Painting a Picture

Yesterday we got to choose our own matinee to go see.  Latera and I went to see Mary Poppins and it was incredible.  Even if the show had been terrible, and it wasn’t, it would have been worth it just to see the set.  The set changed so many ways and there was so much flying in and moving back and in and out of wings I don’t know how big that theatre is!  The props crew must have had a blast because the “magic” in the show was awesome.  The entire kitchen broke and then reassembled itself!  She also had a magic bag she could pull huge things out of and she magically turned a blanket into a bed!  “Step in Time” was a wonderful tap dancing number with the entire cast and they were just all so talented.  Bert actually walks up and upside down on the PROSCENIUM!  The show was very fun, its nice sometimes to just see a happy show you know?

Last night we saw August: Osage County and it was amazing as well.  The show was 3 hours and 20 minutes including two 10 minute intermissions.  But, as long as it was, it was not excruciating to get through, in fact I loved it.  It is not often enough that you find a truly great “dramady”straight play on Broadway.  The family dynamic was just so interesting to watch and so relateable for me since I have such a large and close knit family.  There were some very well developed characters played by very well accomplished actors and that obviously came together quite well.  In fact, Jeff Perry who plays Thatcher Grey on Grey’s Anatomy was in it!  That means that I have seen both Meredith’s mother and father on Broadway this week!  Yay!

This morning I visited with Margot Therre, assistant to the Scenic Charge at the Metropolitan Opera House.

The Opera is so crazy, the theatre is SO BIG. They have about a 65 ft x 50 ft stage with 60 ft fly space and 50×60 ft wings. They have 7 elevators on stage that will raise up so they can set scenery up at different levels. They have a place in the building called “Sea Level” where they store sets from past shows, one I saw had been in storage for 30 years.

Margot got into the business through an art background. She started out working after college because she didn’t want to teach and her mother actually rented an apartment from a scenic artist who recommended she take the USA test. She started out in TV, then went into movies, and finally into Opera.

They are different from the Broadway theatres in that they make their own scenery in house whereas Broadway hires out from the scenic shops. What she said is that when they make a show it has to last for 30 years so they build them a lot stronger and steadfast. They also have a much bigger space than any Broadway theatre, theatres just dont have the space to make them. She also said that the painters tend to stay on staff for years, which is much different than the scenic studios. Very cool meeting.

Yesterday I met with David Fry who was the Scenic Charge at NYU Tisch. He was really cool and down to earth. He started out after graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a fine arts degree. He started out paintings scenery for a place that did cruise lines and theme parks. When he decided he wanted to get into theatre it took him around a year to get his first job painting at the University of Cincinnati. He came to NYU and he basically created his position, before him they were hiring out for painters and it was just too expensive.

One thing interesting he told me was that he actually painted for commercials a few times. He says its the simplest tasks, like a solid bathroom color with trim and you get paid like crazy. He made $300/day and for a painter just starting out that is incredible. What I am getting from my interviews is that there is so much out there to get into, you can paint for SNL or Letterman! Its really encouraging, because although I ultimately want to paint for th theatre, I am not above getting easy jobs for good money, haha. I mean I have to make a living right?

He is the first I have met with that is not in USA. He is actually in a teaching union, but he said if he weren’t at NYU he would join the Union, he has a steady job so it isn’t really necessary to find extra work. Tisch has surprisingly small theatre spaces. Their main theatre is about the same size as Mary Wash’s but with no fly space and no wings! Its insane, he said that space is just so hard to come by in NYC. Its insane because you’d think NYU would have this huge amazing space, I can just imagine the challenges those grad students face designing for the limited space.

He said to me “I love my job because it changes each time I do a show.” He doesn’t have to get into a rut and has something interesting to do each time. I can’t wait.

Tisch

Yesterday morning I went to view the Frick Collection off of 5th Ave. I chose that museum because I have to paint a portrait for my senior project of She Stoops to Conquer and the actual original portrait is at the Frick! Its called “Miss Edwards” and its painted by Hogarth. I found it in the second or third room of the house and I literally stood in front of it for about a half hour. I think the curator person in that room thought I was crazy because I was just stepping closer or further away and jotting down pages of notes and then I barely looked at the rest of the room. It was really awesome to be able to see the original of what I have to reproduce…I only hope I can do it justice.

