We have a special edition 2-part Video Blog to offer up this week. It follows us on our last Monday off :(
Be sure to watch both videos!
Part 1
Part 2
AKB
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Video Blog 8 (The one where they all sing)
The next installment of the fantastic Video Blog is finally here!!!!
Video Blog 7 (The one where they do anything to get viewers)
It's that time again... ANOTHER VIDEO BLOG!!!! Enjoy, we spent a lot of time on it.
AKB
AKB
Video Blog 6 (The one where they do 4 shows in 2 days)
So this week we did our first 4 in 2--That's four shows in two days. It was an adventure! Luckily, we had some amazing audiences. Here's Video Blog 6, following our incredible backstage journey!
Video Blog 6 (The one where they do 4 shows in 2 days)
So this week we did our first 4 in 2--That's four shows in two days. It was an adventure! Luckily, we had some amazing audiences. Here's Video Blog 6, following our incredible backstage journey!
Video Blog 5 (The one about their Opening Night)
Hey guys!
So we opened on July 5th! It was a really exciting. I of course decided to document the day for all the watchers out there.
Enjoy our Opening Night Video Blog
AKB
So we opened on July 5th! It was a really exciting. I of course decided to document the day for all the watchers out there.
Enjoy our Opening Night Video Blog
AKB
Video Blog 4 (The one where they get their hair dyed)
Hey guys, so this is a special edition mini Video Blog. It follows the adventures of Ryan and Sharpay getting their hair bleached at the salon in preparation for opening night!
The contest mentioned does not include tickets to see HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. Please leave your answers in the comment section of this blog entry and don't forget to leave your email address and date you are seeing the show! Winners are drawn at random.
Here is a quick preview of the show!
The contest mentioned does not include tickets to see HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. Please leave your answers in the comment section of this blog entry and don't forget to leave your email address and date you are seeing the show! Winners are drawn at random.
Here is a quick preview of the show!
Video Blog 3 (The one where they're in tech week)
Hey so we officially started teching our show. As per request, I've decided to make a special edition "Behind-the-Scenes-in-a-Tech-Rehearsal" Blog. Here it is!
Our first run!
Today was a monumental day in the process of putting up a show. We had our “designer run.” For anyone out there who happen to be reading this blog and just tilted their head and said “huh?” “Designer run” refers to the first time that a cast runs the show for the entire production staff. This includes the crews and designers from wardrobe, sound, scenery and lighting and I’m sure many other incredibly important departments. It was a little bit nerve wrecking for us not only to have to put up the show in front of 30+ strangers, but it was also the first time we ran the show…EVER.
I know it sounds so cheesy and Stanislavski-y (Stanislavkiish?), but it actually gave me a lot of insight into the arc of my character. I totally made some discoveries about Ryan that I hadn’t previously considered once it was put in the scheme of a 2-hour show. And not just little things like, I should jujz my hair in that rehearsal scene, but like big stuff, we’re talking some serious subtext, folks.
It was also great getting an audience reaction for the first time. Especially with a role like Ryan whose character is basically a well-crafted string of “bits,” hearing what lands and what doesn’t really helped me out. For instance, in Act II sc. 9, I totally tried to channel Liza on one of my line readings and it seemed like people got it, and chuckled a little bit.
But in Act I sc. 4, I do a little homage to Penelope from the SNL “Penelope” skit
(you can watch it at http://tallfreak.com/2007/04/06/penelope/)
but the only person who actually laughed out loud was Michael Kadin Craig, whom I had shown the youtube video of the sketch the night before. And I’m not even positive that his reaction was genuine, I mean I did go up to him right before I went on I told him “OMG, I’m totes going to channel Penelope from SNL on this next line reading, you’re going to think it’s hilarious! You better laugh or you’re so not my friend. Seriously laugh. Like even if you don’t think it’s funny, just humor me so all the crew people don’t think I’m a bad actor. I’m not joking, if you don’t laugh I’m totally going to steal your hot sauce when we get home and hide it.”
So yeah, sometimes it’s better to err on the side of mainstream so you don’t have to threaten your audience into laughter. (Chapter 3 paragraph four in “How to Land a Joke” by Andrew Keenan-Bolger: Graduate from the school of Acting Schmacting)
Well enough of the small stuff, the really important event of yesterday was that “Hey, Paula!” the new Paula Abdul reality show debuted on Bravo last night. Who watched it? It was uh-maaaaaayzing. The show had a lot of those moments where you just wanted to desperately cover your eyes and not look….wait, what am I saying? There was never one of those moments, I ONLY ever wanted to watch her being a hot mess on Prime Time TV.
