Reading Week

I just got back to Oakville from a week in Niagara! I actually have mixed feelings about reading week being over. I love school, but it is still school and there is a lot of work to be done in the coming weeks.

For one, I'm going to be appearing in a play at the Toronto Winter Fair next month, so I've been in rehearsals for that on top of my regular classes. I also have to memorize a script for tomorrow (its my own damn fault for not doing it this week) and I have to sing the song "Dogs in the Yard" from Fame tomorrow, which I haven't started preparing for.

I'm excited to get back to dance class...though there is a project due tomorrow that I haven't started, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to finish it during my lunch break...I am the worst procrastinator in the world.

On Friday the Wildcats and I went to see HSM3. It was opening night, so naturally we went in full costume and danced in the lobby and in the theatre, to the sheer joy of all the tweens who thought we were their heroes. People even came up to us to get their pictures taken.

In all, it was the best movie-going experience of my life. The movie was surprisingly good and I have a new respect for Zac Efron, who was awesome in this. He didn't even have to take his shirt off! Go see it if you haven't already.

It was also my mission to have a good time with my friends without drinking this week, and I managed to do it! I had a couple of beers, but nothing that left me inebriated or hating my life the next day.

My very good friend Claire is currently playing the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd, which I got to see this weekend as well. She was awesome, as usual, and pretty much stole the show! Congrat's Claire!!

Anyway, I'd better get to singing so I don't fall flat on my face tomorrow morning!

Yesterday I let a complete stranger with no training cut my hair. This was actually an amazing experience. If you know me, and you probably do, otherwise why would be be reading this (unless you're just one of those people [like me] that reads random blogs I like), you know that I take particular pride in my appearance. 

Luckily, the end result was good and got some really nice attention today in class. 

I'm getting fat. I never thought I would say that. I am actually the skinniest person alive. I give some Ethiopian anorexics a run for their money. I do think that I need to lay off the pints for a while. My mid-section is not looking like a washboard anymore (which is the only option for skinny people with the slightest bit of muscle - I'm not saying I have a six-pack). 

Anyway, I had a meeting with my new improv company tonight. It was awesome and very cool to finally sit down with a couple of cool, intelligent people and just discuss life and shit over some beer. I haven't done this since moving from Niagara and I missed it. I also ate some amazing garlic bread.

I'm excited to be performing again in a non-scholastic setting. To do it just for the sheer joy of doing it, without the pressure of a teacher watching you. The team is made up of some of the most talented and hilarious people I have ever met, and I am supa-stoked to be working with them (though the pressure is on!). 

I just saw a show at Second City in Toronto, which was amazing. The actors even came out to talk to us after the show. I was amazed at how hard working they are. I think that sometimes we think that all the "hard-work" we will have to do as "starving" artists is to wait tables or make lattes, but the reality is, we have to wait tables and makes lattes and also try to make a name for ourselves in the business. You have to eat, sleep dream and shit your art. You can't leave it behind. It also struck me as amazing that they never stop learning. They take things from each other, from other actors, take classes and still crave more knowledge. No one will ever be the best performer ever, because it is all relative. Therefore, no matter how far you go, there is always more to know.

An Update

Okay...so apparently the video blogging thing isn't working so well. I broke the battery on the camera and, being a theatre practitioner, can't afford to replace it at this juncture. So, you people are going to have to just put up with using your imagination and visualizing all the amazing things that I am going to write about.

I have now been in Sheridan's theatre school for about a month now, though it seems like its been a year. I think I've learned more in these couple weeks than I have since I started taking this theatre thing seriously. I'm finally doing all the things I've always wanted to do, but never thought I would. I'm actually not bad at ballet and am already feeling different. I'm standing straighter and am fairly graceful (whereas everything I used to do was SO awkward).

I have already seen three shows and am going to two more this week. Jersey Boys was amazing. The whole conceit of the show, the blocking, choreography and the way the story is told, amazed me (not-to-mention the Frankie-Valli-esque singing that called every dog in the GTA to the theatre).

It was also awesome to think that in a number of months "bare" is happening in that same building. Its a little surreal.

Also, my new roommates are awesome. I haven't met two more chill guys and they're also really talented. I sometimes feel like the den-mother of the group though, and I am still being introduced as "Brian...he has a degree." They're really different though. Al is our leader and Liam likes to ingest foreign substances, they're a nice balance. Its like living with the odd couple.

