Next to Normal - Rehearsals
The Modern Theater will be presenting Next to Normal as a co-production with Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre in just a couple weeks! Tonight, I got to visit their rehearsal space and capture the images that I'll be using for their character portraits. Naturally, as I always do, I managed to create a number of extras.
I appear in one or two shows a year. I do well enough that I'm not booed offstage and I always have fun performing ... but I wouldn't call me an "actor" and certainly not a professional. These folks, most of whom are far younger than me, are champs and all seem to have more experience than I do. So much hard work and dedication, so many years getting to this point and so many hours creating the character they plan to portray onstage. They've got a lot of work to do in a compressed time period but a good stage manager will keep a brisk pace at each rehearsal. These folks are up to the task.
I've listened to the soundtrack for 'Next to Normal' numerous times and I certainly enjoy its beauty and the depth of its topic but when I heard the songs sung by those that I know, love and respect, my appreciation for the both music and my friends increased tremendously. Though an already fantastic soundtrack, hearing it performed by folks that I know and respect gives it an entirely new level of wonder.
There are just two more weeks of rehearsal. LOTS of work to do in a short amount of time but, as these folks have done many times before, they're gonna create something magical!
