Chello, Hollywood!

Here’s my class schedule for this semester:

My classes this semester are really great- but I have sooo much more homework than I did last semester- it’s almost like I’m going to a normal college.. Haha

This week was midterm week- but I still have one more on Monday for MT History (which I have been/will be studying all weekend for).  My other midterms all went really well, though.

For MT Performance, the songs I’ve been given are “Love Is Here To Stay” by the Gershwins, “My Business Man” by David Raksin and June Carroll, and “How Lovely To Be A Woman” from Bye Bye Birdie (the first show I was ever in!). For my free choice song- I’ll be singing “The Trolley Song” from Meet Me In St. Louis- and that’s next week. 

I just finished a scene in acting, called Overtones- by Alice Gerstenberg, and now I’ve started working on Stage Door by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman.

I haven’t decided yet if I like my classes more or less than last semester.  They’re all good classes, but I feel like last semester the teachers connected with the students better than the ones I have now.  I don’t have any complaints, though.  They’re still good teachers.

My birthday was the week I returned to Los Angeles, so several of my friends and I went out to eat at a really good Japanese restaurant that night- it was loads of fun!  Then we went to the beach that weekend, and it was so nice out- and I didn’t even get a sunburn! (Thank goodness)!

I went home over Valentines’ weekend! I got to see my mom, and the CHS production of Beauty and the Beast (which was absolutely wonderful, by the way- I am so proud of everyone that was involved in that show)! I got to visit my friends and go to church at CCC, but it was a super quick trip, because I had classes on Monday morning at 8:30 after I got back to LA. It was so great to spend the weekend with my mama!

My school had free tickets (with great seats!) for the students to see RENT the musical on Thursday (opening night) and Friday nights.  I had already purchased a ticket for today’s matinee, but my seat wasn’t as good for my purchased ticket as it was for my free ticket (Second row, orchestra section, on the left- close to the aisle), so I went on Thursday night with my friends.  The show was absolutely amazing!! Adam Pascal (Roger) and Anthony Rapp (Mark) were in the cast- and they are members of the original cast of the show, as well as the movie made a few years ago.  They were sooooo good! I cried so much. Oh my goodness.  And we got to meet them after the show- our group went to the stage door to get their autographs, and they were so nice! I’m saving that program forever. My roommate was originally supposed to go with me today, and she was sick on Thursday (she has mono.. I’m kind of freaking out. Please pray I don’t catch it. I really really really can’t get sick), so since I already went, her boyfriend is going with her today instead of me (he’s paying me back, of course). I’m going to go back to the stage door with them after the show in a few hours to get a few of the characters’ autographs that I missed on Thursday. (The cast had reservations at a restaurant- and some of the actors left before they got to my part of the line to get to the restaurant in time).  I’m so excited! I’m wearing my RENT t-shirt and everything..

Well- I think that’s about everything? Sorry again that it took me so long to post!
Love you all! Thanks for reading!

I finally have a little bit of spare time, so I thought I’d update again

My final demo performances went extremely well!  I performed “Angel’s Rink and Social Center” from The Rink for my demo in Musical Theatre Performance (and I can belt it!  I was so excited!  And my teacher really liked it).  That was my last demo- on Thursday at 4:00.  I ended up not having any on Friday (thank goodness- otherwise I might have had to change my plane tickets- no good).  Everyone in my class did so well, and it was kind of sad taking our bows at the end of the performance.  The rest of my demos were somewhat uneventful- but they all went extremely well, and I think my grades will be good (AMDA will most likely take quite a while in getting them to me). 

I flew home on Friday, December 19th, and mom and I stayed in St. Louis overnight at Martha’s house.  The next day we went to a St. Louis Stages production of Little Women, The Musical- mom got us tickets as my Christmas present .

I sang on Christmas Eve in church- “Christmas Lullaby” from Songs For A New World (a musical), and again on the Sunday after Christmas (the same song). 

On Christmas day, mom and I went to Springfield in the afternoon to spend time with Nathaniel, Rebecca, Soren, and Rebecca’s family- it was a really great Christmas!  Soren has gotten so big! It was fun watching him eat the wrapping paper from his presents- he was more interested in that than the contents of the packages, but that’s alright.  It was so great to see all of them.

Mom and I went with Gordon and Laura Sauvage to Mississippi to visit Grandpa Ralph and pick up the last of my grandmother’s belongings.  It was a quick trip- we traveled on the 29th, packed on the 30th (and had some time to visit), and traveled back on the 31st.  It was really nice to see Grandpa Ralph again- and I think he really enjoyed having us there.  His daughter, Janet, also came while we were there.  I hadn’t met her before, and she was a lot of fun. 

