Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I am going to cry.

Not in a bad way. I hope I don't cry in a bad way.

Tonight, I'm going to see The Wizard of Oz at a local theatre.. it's a national tour... and I'm slightly obsessed with The Wizard of Oz. When I was in high school, I played Dorothy Gale. It was my first lead role... and I had so much fun doing it. We even took the show on a high school theatre competition, and I won Best Actress. I think I still have the little trophy somewhere at my mom's house. I was so proud of that show. It was THREE hours long. THREE. Because we put EVERYTHING back in. There are a bunch of songs originally written for the movie that were taken out (the main one being "The Jitterbug," which is a GREAT song. We did swing dancing, and I got to do swing lifts! It was awesome!)

But anyway. I'm very attached to this show... I have TONS of Wizard memorabilia... I know tons of random facts about the book, the 1939 filming (like: did you know that Shirley Temple was originally offered the role of Dorothy Gale? But they decided to make the main character 14 instead of 8, so they went with Judy Garland. And originally she had long blonde curly hair... but it made her look like a sexpot, so they changed it to pigtails) Lots of random trivia.

My predictions for this evening is that the show is going to be awesome, but that I will cry the entire time. I cry at theatre. And not even sad theatre. I cry at happy theatre.. because it's pretty. I cried at Annie Get Your Gun because Bernadette Peters was in it. When she walked onstage...I burst into tears. I cried at Beauty and the Beast during "Be Our Guest"...because it was really pretty. A GIANT CAKE came out of the stage... and they were doing a kickline on a revolving giant cake onstage... and then two giant champagne bottles came out of the side of the proscenium and had sparks coming out of them like champagne bubbles... EXACTLY LIKE THE CARTOON. It was really pretty. Spectacle makes me cry, ok?? Also I cried during Beauty and the Beast because Andrea McArdle was playing Belle... and she was the lead in the first professional play I ever saw, Les Miserables, in Philadelphia. She played Eponine, and she was amazing. I'd watch Andrea McArdle play a tree.

I cried throughout The Light in the Piazza because the music was so gorgeous. I cried when I saw Rent because I was just so excited to be seeing it. I did not cry during Phantom of the Opera. Because I saw the worst Christine in the history of Christine's. I will never forget her name, and I refuse to watch anything that she's in. I cried during Wicked because I love the show and the book, and I thought that it was an absolutely amazing concept, and I loved that it didn't change the core story of The Wizard of Oz at all. I cried during 9 to 5 (WHICH WAS SUCH A GOOD SHOW!! AND I HATE THAT IT WAS TAKEN OFF BROADWAY!!! THAT WAS SUCH A BAD DECISION!!! THOSE WOMEN AND MARC KUDISCH ARE AMAZING!!!) because the women are amazing, and being that close to Allison Janney (because I was totally in the front row) was giving me breathing problems. I cried during Spamalot and Avenue Q because I was laughing so damn hard.

I even cry when I hear certain songs from shows. I heard "As Long As Your Mine" from Wicked in the car this morning while listening to the lovely Christine Pedi on Sirius 77, Broadway's Best, and tried to singing, but couldn't because I got choked up. I cannot sing certain songs because I get too emotionally invested in them. I'm such a big emotional dork. I tried to sing "I'm Still Hurting" from The Last Five Years when I was in college... but couldn't make it through the song. I finished it. And there wasn't a dry eye in the damn house... because I SOBBED through the second half of the song.

This is part of the reason I stopped acting. I have NO problem getting emotionally invested. I have a problem becoming TOO emotionally invested...

2 comments:

Joanie said...

You want to know why you cry at musicals? I'll tell you why!

When you did Wizard of Oz, I think I had to hear you sing Over The Rainbow about 20 times in rehearsal before I could listen to it without crying. Then you did it for real, on the stage, and Dad and I were both a mess! Now, if I get nostalgic and watch the DVD of the show, I get choked all over again! (I'm getting choked up just THINKING about it!) I'm such a dork... THAT'S where you get it!
By the way, Gina's readers... whenever she rehearsed Over The Rainbow, all work on the set and in the auditorium STOPPED and this happened every. single. time. I swear.

I cried when the elephant came up from the orchestra pit during Circle of Life in Lion King... it was just so amazing and lifelike! I cried at the finale of Mamma Mia because I'm a dork!

I totally lost it when Pomo sang My Coloring Book, during The World Goes Round, and you know why. Thank God you didn't sing that one! (I need another copy of the DVD. Dani lost it)

I miss seeing you perform. And I'd give my eye teeth to see you perform and hear you sing again.

Bayjb said...

Aww I hope the production is exactly as good as you want it to be! I have definitely cried at theater before, Les Mis, Phantom and several others. I can't help myself.