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Saturday, March 8

This morning it was over to Shetler studios to meet with Natalie and her fabulous voice teacher, D. Michael. He was so excited to work with us and I was super excited to work with him. We warmed up and got cracking. Jon was the first to go. D. Michael introduced to us to some new things. He told us to throw out what we think we know about breathing and taught us to breathe all over again. He also told us to make the song do the work for us. Use the consonants to re-tank with air and then you will be prepared to begin your new phrase. It really makes a difference. He also told us to throw away the idea of fixed vowel placement. It is good that we have the training, but we need to make ourselves free to doing what is best for us in terms of singing the song. Adapt a vowel sound if need be. Put it in a different place to make it more clear. He also worked with me on my tension. I have always had this jaw tension. I just wish it would go away. I work and work, but it doesn’t seem to go away completely. I have made strides, just a little further to go. D. Michael told me to think of it differently. Instead of always thinking about the lower jaw releasing think of it as the upper jaw lifting. I will try that and see what happens. I also need to work on my alignment while I am singing. I should get mirror to keep in front of me during lessons.

After the voice lesson with D. Michael, I ran down the street to the corner to meet Zak Edwards at the Starbucks. He was so friendly. He was a 2006 graduate of the University of Oklahoma. It was funny, one of the first things he said to me was, “I am so broke.” Just pure honesty. I loved it. He told me about his career since coming to the city. He did a small tour on a cruise ship as a performer, which was good money. He got back to the city and booked The Wild Party at the Gallery Players. He did temp work. He ushers for Young Frankenstein. He constantly auditions. Talking with him I think I got the first real sense of what it is like to be a young actor in New York. He that day was actually on his way to a callback for the national tour of A Chorus Line. He told me he would keep me updated, so I am excited to hear about that.

After our matinee of Sunday in the Park with George, Gregg, Jon and I went to check out the newest Apple Store on 14th Street. It was huge. Three stories in this old refurbished warehouse it looked like. Of course beautifully tailored in the Apple look. From there we went to a sushi buffet for dinner and then caught a cab up to see Paradise Park at Signature Theatre Company. Somewhere in there the city got super windy and by the time we were walking home it was horribly windy and I felt like I was going to be blown away.