When we got back on the 31st, I went to the Nicklas’s house to babysit Jase and Curtis with Audra- we played a lot of Wii, and the kids were asleep before midnight- a bit of an anticlimactic New Year’s, but that’s alright- it was still enjoyable.

My friends came over yesterday and we finally got to exchange gifts- it was so much fun to hang out with them again- and I still have a week left!  So nice to be home.

I go back to LA on Sunday, January 11th- and I’ll fly in kind of late at night.  (My roommate will have to pick up a class schedule for me- they don’t give them out until Saturday the 10th- and I start classes the morning after I get back). 

Love you all!  I hope you had a great Christmas and happy New Year!

I know.. I know…  It’s been over a month.  See, the thing is- I kind of forget that I have a blog?  Because I’m busy?  And it’s not facebook?  My mistake.  If it makes any of you feel better- I don’t think I’ve written in my journal for the past month and a half either.. Which I don’t think is really a good thing either, but oh well. 

So here are a few highlights of what happened since I last updated this…

Musical Theatre Performance:
I performed “Just A Map” quite a while ago- it went super well.  I got an A on it, and my teacher (Danny) cried during my performance!  (Cool, right?)  Last week I performed “Part Of Your World” from The Little Mermaid (which is a musical on Broadway right now), and I’m supposed to get my grade back for that tomorrow-ish.  The performance went really well.  I sang “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” for our freechoice day (the week after “Just A Map”)- it was pretty good and stuff.  Now I’m working on “Angel’s Rink and Social Center” from The Rink- a musical made for Chita Rivera and Liza Minelli (my song is originally sung by Liza).  Our performance day for that is next monday- right after my final for Professional Ethics and Dance- so everyone will be sweaty and gross… ugh.

Acting: 
Right now we’re working on our final demo performances for the last week of classes.  Most of the kids in my class are doing scenes from Sundown Beach (a play set in Florida in the 1940′s- mostly about men who came back from the airforce and how their lives effect everyone else around them- pretty good.  I play a character named Muriel- and my husband George goes a bit crazy).  There are five girls doing a different script- called Letters to Lucerne, about girls from different countries living at a boarding school in Switzerland during the war.  

Professional Ethics and Dance:
(Musical theatre-esque dance class)- has been really great!  Yesterday we did a really fun swing dance, but now I’m increadibly sore from some lifts we did at the end.  My legs are killing me!  Next week we have finals- we have to know every dance we’ve learned in that class… and there are quite a few.  (We learned one to “We Go Together” from Grease!  It’s pretty fun). 

Ballet:
Eh.  Not my favorite.  Sometimes my teacher snaps- one minute she’s really nice, then the next she’s yelling.  It’s a little stressful.  Oh well.  Our final demo performance is to “Seasons of Love” from RENT.  Reminds me of Bel Cantos.  :)

On Camera:
My roommate, Alison, and I are doing a scene from Gilmore Girls on friday.  It’s a fast talking scene.. I’m a bit nervous about it, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.  We’ve rehearsed it often.

Choir:
We’re singing Oklahoma (from Oklahoma!), Snow (from White Christmas), and the Hallelujah Chorus for our Christmas concert sometime the week of demos in addition to all the other songs we’ve had for a while.  It’s a pretty fun class- but Camdenton Choirs are better. 

English:
We got a new teacher!  We (the students) were told our old one had to leave to work on a film project, but I’m pretty sure he was fired because too many people complained… Our new teacher is amazing, and the class is so much fun now!  They had to change it to a different time, though.  Now my class is from 7pm to 10pm on tuesday nights (which kind of stinks- I have class from 10am to 10pm on tuesdays).  But it’s a really good class now.  I look forward to it every week!  Wacky!

My midterms were great- I got really high grades in all my classes (some of them don’t give A’s to first semester students- and I got B’s and B+’s in those- so I can’t say I’m a straight A student- it’s not possible, but my grades were still good)!

I got to see my mom twice recently!  The weekend before last we went to Washington for my grandmother’s funeral (her second one- the first was in Mississippi).  It was a good service, and it was nice to see my extended family and my mom again.  Then I went back to LA for two days and got to go home for Thanksgiving.    We stayed in St. Louis for thursday and went back to the lake on friday.  I had a sleepover at my house on friday night with my friends- I had missed those girls so much!  It was great fun- we watched Kung Fu Panda (amazing movie)!  My flight out of St. Louis was at six in the morning on sunday- so mom and I left at one am on sunday morning… into the snow… my plane left an hour late and I missed my connecting flight in Dallas, but they put me on the next available plane and I made it back here by 11:30 am.  Mom had to drive for six hours in the snow, then preach two sermons- I think she had it a little harder than I did.  Love you, Mama C!

