No, there's not snow on the ground here in New York. I took this picture the LAST time I was in the Big Apple, which, funny enough, was when I was auditioning for LAMDA in February of last year. Now, I've got a diploma in my hand from that institution, and I'm here to show industry professionals why they should hire me and pay me money.
My fellow grads and I will be here for about a week before moving on to the west coast where we will thoroughly entertain professionals in Los Angeles. We have two performances here in NY and three in LA. My goal is to one day guest star on one of the three hundred versions of Law & Order now running on network television.
So, LAMDA. All done. Can't quite believe it. The time went by so quickly. We learned so much, and we were all put through an insanely intense courseload. We all grew though, through our ups and downs, our triumphs and failures, and I came out of it all with a renewed purpose and confidence. Now it's up to me to not let that momentum die. Gotta keep going, keep pushing; because if I don't, then I don't have a chance in Hell of making it. No pressure, right?
Thursday was our performance of "A Winter's Tale," and it went quite well. We had a packed audience, and people seemed to enjoy the show for the most part. It's not the most entertaining of Shakespeare's works, but we had some really great performances.
Friday, we hit school early to rehearse our medley of Noel Coward songs, our showcase material, and our big dance number. 15 minutes after rehearsals ended, we performed all three of those back to back for the Principal of LAMDA, the head of the drama department, our instructors and a few invited guests. The songs went beautifully, and the showcase material went off without a hitch. During my duologue with Laurine, she threw a remote control at me, which struck me in the knee and exploded all over the stage. It was pretty epic, and I had to fight really hard to not laugh.
Finally, it was time to close our performance with the big 10 minute dance number "The Liberty of Norton Folgate." The lights went down, and we filed onto the stage, placed ourselves and held. I looked up and saw my classmate Liza, who was positioned with her back to the audience. She smiled at me and I winked back. She grinned and the stage lights blasted on, the music coming in right on top of them. We tore the dance up pretty good, and surprisingly, it was my best performance of it. I say surprisingly, because when we originally performed it, weeks ago, I had a lot more rehearsal, but made quite a few mistakes. Strange how that works. Overall, we had a great time, and I think the faculty was really pleased.
At the end of the performance, we were called up to the stage one at a time to recieve our diplomas, and then we spent the afternoon in tutorials with some of the instructors, hearing about our progress over the two terms and what was good and what needed improving. We concluded the day with a big party at Hogwarts (the nickname for room V1, which looks straight out of Harry Potter). There was quite an array of food and drink. We laughed, we cried, said goodbye to our non-American friends who wouldn't be joining us on the American showcase. It was a bittersweet evening.
And that brings us up to this moment. Sitting here in a hotel in NYC, capitol of the world. Tomorrow morning, we rehearse our showcase, and then run it for the bigwigs on Tuesday. Then, the rest of our time will be spent enjoying the city and hopefully taking some meetings with agents. I'll blog more as we go. Catch you on the flip-flop!
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