But back to the world of HSM, we move into the theater tomorrow and start teching with full scenery and costumes! YIKES! Let’s be honest, how excited am I to wear brightly colored slim fitting women’s couture clothing? The answer is verrrrry excited!
I know it sounds so cheesy and Stanislavski-y (Stanislavkiish?), but it actually gave me a lot of insight into the arc of my character. I totally made some discoveries about Ryan that I hadn’t previously considered once it was put in the scheme of a 2-hour show. And not just little things like, I should jujz my hair in that rehearsal scene, but like big stuff, we’re talking some serious subtext, folks.
It was also great getting an audience reaction for the first time. Especially with a role like Ryan whose character is basically a well-crafted string of “bits,” hearing what lands and what doesn’t really helped me out. For instance, in Act II sc. 9, I totally tried to channel Liza on one of my line readings and it seemed like people got it, and chuckled a little bit.
But in Act I sc. 4, I do a little homage to Penelope from the SNL “Penelope” skit
(you can watch it at http://tallfreak.com/2007/04/06/penelope/)
but the only person who actually laughed out loud was Michael Kadin Craig, whom I had shown the youtube video of the sketch the night before. And I’m not even positive that his reaction was genuine, I mean I did go up to him right before I went on I told him “OMG, I’m totes going to channel Penelope from SNL on this next line reading, you’re going to think it’s hilarious! You better laugh or you’re so not my friend. Seriously laugh. Like even if you don’t think it’s funny, just humor me so all the crew people don’t think I’m a bad actor. I’m not joking, if you don’t laugh I’m totally going to steal your hot sauce when we get home and hide it.”
So yeah, sometimes it’s better to err on the side of mainstream so you don’t have to threaten your audience into laughter. (Chapter 3 paragraph four in “How to Land a Joke” by Andrew Keenan-Bolger: Graduate from the school of Acting Schmacting)
Well enough of the small stuff, the really important event of yesterday was that “Hey, Paula!” the new Paula Abdul reality show debuted on Bravo last night. Who watched it? It was uh-maaaaaayzing. The show had a lot of those moments where you just wanted to desperately cover your eyes and not look….wait, what am I saying? There was never one of those moments, I ONLY ever wanted to watch her being a hot mess on Prime Time TV.
But back to the world of HSM, we move into the theater tomorrow and start teching with full scenery and costumes! YIKES! Let’s be honest, how excited am I to wear brightly colored slim fitting women’s couture clothing? The answer is verrrrry excited!
Video Blog 2 (The one where they go on a ghost tour in Salem)
Our Second officical Video Blog! Get Excited.
Day at 'hearsal
Hey Dudes,
So today was kind of a breeze for Kate and I. We literally had to go in, sing 3 lines, learn 4 counts of 8 in "Bop to the Top" and then go home. We realized that one of the perks of playing characters who are super cliquey and hate interacting with people outside of our "Status Quo" is that we don't have to sing back up in other people's songs. Woot! Woot! That means we get to save our "voces" whilst everyone one else yells consecutive B-flats in almost every song in the show. Darnnn you Disney! We have really learned to embrace the green room. During rehearsals, Kate and I can often be found doing such things as running lines, eating bagels, holding chunks of our hair up next to each other's and comparing the degree of blonde in our highlights, and talking.
This is a common sighting. Us making coffee while everyone is sweating buckets through a grueling "Getcha Head in the Game" rehearsal.
Kate not working.
Yesterday we performed "What I've Been Looking For" for the first time for the whole cast. It was supes fun. Barry Ivan, our director has molded us into little competition Show Choir divas.
So today was kind of a breeze for Kate and I. We literally had to go in, sing 3 lines, learn 4 counts of 8 in "Bop to the Top" and then go home. We realized that one of the perks of playing characters who are super cliquey and hate interacting with people outside of our "Status Quo" is that we don't have to sing back up in other people's songs. Woot! Woot! That means we get to save our "voces" whilst everyone one else yells consecutive B-flats in almost every song in the show. Darnnn you Disney! We have really learned to embrace the green room. During rehearsals, Kate and I can often be found doing such things as running lines, eating bagels, holding chunks of our hair up next to each other's and comparing the degree of blonde in our highlights, and talking.
This is a common sighting. Us making coffee while everyone is sweating buckets through a grueling "Getcha Head in the Game" rehearsal.
Kate not working.