As most of you know, I don't have a bedroom. I have three walls beside the kitchen and a bookshelf with a sheet over it. Not the most private situation, but I'm used to it (lets all be reminded of the window in the bedroom in my old apartment).

Even though I am having an amazing time singing and dancing with other, insanely talented people, I still miss everyone back home in Niagara. Though I don't really miss the University life, I do miss the routine I had last year. I miss McKenna on Wednesdays at Sheehan's and Mansion, I miss funk night after rehearsals at L3...wow...all of these things revolve around drinking....something else I really miss. There are only two bars near my apartment. One is the school pub (which sucks) and the other is a restaurant with a bar in it. Because Oakville isn't a student town, like St. Catharines was, there are a lot of older people in the bars. I am desperate for the days where I could go to a pub with a group of friends, listen to a band and have a pint.

Tomorrow the new Jack's Mannequin album comes out. I have been looking forward to this album since their last one came out three (four?) years ago. This has been a good year for music. Colin Oberst's solo album, the new Augustana and now...the new JM. Stoked!!

An Update?

Wow...I haven't updated in over a month. I really suck at this!! Is anyone still out there? I have got to get my act together....

Anyway, I am finally a theatre school graduate! Which means that I am free...to go to school again!! MUSICAL THEATRE SCHOOL!!!! Go me!
After a ridiculously gruelling audition, in which I not only got 0% on my music theory test, a 50% on my ear test but also improv'd during my dance audition, I was one of the people that got a call-back, or as Sheridan calls it an "RDA" (Denise and I think RDA stands for "Retarded Dancer Alert" because of how horrible my dance audition was - I actually "rodeoed" and humped the air). Long story short, it must be a slow year because I GOT IN!
April also saw Brian's very first Broadway audition. This was an interesting process. After standing in line for five hours in the freezing cold (gotta love NY in April), I got to sing for about twenty seconds. It went well though, they said I had the look and sounded good, so I suppose that's alright. I haven't heard from them though...so...I couldn't have sounded THAT good.
Oh, and I'm also in a show! It's called "Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead" and it starts showing May 29th(?), downtown! The show is about the lives of the Peanuts characters as messed-up high school students. They've changed all the names to protect the innocent (or to protect the author from being sued by Charles Schulz). It's like "American Pie" meets Catcher in the Rye starring Charlie Brown (or "CB" in our case). I play "Matt" who used to be called "Pin-Pen." I have never had to play a more challenging role in my life. I'm used to playing the awkward or stupid character (or Hamlet and MacBeth, for some reason) but this time around, I'm a homophobic jock who swears a lot and mistreats girls. It is really hard to get out of my body (I actually jazz-handed at one point). I'm doing some "dick-training" with some of the cast and crew (meaning, training to be a dick, not...well...you know). Anyway, it should be interesting. I'll be uploading a vid of some clips from rehearsal to give you a taste. Here are some pictures of rehearsals (it was photo day, we don't usually dress like this).

Look how tough I am.

Choreography I'm unfamiliar with.

The cast.

PS. Go out right now and buy Marc Acito's new novel "Attack of the Theater People." It's the sequel to one of my favourite books, "How I Paid for College" and it's amazing! GO NOW!

B-Wats and the Evil Dead

I'm actually back now. I bought a MACBOOK!!!!!! WOOT!! This means it will be far easier to upload videos and maybe I can get some quality blogs happening. In a couple hours I'll upload a video of when Denise and I visited Evil Dead: The Musical and got covered in the blood of the undead. It was awesome.

Check on back in a bit!

Still Here!

Hi everyone (...who hasn't stopped coming here because I've neglected to update...)!! I can explain. Really, I can. And I WILL!

These past couple of weeks have been spent organizing my musical which hits the stage on Friday. You can get all the info your heart could want at: www.brockmusical.com. Anyway, tonight was load in, build and level set day with tomorrow being cue-to-cue (aka. the day Satan visits the theatre). I wouldn't be so worried except that my cast is rambunctious and I want to hurt some of them a lot of the time.

Anyway, just as soon as the show is in the can (can you put a show in a can....SO MANY CANS!), I'll be updating the blog with the last part of brI Heart NY and perhaps a High School Musical blog of fun!?!?

Anyway come see my show before we go on tour...it gets way more expensive...because we are so totally touring.

Love you.

Really.

Whoever you are.