04 February 2009

excuses, excuses

To make a short excuse of my sporadic blogging: my computer at home is still not fixed, as previously thought. And blogging via cell phone is not all it’s cracked up to be, hence the lack of communication. SO – hope everyone is doing well these days –the boss tends to frown upon reading blogs at work – go figure!

I have a few thoughts on this past month of musical activity:

1. Sick singers are miserable, neurotic creatures, and this particular production saw at least half the cast downed with whatever awful bug is making its way around SF this winter. I was solidly sick for about 2.5 weeks. UGH.

2. By the grace of God, my sickness did not include my throat – so I was still able to perform. Singing under the influence of lots of (legal) drugs is trippy. I found, though, that I only had energy enough to focus on performing…I didn't have enough energy to worry about HOW I was performing, which, some would argue, made my performance better.

3. Given #2, though, my second weekend of performances, after recovering, was much better than my first weekend’s. I could actually focus on not just making it through my aria without falling over. Made for a better characterization.

4. I shouldn't read reviews. Good or bad. Good ones can make me too comfortable in my performance, and bad ones can demoralize.

5. Sometimes I wonder if I am more comfortable being a character than I am just being myself. And sometimes the answer to that question is: Most Definitely Yes.
The closer any given role is to my *actual* personality, or if the character responds to a situation like *I* might respond, the harder it is for me to play. But I eventually work through that on stage. It’s weird.



PS for JEN: YES. I am TERRIFIED of ET - it is my phobia. I used to have recurring nightmares...up through Grad School, even. Completely irrational, I can't help it. Ty and Sibling like to tease me about this!

2 comments:

Buck said...

I'm glad you're feeling better, Katy. That's a great good thing.

re: "4. I shouldn’t read reviews. Good or bad. Good ones can make me too comfortable in your performance, and bad ones can demoralize."

Funny you should mention that. I was watching an extensive interview with John Grisham recently and he maintained he ignored reviews, on purpose. For exactly the same reasons you mentioned. "Great minds," and all that!

Bag Blog said...

I'm glad you are feeling better. My computer won't let me post photos - such frustrating machines.