*WARNING AND CAUTION TO READERS*
---Many portions of the following blogger's entry contain cheesy comments. The blogger wants to let you know that you have to deal with it. Enjoy.---
For those of you who don't know, the title of this entry is the opening line of the hit musical The Book of Mormon. And as most of you have realized, I happen to look like a stereotypical Mormon: blond hair, blue eyes, clean cut, incredibly good looks (credit goes to Mom and Dad for that one), etc. I've been waiting for the moment I would get to see this show since it debuted nearly two years ago. THAT MOMENT CAME AT ABOUT 5:12 YESTERDAY EVENING. Don't worry, I'll get there. One dream did come true yesterday, but this whole week (since my last blog post) has been an amalgam of unforgettable experiences and memories. #SATword #stillremembermySATvocab I'm learning that my favorite quote from UP, the Pixar movie, is more true each day. "Adventure is out there!" Only I don't have to go and find that adventure. I'm living that adventure.
Thursday: It's a nice morning! I'm ready to stop coughing because this cold I have is persistent, but I'm going to power through it. Because I HAVE to. I can't waste one week of CAP. I get to CAP early so I can relax a bit, stretch while listening to music, and clear my mind so I'm ready for the day. I finally organized my book so I will look a little more professional! For those of you who are confused thinking I'm trying to sort a library or something, a performer's "book" is his collection of songs in his repertoire for which he would use in an audition. That typical three-ring white binder from WalMart filled with sheet music in anti-glare sheet protectors for the convenience of each accompanist. You've gotta be thoughtful to EVERY person involved in your audition because you never know who will be your pianist or what role they hold in casting. I'm ready for the day and off to a LOUD start with Tap! There are quite a few people absent, probably because of the torrential rain! But that didn't stop me from swimming...I mean walking to class. We all own umbrellas for a reason. USE THEM. Speaking of using things, I'm starting to use the tips and technique that I've been taught in Vocal Technique, my next class! I have a small breakthrough today, though it was really a spark rather than a full blown light bulb. It'll take practice, but for the first time I sang pretty dang high without clenching with my jaw or throat! Lunch time comes around and on the call board we have our new material! I will be performing "All the Wasted Time" from Parade with my friend Megan! AWESOME. I don't know it, but i'm sure it will be great. Everyone keeps saying they're really excited for it, so it must be good! Acting and Vocal Performance finish out the day, and it's an observation day for me. I don't have any performances, so I will be learning by watching my peers and what the teachers tell them. I'm taking so many notes! A bunch of us rush to dinner at a nearby diner called Big Daddy's Diner for dinner before the cabaret that our whole group is going to later tonight. We are looking at the menu, and my good Australian friend James is determined/really excited about a really, really AMERICAN meal. He comments on anything that is so American. It's pretty hilarious. He had an Oreo milkshake, chili cheese fries, and a Mac 'n' Cheeseburger. I didn't even know that was a real thing, but apparently it's so American! What does that say about our country? #foodforthought Aside from the heaps of food, the service was really slow and all around pretty awful. On top of all that, here we go again with not being able to split the check! What is this?! I don't understand the big deal, though I'm not in the restaurant business so I can't judge too much. Maybe someday I'll get into the family business of The Fish Market though and figure out the issue! If you haven't been to The Fish Market in California, GO! It's my Grandparent's restaurant! #shamelessplug Once dinner is figured out and paid for, we rush back to CAP21 for the cabaret put on by Karen Mason. This was a completely pleasant surprise! It was a touching story and wonderful music. It was kind of like Christmas in July, with that spirit in the air where everyone seems to be a little bit happier. There was just something in the air. I get home to do a little work and get to sleep, but in the elevator on the way up I met some HILARIOUS people complaining about laundry. Each stranger keeps batting away the idea that people in NYC aren't really that friendly! Everyone I have met has been incredibly friendly and nice to talk to! I love it here!