There was a wonderful little atrium at the Frick. It had a long fountain and a lot of plants and a gorgeous skylight and marble benches. I just sat on a bench for 10-15 minutes and sank it all in. Very tranquil.

Later I hid from the rain in the Drama Book Shop which was nice. They had a really comfy couch upstairs and I just sat there for a while resting and relaxing in the wonderful vicinity of plays. Its so crazy that there is a store for just plays, I wish they were more abundant. I was able to find my favorite playwright, Neil LaBute, pretty easily and I was delighted to see there were a few plays I have yet to read!

So it was a very tranquil day…until…

After my meeting at Tisch (separate blog post) I took what I thought was the same exact subway train going the opposite direction so that I could meet the rest of the class to travel to Brooklyn to see Macbeth. After a little while I noticed that we had never stopped at 42nd Street Bryant Park but were in numbers I didn’t recognize and could not find on my map. I got off the subway and on another one going in the opposite direction, but then that was even stranger, and I got off and on another, I got on and off so many that I was completely and utterly lost as to where I was. Eventually I was in Queens, had missed the class meeting time, and was a bit freaked out. So I got off once again and onto a Manhattan bound train which eventually took me where I needed to go. But, my phone was dead and I didn’t know where the theatre was in Brooklyn so I had to go all the way back to the hotel to look up directions on the internet and then travel there by myself. I made it a little into the first act. Although my experience was scary and there was a time I wanted to absolutely freak out and cry, I didn’t, I knew it wouldn’t help me so I just rationally figured out my way back to the hotel and then to the theatre. Yay.

MacBeth with Patrick Stewart was intense. It was probably the most affecting Shakespeare I have seen. The sound and lighting was insane, it would get soooooo loud and everyone in the audience jumped several times. They projected images onto the walls on the set and made it looks like a movie theatre screen. The most powerful scene was when they had blood spilling out onto the walls with this music building up and then Duncan covered in blood ran out and onto the dinner table and there was this piercing scream and then lights out. Intense.

Yesterday morning I traveled to Yonkers on the train to meet with Grace Brandt, the Scenic Charge at Hudson Scenic Studios.  It was amazing.  First she gave me a tour of the facilities and let me have full run of the studio later to take pictures.  It was pretty informal and I just took a lot of notes which I think I’m going to have to type up in a word document before I forget what my abbreviations and things mean.  She was super nice and I learned a lot.  Basically if you are going to work in New York you have got to be in the Union.  That is really the only way you are guaranteed work and a real amount of money.  A new thing I learned was that painters put their names on the USA availability list and that is how they get work.  A scenic studio hires the amount of people it needs and then as soon as they don’t need you anymore you get laid off.  But it is not as bad as that sounds in the business world because you just put your name on the availability list again and if you have a good reputation and word of mouth you will be hired again fairly soon.  So there is a lot more bouncing around between jobs than I originally anticipated.

The hours are regulated by the Union so they have a fairly normal, 7 hour workday with designated breaks and lunches.  On average Hudson employs about 25 painters on a constantly fluctuating basis.  The Charge Painter divvies up the work so you could be working for a few hours on mixing, or texturing, or actually painting.  

When a show goes up on Broadway, Hudson has a record of all the paint used and how everything was made.  There is this awesome storage room with all the shows currently on Broadway.  When a show has been around a few years it needs touching up, but not in the traditional sense, because they replace the entire piece.  They recreate entire huge scenic drops, like for  Phantom of the Opera which they worked on and which is the longest running Broadway show.

Grace also referred me to Grace, the intern.  She was  28 and had actually just recently completed the USA apprenticeship program.  First she graduated with a BA in art and then she attended Cobalt Studios which is the place I am really interested in in upstate New York.  She had only praise for the school and suggested I start e-mailing the director and seeing about spots.  She said its easier to get into Cobalt than the USA apprenticeship program and that it is really a learning process.  She chose the schooling and apprenticeship route so that once she was in the working world, all the things employers would expect her to know she would know fairly well.  It is really all a matter of time and learning in this world.  She gave me her contact info and she is going to e-mail me the studio that some of her friends have worked which is in Virginia, I am also going to MySpace her  

Well so that is the sum of that trip, it was absolutely amazing and I look forward to all the rest I still have to go on.