I have two more weeks of regular classes, then one week of final demos (which are our final performances for the entire faculty- I don’t think I explained that earlier).  I’m sad to be changing teachers for next semester- I won’t have Danny Gurwin or Laura Flanagan anymore, and they’re such great teachers, but it will be great to come home for three weeks!  I get out after December 19th, and fly back on January 11th. 

I found a church I absolutely love here!  It feels like the worship at CRY- it’s so amazing.  The church is called Ecclecia (= church in Greek).  It’s non-denominational (their largest downfall in my opinion is their opposition to women in ministry- they’ll allow women in their pastoral team, but they can’t be the head minister or head elder, but I’d rather go somewhere that makes me feel like God is right there and disagree with a few of the church’s beliefs than go somewhere that goes by every belief that I do and not get anything out of it- you know?).  It’s about seven minutes away (walking distance) right on Hollywood Blvd., and is in an old movie theater that they kind of re-made to seem more churchlike.  I’ll take some pictures of it this sunday and put them up here so you can see it. 

I think that’s about it?  If I don’t update for a while- it’s because I’m really busy getting ready for final demos.  There’s so much rehearsal involved.  I don’t have any papers for my finals- just performances.  Lots of performances. 

I love you all!  Thanks for checking in on me- sorry it took me forever!

The work load here is kind of odd- one week I’ll have very little homework or things to rehearse, and the next I don’t have enough time to memorize and practice everything that I need to.  It’s crazy.  This week was an “I don’t have enough time…” week.  It went fairly well- but my brain needs a bit of a rest from memorizing things for a day.  Thank goodness it’s the weekend!

Not much is new, I suppose.  I went to Build- A- Bear and made a teddy bear named Otis earlier this week.  I got a little homesick for the first time ever- but I’m alright now.  My roommates are kind of driving me crazy… But I think that’s normal?  Haha.

Um… I guess that’s it?

Love you all!  Sorry this post wasn’t very exciting?

My last post was from quite a while ago- and I believe I was about to head to 9 to 5.  That show was so amazing!  Stephanie J. Block is the Elphaba that I saw in New York in Wicked the musical- and she was one of the main characters in 9 to 5.  She was absolutely fantastic.  The other two women leads were great as well (Allison Janey- from lots of tv shows and movies- the mom on Juno, and Megan Hilty- who played Glinda in Wicked on Broadway- but not the one I saw when I was there), and Marc Kudisch was the lead male actor (who happened to be Danny Gurwin- my musical theatre performance teacher-’s roommate for 8 years in NYC)- he was amazing.  The show was so well done- and the sets were so awesome!  Our seats were in the highest balcony- so we could see everything coming in and out of the floor- they had a lot of scenery that came in on platforms from underneath the stage- and we could see all the tracks for the scenery that came on from the wings- it was a cool perspective! 

My classes were great last week- I performed in Musical Theatre Performance on thursday- and it went fairly well.  We had a different accompanist than usual- and he wasn’t as amazing as our normal one- but that’s alright. 

My voice teacher assigned me ”Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” from Phantom of the Opera- which is so cool- first semester students are hardly ever assigned lyrical work from shows like Phantom.  I’m excited!

On Thursday morning, I went to a body conditioning workout thing that my dance instructor- Marina- does every Thursday and Monday mornings at 7:00 am. That was torture.  No thank you. I have no upper body strength- so pushups and situps are not so good- and that was half of the workout.  Heh- I think I might try it one more time- I’ve been told the second time is much better than the first- but I need to get tons of sleep the night before.  For realz.

I went to the zoo on saturday with Stuart, Tanya, Anna, and Tanya’s mom (my relatives- Stuart is Ralph’s son- so my uncle, Tanya’s my aunt, my cousin Anna is two and a half and adorable).  It was great fun- except the zoo here was a little disappointing.  It was so hot that the animals barely moved at all, and all the cool animals were at the back of the zoo.  I had to go for an assignment in my acting class- we had to observe an animal and act like it in class on monday.  I chose the fox- he moved a little, and was cute. 

