So I've arrived in Las Vegas, and it's been a whirlwind! I was one of the first cast members to arrive yesterday, so I walked over to Target (everything you could possibly need is a 5 minute walk from our hotel..) and bought a few essentials for the hotel. When (almost) all of our cast had arrived, we went to dinner at this Texas Cowboy Grill place? It wasn't BBQ. But it was real good. After that, I was having a hard time still adjusting to the new time zone, so I passed out early - still a bit apprehensive about Day 1 of rehearsal and what to expect.
First off, let me say the hotel is amazing. The staff here are SO nice to us and bake cookies every afternoon. The breakfast in the morning has a lot of good options. After a month, it will definitely get a bit old I'm sure.. but for now I'm more than happy.
Rehearsal today was a blast!! The whole cast met together for the first time at 9am. We learned about our flight schedule to Freeport where we will join the boat. We also learned that the boat will actually be in Dry Dock when we board at the end of April. Sooo, there will be no passengers on board, and the boat won't move. They're updating/cleaning the ship overall. For us, they're installing new sets and stuff for the new segments of the Broadway show. They're also repairing the Pit Lift for us to use for entrances and exits - fun! This is both awesome and kind of a bummer, apparently. While we'll miss the excitement of the "hand-off" from the other cast and meeting them (they will deboard two days before we arrive), it does mean that by the time we arrive at the ship, everything will be ready for us. We won't have to worry about dodging guests or not having access to the theatre for tech when there's events or other shows going on. Apparently the general transition schedule can be really strenuous since the hours the cast generally can access the theatre are from 11pm-11am. However, we'll be the only ones there! So we'll be able to have a more normal schedule before we zip off to Miami for our opening night cruise on May 2nd. We also learned that another ship's cast will be joining us next week for their rehearsals the Azamara Quest). That means we'll have to share the studio space we have. When this has happened in the past, our cast will rehearse from 9-3, then the other cast will rehearse from 3-9. So they've gotta move fast this first week while we have full days.
And as soon as we got down to work, though, we were off!! The dancers worked their butts off in the dance studio, while we singers headed over to the private music studio to get to our own work. Before lunch, we learned the vocals for the entire first show "Liverpool Knights". It's a lot of fun, but a LOT of singing! My voice is definitely tired.. In the afternoon we reconvened with the dancers and blocked ourselves into the first three numbers. At the end of the day, we tried on our costumes for the "We Will Rock You" segment of the Broadway show and all our shoes. So fun.
AHHHH! It's going so fast, but it's necessary and a blast. We've got three full production shows, one "bumper" (mini-show at the beginning of every cruise), and one theme night. The dancers also have some other theme night/special event stuff to learn too. SO MUCH MATERIAL!! And right now, it's just a ton of lyrics. I made sure to memorize everything we blocked today to get ready for tomorrow before bed.
Now, I'm exhausted. This is a really long post.... Sorry. But it was a fun day.
Back to work tomorrow!!
Would love to see a video, if not illegal.
ReplyDeletewow! summer stock prepared you well for this gig, huh?
ReplyDeletecongratulations, this seems like it is going to be a once in a lifetime experience--being back on land will seem a drag! be sure to continue the updates!