Yesterday we performed "What I've Been Looking For" for the first time for the whole cast. It was supes fun. Barry Ivan, our director has molded us into little competition Show Choir divas.
Oh, super random. Here's a pic of our cheerleaders in HSM practicing outside. How fierce are they, Right?! And some of them are like 14. Hazzah, What?!
Oh and could you please look at this girl Kelli Gautreau (second girl on the left). Uhm, she was WORKING it with that little crop top. And can you see her abs?! That girl is stacked like Janet Jackson, but without the "Hollywood Shortcut."
We got to hear Addi & David sing for the first time yesterday and it was SOooo good. I looked over at Michael KC and I could have sworn I saw a baby tear in his little ole eye it was so precious. Made me rrrull excited to hear them sing the rest of the show. All you ticket holders out there, get hyped because you're Troy and Gabriella are smokin'.
Can't wait for tonight when Michael KC, Garett and I are going to see the opening of 1408. Hope it's scary. We're apparently the only 3 people in the cast who like horror movies. Although, I wish we could have seen 1408 back when NSMT was putting us up in a hotel. We really wanted to see the movie and then go back to our hotel and freak out every time the air conditioner made a noise, but alas, they have since moved us into a mansion. I'm seriously obsessed with my house mates, we get along so great.
Well, gotta go practice "Bop to the Top" ography with Kate.
Chicka, chicka, pow, chicka, chicka pow, pow, ALL sss, FOR, tss, NOW, tificka ficka PEEPS!
(you'll get it when you see the show)
Googling...
PHEW!!! Just got back after a LONG, long day! We had our first day of rehearsal and I was so nervous. It totally felt like the first day of camp, where everyone is so excited to meet everyone else and acting like a little more dippy than they usually do. I half expected-slash-wanted us to do group building exercises like going around in a circle and playing name games or something, like "Andrew...Awesome....Artistic. Kate...Kind...Klepto" or make a human machine or something. But, not so. When you've got 2 weeks to stage a massive show, you gotta cut right to the chase.
I'm mildly obsessed with our director Barry Ivan. The man is hilarious and such a smart director. He managed to stage our opening scene where all the main characters need to be introduced and in .34249 seconds show their whole history and wants, create the play's central conflict, and demonstrate the pecking order of high school. Oh and did I mention he did this with FORTY actors at one time. And not only did he know everyone's name but he personalized blocking for every single body on stage and literally did it with out stuttering. And lest we forget that this is IN THE ROUND too! AHHHH! Ridonkulous!
Oh, so I was a bad blogger today. I forgot to take pictures. I wanted to put a picture of Barry Ivan on the blog and figured I could google image search him and surely something would come up. But instead, all this weird stuff came up just from typing in his name...like this.
Our Director...Barry Ivan.
So that was obviously hilarious. So I clearly tried searching other cast members names on google images and seeing what came up. Endlessly entertaining...
I give you...Members of the cast of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL.....!!!!
Kate Rockwell as Sharpay...
Wow that's a great headshot babe. Who took that? Peter Hurley?
David Perlow as Troy...
hungry much?
Addi McDaniel as Gabriella...
HHAHAHA this was my personal fave
and Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Ryan...
Wait, What the Eff? I'm so confused. I've never seen that picture in my life?!!?! Is that a joke, that's definitely a 10 year old me, but who the heck took that pic and put it up on the internet. I like vaguely remember trying that costume on at the Broadway Flea Market in like 96' but apparently someone took a picture of it and thought that it would be great on some website. Anyway that was so weird. Try google imaging your own name, its so strange what random stuff will come up.
OH before I forget, I got the privelge to see 7 BRIDES tonight with the rest of the HSM cast. I was so thankful because I it closes this week and I assumed we weren't going to get to see it. But it was amaazing! It was honestly some of the most incredible dancing I've ever seen. Congrats to anyone who was in the show. These guys are working their butts off and do just awesome, backbreaking work up there. And it was exciting to see the woman who was playing Millie, Michelle Dawson. I actually did RAGTIME with her in the sit down Chicago production when I was in 8th grade. She was our Evelyn Nesbitt and was soo nice back then. I wonder if she would remember me? Oh, she's just ferocious in the show too.
Well, I must go to bed. Tomorrow we have a big rehearsal again and I somehow agreed to going to the gym at 7:45 AM in the morning with David Perlow and Michael Kadin Craig. Also Kate & I are learning our songs and staging our first scene so I want to be well rested for that.
S'all for now.
