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September 9, 2007
The Actors Voice, 9/10/07
Hi Everyone!
Here's how tomorrow's The Actors Voice starts out.
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Suzanne and the Football Players
My old high school is now a Performing Arts Magnet School. Let's just say that wasn't the case back in the '80s. In fact, when I arrived at North Springs High School as a sub-freshman ("subbie," 8th grader, y'all), there was no drama club. It (along with other non-sports-related extra-curricular activities) had been cut. But there was chorus, if you were into performing. (No, I have no idea what the folks who couldn't sing well were supposed to do. Debate team, maybe?) Anyway, by the time I graduated from North Springs, there was a thriving drama club with loads of young actors being tapped for the Governor's Honors Program and headed off to top-ranked performing arts programs at kick-ass colleges. But that's not what this column is about.
It's about a girl named Suzanne (and, oh, for the life of me, I wish I remembered her last name) and a show we did in the spring of 1986 called "Music Through the Ages." (Note: that may not be what the show was actually called. It was 21 years ago, for cryin' out loud. I'm lucky I even remember that we did this show, which may have been called "Memories" or "Musical Memories" or "Timeless Music" or something similarly clichéd. Point is, it was a musical theatre piece wherein we each were cast in two or three "decades" of music, and a very non-musical trip to the attic with grandma was the story that wove together all of these decades of music, which those of us who could carry a tune presented between each "discovery" in the attic's boxes.)
In case you are wondering, I was cast as one of the Andrews Sisters, Karen Carpenter, and Cyndi Lauper. Yeah. I had it pretty dang good. Suzanne--a lovely musician who could sing well but would only ever really be in the chorus--scored supporting roles in the backup singers' area for the Beatles medley and the Beach Boys medley, as well as a nice little backup portion for the grand finale ("We Are the World"). As did the football players who signed up for "general chorus" to get an easy A. Suzanne, who took her music very seriously, was not amused by this casting. She was actually quite pissed off. "They don't even CARE! Why are they doing this? Why is Ms. Simpson giving them these parts?!?"
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Continue reading this column in the morning, along with a Your Turn filled with MORE reactions to last month's Issues of Race piece at Showfax.com.
As always, THANK YOU for reading!
PS--Just got home from seeing SuperBad. Eh. Can someone explain what all the hype's about?
Cheers,
-Bon.
Live your dreams! If you don't, someone else will.
Posted by bonnie at September 9, 2007 7:05 PM
Comments
Superbad hasn't made it to Australia yet but I'm guessing it's not particularly funny unless you're a 14-year-old boy. Which you are not.
Posted by: Dom at September 10, 2007 11:33 PM