Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Game Time

Rehearsals flew by with "Heathers". I mean I still can't believe that we open in just 2 weeks...That's not to say that we're not prepared though. This cast and crew and everyone involved simply blow me away every single time we're together.

This past weekend we moved into the Marcelle, where we'll actually perform, a couple blocks away from The Fox. First of all, this set is BEAUTIFUL. Second, the whole show gets a lot easier when you're in the real space that you'll be performing in. Back in our rehearsal area, things may have seemed a bit messy when people didn't know where to go, but the minute we all stepped on to the real stage, everything came together so smooth and naturally. It was brilliant.

So many people have surprised me, since I've worked with so few members of this team before. Every choice the directors take makes the show so unique and interesting and different from anything else I've ever seen. Even if I was skeptical at first about a couple of choices, as soon as we got into the Marcelle, everything looked so perfect and amazing, I just couldn't believe it. The team behind the scenes has been so helpful in not only helping me get into the character of Kurt Kelly, but also create the character anew and put my own take on it.

One of the big things that I was careful of in this show was not copying the Off-Broadway version of the show but also staying true to who Kurt is. There's a fine line between "character" and "cartoon", and that's definitely something that I found truly important- how can I make Kurt have this big, goofy personality without making him cartoon-like or overly comedic.

The main person that helped me with that was Omega Jones, the Ram to my Kurt, the 9 to my 6 (our jersey numbers of course). Going into this show, I had the preconceived notion that Kurt and Ram were pretty interchangeable and  essentially the same guy. Based off of what I had seen, they seemed like very similar people with very similar lines. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Omega and I came in and within just a few weeks we had already created all of this content for our characters' stories from how long they've been friends to what their true intentions are to why they do what they do.

Through several weeks of rehearsals we've discovered what makes Kurt and Ram so amazing together. They're a true do-or-die til the end bro-mance. You just can't separate them. Every single scene I have in this show, I'm always side by side Omega no matter what. Even after a night of big fun, we still find our way back to each other for some dancing or shots or whatever we want to do. Kurt and Ram truly cover each other's weaknesses and counter each other so well. Essentially, Kurt is the "brains" and Ram is the brawn. Surprisingly, it was so easy once together during rehearsals to find instant chemistry between Kurt and Ram, because there's so much that makes both characters so unique and different from each other. Not to mention, Ram's low and demeaning laugh compared to Kurt's high pitched squeak...

From the way Kurt talks and walks to the way that he dances, it has been such a wild and hilarious ride trying to find every little detail to make this character come to life. Slowly but surely I finally figured out every piece of my character and now here we are 2 weeks from opening night and all that's left to do is smooth things out.

It's game time.

-Clayton