There's no business...

[libertango]

So I had an audition tonight.

The Client is so damned big, there are clubs and groups and whatnot. One of them is the Theatre Troupe. (I kid you not.) When I was on my last contract, they did A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. But I got there too late to audition.

This year, they're doing Return to the Forbidden Planet. Shakespeare's long-lost rock'n'roll/science fiction follow-up to The Tempest. (Some of you may recall the 1956 movie of Shakespeare's only previous science fictional work.)

Anyway.

So, I did "On the Street Where You Live" (My Fair Lady), bopped up, a cappella. They then wanted me to pick one of three songs they had, off the cuff. I did "I Saw Her Standing There" (Beatles). They stopped me after two verses, it being obvious I could sing it. We then fiddled with the piano player to find my range. (Big.) Then I did my monologue -- "O For a Muse of Fire," from Henry V. They loved it. So -- and now that I've poked around the musical's web site, I think this is revealing -- having seen my half-assed Derek Jacobi gig, one of them asked if I could do it completely differently, say... like a mad scientist?

Ah.

I think I did Dumbledore more than a mad scientist. But they applauded nonetheless. Enthusiastically, not pro forma.

At an audition.

So... Here's the cast list of the 2002 production, with the names of the parts. Sounds a lot like someone sees me as "Dr. Prospero". I mean, if I had to guess... :)

Comments

[bella-peligrosa.livejournal.com]

I would love to have seen that in person. Well done!!

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have minded that myself. It might have calmed me down.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

This all sounds like a great deal of fun!

K. [so your leg's fine, then?]

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping it'll be fun.

The leg progresses. I'm still on a crutch, though I have an appt next Tuesday. Most of Tuesday (the day of the audition) I was hobbling around without the crutch. And I don't use it much at home. But I'm still faster with it.

As I told eleanor recently, my walk reminds me of Arte Johnson's Tyrone character from Laugh-In... shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

I told the folks at the audition that I was recovering. And, in leaving, I asked them to not wish for me to break a leg. It got a laugh.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

oh, way cool! I love that show, and saw it three times when it played NYC.

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'd never even heard of it before. Except...

Well, except there was this hoax panel one year at Loscon. They even got Leonard Maltin to be on it. And it was all about a sequel to Forbidden Planet, this one to be based on Hamlet. Leslie Nielsen would play the Ghost this time, see, and... etc.

So when I first heard about RTTFP, I thought maybe someone else had been at the panel and ran with it. But, looking over the chronology of the show at their web site, I almost wonder if it wasn't the other way around.

[replyhazy.livejournal.com]

Hey, well done! I did not know you were theatrically inclined.

Hope the leg is doing well.

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

Re the leg, see above. It's doing fair enough.

As for theatricality, oh, yes. Here's a credit list:

1978 -- Sgt of the Guard -- Pirates of Penzance
1979 -- Mr. Sowerberry -- Oliver!
1980 -- Leo 'Chuckles the Chipmunk' Herman -- A Thousand Clowns
1997 -- The Ghost -- Hamlet

...so it's been seven years, and there was the long break between high school and Hamlet at OCC back in Costa Mesa. But I've always wanted to do more.