So today I went shopping. Ever since I heard Sarah Jessica Parker has this line out called Bitten at the Steve and Barrys stores I have wanted to go there. So today I spent a good long while in Manhattan Mall shopping in that store. It was amazing, everything in the store was 8.98. I got a really nice coat and jeans and several tops and all 8.98.

Next me, Lucia, Jon, and David went to see a taping of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart which was really cool. I got to see how they actually film and cut the show. The interview with Hilary Clinton (boo-hiss) went long so at the end we actually went back and re-taped the beginning. Highlight of the experience however was after the telecast interview with Hilary was over, they had stopped taping and Jon Stewart was thanking her, but there was a 3-second delay and she thought she was off and everyone just hears her say “It was horrible!” hahahahaha and Stewart just like smacked his head. He is really funny and charismatic in person. I really wish I could see a taping of Conan O’Brien but I don’t think I have the time

Tonight we saw Gypsy in it’s very first preview!  It was absolutely amazing.  Patti Lupone as Rose was phenomenal and the entire cast was just outstanding.  I had never seen or really heard the musical, except for the obvious famous numbers, so it was really fun to get to see everything fresh for once.  There were little things you could take note that it was still in previews but all in all it was a fantastic show.  This is the first time I can say I have been to a preview and it would be cool to see it during its run to see how much it changes.  We also stayed after at the stage door and got our programs signed by basically EVERYONE, it is literally covered in autographs.  LOVE.

This morning before the matinee me, Lucia, and David did a TON of fun things. First we went to the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park which is in Godspell and featured in a lot of other movies as well. It was very pretty but I think it would be better in the Spring when the water can be turned on. You could also see The Boathouse from there which was featured in the movie 27 Dresses and so that made me happy

We also saw the busiest horse throughfare in the world in front of the Plaza in front of Central Park. Everyone was asking if we wanted to ride but I asked a driver to just pet the horse and he was super nice and brought the horse one hoof up on the sidewalk and let us come close. He was really awesome and talking all sweet to his horse and he let each of us pet “Blackie” and take pictures in turn. I love horses.

Keeping in the grain of the animals we also went to La Petit Puppy on Christopher Street. It is this pet shop with actual puppies in the window all playing and pouncing about. You can go in and hold puppies and kittens and literally you are just “I want to hold that one…now that one…now that one!” and they are really nice about it. I have lots of pictures from that of course

Also off of Christopher Street was the FRIENDS building! It’s no big thing just the building that they always pan up when the show starts or changes locations etc. The building was a lot smaller than I thought it was because they pan up and you never really see where it starts. It is also in a complete different place than they would have you think. Regardless, its Friends, and so it was amazing as well.

Today we had a matinée at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street. It was a straight play called Grace, with Lynn Redgrave in the lead and she is pretty well known I think. All in all I don’t really know what I thought about the show. It was slow at times and so much was going on that I left the theatre not really sure of what I had seen. The plot revolves around an atheist mother and her son who decides to be a minister. The one thing that I did like and that did stick with me was the argument the character Tom made to his mother. People always group religions by just that, religion. They define people as Christians or Buddhists or Atheists and there are set associations that follow them around. The thing is, not every fits into these molds. All you normally hear about in the press are the extremists, or the ones who defy the essential beliefs of their religions. You never just hear about that good priest who wants to make a difference in the world.

Tonight’s show was Legally Blonde. I had already seen the version that was shown on MTV and I am in love with the soundtrack so I was really excited. Because I love the music and because I had already “seen” it, it was a different experience for me. I found myself noticing when things were changed or when an actor added a different inflection. I loved the show. No matter what they changed, it worked for me. The lead tonight was the understudy and it was only her second show ever going on as Elle (after the matinee) and she was really great. Yes you could tell she was a little rusty but she had an amazing voice and rocked it in the second act. The show is so happy it just makes you smile. Even though it is so fluffy I think it is still a great musical. I mean it has this girl who overcomes all these obstacles that people put in her way and she realizes she doesn’t need anyone to be the greatest person she can be and I think that is just great!