AKB
I'm mildly obsessed with our director Barry Ivan. The man is hilarious and such a smart director. He managed to stage our opening scene where all the main characters need to be introduced and in .34249 seconds show their whole history and wants, create the play's central conflict, and demonstrate the pecking order of high school. Oh and did I mention he did this with FORTY actors at one time. And not only did he know everyone's name but he personalized blocking for every single body on stage and literally did it with out stuttering. And lest we forget that this is IN THE ROUND too! AHHHH! Ridonkulous!
Oh, so I was a bad blogger today. I forgot to take pictures. I wanted to put a picture of Barry Ivan on the blog and figured I could google image search him and surely something would come up. But instead, all this weird stuff came up just from typing in his name...like this.
Our Director...Barry Ivan.
So that was obviously hilarious. So I clearly tried searching other cast members names on google images and seeing what came up. Endlessly entertaining...
I give you...Members of the cast of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL.....!!!!
Kate Rockwell as Sharpay...
Wow that's a great headshot babe. Who took that? Peter Hurley?
David Perlow as Troy...
hungry much?
Addi McDaniel as Gabriella...
HHAHAHA this was my personal fave
and Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Ryan...
Wait, What the Eff? I'm so confused. I've never seen that picture in my life?!!?! Is that a joke, that's definitely a 10 year old me, but who the heck took that pic and put it up on the internet. I like vaguely remember trying that costume on at the Broadway Flea Market in like 96' but apparently someone took a picture of it and thought that it would be great on some website. Anyway that was so weird. Try google imaging your own name, its so strange what random stuff will come up.
OH before I forget, I got the privelge to see 7 BRIDES tonight with the rest of the HSM cast. I was so thankful because I it closes this week and I assumed we weren't going to get to see it. But it was amaazing! It was honestly some of the most incredible dancing I've ever seen. Congrats to anyone who was in the show. These guys are working their butts off and do just awesome, backbreaking work up there. And it was exciting to see the woman who was playing Millie, Michelle Dawson. I actually did RAGTIME with her in the sit down Chicago production when I was in 8th grade. She was our Evelyn Nesbitt and was soo nice back then. I wonder if she would remember me? Oh, she's just ferocious in the show too.
Well, I must go to bed. Tomorrow we have a big rehearsal again and I somehow agreed to going to the gym at 7:45 AM in the morning with David Perlow and Michael Kadin Craig. Also Kate & I are learning our songs and staging our first scene so I want to be well rested for that.
S'all for now.
AKB
Road to Beverly
Like Celie says at the end of her act 2 showstopper...."I'M HERE!!!!" Wow, I didn't just use that reference...Yikes! Still wanna read this blog?
It's true, as of 6:27PM I have become a semi-resident of Beverly Massuhhhhchus(s)et(t)s.
So at around 2PM today, I came straight to Penn Station after finishing a reading of the new Georgia Stitt musical BIG RED SUN, which is fantastic by the way. I was sitting on the floor of Penn Station with my laptop open waiting for my train to Boston when who should pop up behind my computer screen toting a couple bags, but my own fraternal twin, Ms. Kate Rockwell! I had no clue we were going to be on the same train, so I took our finding each other amongst the mass of people a good omen for the trip. As we were boarding I hear an "AKB!" being shouted from behind me, I turned around to find none other than my good buddy Danny Binstock lugging a suitcase and a full set of golf clubs (huh?!). Danny and I went to school together at the University of Michigan. He will be playing the role of Zeke in our little production...and yes, he is NOT black. He had found another soon-to-be-North-Shorer named Kelli Gautreau, this adorable teensy girl who was lugging two ginormous rolly suitcases that were tripple the size and weight of her. The four of us decided to be seat buddies for what turned into a very exciting 4 hour trip to the Mass Shore.
(Kate & I in the front, Kelli & Danny in the back)
It was great getting to hang with these guys. I sort of assumed that I'd spend the whole trip by myself reading "The Corrections" (which is a fantastic book by the way) but it became very apparent that there would be NO book reading on this trip. I mean, we're talkin four big personalities, one small train car, four hours and a digital camera...as Harold Hill says...Ohhhhh Ya Got Trouble My Friends.
This is Kelli. She's a dancer and I figured that it would be a waste to have her be on a train and NOT have her stand on the arm rest and do a split with her leg on the overhead luggage bar so I could take a picture. Unfortunately, right as I was taking a pic the amtrak hit a lurch in the tracks or ran over a bunny family or something so it's kinda mid air of her just falling. Ah well.
