Wow, what a week!

The play went wonderfully! It was so much fun and we got tons of complements! I heard quite a bit of chatter that "Lumeire and Cogsworth stole the show"... well I don't know about that but we did work really well together. Here I am losing my mind:


I think this one is just after "Be our guest" where Bell wants a tour:

This second image is from the dress rehearsal, before I got a mustache; I definitely like the mustache better than the painted hands. If you want to see more images from the play, here is a link to shutterfly. Al was so much fun to work with so I found an image of he and I together:

Here I'm 'arguing' with Lumiere about letting Maurice in the castle: "...have some tea, sit in the masters chair...". Ok, one more:

Cogs:"...she was always vain about her looks, and that's exactly what she's become!" Lumeire: "A vanity." Cogs: "Little drawers, a mirror, the works!" And of course, human again:
Apparently Cogsworth has a thing for the wardorbe. Here Cogsworth is admiring her dress (and her of course!) that she now fits into! Heidi was wonderful as the wardrobe too! The play was so much fun, I would love to do it again. Hopefully I'll be able to get some videos up on this too. We'll see how well they turned out.

On another note, I was sick the whole time. Especially on Friday and Sat. it was a struggle to keep from coughing on stage, the adrenaline rush I'm sure helped that out. My voice started out a little rough on Sat. evening but was cleared up shortly after it started (I sucking on lemons). I am now still a little ill and my voice is only now starting to improve. Hopefully I'll be fully recovered by the weekend as I am thinking about trying out for a part at the empress theater in Magna. "Once upon a Mattress" has a king who was cursed as being mute so everything must be done with body language...my kind of role! If I do try out for it I'll let you all know how it goes.

Fun Time!

The play is coming along really well, we are down to the last week of practicing before the performances start! Last night we got many of the costumes and so we put on what we needed to get used to. Here is a photo of me in...most of my Cogsworth costume. Yes I will get better socks :)


And here is one of me, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts and one of the 3 chosen to play Chip. This one is where we are singing "Something There" while the Beast and Belle are reading a book (just before "Human Again"). Again, we only put on what we will need to get used to so Potts and Lumiere are only wearing the bare minimum of what they need to get used to.

And the last photo is a practice from last week. From left to right: Lumiere, Wardrobe (background, off stage really), Cogsworth (me!), Belle (she has dyed her hair dark now) and Mrs. Potts. This is just after "Be Our Guest" and wants a 'tour' of the castle. Of course Cogsworth is arguing with Lumiere that it isn't a good idea.

We found out last night that the Friday night performance has sold out so it's a good thing that I got Gid's tickets already! We also found out that we will be doing a Saturday evening performance as well as the afternoon (12:00pm and 7:30pm). Doors open 1/2 hour before the show starts and yes, for the nights they don't have sold out you will be able to buy tickets at the door. Oh, and don't forget that my daughter is playing flute in the orchestra! At 13 she is the youngest in there and she is pretty good too!

My new pet

As you can see on the right I have adopted a pet! My kids found then and thought they were really fun so they showed them to me. His name? "Purple Tiger will eat you"... and he will if you keep your cursor in his cage for too long! He'll play with your cursor and you can pet him and feed him if you like.

Beauty and the Beast

I know this is unusual for me to post twice in one night (much less per week :-0 ) but I think this is pretty exciting. Our stake is putting on the musical Beauty and the Beast and I decided to try out for the part of Cogsworth. I found out that there were at least 4 others who were trying out for the part as well. I went to the initial screening earlier this week and I thought I did pretty good with the reading. The panel laughed at all the right spots which I took as a good sign (it very well could have been courtesy reactions). But then I got invited back for a second screening to 'test the chemestry'. The only problem is that Wyatt was being baptized at the same time they wanted me there!!!! Naturally I chose family first and attended the baptism, having given them my cell phone number just in case. Well, about 10 minutes before we made it home they called and wanted me to come in as soon as possible, which I did.

When I got there they handed me a short section of the play and gave me about 1/2 hour to go over it. It was the section where Cogsworth and Lumiere were talking about others in the castle who 'fit' what they were changing into (a part that is not in the Disney movie). When they called me in I did the parts in my practiced 'posh' accent and added emotion. Again they laughed at the all the right spots, etc. When they were done they gave the schpiel about 'if you're not selected don't be mad' and that they would want me to participate in some other way in the play. They finished with say that 5:30 pm today was the time they would post the cast.

I didn't have too high of hopes (mostly so I wouldn't get too disapointed) but Anna Marie, who came with me to the callback, was quite certain I would get the part. She had 2 reasons she thought this, 1. they went out of their way to call me in and 2. she watched my performance and said I did really good. I must be a better actor than I make myself out to be because lo-and-behold when I looked at the cast listing tonight, I found out that I got the part!! Imagine me as Cogsworth! A friend of mine will be Lumiere so that will make it even more fun.

This will be a good distraction in the evenings as I look for a job, I also think it will be lots of fun.