Classes this week have been alright- my favorite class is still Musical Theatre Performance, hands down.  I’m singing “Just A Map”  from the Rothschilds- a really old musical- last performed in 1990.  The song is really good- it’s about a mother who has 5 sons that have left her house (in Germany) because of a war- in 1770′s- and she’s singing about the perfection of the world on a paper map, and the imperfection of the world in actual reality.  It’s amazing.  I read the script (we’re supposed to read the scripts for all the songs we sing- it helps us understand the lyrics and meaning much more than just doing a cabaret kind of thing), and it was about one and a half inches thick- on regular printer-sized paper. I read the entire thing- and it was pretty good- had a few exceptions, but for the most part a great show- then I realized that my song isn’t in it.  It was cut from the original show in 1970, and put back in the revival in 1990- but the script I read was from the original 1970 production.  Haha.  Oh well.  It was a good script, at least.

I think that’s all for now?  I can’t think of anything else that’s exciting that’s happened since I last posted…

So- I love you all!  Thanks for checking up on me, and I’m sorry it took me so long to write!

Hi everyone!  I think I’m going to try updating this once a week-ish. 

So- let’s see… What’s happened since last Friday..

We went grocery shopping last Sunday- at the farmer’s market (which was huge and awesome), and at the grocery store right by our apartment.  Our kitchen is fully stocked- so no worries, I will not starve!  

My favorite class is Musical Theatre Performance.  My teacher is Danny Gurwin (who originated the role of Laurie in the Broadway musical, Little Women).  He is such a great teacher- he really helps everyone to find their own version of the character they’re portraying.  I really love that class.  It’s so much fun- I wish I had it more than three times a week. 

I sang “Will He Like Me?”  From the musical, She Loves Me.  (All the sopranos were given the same solo for the first week, our next assignments are different- I was given ”Just A Map”  from the musical, The Rothschilds). Here’s the process:  We get the song, learn it on our own (we have opportunities to practice with an accompanist if we need to), and we have one practice day during class- individually, we sing our songs on “na-na’s”  (which helps us understand the musicality of the piece), and then we sing it on the lyrics, and Danny gives us notes on what we need to fix and what we’re doing right, etc.  We perform our song after everyone in the class has had a chance to do their practice day (so- I think my performance day is this coming Thursday). 

On Tuesday, after I sang my song on “na-na’s,” Danny didn’t have any bad notes for me!  He said it was wonderful, and that I completely understood the meaning behind the whole piece, and I really created a character that was tailored to my personality- I was practically speechless.  This man knows his stuff- he has been on Broadway SEVERAL times, and is on a first name basis with the most esteemed Broadway actors and actresses- and he complimented me!  Man.  That made my week. 

I had my first voice lesson on Wednesday.  My teacher is Marla Jones- and she’s pretty cool, but a little intimidating.  The first half hour was spent with her drilling me on everything I know about vocals (the muscles, breathing, sound placement.. etc).  I knew most of what she was asking (thank goodness- thanks for the lessons last year, mom!).  Then she had me warm up and do some breathing exercises.  I sight-read a song- that was alright.  She worked with me on “Will He Like Me?” but we didn’t get all the way through.  She’s a really picky teacher- which is a good thing- but she stopped me every three seconds, and we only got to the third page of the song.  I really just wanted to sing the song- let it all out.  Music is my outlet- and I felt like I was keeping it all inside.  It was kind of frustrating.  We ran out of time before we could finish the song. She told me to tell her if she was being too picky- and I want her help- but I think for this week, I’ll ask her if I can sing through it once before she gives me notes.  We’ll see.

On Wednesday night, AMDA (The American Musical and Dramatic Academy- my school) students were given free tickets to a movie premiere of FAME the musical.  It was the old movie, but they improved the cinematography and played it in a huge theater.  It was so much fun!  I went with my friend Lacy, her roommate Gerry, and my roommate Alison.  It was a good time.

(Oh!  And on the way there- we saw Audrina, who is on a show on MTV- The Hills- she’s famous!). Haha.

I performed a scene from Angels In America with my friend Andra (pronounced Andre’) in Acting class on Thursday- it went pretty well.

Yesterday (Saturday), my friend Lacy and I decided to enter the Wicked Lottery.  It’s free to enter, and if you win- you get front row seats to Wicked the musical that night for $25 each (you can win one or two).  All you have to do is put your name in a drawing, and at 6:00 each night, around 25 seats are given away.  (Front row tickets would usually cost more than $100).  Lacy and I played it on Friday night for a friend- and didn’t win, but we decided to try it again last night- and we WON!  Our seats were in the front row, and two off from dead center- it was so amazing!  The actors were so wonderful- Elphaba and Glinda brought so much of their own personalities to the show- it was so different from when I saw it in New York!  It was great to see how the exact same show can be changed by having different actors perform- I loved it. 

