of me being Bacchus in Act Two, and I guess he can afford to laugh. Jamie and I get on well. He works hard on stage, and that always wins my respect. Trouble is, we both have the same first name, and when the director yells "Jamie, stand over here," we never know who he means. Jamie also pointed out to me my unfortunate resemblance to television presenter Jamie Malcolm - a third Jamie in the brew - which has been pointed out before. (For ages, the woman at the desk at my gym always greeted me with a sunny "Hi Jamie!" When I confessed that I didn't know her name, she said she only knew me from the television. I immediately put her straight on this, and now rather wish I hadn't. There might be perks for minor celebrity imposters.)
Anyway, how did we get onto this? Stop interrupting me when I am talking about Thespis! The sad news for me is that Naomi is considering dropping out of the show. A great loss, but there are too many schedule clashes for her, and it is a pretty heavy commitment. I know that if she possibly can do it, she will, but at this point its not looking all that great. Damn! My best gal pal in the company. Hopefully James, our director - whom some people insist on calling Jamie (!) - will be able to accommodate her.
Without a score to work on yet, I am doing the next best thing. Like most baritones, my voice changes gears at around e-flat, and I am doing those annoying exercises to bridge the gap without cracking. I am second guessing the score here, but Sullivan tends to write in e-flat major a lot, and even allowing for the fact that this is a reconstruction, I have a nasty feeling that there are going to be some nasty passages to accommodate. I have a lovely little Wolf song called Der Gartner which I work on for this very reason. It has a nice rit over an e-flat. So far its pretty excruciating, but its all for the greater good.
Okay, til next.
Tips.
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