Omigod you guys!

Well… we made it!  We are in New York City for 9 days!!!!!

I don’t have to meet with contacts until Monday so this weekend is really for orienting myself and visiting as much as I can within the time frame.  Here is a quick rundown of the important things…

Friday night: Spring Awakening:  This musical was amazing.  I loved it so so so much.  The cast is all very young and its a very young awesome rock musical.  It is said to have revolutionized the musical in a way that hasn’t happened since RENT.  I don’t think anyone in our class had any real issues with this show, as it speaks so much to our generation.  I can’t imagine what the older generations think of this show as I am not one of them but I can only think they experience it in a way entirely different to us.  I had heard the soundtrack before but seeing the show and having it all be put together and connected was remarkable.  I understood so much more having actually seen it, and this is a musical where the energy of the cast just shines through.  All in all, awesome.

Saturday matinee: The Seagull: This play is a Chekhov play, and I expect everybody reading this blog has an association whatever that may be with that name.  I didn’t really know what to expect going into the show.  I have read a few Chekhov plays and found them really hard to understand, the Russian names really throw me off and distract me.  Seeing the show was much easier to comprehend and it was a really good show.  It was also 3 hours, and after very little sleep and a very long day Friday, it was difficult.  I did not sleep but there were moments in the play that did not grab me so much as others.  I thought Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming were both excellent, infact Dianne is one of the things that kept me “in” the show.

Before the show we wandered around and came across the Union Square Green Market.  It wasn’t planned we just kind of happened off the subway and into the market.  It was set up with all the farmers and people selling their produce and what-have-you.  It is an interesting place because it is in the street with no traffic and it was very highly populated.  It is neat to me that these people are in independent businesses run right out of the streets of NYC.

After the show we ventured to find Canal Street because it is really really cold and Latera and I wanted a nice hat to wear!  Well Jon, Latera, and I ventured…and we ventured…and we ventured…and thats basically it!  Haha, no but we literally rode a million subways and apparently couldn’t find or get to the right one so we ended up walking all through China Town until it finally intersected…but alas..no hat.  Canal street was fun though.  There are so many street vendors and it is a tourist landmark but isn’t it illegal?  The knockoffs are funny, I love Coach and these little ladies were all “Coach bag? Coach bag?” and I could see the replicas and they were NOT good and I was like umm I have a real one so no thanks.  I mean if I want a fake I’m going to get a good fake.

Saturday night: Next to Normal:  This was actually a musical and I think most of the class didn’t know that until we sat down with our Playbill, me included.  It was so different than any musical I have seen.  Someone commented tonight in our discussion that it didn’t really offer a lot of connection between songs and I think maybe thats what irked me about it.  Don’t get me wrong, I really really liked the show.  There was this moment that really hit me, gave me shivers and goosebumps and I love that.  The storyline was something new too that I had never seen before.  For those of you at home it follows the lives of this family, the mother is bi-polar and sees her son as a man, but he died as a baby.  The acting was superb and these actors had beautiful voices.  I do not think I would buy the entire soundtrack but I would definitely purchase a few songs that really were amazing.

So that is what I have done so far…hopefully I will be able to blog more often so it doesn’t consume one gigantor blog again.

First real meeting is Monday and I can’t wait!

Ciao!

So, I, like many others I know, have a great fear of the phone.   It’s weird because when I was little my older brother hated talking to strangers and I never seemed to have any problem with it.  But now that I’m older I never want to call anybody that I don’t know, I dread having to order in take-out because of the phone conversation.

I just overcame part of that fear when I called a representative at United Scenic Artists.  I had e-mailed her twice and received a voice mail a week and a half ago but not further contact after that because she wasn’t at her desk when I called.  But I called again and talked to her and shes going to see if there is anyone she can find to talk to me, she seemed really nice but a little doubtful of the contacts she could make for me… I think though that I will be able to make some contacts through the Scenic Studios I am going to this week.  I am definitely going to visit the 3 largest studios and Union painters are going to be working at each of them…so maybe the people I talk to can put me into contact with some of them, and I think some of them might live in Manhattan….I suppose we will just have to see