Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Week One: Welcome to my Candy Store

HEATHERS has begun! Tonight marks the conclusion of week one of rehearsal. I am ecstatic to be part of this production. Everyone is so talented, kind, and very well-cast (props to Scott Miller).

Monday was our first rehearsal, music only. We completed learning "Beautiful", "Big Fun", "Yo Girl", "Blue", and the "Finale", led by (incredible) music director Jeffrey Carter. I was stunned by the voices surrounding me and drove home entirely too excited for this production.

Before I go on about rehearsals, let me introduce myself:

I'm Sicily Mathenia. I created this blog to write about an upcoming musical, Heathers, at the New Line Theatre. It is my first production with the New Line, and I will be playing Heather Chandler, the "mythic bitch", also described as "the richest, hottest, cruelest girl in town." It will be an absolute blast to play a character so different from myself and oh-so-bitchy.

I am also a student at Webster University, here in St. Louis, studying Vocal Performance. Doing this show during school is going to be a challenge (it has already come with some scheduling issues) but it is extremely important to me that I am gaining experience in professional musical theater, as I am not allowed to audition for musicals at my school, only operas. It is already evident that this show will be an invaluable experience for me as I prepare for a career in both musical theater and opera.

Back to talking about the show: Tuesday was a smaller music rehearsal for a few songs, including the three Heather's "Candy Store", and tonight, choreographer Robin Berger taught us the perfectly intense, synchronized, and often slutty dance steps for it. We've decided that this is a song that the Heathers practice at sleepovers, prepared to whip out at any time. I wish that my teenage sleepovers were as much fun as rehearsing this song. My fellow Heathers, Cameisha Cotton (Heather Duke), and Larissa White (Heather McNamara) are already a joy to work with, funny and insanely talented.

So that's all I've got for now! Sunday we add choreo to "Big Fun" with almost the entire cast. It will be so very!

Every post will include my favorite lyric of the week, so here is today's:

"You can join the team, or you can bitch and moan. You can live the dream, or you can die alone."
See how delightful and sweet this Heather Chandler is?


Sicily