I am SUPER excited to announce that the current show Patrica and I are in "
West Side Story" opens next Friday, Sept. 6th! I'm even more excited to share that my name ended up on the theatre poster! Most people think of this show as a classic or cliché but it just so happens to be one of our favorites. SO. MUCH. PASSION. Patricia is one of the sultry Puerto Rican "Shark" girls, and I am playing "A-Rab" (one of the gang members in the Jets!)
This show has been amazing to be a part of, we are working with two of our favorite directors and the results are just phenomenal! Each night we run through the show as we get closer to opening the more real the story becomes. Let me tell you if you think its a roller coaster to watch, its even more so to act it out. This role has been very different for me,
I'm mean. haha and in real life I'm not very mean or intimidating at all. But as soon as I put on my head band and roll up my jeans, I'm in a street gang its and its a hot Manhattan summer in 1957 with racial tensions boiling over to the point of exploding.
You wouldn't want to cross me or my Jet brothers. Fist fights! Goodness i've been in more fist fights in this show than I have my entire life, we get in close and throw very real punches. Although we are just acting, we try very hard to make it as real as possible (I've had the concussions to prove it.) I am fourth in line as far as gang leaders go behind Tony, Riff, and Action (when the show starts) and by the end of the second act Action is our leader and I am his second in command.
I can honestly say its the first show I've been really excited about in a long time, This is definitely not the happy go lucky guitar plucking "Doody" I played earlier this year in Grease. This is real, and leaves me emotionally drained after a performance because it takes that much to bring this show to life!
I do hope you all will try to come and see it! We'd love it if you did!
I'll have a "set" post later in September, the theme and beauty of this show has been "urban decay" and I'm having a ball getting things just so.
-Mick-
5 comments:
I love this show and it's fun to hear your passion for this play and your part in in. Enjoy! Can't wait to see the sets and hear how the opening goes!
Congratulations on getting your name on the poster!
I ran an after school program for several years after I retired at a high school in a high-incidence gang neighborhood. Our objective was to give them a place to be so they would stay out of trouble. We had a theater class, and the kids loved the "fight lessons." You're right that even a simulated fight can be very physical.
West Side Story is one of my all-time favorites! I was a young teenager when the movie version came out, and I developed a mad crush on George Chakiris. :) I can still hear "Somewhere" and get teary eyed.
You two on stage together!
It's going to be so much fun to follow you through this show! Such a great story.
Mick, couldn't be more perfect for you, especially after what you all have been through! A great emotional release I can imagine!
Have a blast and watch those concussions will ya!
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