Now kaaaaate. The first thing you learn in college is never fall asleep in public places or your friends will...draw on you with Sharpies. HAHAHAHAHHAHAH Sharpies, that sounds like Sharpays...HAHAHHAHA!!!!!! I have no friends.
Jeez Danny, try peeing with the bathroom stall closed. what do you think this is, the Roundhouse?
Kate was so glad Danny remembered to pack his golf clubs. sooooo glad.
"Please store all luggage and/or performing munchkins in the over head compartment."
WELL, the good news is that the conductor of the train only had to yell at us once. I think having me crawl up into the luggage bin so Danny could take a pic was probably what set him off. As a peace making, we really wanted Kate to flirt with the conductor man and be all like "Hey Mr. Conductor man, this is my first train ride....EVER...could I get a quick picture with the studly man contucting it." But I think he was scared of us and never made his way back to our corner of the train. Too bad tho, that would have been a fantastic picture for the blog.
So we arrive into Boston Route 128 (I don't know what that means but that's where we got off) and we met a bunch of the other cast. We met......Lisa, Lisa, Jessica, Kevin, Brandon, Talia, Michael, Garett, Natalie, Addi, Jihyen, David and Caitlin.....Phew. I think that's all, ooo I might have forgotten someone. But it seems like we are gonna have a pretty sweet cast. I'm a little obsessed.
Kate, Michael, Danny & I hopped into Michael's car and drove to go meet a bunch of the other cast at this wonderful local restaurant called Sylvan St. Grill. It had some dee-licious comfort food. I got a Fried Fish sandwich with melted cheese on it. Uhm, is that a joke? How good does that sound, right?! Oh and by the way, I was dipping my sandwich in this mystery sauce called Tartar Sauce...I'm sure everyone is familiar with it, but for some reason, I had never tried it before and thought it was honestly like the most delicious thing since Flamin' Hot Cheetos, BUT then Michael told me what was in it. MaYoNaiSSE and RELish!??! EEWEUGHH! SiiiCK! I hate both of those things. But the sandwich WAS delicious when I dipped it in Ketchup instead.
Ok if you're still reading this I seriously adore you. I just described in depth what I was dipping my fried fish sandwich in.
Oh, and then I busted out my brand new digi-camera that I somehow justified buying this week. I've been doing that a lot actually. Since being cast in HSM, I've totally stood at the counter of Diesel with a pair of $250 jeans and swiped my card and said "North Shore!" At the apple store in the Village in line with a new video ipod, "North Shore!" and at Blockheads buying a round of Black Flowers for my friends, "North Shore!" Haha just kidding, I never bought my friends drinks!
Oh, but anyways, Jessica commented that she ALSO had a camera and that her digital camera could take my digital camera in a cage match. When she reached into her purse, I expected her to take out this super trendy slim crazy foldable digital camera but Ohh Noooooo! Well, lemme break it down for you...If this camera had its own SAT question, it would be "Jessica is to her Her digital camera. . .as. . . Zach Morris from SAVED BY THE BELL is to Cell Phones." We are talking a BRICK here.
Literally, I'm sayin', old school-1999-just saw The Matrix and decided to buy one of those new fangled Digital Cameras-kind of camera. I was astonished that you didn't have to wind a little crank thing to take a picture.
Here's a picture of her phone. I tried to use a common object to compare in scale it to...On your left, you'll see a standard cell phone, probably the same size of my cam...and on your left you'll find Jess's Model T camera. Yikes! And honestly the picture doesn't even do it justice, it was literally as thick as 5 Eggo waffles.
Also, we had a great waitress named Andrea...LOVE YOU GIRL!!! Who not only printed up separate checks for us BUT also took this wonderful pic for the blog ;)
From Left to right we've got Brandon, Kelli, Jessica, Me, Kate, Lisa H., Michael, Danny and Talia.
Alright that's all for tonight. Paula's Party just came on the food network and she is rubbing down giant pork roast with Hawaiian seasoning...oh yeah babe.
I look forward to blogging my experiences from tomorrow's first rehearsal! Yikes! I just got so excited.
Oh and shameless plug here...I've been filming a few episodes of ONE LIFE TO LIFE and today the first one of them aired. It's actually a MUSICAL episode and if you thought High School Musical was campy...well I've got news for you. Here's a musical clip from it. I'm the random blonde kid in the red shirt. Keep watching though, I'll be on next Tuesday and Wednesday at 2PM on ABC signin and dancin like a fool.
AKB
It's true, as of 6:27PM I have become a semi-resident of Beverly Massuhhhhchus(s)et(t)s.
