Somewhere-it's-still-Friday Five

[pedanther]

1. Theatre News (subclass Acting in the):

As you may have guessed from the fiction log, the Rep Club's next big production will be the musical Oliver!. I've been in a bunch of musicals for the same director over the last decade or so, so I had what turned out to be the shortest audition I've ever done - didn't need to monologue, didn't need to sing, didn't need to dance, just needed to answer one question. I was a bit disappointed about the singing, since I'd put quite a bit of effort into my audition piece, but in the circumstances I think I'll survive.

The one question was: "Do you feel up to taking on the role of Fagin?"


2. Toastmasters News:

I entered both the Evaluation contest and the International Speech contest this year. The International Speech contest is the feeder contest for the World Championship of Public Speaking, and I've never entered it before. I only entered it this year because I gave a project speech last year which several people spontaneously told me was good enough for the contest, and because being a contestant meant I was exempt from being made to help organise it.

I won both contests at the club level, but at the area level I was beaten by the respective entrants from the college students' club. In a way, that was a relief, because it means I don't have to worry about finding time out of Oliver! rehearsals to attend the division and district contests. Let alone how inconvenient it would have been to qualify for the World Championship - not that I think that would have happened; the speech wasn't that good.


4. Theatre News (subclass Going to the):

I went to Perth to see The Lion King with my sister before it closed, because I've heard so much about how it's staged and who knows if it'll ever come this way again. There were bits that didn't quite work, but it was an impressive experience and on the whole I'm glad I went. Some of the puppets were astonishing. (Also astonishing, in a different way: the antipodean actor playing Timon's attempt at a New Jersey accent, which drifted as far south as Texas at one point.)

One side-note on the trip: It was the first time I'd been on the train since my international jetsetting Christmas holiday. Until I spent all that time on aeroplanes, I'd never really appreciated how much legroom you get on the train.


4. TV News:

The third season of Sherlock has aired here - actually, it aired last year, but then it was on against Foyle's War; this time it wasn't, and I had to decide whether I actually wanted to watch it. After carefully considering everything I'd heard about the third season and the Christmas special, I decided I didn't.

Also, the third season of Agents of SHIELD has started airing here; I watched a few episodes, then realised I wasn't actually all that interested, and stopped.

In happier TV news, the revived Danger Mouse started airing here this week, and I'm enjoying it immensely.


5. Theatre News (subclass Movie):

When I went to see The Force Awakens for the second time, it was preceded by a long trailer for the upcoming Batman/Superman movie. It kind of left me feeling like I'd seen the whole movie, and pretty much confirmed that I have no interest in actually seeing the whole movie.

Which leads me to a second side-note about my recent train trip: At one point, when I wasn't feeling motivated to do anything more brain-intensive, I watched the in-flight (if that's the word) movie, which was The Man From UNCLE. I have no idea how well it serves as an adaptation of the TV series, which I've never seen (yes, it's a shocking lacuna), but at one point I found myself thinking that Henry Cavill would probably do pretty well if he were cast as Superman, before remembering that he had been.

Comments

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! Fagin is quite the role. Shame about the competitions, but it sounds like a heck of an achievement to get that far; and as you say, perhaps it's for the best. I'd bet that playing Fagin will be more fun anyway.

And watch UNCLE! :p Season one is black and white, so hasn't been on TV in my lifetime. I'm watching it for the first time now, on and off, on DVD. Definitely recomended. I prefer season two I think, when it was more of a two-hander between Solo and Kuryakin, but season one has an irresistable period charm to it.

[igenlode.livejournal.com]

The most obvious question is... what was the audition piece? ;-)

I think I enjoyed the third season of Sherlock, assuming I'm remembering correctly which one it is (John's wedding and its aftermath); the Christmas special was cleverly done, especially in the way they managed to tie up the obvious inconsistencies between the past and present canons (e.g. Moriarty). I remember feeling a bit dissatisfied with the ending's not seeming terribly relevant to the present-day scenario, but I don't remember how or why -- not being a dedicated Fan, I don't purchase, download or rewatch these things but just see them as one-offs at the time of broadcast.
The main trouble with making a conscious decision not to watch something is that it pretty much includes an inherent choice not to watch any more of it in the future. Although I've managed to miss the season finales to several series of Doctor Who over the last few years without ending up irretrievably confused ;-p

[pedanther]

"With a Little Bit of Luck", from My Fair Lady.

I remember being taught that, unless the audition notice specifies otherwise, it's poor form and poor strategy to audition with a piece from the work one is auditioning for, even - perhaps especially - if one is aiming for a specific role. The way to go is to pick something that will illustrate the qualities that make one good for the character without inviting a direct comparison with the version of the character sitting in the director's head. (On the other hand, the young lady who's playing Nancy auditioned with "As Long As He Needs Me", and it doesn't seem to have hurt her chances, so who knows?) In this case, I was aiming to emphasize the cheerful villainy aspect, because I knew the director already knew I could do the more melancholy side.

[igenlode.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was wondering if it would have been very naive of me to ask if it was "Reviewing the Situation" -- evidently it would!

I confess that (on no evidence at all) I'd always had you pegged as the lanky, lugubrious type, so the mental image of a pedanther-Doolittle is quite a startling one :-)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

That's awesome you got Fagin, although I think the director should've at least heard you sing first -- even if it's a foregone conclusion, for the sake of the others who missed out on the role, it shouldn't be made so obvious. (Unless the director thought you might decline unless you knew it was a foregone conclusion? But that seems unlikely.)

[pedanther]

I'd have taken whatever role I was offered; I'm pretty easygoing about that sort of thing. I figure any show worth doing will have something to recommend every role in it.

I should say that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, at least that way: if somebody else had auditioned and been a better fit, they'd have got it. It's just that the local pool of male talent for musicals is so small that the director had a pretty good idea in advance who was likely to get which role, and didn't mind saying so. (All the other blokes hanging out in the waiting room when I went in for my audition had already been in themselves, and they'd been told which role they were likely to be offered as well.)