Exploding Elephants
Workday - 8:00am-5:00pm
I said I'd tell you about the exploding elephant, so here it is.
One of the many varied jobs I've had for this musical is to run the sound effects. I had to find them, edit them, burn them to CD, and now play them on cue. One of the sound effects is an explosion; another one is an angry elephant call.
Now, we're performing two versions of the show -- one being a shortened show for elementary school children. The past few rehearsals have been dedicated to this shortened show, and we've all had to adjust our responsibilities. Fortunately, only one of my sound effects is cut out of the shorter version, so I don't have a lot to worry about. Unfortunately, I'm often multi-tasking during rehearsals and can't always be focused solely on sound effects.
Sure enough, I was spread far too thin during Friday's rehearsal to "bring my A game" to most of what I was doing. As you surely have now figured out, I forgot to skip over the "explosion" track on the CD player. When the elephant character gestured for his angry yell, he got a big ka-boom instead.
At first I was actually mortified at myself for being so clumsy. But then I couldn't help laughing with the rest of them. At least I lightened the mood of the rehearsal.
I'm really proud of this cast. No major flubbing, no missed entrances, smooth costume changes and headset exchanges (I feel like I'm writing Seuss here, myself). The acting, dancing, and singing were all awesome.
And, most importantly, my sound effects were perfect.
I said I'd tell you about the exploding elephant, so here it is.
One of the many varied jobs I've had for this musical is to run the sound effects. I had to find them, edit them, burn them to CD, and now play them on cue. One of the sound effects is an explosion; another one is an angry elephant call.
Now, we're performing two versions of the show -- one being a shortened show for elementary school children. The past few rehearsals have been dedicated to this shortened show, and we've all had to adjust our responsibilities. Fortunately, only one of my sound effects is cut out of the shorter version, so I don't have a lot to worry about. Unfortunately, I'm often multi-tasking during rehearsals and can't always be focused solely on sound effects.
Sure enough, I was spread far too thin during Friday's rehearsal to "bring my A game" to most of what I was doing. As you surely have now figured out, I forgot to skip over the "explosion" track on the CD player. When the elephant character gestured for his angry yell, he got a big ka-boom instead.
At first I was actually mortified at myself for being so clumsy. But then I couldn't help laughing with the rest of them. At least I lightened the mood of the rehearsal.
***
Today was our first major performance. We had the first (of two) shortened shows for visiting elementary school kids. The full (evening) show opens on Thursday. I was nervous today, but I can just imagine how I'll be when we really open. Fortunately, I think today went quite well. There were some missed lines, some fudged lines, and some microphone issues, but it looked great as a whole. I might just pat myself on the back for catching a few potential problems before they happened and generally helping out all over the place (I even did a lot of make-up. I was surprised how I was suddenly an expert when compared to most of the kids. I guess it's all relative).I'm really proud of this cast. No major flubbing, no missed entrances, smooth costume changes and headset exchanges (I feel like I'm writing Seuss here, myself). The acting, dancing, and singing were all awesome.
And, most importantly, my sound effects were perfect.
