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The Boards - CASTING - Thursday, 05/27

Geoffrey was starting to wonder if he shouldn't have just tried to cobble together a bunch of his old scripts to do something a bit more in his usual style... but at least people were coming. At least no one was trying to kill him over what'd happened the other, er, month.

But there was the music to worry about. He'd need to either see about a soundtrack tape or find people who'd be willing to play the music for the songs. Or maybe...

Hmmm.

Casting for East Side Story
Free food and drink! Cast and crew needed! Musicians welcome!

[ocd up!]

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For those who want a part.

The theater was catnip to Christian. Everyone knew it was where all the true Bohemian revolutionaries were found. So it was that, with stars in his eyes and sheet music in his hand, he came to the auditions.

"Sir?" he said. "I'm here to try out for the play."

...well, this one was new. That intrigued him. He always loved new faces.

"Well, did you come with a monologue?"

He thought again.

"And, er, a song?"

[sorry for the massively long ridiculous wait]

"I have both!" Christian confirmed cheerfully. "Which should I start with -- the song or the piece?"

Which won him points with Geoffrey instantly. If he tried to count the number of people who just wandered in sans ANYTHING...

"Whichever you like. Go wild," he said with a wave of a hand as he walked over to take a seat in the chairs.

"What's your name again?"

"I forgot the introduction," Christian said sheepishly. "It's Christian. I'll begin with the song, if you don't mind? It's -- a bit of a classic."

He looked at his lyrics sheet one last time, screwed up his courage, closed his eyes, opened them.

"Somewhere beyond the sea, somewhere waiting for me, my lover stands on golden sands (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_6gtAJ8ffA&feature=related)....

His serviceable tenor was pleasant if not a revelation, but he had a nice stage presence; he seemed comfortable in wide-eyed, let's-put-on-a-show short of way.

Pleasant but not a revelation... in other words, there was potential. Potential was Geoffrey's favorite.

He waited until the boy was done before nodding thoughtfully.

"And your monologue?"

"My monologue," Christian echoed, shifting from foot to foot, "is from Oscar Wilde. Picture of Corian Fray, to be exact." He looked at his papers, and, apologetically, added, "I don't have it quite by heart."

But that was his last hint of nerves. He got most of the speech off without looking at the papers again. Even his slight bobbles were more endearing than distracting.

"This play was good enough for us, Harry," he began, sounding rather irritated by the whole ... whatever-it-was that he was detailing. "It was Star-Crossed. I must admit that I was rather annoyed at the idea of seeing Shakespeare done in such a wretched hole of a place. Still, I felt interested, in a sort of way."

He began to pace a bit, to project more naturally. "At any rate, I determined to wait for the first act. There was a dreadful orchestra, presided over by a young Hebrew who sat at a cracked piano, that nearly drove me away, but at last the drop-scene was drawn up, and the play began. Roman was a stout elderly gentleman, with corked eyebrows, a husky tragedy voice, and a figure like a beer-barrel. Mercutius was almost as bad. He was played by the low-comedian, who had introduced gags of his own and was on most friendly terms with the pit. They were both as grotesque as the scenery, and that looked as if it had come out of a country booth."

And here he paused in his pacing and became more sincere. "But Julia! Harry, imagine a girl, hardly seventeen years of age, with a little flower-like face, a small Greek head with plaited coils of dark-brown hair, eyes that were violet wells of passion, lips that were like the petals of a rose." Christian gestured as he talked, touching is own hair, eyes, lips, and seemed to savor his next sentence. "She was the loveliest thing I had ever seen in my life. You said to me once that pathos left you unmoved, but that beauty, mere beauty, could fill your eyes with tears."

His tone dropped and became more confiding yet. "I tell you, Harry, I could hardly see this girl for the mist of tears that came across me. And her voice--I never heard such a voice. It was very low at first, with deep, mellow notes, that seemed to fall singly upon one's ear. Then it became a little louder, and sounded like a flute or a distant hautbois. In the garden scene it had all the tremulous ecstasy that one hears just before dawn when nightingales are singing. There were moments, later on, when it had the wild passion of violets. You know how a voice can stir one. Your voice and the voice of Sibyl Vane are two things that I shall never forget. When I close my eyes, I hear them, and each of them says something different. I don't know which to follow. Why should I not love her?"