So at around 2PM today, I came straight to Penn Station after finishing a reading of the new Georgia Stitt musical BIG RED SUN, which is fantastic by the way. I was sitting on the floor of Penn Station with my laptop open waiting for my train to Boston when who should pop up behind my computer screen toting a couple bags, but my own fraternal twin, Ms. Kate Rockwell! I had no clue we were going to be on the same train, so I took our finding each other amongst the mass of people a good omen for the trip. As we were boarding I hear an "AKB!" being shouted from behind me, I turned around to find none other than my good buddy Danny Binstock lugging a suitcase and a full set of golf clubs (huh?!). Danny and I went to school together at the University of Michigan. He will be playing the role of Zeke in our little production...and yes, he is NOT black. He had found another soon-to-be-North-Shorer named Kelli Gautreau, this adorable teensy girl who was lugging two ginormous rolly suitcases that were tripple the size and weight of her. The four of us decided to be seat buddies for what turned into a very exciting 4 hour trip to the Mass Shore.
(Kate & I in the front, Kelli & Danny in the back)
It was great getting to hang with these guys. I sort of assumed that I'd spend the whole trip by myself reading "The Corrections" (which is a fantastic book by the way) but it became very apparent that there would be NO book reading on this trip. I mean, we're talkin four big personalities, one small train car, four hours and a digital camera...as Harold Hill says...Ohhhhh Ya Got Trouble My Friends.
This is Kelli. She's a dancer and I figured that it would be a waste to have her be on a train and NOT have her stand on the arm rest and do a split with her leg on the overhead luggage bar so I could take a picture. Unfortunately, right as I was taking a pic the amtrak hit a lurch in the tracks or ran over a bunny family or something so it's kinda mid air of her just falling. Ah well.
Now kaaaaate. The first thing you learn in college is never fall asleep in public places or your friends will...draw on you with Sharpies. HAHAHAHAHHAHAH Sharpies, that sounds like Sharpays...HAHAHHAHA!!!!!! I have no friends.
Jeez Danny, try peeing with the bathroom stall closed. what do you think this is, the Roundhouse?
Kate was so glad Danny remembered to pack his golf clubs. sooooo glad.
"Please store all luggage and/or performing munchkins in the over head compartment."
WELL, the good news is that the conductor of the train only had to yell at us once. I think having me crawl up into the luggage bin so Danny could take a pic was probably what set him off. As a peace making, we really wanted Kate to flirt with the conductor man and be all like "Hey Mr. Conductor man, this is my first train ride....EVER...could I get a quick picture with the studly man contucting it." But I think he was scared of us and never made his way back to our corner of the train. Too bad tho, that would have been a fantastic picture for the blog.
So we arrive into Boston Route 128 (I don't know what that means but that's where we got off) and we met a bunch of the other cast. We met......Lisa, Lisa, Jessica, Kevin, Brandon, Talia, Michael, Garett, Natalie, Addi, Jihyen, David and Caitlin.....Phew. I think that's all, ooo I might have forgotten someone. But it seems like we are gonna have a pretty sweet cast. I'm a little obsessed.
Kate, Michael, Danny & I hopped into Michael's car and drove to go meet a bunch of the other cast at this wonderful local restaurant called Sylvan St. Grill. It had some dee-licious comfort food. I got a Fried Fish sandwich with melted cheese on it. Uhm, is that a joke? How good does that sound, right?! Oh and by the way, I was dipping my sandwich in this mystery sauce called Tartar Sauce...I'm sure everyone is familiar with it, but for some reason, I had never tried it before and thought it was honestly like the most delicious thing since Flamin' Hot Cheetos, BUT then Michael told me what was in it. MaYoNaiSSE and RELish!??! EEWEUGHH! SiiiCK! I hate both of those things. But the sandwich WAS delicious when I dipped it in Ketchup instead.
Ok if you're still reading this I seriously adore you. I just described in depth what I was dipping my fried fish sandwich in.
Oh, and then I busted out my brand new digi-camera that I somehow justified buying this week. I've been doing that a lot actually. Since being cast in HSM, I've totally stood at the counter of Diesel with a pair of $250 jeans and swiped my card and said "North Shore!" At the apple store in the Village in line with a new video ipod, "North Shore!" and at Blockheads buying a round of Black Flowers for my friends, "North Shore!" Haha just kidding, I never bought my friends drinks!
