Monday, September 22, 2008

Irish Imagination and Iowa Stubborness

Another Music Man rehearsal. This time we learned Iowa Stubborn. Very fun!

Oh, there's nothing halfway about the Iowa way to treat you
When we treat you, which we may not do at all.


I admit I was wondering whether they would change the "And we're so by God stubborn we can stand touching noses" part. They changed Zaneeta's "Ye Gods!" to "Ye Gads!" which is understandable, but "Ye Gods!" isn't as bad in a Christian children's performance as "by God..." They did change it - to "Gosh darn stubborn." Haha. I'm wondering what they'll do about Mayor Shinn though. "If I ever catch you touching my daughter again I'll by God horsewhip you till hell won't have it!" is a line I wouldn't want my brother to say, but it takes the fun out of it if it's only "I'll gosh darn horsewhip you."

We also did some extra audition preparation, and I tested my Irish accent for Mrs. Paroo on my cousin and sister.

Snobby moment of the day: In the car, my mother put on some alphabet music for my brother. It was very loud. I was trying to listen to my classical music.

"Can you please turn that down?" I asked, "I can't hear my Shostakovitch."
"Well, la di da," my mom teased.
But even better and more important than Shostakovitch was Brahm's Hungarian Dance... and George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue! Ah, I do love that song.

10 comments:

Elenatintil said...

Yay! Music Man Update!

I do hope you get Mrs. Paroo! And I wish even more that I lived out in CA so I could come see you!

Courtney said...

haha! i would of loved to of heard your Irish accent ^_^! i can do a fairly swell british, but, i'm not so great when it comes to irish and scottish. and to think, i'm much more Irish and Scottish (actually quite a bit) than British! :D

i've never listened to Shostakovitch....that is something i MUST do!! :)

Kristen said...

I'd definitely chose Alyosha as a great commenter (hear that?). She's the only one who comments me afterall. It's nice you mentioned her. I knew it'd happen. ;)

*now knows the proper way to comment* Let me see if I can do it.

Ooh! Accents! I have been practicing my Texan (is that what you call it? Texan, Texish, Texanish, Texasian?) Will you call me and speak it to me? Please?

*finds the musicinthecar story highly amusing* It's nice to know you can pronounce what'shisname's name. It looks difficult.

When will you be performing this play, BTW?

Delaney said...

Thanks, Elena!

@Courtney - I've only heard that one Shostakovitch song I was listening to. It's called Suite No. 2 from Jazz Suite or something... It's very cool. :D I don't think I have any Irish blood in me, but my name is Irish and I'm obsessed with potatoes...

Oh, yeah, Owan, remember the Potato Club? :D

The Music Man performances will be at the end of January. Yeah, I know, a long time away. So I get plenty of time to stumble through those dances.

Melissa Cecilia said...

"Rhapsody in Blue" is MY favorite song! Seriously. That with "Sing Sing Sing" by Benny Goodman and "Clair de Lune" by Claude Debussy are my top 3.

Alyosha said...

Heh, this post is going to make your blog rating (that place where it rates you PG or R or whatever) skyrocket...well...sort of...what was I saying again? Nevermind. Rhapsody in Blue is awesome.

"Ye gods!" would be such a fun thing to say. Too bad it's, you know, bad. :P

*wonders if Owan has a Midwestern accent* *and if CA accents are any different from Standard American* *and if Alyosha can think of anything of substance to say here* (nope, don't think so.)

Kristen said...

I'm not sure there is a standard American accent, Alyosha, any more then there's a English accent.

Have you seen the Amy Walker video on YouTube, BTW?

I do indeed remember that club, Delaney! I still have the name of our mascot in my signature. :P

My best friend says "Ye gads!" all the time. (The A is not a typo.)

Kristen said...

*forgot to answer the last bit of Delaney's return comment*

I suppose when your working with young people (you are, aren't you?) you do tend to pick a longer rehearsal time.
When we did Murder In The Air (we being "pocessive" because it was just two of my sister's who made it past auditions) the practices went on weekly for three months with a three-week Christmas break in the middle. Eugenides and I had to fill-in every week though because all but three of the actors were grown-ups over the age of 35 and had pretty busy schedules.

It was nuts but nice at the same time because just sitting there watching them preform every week without doing anything would have been very dull, ya know.

[/endrant]

(If you want to know if I have a accent, Alyosha, then you also must call me. :p )

Holly said...

Ah...I so wish I could do an Irish accent!

Elisabeth Grace Foley said...

I know what you mean about the tricky musical lyrics - some songs from a musical I like have a bit of swearing in them, and I've occasionally tried to brainstorm words to replace it. I've never been able to come up with anything that had quite the same punch to it.

Sounds like you're going to have a lot of fun with The Music Man!