Today I’m going to 9 to 5 the Musical (the surprise for all the BFA Musical Theatre incoming students) – and I’m so excited!  Stephanie J. Block, who was the Elphaba in Wicked when I saw it in New York, is in it!  How cool is that- two shows in one weekend?! 

Oh!  Here’s my address- I always love getting mail!!

Tabitha Carroll
6400 Franklin Ave. 
Apt. #315
Los Angeles, CA 90028

I love you all!

Hi everyone!

I’m sorry I didn’t do this sooner- I kind of forgot.  So here I am- better now than never, right? 

I suppose I should start from the beginning.

Mom and I flew here on Tuesday the 2nd.  On Wednesday the 3rd, we walked all around Hollywood (cool, right?), and had dinner with Stuart, Tanya, and Anna (my uncle, aunt, and cousin- Anna’s two and adorable) at Mel’s Diner (American Graffiti, anyone?).  They drove us around LA- and took us to some great lookout points- we saw the city at night with all the lights on- it was very cool- and very huge!

Mom and I moved my stuff into my new apartment on the 4th (Thursday).  Well… Orientation Leaders and R.A.’s moved my stuff- we unpacked it.  My things were a little too heavy for us to lift up two flights of stairs to the 3rd floor…

My apartment is really cool- and I’ll put some pictures of it on here so you can all see it.  My roommates and I get along fairly well (so far, haha).  I’ve heard that my apartment building is the nicest (and newest) one out of all the student housing!  It is pretty nice, and even though it’s uphill both ways (to and from the campus), I’ll be grateful for my suh-weet apartment- with my career, it might be the nicest one I live in for a while after college… haha- no worries…

We had dinner with the rest of the incoming students and their families that night, and said our goodbyes (sadface) after a meeting about orientation. 

Friday and Saturday were full of placement auditions.  These were to put the students into groups- the groups have the same schedule all year (so all of my classes- except one- are with the same group of students until next year).  Friday I did a monologue (from The Triangle Factory Fire Project), and a song (I Feel Pretty from West Side Story).  Saturday we did Dance placement- which was surprisingly a lot easier than I thought possible.  I was placed in Level 2 (Intermediate Ballet!  Crazy!), with my new friend, Lacy. 

We got our schedules on Sunday (Lacy is in my group- so she has the same classes with me).  We were also given a gift of sorts.  Every year, the incoming students receive a gift.  Last year, it was an evening on a really nice yacht, the year before- Wicked tickets, and so on.  This year, the Musical Theatre students are being taken to “9 to 5″ (which is also a movie about Dolly Parton- that’s what the musical is based on) on the 21st!  The production is a Workshop, which means it is still in the process of being cut and revised, before it heads to Broadway in March!  Many productions come to Los Angeles to be workshopped in front of audiences, to see how the crowd reacts- and to predict whether or not the show will do well if it goes to NYC.  I’m very excited!  This is such a cool opportunity!  I’ll tell you all about it after I go!

Classes started on Monday the 8th.  Here’s my schedule!

Monday!
Professional Ethics and Dance- 8:00 to 9:50 (Broadway style dance- our first choreography was to “One” from A Chorus Line!)
Musical Theatre performance- 10:00 to 11:50 (My favorite class so far- my teacher was on Broadway in Little Women!  He looks like Ben Folds- but not as weird looking.  The class is basically a voice class with musical theatre repitoir).
Acting 1- 12:30 to 2:20 (Awesome!  I love it!  We’re reading “An Actor Prepares” by Stanislavsky- it’s really good).

Tuesday!
Ballet 1.2- 10:00-11:50 (Woohoo!  Intermediate dance!)
Musical Theatre Performance- 1:00 to 3:20
Acting 1- 3:30 to 5:20

Wednesday!
English Composition- 11:30 to 12:50 (My teacher is like a really dorky version of Brian Edwards.. haha.  This is my only General Education course this semester- super easy so far).

Thursday!
Acting 1- 9:30 to11:20
Musical Theatre Performance- 11:30 to 1:50
Musical Theatre Films- 2:00 to 3:20 (We watch film clips- it should be called The History of Musical Theatre).

Friday!
On Camera 1- 9:00 to 10:50 (Film Acting- pretty cool)
Performance Choir- 11:00 to 12:50 (Learning to be a chorus member- so far, our songs are Alma Mater (We Go Together) from Grease, Children of Eden from Children of Eden, and Dirait-on [which I love!]).
English Composition- 3:00 to 4:20

So!  I’ve made it through my first week!  Hooray!