Oh, but anyways, Jessica commented that she ALSO had a camera and that her digital camera could take my digital camera in a cage match. When she reached into her purse, I expected her to take out this super trendy slim crazy foldable digital camera but Ohh Noooooo! Well, lemme break it down for you...If this camera had its own SAT question, it would be "Jessica is to her Her digital camera. . .as. . . Zach Morris from SAVED BY THE BELL is to Cell Phones." We are talking a BRICK here.
Literally, I'm sayin', old school-1999-just saw The Matrix and decided to buy one of those new fangled Digital Cameras-kind of camera. I was astonished that you didn't have to wind a little crank thing to take a picture.
Here's a picture of her phone. I tried to use a common object to compare in scale it to...On your left, you'll see a standard cell phone, probably the same size of my cam...and on your left you'll find Jess's Model T camera. Yikes! And honestly the picture doesn't even do it justice, it was literally as thick as 5 Eggo waffles.
Also, we had a great waitress named Andrea...LOVE YOU GIRL!!! Who not only printed up separate checks for us BUT also took this wonderful pic for the blog ;)
From Left to right we've got Brandon, Kelli, Jessica, Me, Kate, Lisa H., Michael, Danny and Talia.
Alright that's all for tonight. Paula's Party just came on the food network and she is rubbing down giant pork roast with Hawaiian seasoning...oh yeah babe.
I look forward to blogging my experiences from tomorrow's first rehearsal! Yikes! I just got so excited.
Oh and shameless plug here...I've been filming a few episodes of ONE LIFE TO LIFE and today the first one of them aired. It's actually a MUSICAL episode and if you thought High School Musical was campy...well I've got news for you. Here's a musical clip from it. I'm the random blonde kid in the red shirt. Keep watching though, I'll be on next Tuesday and Wednesday at 2PM on ABC signin and dancin like a fool.
AKB
First Post!
WORD!!! So this is my first official post. Mike-C-The-B.Log-King just set up my account and got me hooked up so I guess now is as good a time as any to start chronicling my experience with North Shore's HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL.
First off, my name is Andrew Keenan-Bolger and I'll be playing Ryan in the NSMT production opening this July. For those of you who are not familiar with HSM and don't know who "Ryan" is (which apparently a bunch of folks don't...I thought everyone was as big a dork as me and has seen this classic DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie) and/or downloaded it off of iTunes so you can watch it on your iPod while treadmilling it at the gym), I included a picture of him.
He's the mean looking blue-eyed boy hanging off the skinny blonde girl's arm on the left. According to this picture, he's also apparently a gangsta (I mean, matching Gucci print fedora and blazer, gun pointed fingers, come on). Yeah that's me. Well not really me, but yeah, my character. Actually, my weekend job is working daycare at a gym and I totally got a ton of street credit from the trendy 6 year olds when I said that I was leaving work in June to go do High School Musical. Of course, they misconstrewed this and told their parents that I was going to be Ryan in High School Musical 2, which is just a lie, but oh well, I'll ride the wave of playground popularity at least until August when their dreams will then be shattered when the sequal comes out and they see that kid who was in the first one and not their Mr. Andrew in the role of the conieving drama nerd.
And did I mention that I'm playing opposite the fantastic Kate Rockwell who's taking on the role of my twin sister, Sharpay.
I was super excited to work on this project, partly due to her. I was obviously one of those theatre nerds who not only DVRed every episode of GREASE! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT, but read all the Seth Rudetsky re-caps on Playbill AND had a dozen friends over every week to watch it.
Yeah, so Kate's in it and at our audition, I was definitely that person who pretended I didn't know who she was while inside I was all like "Please sing 'All By Myself' if they ask you for a pop ballad...PLEASSSEEEE." For those who don't know her, Kate was "Serious Sandy" on the show...a rather unfortunate label actually, I wonder if she came up with that herself? I'll have to ask her. I'd have definitely gone with something more pleasant like "Power Mix Sandy," or "Skinny Sandy," but that's just me. Anywho she's incredibly talented...if you haven't seen her def check her out on the good ole' youtube. She tears up EVITA's "Buenos Aires" like it's her job. And she does some crazy option at the end on "STARRRRR QUAL-I-TYYYYY." When it aired on Grease it definitely had my living room full of Musical Theatre Majors on their feet shouting some "Get It Girls" and "Fierce's." Kate and I got to work together on BIG TENT: THE TAMMY FAYE BAKKER musical this past month and she was fantastic in it and SUCH a sweet girl. I'm really looking forward to playing opposite her, and who wouldn't, I mean, we always sing together in the show which means she's gonna make me sound GRRREAT!