He shook his head, as if saying there was no reason at all. "Harry, I do love her. She is everything to me in life. Night after night I go to see her play. One evening she is Rosalind, and the next evening she is Imogen. I have seen her die in the gloom of an Italian tomb, sucking the poison from her lover's lips. I have watched her wandering through the forest of Arden, disguised as a pretty boy in hose and doublet and dainty cap. She has been mad, and has come into the presence of a guilty king, and given him rue to wear, and bitter herbs to taste of. She has been innocent, and the black hands of jealousy have crushed her reed-like throat. I have seen her in every age and in every costume. Ordinary women never appeal to one's imagination. They are limited to their century. No glamour ever transfigures them. One knows their minds as easily as one knows their bonnets. One can always find them. There is no mystery in any of them. They ride in the Park in the morning, and chatter at tea-parties in the afternoon. They have their stereotyped smile, and their fashionable manner. They are quite obvious. But an actress! How different an actress is! Harry! why didn't you tell me that the only thing worth loving is an actress?"

He sounded as if he meant it (it helped that he halfway did) -- and kept in character until a moment later, when he beamed at Geoffrey. "Was that all right?"

Geoffrey's face held the rictus of the pleasant (and almost morbidly amazed) surprised. His head was tilted to one side, his fingers curled into a dismissal that lost it's steam halfway through...

The strange shape of his mouth continued to curve once he was done and he nodded.

"Yes," he finally said, like a breath out.

"Yes, that was quite all right."

Christian beamed. "That's good, then," he said. "When will you know who has what part?"

"I'll have something up in a couple of weeks, all right? Just... look at the door."

"I'll look at the door," Christian promised. "Thank you."

Sophie had her doubts about this one. Not that she couldn't play, oh, the heroine's best friend! ... although she was always aware that her age made these castings slightly problematic, when her cast-mates were teenagers.

But Nate's recent difficulties were nagging at her, and making her wonder if she should even commit to this venture. Hopefully his problems would resolve themselves soon enough that she could still take part in the play.

"Good morning, Geoffrey," she caroled from the stage. "And how are you, now that you've decided on a play?"

Ahem. A musical.

"I didn't so much decide," he said very slowly, "as have the production company make the decision for me. And while I'll happily sacrifice my ability to eat to do something decent" something for which he was expecting to be yelled at a moment after he said it, "I am not willing to throw good money after bad. So... we do a musical."

"Indeed," Sophie said, still amused. "Right then. The Witch, from Into the Woods. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsFx5835Qrg)"

Her voice coach had told her she had a unique singing voice. Sadly, he hadn't meant it in a good way.

The spoken parts for the Witch, with all the rhymes and tongue-twisters, was quite good; but the songs... ummm.

For those who want to work on the production behind the scenes.

Harper was evaluating the existing costumes and dividing them up into piles: one for those that could definitely be used, another for usable ones that needed repair, and a third for costumes that definitely couldn't be used this time around.

She held up one costume (http://www.buycostumes.com/Clash-of-the-Titans-Sexy-Athena-Adult-Costume/69227/ProductDetail.aspx) that definitely didn't fall in the second pile, but she wasn't sure if it belonged in the first pile.

Chloe was here and happy to be helping with behind the scenes stuff. There was something about working in Geoffrey's theater that made her feel relaxed and right at home.

For anyone who might want to play some of the music or help out there?

Part the First: I'm sorry about falling behind on tagging stuff from the last try out. I'm getting on that.

Part the Second: how you try out is just tag in, and then if you have a specific roll you'd like, you leave me a note in the OOC. I don't guarantee you'll get it, but I like to help people work through interesting character stuff if I can, etc. Generally, IC, Geoffrey likes you to have a monologue but he can provide if needed and this production, a song would help too.

Part the Third: if you're a musician, we could also use you!

Chloe is hereby volunteered for anything that Geoffrey might need her for. :)

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The Boards - CASTING - Thursday, 05/27

Casting

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Crew

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Musicians?

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