Incredible Experience of Opening a Show

[baritonewithtenortendencies]

Posted: 9/3/23 at 1:34am

Opening a show is incredible

I mean, opening as in literally making tickets and seats available for the first time is awesome, of course

But what is far more amazing than that to me is getting the first lines in a play

Especially a musical

The first lines anybody hears

And the first song

That's a biggie

There are a lot of roles I desperately want to play that do that

But only one I've been fortunate enough to actually land

A while back, I played Ladahlord in James and the Giant Peach, and the experience was just miraculous

Coming out on stage every night and opening my mouth before anybody else

Essentially cold opening

And I always was terrified

But somehow the weight of my job carried me forward

I delievered the first verse down stage center 

And, in case you aren't familiar with the opening of James and the Giant Peach

It is a number entitled "Right Before Your Eyes", which scrapes the bottom of my range hard

With a voice like mine, my mic is always down a lot, so this was always worrying

But I think I did alright at this

The second verse was like a release

And as the song went on I got more and more into it

Then I came on stage to set a few props a little bit more in the next two scenes

And then I came back out and sing a reprise of my song

Then I sang another literally one scene later

And then I got my huge song Shake It Up

Which was always a bit petrifying at first

But what was awesome was how everybody basically danced around me while I sang a bunch of high C's and E's and just did not care what anybody else was doing

I got to be super expressive with my movements, which in hindsight was sometimes hindering to my singing, especially with how often I was placed on the top lines

As I said, lots of high C's

A handful of B's, too

Basically just a hard show to do 

But it really built certain muscles

Before the show, F4's were right outside of my lowest register so they'd be either super soft or left all belty

Now they're just as resonant as my E4's which is great

I got to do so much

And they put me in the ensemble in parts that I didn't get to be Ladahlord in, which was great

I just had a blast in that show

I can't wait for the next time I get to play a similar role

The Leading Player from Pippin and El Gallo from The Fantasticks are next on my list, but not necessarily in that order