19th February
Even with new members of the company in place, the rehearsal schedule for Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat picked up at the same gruelling pace every other production was put together with. Two weeks of rehearsal before going on was all the cast could expect, and under the watchful eyes of director, musical director, and choreographer, the Shanachie Theater Company worked themselves hard to come up to scratch. They snatched breaks when they could - the chorus often lining the mirrored walls of the attic rooms to watch as the principals were blocked and made to run through scenes, switching places with those principals when it came time to block the bigger numbers. The rehearsal rooms were hot and humid, but held a welcoming atmosphere. Everyone was here because they wanted to be, no matter how hard they were being worked. Even a princess who was trying to keep it quiet.
Graceful thanks to years of ballet lessons, Dru hadn't quite made it as a principal actor this time around, but she had made it as a principal dancer, one of the highlighted performers in the big musical numbers. Dressed as simply as everyone in tank, leggings, and split-soled sneakers, she threw herself into the rehearsal along with everyone else, and with everyone else in that small group, stumbled at the first hurdle. Joliss, the choreographer, had produced a move that sent the entire line up of eight principal dancers stumbling sideways and ending up in a pile on the floor, each of them laughing at their own clumsiness as they helped each other up to try again. One by one, the move was demonstrated and repeated, and much to her embarrassment, Dru found herself with her heel on the shoulder of one of the male dancers, blushing as he grinned down at her.
As nervous as Josh had been for his audition with the company, it had gone off without a hitch. That's not to say it had been a perfect audition, but it had apparently been enough to impress those who'd been judging his performance. Imagine his surprise when he'd not only been hired on, but offered the part of Pharoah in the upcoming production of Joseph. Not only was it a plum part, but for the young man who had arrived in Rhy'Din a few days prior, it was the culmination of a lifelong dream come true.
Looking very much like nearly every other young hopeful wannabe star, Josh was similarly dressed in t-shirt, leggings, and sneakers, which did very little to hide his youthful, athletic physique. He had always been a tall boy, but at six feet and three inches, he towered over nearly everyone in the company, male and female alike. Waiting for his crack at rehearsal, he took an easy lean against the wall to watch the chorus, chuckling along with them when they stumbled and fell and got up and did it all over again. He had an easy-going, friendly way about him and had already made a few friends in the company, despite only having arrived a few days earlier - and it didn't seem to bother the girls that he was easy on the eyes either.
"All right, all right," Joliss called out, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. "Joseph and brothers, you're wanted next door. Everyone else, let's run through the The Song of the King, shall we?" The elven choreographer turned her piercing gaze onto Josh, gesturing for him to take his place. "I'll be standing in for Joseph during this run through, Josh, just imagine me male, human, and significantly taller." She flashed a grin, and snapped her fingers. "And ladies - your pharoah is the sexiest thing on two legs you've ever seen. I want to believe it this time!"
Josh jumped to attention when he was addressed, not quite expecting to be called to rehearse so soon. There were some butterflies flitting around in his stomach, but he was confident that once he got through a couple of rehearsals, he'd fit right in and have his part down pat. "I'll do my best!" he promised the choreographer, resisting the urge to point out how very unlike a man she looked.
Of course, they wouldn't be rehearsing with the full band up here - band and company didn't come together until two days before the show went on. They'd just have to do with Gabriel playing his piano for now. Flicking the loose strands of hair out of her eyes, Dru found her place with the rest of the chorus, each of them positioned to put Pharoah directly in the spotlight for the opening of his big song. And yes, like the other women and girls in the line up, she had noticed that the newcomer to the group was very easy on the eyes. What she'd also noticed was the very faint trace of an accent that pegged him as being from Tirisano, which made him fascinating and a little bit dangerous to her. But there was no helping it now - for the next four minutes, she was going to have to get up close to the new boy, and hope like hell he'd never paid too much attention to her face splattered all over newspapers and magazines in their home country.
Elvis was, admittedly, a little before Josh's time, but he was familiar with the musical - what serious student of musical theater wasn't' And while it was a decidedly Earth-based play, it was one of his favorite all-time musical productions, and he was thrilled to be part of it. It didn't hurt that they'd done this particular musical back home once already, but in that particular production, he'd had a lesser role as one of Joseph's brothers. It would take more than a little practice, but the boy from Tirisano had potential. With a little practice and the right makeup and costume, he would make a pretty convincing Pharoah. To his credit, he put everything he had in to the performance, though it was only rehearsal. If he was going to make any mistakes, now was the time, rather than in front of a packed audience.
And mistakes were being made, all over the group. It was the first full run through for all of them, which never went smoothly. As far as Dru was concerned, it was embarrassing enough to be watching herself in a mirror doing some of these moves - in particular, the moment when she was required to shimmy and draw attention to the newly arrived bust she'd spent the last couple of months hiding under sweaters - but it was somehow worse to be doing it now there was a cute boy - man - less than three feet away.
Josh's voice was not quite Pharoah's yet, but with a little work, he'd get there. He rolled his hips as he belted out the lyrics, gesturing to his assembled entourage with a sweep of an arm to the left and the right as he sang of the dream that was troubling his character. Being surrounded by so many pretty girls was distracting at best, especially when one of them was the reason for his trip to Rhy'Din to begin with. He'd expected to find a girl barely out of puberty, but had instead found a pretty young woman in her place - one that was shimmying her stuff not more than three feet from him.