Friday: I made it to the end of the week! This hits me as I'm doing my grand battements in ballet, and suddenly I hear a "Good. That's it Kevin."........excuse me? What? I'm doing ballet CORRECTLY? I don't enjoy it particularly, but apparently I'm getting better at it! Cool. Jazz is next and always great because the teacher is so determined to make us better dancers. Musical Scene Study is incredibly because I've discovered my scene. It's some HEAVY material. Yes the script is huge, but I mean emotionally heavy. I'm excited for this challenge. And Megan is so talented! I'm lucky to be performing with her! All of my scene partners have been phenomenal, and the trend continues! Afterward, I am hanging in the hallway when SARAH SMITH shows up! Hey there stranger! She just graduated from Baylor Theatre in May! We are pretty close because she was my first friend at Baylor! I met her when I auditioned for the program, and she did CAP21 last summer, so this is a really cool place to be having a reunion! It's nice to briefly see her, and then I go into Audition Tech. It's funny, because sometimes your ears can break. What I mean is your pianist can start in one key which happens to be the correct key, and I can hear the beginning pitch they give me and COMPLETELY MISS THE KEY. I also learned that can happen 3 times in the same audition. Let's just say it was a little rough, but I got through it in the right key eventually. Once the nightmare audition is over, James and Steven go with me to Times Square to Second Stage Theatre to get tickets for Dogfight! We grab our tickets and receipts and run to get pizza because the show is in 40 minutes. We are sitting eating pizza when an awful feeling comes over me. Not because there was too much grease on the pizza or the pepperoni wasn't cooked enough, but I had a sort of epiphany. I threw away the receipts a couple of blocks ago...but that trash can now also contains my ticket for the show. Way to go Kevin. That's one of the basic rules of theatre. DON'T LOSE YOUR TICKET, OR IN THIS CASE THROW IT AWAY. As James and Steven are laughing at my panicked frenzy, we pass by Snoop Dog on the street. Hey there celebrity! We get back to the theatre and luckily they are able to print me another ticket because they remember me buying it 40 minutes ago. Dogfight beings and the show is great! I didn't know anything about the show going into it, but it was great, especially Lindsay Mendez! There's a Friday night bash at my friend and new scene partner Megan's apartment. She has an incredible fire escape! I share a cab with James on the way home and hit the hay because I'm exhausted, which means I'm doing something right!
Saturday: You know that feeling when you wake up and you know that it's going to be your day? That's how I felt after only getting 6 hours of sleep and feeling completely rested. I have no idea what today has in store, but something great is going to happen. I look at my phone and my Uncle Ric has sent me a text. I had posted a Facebook status about wanting to see The Book of Mormon but having trouble getting tickets, and he has a connection that could help me get a ticket! WHAT?! This is an amazingly awesome and lucky chance! I have some cool people in my family! I'm going to have to see when I can figure out Book of Mormon tickets, but as for now I'm going to go see a show by myself that I've needed to see for a long, long time. I'm walking to the subway to Times Square, and realize the weather is perfect. It feels like Colorado. There isn't high humidity and it isn't too hot. I'm in jeans and a couple of shirts and completely comfortable in the light breeze! Like I said, today is going to be a great day, especially with such a great start! I am off to see Wicked. It's the standard musical that most people think of when they hear the word Broadway. I've felt like seeing Wicked is initiation for becoming a true theatre kid, and of course I've never seen it. I've never had the opportunity or strong desire to see it, but today is the day. I want to see it! I'm walking to the theater and pass the Book of Mormon theater, which is overflowing with people trying to get tickets for the matinee that will start at 2PM. There's no way I will get tickets to that show while I'm still in NYC. It's alright! I will see it someday and it will be just as good! I get to the Gershwin Theater and enter the lottery along with close to 150 other people. My friend James is nearby, so he decides to enter the lottery for me to help me out for a better chance to win tickets. Of course, HE WINS THE TICKETS FOR ME! Did I not say today is going to be a good day? I have a couple of hours until the show, so James and I walk through Fossil to look at watches and grab some food! I'm back at the Gershwin in a flash and I walk into the doors of one of the largest theaters i have seen yet in NYC. The set is incredible. It's hard to describe it and do it justice, but I sure felt like I was in OZ. Yes, Wicked is an extended version of The Wizard of Oz with the good witch and wicked witch of the west as the main characters. I walk to my front-row center seats and sit right behind the conductor. The overture starts, and suddenly I get it. This show really is magic. It redefined a lot of things about Broadway and the story of Oz. But you know what, I get it. It was phenomenal. I got chills throughout the whole thing! This show has been running almost 10 years and it's still as magical as when it began! Spectacular show, and now I'm officially a theatre kid! Hooray! The actress who played Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) was a phenomenal singer and performer. Bravo to her! I'm waking back toward Times Square to decide on plans for tonight and I happen to pass the Book of Mormon theater again. 