Monday, August 23, 2010

Dance on Broadway



Earlier this summer I had the fabulous idea to start buying the paper so I could have the coupons. I figured if I saved enough money this would pay for itself.
My plan backfired because after I read the paper and the ads and clipped my coupons I still had the Target ad staring me in the face for the rest of the week. Usually I read the paper that someone brings into work and I look at the Target ad once before someone else takes it.
So I had lots of time to think about the game Dance on Broadway for the Wii.

Hello, I work in theater I totally needed this game. Plus I decided that this game would get me in shape.
The in shape part hasn't happened yet but I don't really play it all that often because it is summer and I have been playing outside more.
Anyway I love this game. It has songs from musicals like Chicago and Cabaret which is perfect since I'm working backstage on a Kander and Ebb show called The Scottsboro Boys (go see it for real. It is amazing).
It also has selections from Hairspray, The Lion King, Fame and Little Shop of Horrors.
There isn't a dance pad for this game so you dance using the remote like in the Just Dance video game.
I recommend this game for anyone who loves dancing and who love Broadway.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

ninja wardrobe rack

I used to work at a theater where backstage noise was a problem. The walls of the theater were brick and it had a metal roof and the space was small so a person couldn't breath backstage without it being heard onstage. In order to go back to the dressing room area you had to walk up a staircase behind a curtain that went right next to the audience so usually once places were called we were stuck backstage for the whole show
As a result of working here when I buy shoes/ clothes to wear backstage I think about how quiet they will be. I really try to be as silent as a ninja.
I don't work in that space anymore but I still understand the concept of being quiet backstage.
Recently I worked on a show that I would call a quiet show. It was not a musical and there weren't a lot of sound cues going on through the show. There was a rack set up for quick changes backstage but there were complaints about noise from the rack. After getting a note about it I decided that something had to be done.

So I made a ninja wardrobe rack. I covered the top tube of the rack and there were no more complaints about noise from the rack of clothes backstage. I'm still really proud of my invention and was just showing it to the ASM on the show I'm working on now. Even though it is a musical it is still important to be quiet backstage. So far I'm proud to report there have been no complaints about noise from the wardrobe rack.