A Jekyll and Hyde Moment

My friends, just yesterday evening I enjoyed a most auspicious experience at the auditions for a regional production of the musical "Jekyll and Hyde". Late Friday my ultra-aware wife-partner, MC, spotted the advert for the audition in the local rag and hinted that perhaps I would be interested in trying out for the show. She didn't just pull this out of thin air. Just last week I had prepared and performed a rendition of the song "Dancing Through Life" from the musical "Wicked" at an amateur talent show at our church. Since I already had a song prepared she figured it would be pretty easy to work it up again for the "Jekyll and Hyde" audition. Fair enough.

Saturday morning I went to the Augusta Players website (http://www.augustaplayers.org/) to learn more that might help me prepare for the auditions. Well I certainly did learn more; auditioners would be expected to sing a prepared selection from the show! Hmmmm, now I faced a rather more difficult challenge than simply dusting off the "Dancing" number. I knew nothing of the show (save the premise, which fairly closely follows the line of the R.L. Stevenson story). Wiki-research and YouTube voyeurism expedited the search for a suitable number, "This is the Moment", a tenor ballad sung by the Dr. Jekyll character just as he resolves to dose himself with the concoction that will turn him into Hyde.

The more I researched the more I learned just how over-the-top popular this song really is. Certainly the most memorable song from the show itself, it has been recorded and performed by thousands of artists around the world. Its sappy message of fortitude, perseverance and positivism strums a favorable chord with the masses be they Celine Dion devotees, World Cup hooligans, or Chinese marketing executives. A saccharin version of "This is the Moment" even brightened the long dim lights of '70s Brit pop icons The Moody Blues. Even noteworthy has-beens like Sebastian Bach and David Hasselhoff (yep!) have darkened the doorstep of the Plymouth Theater on Broadway to fill the shoes of the Jekyll/Hyde character upon the departure of Robert Cuccioli and Rob Evan. Point is that I found a lot of material on the Internet that I used to help me prepare for the audition.

I downloaded the sheet music and went through the song a few times singing along with one of the many YouTube versions until I got to feeling comfortable with it. I settled on trying to sing the song as written rather than adopt the style of the YouTube-ers although I did copy the stage direction of the Broadway version (in which Jekyll begins the song while seated). Sunday evening I went with MC and our friend Bill to Barnes & Noble. Owing at least somewhat to my mildly obsessive-compulsive behavior, I leafed through at least four books on auditioning and even bought a copy of "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", the better to create a "sub-text" and a "back-story" for my character. All this for abut 30 second of singing....but I'll get to that a little bit later.


Monday morning, the day of the audition, and the turbidity in my intestines could be accounted for at least in part to my anxiety (but mostly to my soy-rich, whole grain diet). Once I had dropped Bill off at the airport I spent the balance of the afternoon singing the song over and over again. Even when I took Gigi out for a walk I took the song with me in my head, repeating the rhythm and the lyrics (I had scribbled the lyrics on flash cards too but I didn't use them much). By the time MC got home from work I felt as though I had a very good handle on the song. After rehearsing it a few times for her I changed into my audition outfit; black trousers, white silk shirt with a straight "Nehru" collar, and a champagne vest (the same vest I wore at our wedding).

The audition venue was on the second floor of the Crossbridge Baptist Church. Gathered with fifteen or so others the stage manager for the show offered us an odd but hearty "Aloha" and the auditions began. The order went like this: while one singer auditioned, a second was "on deck" and a third "in the hole". Makes me wonder if theater borrowed that language from baseball or vice versa. When it was my turn "in the hole" I took to pacing back and forth in the narrow passageway outside the auditioning room. I had no idea who was inside. Well, I mean I figured the director would be there and probably a few other interested folks of course, but I didn't know anyone specifically....by name. I had no idea who or what I was going to face when I got in there. When MC asked if she could go in with me she was told it was a "closed" audition, which meant that they didn't want MC sitting in the back of the room mouthing the words like a human teleprompter. I was not too put off by this since I felt as though I knew the material well. Then, it was my turn.

Breathing shallow and rapid, pulse racing, knees weak and beads of sweat coalescing on my forehead I entered the room.

...please check back for more tomorrow

I'm so sorry, my many friends, that it has taken me so long to return to the story. If you must know, I took the week off to vacation with my son Andy and his girlfriend Amber.

Well, here's the good news - wait for it - I was called Sunday morning by the director of "Jekyll & Hyde" who left a voice mail message telling me I had been cast! I was to be one of the members of the "Board of Governours (British spelling)" and sing in the chorus as well. I am excited and a little daunted. As I have sat through two chorus rehearsals already I find that I am in company with many fine singers. It's my guess that most of these people have at least some formal training, probably many are conservatory trained and/or performanc graduates. I am humbled but determined to prove that I belong among them. I am thinking about taking some voice lessons.

Dot, the Shrimp, and the Bump

My beloved life-partner and spousal unit Marianne, previously mother figure only to her siamesers Carina and BooBoo and her bichon Gigi, now finds herself nurturing another kitty, this one of the human variety. Amazingly, the life-gift previously known only as "Dot" to her generates (that being the mother, the father, and the Lord that permits us to share in this creative work) has morphed from cell-mass into "Shrimp" owing to her incredible and rapid many-thousand increase in size. A mosty-formed spine, dark eye-specks, and pin-prick ear-holes evidenced a being clearly advanced beyond merely "Dot". Besides, "Shrimp" is more in keeping with the general composure and disposition of the tiny being now tentacled to her mother's uterus. Soon she will be known as "Bump".