2 different people asked me if I was in the cast and if I would sign their playbills because the matinee had just gotten out. Are you joking?! I look so much like I fit the part of the show that people asked me if I was in the cast. THIS IS CRUEL! I keep walking when I see the first person in the Standing Room line is a fellow student at CAP. I was just going to say hello, when she offers me a deal I can't refuse. The rules with Standing Room is that you are allowed to buy one or two tickets...and Alex offered to by me a ticket for Standing Room. She had been waiting for nearly three and a half hours and here she is offering to fulfill one of my DREAMS. WHAT DID I SAY?! TODAY IS GOING TO BE A GREAT DAY. I'm going to see The Book of Mormon. It's really going to happen. I'm going to see the show that I'm convinced was written for me! I get the ticket, and I'm not sure I've ever been so OCD about checking if it was with me at all times. The overture starts, my stomach drops, and a dream came true at 8:06 when the curtain went up! Though it is kind of crude, the show was even better than I expected. I'm still convinced and confident I'm made for this show. It's fantastic! Who knew that when I woke up today would be such a good day? Oh, right, I did know that. After I meet the cast and my Book of Mormon high subsides, I head to another CAP get together with my friends! It was a perfect way to end a perfect day. Of course I was out late, but I think the shock of everything that happened today is keeping me awake. The subway with friends home concludes a wonderful day.
Sunday: Continuing the trend, I'm up early this morning to meet my friend James in Union Square so that we can have some NYC adventures today. But today is a really relaxed day! We don't have official plans until tonight, so we can really be flexible. We head to the 9/11 memorial which I have been really insistent on seeing, and when we get there we realize that you have to have a reservation to go in, especially with the high amount of security. That's fine! We will come back another day, but I got some great pictures of the New World Trade Center. The architecture is amazing and this is a really interesting experience. I will always remember where I was on 9/11, and it's strange being here. Somber, but hopeful with the beautiful memorial and impressive new building. I really want to come back and spend time here to appreciate what happened here more than 10 years ago. James and I walk to Battery Park, which is where I realize that today is a really sensory day! I'm noticing the sights, smells, sounds, and feeling of everything a ton today! You might know the feeling when you can smell the ocean on the air, with that tinge of salt water and ocean mist. I love that smell/feeling and it was so refreshing to see the ocean. I even saw the Statue of Liberty at a distance, but I'm saving that visit for another day! The sun on my neck with the mist off the ocean makes me really miss Del Mar. That's when it hits me. I'm LITERALLY across the country from my family. They are on the California coast on the beach in Del Mar, and I'm on the coast in New York! A legitimate coast to coast separation! That's just kind of cool! But I miss them a ton and cannot wait to see them in a couple of weeks! James and I keep walking around talking about school and we are just continuing getting to know each other, which is really nice! We end up wandering through Wall Street, which is pretty cool! I saw the American Stock Exchange building and things like that. Including the forty seven Starbucks locations around the area. James and I finish with this area of town and head back toward Union Square. On the subway, we make a list of things we want to do before we leave, because we only have one weekend left in NYC! WHERE DID THIS SUMMER GO?! There are quite a few things on that list, but I think we can get them done. I've gotta go out swinging right?! We get to Union Square and pass some really cool street artists. One of the artists does a combination of painting and photography, and I think I'm going to buy one of his pieces later today! They're really cool and it'll be a nice souvenir to remember the amazing culture that Union Square holds! As for now, I have to get to work! In this city, you work hard and play hard. This weekend has been a ton of playing hard, so I have to fulfill the other half of that phrase. I'm excited for tonight because I'm going to a really cool Thai restaurant tonight called Spice before going to Fuerza Bruta again! That's the cirque du soleil-esque theatrical club thing. I'll never be able to explain it. That's alright. You just have to see it because the Youtube videos are strange! I am also really excited for Week 5! It's supposed to be Lightbulb Week, so there are usually alot of breakthroughs this week. I'm not going to expect to make any, just in case, but I'm really excited to work hard this week. Bring it on! I want to end this New York experience with a BANG.
I'm so blessed to have this summer here with these incredible people and experiences.
I'll never forget it.
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