So, I have a confession. I'm not actually even in Beverly, Mass yet. I'm actually writing this from my apt. in Brooklyn. BUT...I'll be there in less than 48 hours and I'm probs gonna be swamped with moving in and grocery shopping and all that jazz, so in case you don't hear from me the first day, i've already done a preemptive blog post. Oh and by the way, I give a lot of credit to you New Englanders. That state that you live in that begins with an "M" and rhymes with "Glass-of-glue-kits" is very hard to spell. Are there two s's? Yes, right? But on which syllable? And all this coming from a college educated person. So if in this blog I refer to it casually as Mass, or M-town, or Massachu, or Massy just know that it's because I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to spell.
Whoa, I can't believe I've written so much. I haven't even started working on the show yet. BUT, I look forward to sharing my experiences with you and hope that you continue to read the blog. Oh and sorry to "Daniel Pontipee" for just cutting in on your blog space, yikes! uhhhhh...Go See 7 Brides everyone!!! The youtube clips look hot.
Peace,
AKB
First off, my name is Andrew Keenan-Bolger and I'll be playing Ryan in the NSMT production opening this July. For those of you who are not familiar with HSM and don't know who "Ryan" is (which apparently a bunch of folks don't...I thought everyone was as big a dork as me and has seen this classic DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie) and/or downloaded it off of iTunes so you can watch it on your iPod while treadmilling it at the gym), I included a picture of him.
He's the mean looking blue-eyed boy hanging off the skinny blonde girl's arm on the left. According to this picture, he's also apparently a gangsta (I mean, matching Gucci print fedora and blazer, gun pointed fingers, come on). Yeah that's me. Well not really me, but yeah, my character. Actually, my weekend job is working daycare at a gym and I totally got a ton of street credit from the trendy 6 year olds when I said that I was leaving work in June to go do High School Musical. Of course, they misconstrewed this and told their parents that I was going to be Ryan in High School Musical 2, which is just a lie, but oh well, I'll ride the wave of playground popularity at least until August when their dreams will then be shattered when the sequal comes out and they see that kid who was in the first one and not their Mr. Andrew in the role of the conieving drama nerd.
And did I mention that I'm playing opposite the fantastic Kate Rockwell who's taking on the role of my twin sister, Sharpay.
I was super excited to work on this project, partly due to her. I was obviously one of those theatre nerds who not only DVRed every episode of GREASE! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT, but read all the Seth Rudetsky re-caps on Playbill AND had a dozen friends over every week to watch it.
Yeah, so Kate's in it and at our audition, I was definitely that person who pretended I didn't know who she was while inside I was all like "Please sing 'All By Myself' if they ask you for a pop ballad...PLEASSSEEEE." For those who don't know her, Kate was "Serious Sandy" on the show...a rather unfortunate label actually, I wonder if she came up with that herself? I'll have to ask her. I'd have definitely gone with something more pleasant like "Power Mix Sandy," or "Skinny Sandy," but that's just me. Anywho she's incredibly talented...if you haven't seen her def check her out on the good ole' youtube. She tears up EVITA's "Buenos Aires" like it's her job. And she does some crazy option at the end on "STARRRRR QUAL-I-TYYYYY." When it aired on Grease it definitely had my living room full of Musical Theatre Majors on their feet shouting some "Get It Girls" and "Fierce's." Kate and I got to work together on BIG TENT: THE TAMMY FAYE BAKKER musical this past month and she was fantastic in it and SUCH a sweet girl. I'm really looking forward to playing opposite her, and who wouldn't, I mean, we always sing together in the show which means she's gonna make me sound GRRREAT!
So, I have a confession. I'm not actually even in Beverly, Mass yet. I'm actually writing this from my apt. in Brooklyn. BUT...I'll be there in less than 48 hours and I'm probs gonna be swamped with moving in and grocery shopping and all that jazz, so in case you don't hear from me the first day, i've already done a preemptive blog post. Oh and by the way, I give a lot of credit to you New Englanders. That state that you live in that begins with an "M" and rhymes with "Glass-of-glue-kits" is very hard to spell. Are there two s's? Yes, right? But on which syllable? And all this coming from a college educated person. So if in this blog I refer to it casually as Mass, or M-town, or Massachu, or Massy just know that it's because I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to spell.
Whoa, I can't believe I've written so much. I haven't even started working on the show yet. BUT, I look forward to sharing my experiences with you and hope that you continue to read the blog. Oh and sorry to "Daniel Pontipee" for just cutting in on your blog space, yikes! uhhhhh...Go See 7 Brides everyone!!! The youtube clips look hot.
Peace,
AKB
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