Even with new members of the company in place, the rehearsal schedule for Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat picked up at the same gruelling pace every other production was put together with. Two weeks of rehearsal before going on was all the cast could expect, and under the watchful eyes of director, musical director, and choreographer, the Shanachie Theater Company worked themselves hard to come up to scratch. They snatched breaks when they could - the chorus often lining the mirrored walls of the attic rooms to watch as the principals were blocked and made to run through scenes, switching places with those principals when it came time to block the bigger numbers. The rehearsal rooms were hot and humid, but held a welcoming atmosphere. Everyone was here because they wanted to be, no matter how hard they were being worked. Even a princess who was trying to keep it quiet.
Graceful thanks to years of ballet lessons, Dru hadn't quite made it as a principal actor this time around, but she had made it as a principal dancer, one of the highlighted performers in the big musical numbers. Dressed as simply as everyone in tank, leggings, and split-soled sneakers, she threw herself into the rehearsal along with everyone else, and with everyone else in that small group, stumbled at the first hurdle. Joliss, the choreographer, had produced a move that sent the entire line up of eight principal dancers stumbling sideways and ending up in a pile on the floor, each of them laughing at their own clumsiness as they helped each other up to try again. One by one, the move was demonstrated and repeated, and much to her embarrassment, Dru found herself with her heel on the shoulder of one of the male dancers, blushing as he grinned down at her.
As nervous as Josh had been for his audition with the company, it had gone off without a hitch. That's not to say it had been a perfect audition, but it had apparently been enough to impress those who'd been judging his performance. Imagine his surprise when he'd not only been hired on, but offered the part of Pharoah in the upcoming production of Joseph. Not only was it a plum part, but for the young man who had arrived in Rhy'Din a few days prior, it was the culmination of a lifelong dream come true.
Looking very much like nearly every other young hopeful wannabe star, Josh was similarly dressed in t-shirt, leggings, and sneakers, which did very little to hide his youthful, athletic physique. He had always been a tall boy, but at six feet and three inches, he towered over nearly everyone in the company, male and female alike. Waiting for his crack at rehearsal, he took an easy lean against the wall to watch the chorus, chuckling along with them when they stumbled and fell and got up and did it all over again. He had an easy-going, friendly way about him and had already made a few friends in the company, despite only having arrived a few days earlier - and it didn't seem to bother the girls that he was easy on the eyes either.
"All right, all right," Joliss called out, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. "Joseph and brothers, you're wanted next door. Everyone else, let's run through the The Song of the King, shall we?" The elven choreographer turned her piercing gaze onto Josh, gesturing for him to take his place. "I'll be standing in for Joseph during this run through, Josh, just imagine me male, human, and significantly taller." She flashed a grin, and snapped her fingers. "And ladies - your pharoah is the sexiest thing on two legs you've ever seen. I want to believe it this time!"
Josh jumped to attention when he was addressed, not quite expecting to be called to rehearse so soon. There were some butterflies flitting around in his stomach, but he was confident that once he got through a couple of rehearsals, he'd fit right in and have his part down pat. "I'll do my best!" he promised the choreographer, resisting the urge to point out how very unlike a man she looked.
Of course, they wouldn't be rehearsing with the full band up here - band and company didn't come together until two days before the show went on. They'd just have to do with Gabriel playing his piano for now. Flicking the loose strands of hair out of her eyes, Dru found her place with the rest of the chorus, each of them positioned to put Pharoah directly in the spotlight for the opening of his big song. And yes, like the other women and girls in the line up, she had noticed that the newcomer to the group was very easy on the eyes. What she'd also noticed was the very faint trace of an accent that pegged him as being from Tirisano, which made him fascinating and a little bit dangerous to her. But there was no helping it now - for the next four minutes, she was going to have to get up close to the new boy, and hope like hell he'd never paid too much attention to her face splattered all over newspapers and magazines in their home country.
Elvis was, admittedly, a little before Josh's time, but he was familiar with the musical - what serious student of musical theater wasn't' And while it was a decidedly Earth-based play, it was one of his favorite all-time musical productions, and he was thrilled to be part of it. It didn't hurt that they'd done this particular musical back home once already, but in that particular production, he'd had a lesser role as one of Joseph's brothers. It would take more than a little practice, but the boy from Tirisano had potential. With a little practice and the right makeup and costume, he would make a pretty convincing Pharoah. To his credit, he put everything he had in to the performance, though it was only rehearsal. If he was going to make any mistakes, now was the time, rather than in front of a packed audience.
And mistakes were being made, all over the group. It was the first full run through for all of them, which never went smoothly. As far as Dru was concerned, it was embarrassing enough to be watching herself in a mirror doing some of these moves - in particular, the moment when she was required to shimmy and draw attention to the newly arrived bust she'd spent the last couple of months hiding under sweaters - but it was somehow worse to be doing it now there was a cute boy - man - less than three feet away.
Josh's voice was not quite Pharoah's yet, but with a little work, he'd get there. He rolled his hips as he belted out the lyrics, gesturing to his assembled entourage with a sweep of an arm to the left and the right as he sang of the dream that was troubling his character. Being surrounded by so many pretty girls was distracting at best, especially when one of them was the reason for his trip to Rhy'Din to begin with. He'd expected to find a girl barely out of puberty, but had instead found a pretty young woman in her place - one that was shimmying her stuff not more than three feet from him.