Do I hear a waltz?

Okay, so I'm just going to do an EXTREMELY brief post about the OMTA showcase, which went up this past weekend. And I'm pretty sure the entire experience can be basically summarized in one word: OHMYGODITWASSOMUCHFUN!!! (Okay, almost one word...)

It was an extremely brief showcase, consisting of only seven pieces total (one of which was unfortunately cut from the program on Saturday, due to an unfortunate illness). And it took place in the Slow Train Cafe, which is a wonderful place that serves really great coffee, but unfortunately presents some predicaments when it comes to performing (i.e. awkward coffee-grinding noises and baristas loudly trying to figure out which customer isn't claiming his/her pumpkin spice latte in the middle of songs). But it was still a fun place to be for the show. And even though there wasn't a whole lot of seating, we got great audiences for all three shows.

Of course, each piece went very well. The opening piece, "Aquarius" from the show Hair sadly only got one performance because of the lead singer's sudden sickness. However, I was of the opinion (as were many people) that they should have tried to figure out another solution, rather than just cutting the piece altogether. After all, the ensemble members put in so much work and they shouldn't have had their piece cut simply because one person couldn't be there. And the truth is, any one of them could have sung the solo...

However, once that was cut, the piece that was second on the program got moved to the opening spot. This piece, incidentally, turned out to be "A Little Priest" from the show Sweeney Todd. Which was the piece I was in. Yikes! Overall I felt very good about how our song went for all three shows. Having an audience for it definitely had an enormous impact on our performance, since there were now people to laugh at all of the highly amusing cannibalistic puns (which, I must say, got much bigger laughs than I anticipated in one of the performances.) We had so much fun every time we did it, and I think it went very well.

The rest of the acts went very well also. The other pieces featured in the showcase were "At The Ballet" (from A Chorus Line), "Unworthy of Your Love" (Assassins), "Every Day A Little Death" (A Little Night Music), "Take Me Or Leave Me" (Rent), and "Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair" (South Pacific). In particular, two of my favorites were the Assassins piece and the A Little Night Music piece. Two of my close friends were in those songs (playing Squeaky Fromme and Charlotte) and they both did absolutely gorgeously. (Is that a word? "Gorgeously?" It doesn't really sound right. Quick dictionary.com break...Yes. Yes, it is a word. Huh...)

As a whole, the showcase was so much fun, and even though it was a logistical nightmare much of the time, I still had the time of my life and I'm actually a little sad that it's over. However, I'm still participating in the workshop of Vessel, and there are more auditions coming up down the road, and rumors of certain musicals that may or may not be put up at Oberlin (more details to come). So I'm not in any way short of theater opportunities for the time being.

I now leave you with a link to a video my piece. (Since sadly none of my family members or friends from Binghamton could make it here for the show, I made sure someone got a video of it. Snaps to my roommate, who put it on Youtube!) In addition, once you see that video, on the same channel you'll find recordings of my friends' pieces as well, which are amazing. Enjoy! Note: This post was brought to you by the wacky musical theater people of Oberlin College. They sing choruses in public. That's mad enough for you, old man. (A gold star goes to anyone who can name one or both of the things I just referenced. Hint: One is an operetta, the other is a movie...)