That Tall Blonde at the Callback — Virtual Performance is Keeping Us All Sane Right Now
I’m officially shifting gears. When this pandemic started, I think we all thought that by summer we’d be back to our usual routines of rehearsing and performing together. Shelter in place was a temporary state we could just wait out for a month or two or three. We turned our attention to self-tapes. “I know my current project has been moved/cancelled, but onto the next!”, we thought. But science is now showing us that it’s unwise to move so quickly. It is necessary to protect the health of the performers, as well as the audience, especially singers — who we now know are potentially “super-spreaders” when we perform or rehearse. We are now seeing the cancellation of whole seasons, putting our local theaters in danger of insolvency. But that is the hand we have been dealt.
No more self-tapes for me unless the project is VERY far in the future. I’m leaning into virtual performance for at least the next year. No, it’s not the same. But it doesn’t have to be the same. It just needs to get us through this horrible period of time when we are kept from doing what we love to do. And I’m actually really enjoying it. Here are some of the highlights for me.
Virtual readings. I exclusively do musical theatre, because singing is my favorite activity. But flexing my acting muscles a bit more is not a bad thing. I’ve done four Zoom readings over the past month or two and had a blast. The most recent, an online reading of “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” with Artists Rise Up, was an absolute delight. And it wasn’t about showing off my skills (there was NO audience — just six people reading to each other). For me, it was more about improving my own confidence and, like I mentioned above, using those muscles. I felt somewhat lukewarm about my performances in the earlier readings, but reading Gloria in this show was not just fun — I came away feeling like, “huh, maybe I should audition here and there for ‘straight plays’ — I kinda killed that part.” At least when I wasn’t on mute. It’s not an online reading if someone doesn’t forget to take Zoom off mute when it’s their line.
Cabarets. Some of us have been doing this all along (guilty). I like to post videos of me singing, and now there are literally dozens of opportunities every week to share your talents to more people than are just on your Facebook page. And I’m seeing a lot of people commenting, “I’ve never done this before” who are now hooked as well. Many have been uncomfortable with this type of performance, as it seems so self-promotional and attention-seeking. Don’t let others dim your light. Just as we don’t expect painters to keep their art under the bed, and you shouldn’t be expected to only sing when in an empty house, or only sing when “asked” to perform. Spread that joy, because there are more of us that WANT to see you than those who will grumble about how needy you are. Ignore them. And I have more to say below on consuming all this great content. Watching (and sometimes also participating in) the Friday Night Quarantined Cabaret Live has a become a Friday-night staple for my daughter and I.
Skill-building coursework. Seriously, is there any better time to sign up for the class you kept meaning to take? It won’t conflict with your rehearsal schedule, and now you don’t even have to DRIVE there! And there is actually no better way to keep your local theatre solvent right now than to sign up and pay for their classes. Well, donations help too. If you have the means, of course. We all know pennies are tight right now for those of you who may not have stable work. If paying for classes is out of the question, there are a lot of free offerings now too (Broadway Weekends is SUPER cool if you haven’t heard of it — and free — although donations via Venmo are accepted). Next up for me is hopefully a few more dance classes. I’ve done them here and there through Broadway Weekends, The Ballet School and South Bay Musical Theatre (who just announced a whole eStudio with access to play readings, cabarets and classes for monthly sustaining members), but there are SO many choices.
Consuming content. I have a Broadway HD subscription, but it’s really not getting that much use right now. Why? Because so many of YOU are performing so often that I have plenty to keep me entertained! And because I don’t need to leave my kids and drive somewhere, I’m actually much more likely to catch all my favorite friends’ performances. While I’ll definitely be back in a theater seat once it feels safe to do so, but I’m actually loving being able to have Eryn Allen serenade me with her piano skills during dinner, or having the latest video from the captivating team of roommates Juan Castro, Megan Bartlett and Jorey Cantu hit my feed. Heaven! Also, this is the perfect thing if YOU aren’t feeling up to performing right now. There is a lot of pressure to “be seen” as an actor, and we fear having to rebuild our reputations once auditions start up again. But there is nothing wrong with time off when it’s needed. Heck, I took 9 years off.
Yeah, this will do for now. And I’ve mostly just talked about the local stuff. I haven’t even scratched the surface of Sondheim birthday concerts and streaming Webber shows! Plenty to keep me busy, especially if I add a “That Tall Blonde at the Callback — Live from Her Living Room” show in at some point. Hope you’ll join me if I do — and I can’t wait to see YOUR performances hit my feed.
