Look at me; There's got to be something more than what they see

one of my best friends

I attended rehearsals for Grease on Friday night and tonight (yeaterday technically). We open Tuesday. This particular director doesn't like to hold rehearsals the night before opening nioght. It's a combination of a superstition on his part and a belief that the cast will perform better on opening night if they're rested. 

I won't necessarily be rested, as I have medical school with which to deal, but I probably won't be as bone-tired as I would have been if we rehearsed tomorrow night, as studying will always come first for me even if an important dean is telling me not to sweat it and that I'll get as many chances at scoring acceptably on tests as I'll need. I'd still be studying into the wee hours after rehearsal until I felt confident in terms of my mastery of the material. I may study a bit late, but at least the studying won't have to come after a rehearsal.

Rehearsals have gone well. The cast knows their lines, their dances, their songs,  and their blocking. I suspect the only thing holding them back was the character portraying Sandy, and I'm not hlding them back. There have been a few changes in choregography, which is throwing the Danny Zucco character for a bit of a loop, but I'm confident he'll get it, and even he thinks it's for the best. The previous Sandy was a bigger girl than I. The choreographer addded a few more lifts because I'm a lightweight. "Danny" will get it and it will work out well.

I'm very fortunate that this is a flat role in terms of acting. i could recite the lines for something reasonably heavy, but I wouldn't do so with any depth. This is Grease, not Man of La Mancha. I can do this.

It's funny that everyone sees the Sandy character as a blonde, primarily because Olivia Newton-John played the role in the movie. I assume that's one of the reasons the dean thought of me when his wife was looking for someone to step in as Sandy. Marie Osmond was originally slated for the role but turned it down because the message in the end wasn't really in line with her Mormon values. With or without her Mormon values, though,  I can't really see Marie Osmond as a perfect fit in the role quite to the degree that Olivia Newton John was, I tend to wonder; would Marie Osmond have totally changed everyone's image of Sandy (or would the movie have been a flop)? I think the contrast of a darker Danny and a fairer Sandy works well, anyway.

By the way, I readily admit that my fittingness for the role in terms of my hair coloring is totally courtesy of Lady Clairol. Without chemical assistance, I'd be a dishwaer blonde at the very lightest. Some people who color their hair are reticent about admitting it. I'm not in the least. Besides, my brother knows. If i tried to keep it some sort of a secret, he would have something to hold over me. It's in my best interext to be open and above board about the natural shade of my hair.

When I was a baby I was a towhead. As a young child, my hair bleached out totally every summer but darkened each winter. The baby picture of me is taken in December just after I rurned two. It's December. I'm wearing warm-weather clothing because we're in San Diego.

Close friends of our family just gave birth to identical twin girls. Both babies were closer to six pounds than five and seem to be very healthy, for which we're all very grateful. For identical twin babies (they shared a sac and a placenta, so there's no question about their monozygosity versus disygosity) they don't seem to look all that much alike. It will be intereting to see how their looks change and how much they end up looking alike. I suspect their looks will grow more similar after they age.

I'm including, if I can find it, a video of the reprise of the Sandra Dee song. i'm fortunate in that i can sing the entire role in my chest voice. I sound mature in my chest cvoice. When I have to resort to my head voice, I sound like a little girl -- very dolce, but very young. It wouldn't work well for this role, so I'm really glad Sandy's singing parts are relatively low. in the ovie versio, part of the vocal is skipped, but you get the idea.

Grease Is Not the Word

Right now I'm killing time serving as a rehearsal accompanist for some university-affiliated group's production of Grease. I'm not doing it out of the goodness of my heart. I'm getting much-needed performance credits that I need as a music major. This and the two separate senior recitals will push me just just barely above the minimum. I'm considering doing the a capella group just for the fun of it, but it will be nice to do it because I want to  and not because I must. That way, if  I become too stressed, I can tell them I have to miss a rehearsal and that they're free to take it or leave it.

Grease really needs a performance pianist, but playing for the entire run of the show is too much of my summer to give up. The girl playing the lead was supposed to play for rehearsals and performances, but no one remotely qualified auditioned for the role of "Sandy,"  so she ended up taking the role, leaving both the rehearsal and performance pianist positions vacant. If the producer could line up one or two others who could each take a few nights, I'd be willing to do up to five performances, but that's my maximum. It even pays a little, but not enough to make it worth my time. I'm willing to help out a bit, but fifteen performances takes up too big a portion of my summer. I'm also doing my three-days-a-week  lab internship.

My friend Alyssa is here from Utah. She flew out with her aunt, who was traveling with twin six-month-olds and a  sixteen-month-old. (The aunt also has three other girls eight and under. It's crazy in my opinion, but no one asked for my opinion.) Alyssa comes with me to Grease rehearsals. She turns pages with me or goes into another room with a piano to plunk out parts for people who need help, as she plays piano reasonably well.  She said she's going to the beach when I go to the lab. I hope she uses tons of sunblock, as she's very Nordic in coloring, and I've seen a two new students who underestimated the power of the sun and ended up with third-degree burns.

My lab internship begins tomorrow. I predict that I will spend a whole lot of time mopping up spills and getting coffee for the employees and won't come within a foot of the lens of a microscope for at least three weeks.  Sometimes nepotism works in one's favor,  though, so I may get to look into a microscope in two weeks instead of in three.

I have my TV on, which I often do in times of insomnia. I tend to turn it on, then log onto my laptop and not switch channels. Right now a healer I haven't seen before is shaking people's heads and telling them that Dr. Jesus has healed them. It's all fine, well, and wonderful, but if any of these people Dr. Jesus has healed have bona fide illnesses, I suspect even Dr. Jesus himself would agree with me that they should be seeking the care of living, breathing, licensed physicians as well. God often works His greatest miracles through modern medicine.