When I Get My Name In Lights (The Boy From Oz)

But not just yet. Ottawa, I can't wait to leave you for bigger and better things. For now, though, while I still have less than half the debt I returned with to pay off, I'm going to enjoy being a local superstar. I'm a pretty big deal around Orpheus Musical Theatre Society, I'm not going to lie. When I came back to town and auditioned for Victor/Victoria last March, I blew them away. I beat out many hopeful ladies to become the Jazz Singer, which I have been told was one of the most memorable moments of the show. Then came time for Beauty and The Beast, when I auditioned for a lead, but got offered a small lead and dance chorus, because they really needed me to dance. I made the demand of being kept busy, and being the focal point of the dance numbers, front stage center. I ended up with five parts including the alpha wolf, and the gargoyle in addition to my roles as dancer and Monsieur D'Arque, AND I was the main attraction of most of the dance numbers.

The next show is Guys and Dolls. I didn't audition. I needed a break. I hate the show. But I LOVE the directing team. The two choreographers are friends of mine, the musical director and I go way back and she's still mad at me for not auditioning. The director is a legend that I had the pleasure of working with briefly in Kiss Me Kate five years ago. He played the random character of Harrison Howell, and was pretty much never needed at rehearsals so he never really associated with the rest of the cast. Right before he makes his entrance, my character came into the scene to introduce him. We would stand together in the dark wings waiting to go on, and interacted mildly. On both opening and closing nights he gave me a card telling me how I made him feel comfortable every night before going on stage. It was sweet. He's a sweet old fella. During Beauty and The Beast, he showed up at one of our tech rehearsals. I've often thought about how much I'd like to work with him again, but I haven't seen him in five years. I suspected he'd have no idea who I was anymore. He did. As soon as he saw me he called out my name and introduced me to his wife. She said "Is he the one that you emailed when he came back to town." I was touched, but disappointed because I never got the email. How did he know I was in town. I told him I'd love to audition for Guys and Dolls, but I wasn't going to.

Fast forward to the present. A friend of mine who's playing Nicely Nicely and has been begging me to do the show told me that the dude who plays Benny hasn't shown up to one rehearsal and if he gets kicked out, he's suggesting they cast me. This Benny character played Eddie in Mamma Mia in Toronto. He's amazingly talented and a nice guy to your face, but he's a total diva. During West Side Story last year, he was cast as Riff but told the directors he wasn't going to show up for rehearsals until half way through the process, which was fine at first, but when he started flaking, they had to replace him. I went to bar night at Orpheus tonight (weekly cast party thing), where the musical director gave me flack again for not auditioning, and the director told me that if I want they'd still fit me into the show. I explained to him that I was happy to be on a break now and that I have some stuff coming up in the new year. What I didn't mention was that I would cover Benny if that dude is on the outs. So I discretely informed on of the choreographers to pass along that if they kicked him out, that I would do the show. It's pretty likely that things are going to go this way. So looks like I'm doing a show in March.

The director of the next show after that found out that I was staying in town until summer and asked me to audition for the show, enticing me with Steam Heat (it's not The Pajama Game, it's a musical revue for their 100th anniversary). So I'm feeling in a good position in this town.

I really wish the real world were like this. I wish everyone in professional theatre land thought I was the most amazingly talented person in the world and begged me to do shows, even without auditioning. Why can't Ottawa have good paying musical theatre? Everyone's saying that I'm headed for Broadway and that I'm a triple threat, but realistically, yes, I'm a singing and dancing actor like this city has never seen, but I'm out-sung and out-danced at professional auditions. I hate that. Why can't I be as amazing as everyone thinks I am? Mind you, a big part of my appeal here is that I give my all at rehearsal and make sure to be pleasant to everyone, so that they fall in love with me. This can also work in the paying world, but I have to have the talent to back it up. I hate this vicious cycle.