Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Musical theater is a sport!!
Being a Winkie is not all fun and games — it’s more of a sport.
Title: The Sports Expert Who Keeps it Real
Address: http://sportsriley.…">sportsriley.tumblr.…
From: Vista
Blogging since: 2011
Post Date: April 14, 2013
I have found, through firsthand experience, several similarities that connect sports and musical theater. Yes, I have participated in the world of show tunes and dramatic dance numbers. I have been a Winkie, a brother of Joseph, a Roman soldier, and an enchanted rug, just to name a few. And I’ll tell you this: like sports, musical theater is not for the faint of heart.
PREPARATION
I grew up loving sports and I still do. For a while, it was all I knew or cared about. As far as I was concerned, doing something like musical theater was way too lame and wimpy for my lofty standards. But my mom felt that I needed to broaden my horizons beyond sports. So I was coaxed into this new world that changed my perception of musical theater forever. For one thing, there is so much prep! Memorizing lyrics, lines, choreography, music; knowing where you should be in a scene, etc. One summer, I was in Beauty and the Beast. Me and another guy were enchanted rugs. We had to learn how to do a two-man somersault. On concrete. We had little foam noodles on our backs to cushion the impact, but it was still not fun to see concrete rushing up toward your head that quickly. We had to practice and adjust and practice and practice some more until we were in perfect sync. I’d love to see Kobe and Lebron try that.
TEAMWORK
One of the shows I did was an adaptation of the movie Ben-Hur. There’s a scene in the movie that shows an opponent on his deathbed after being severely injured in the chariot race. The way we did it was by having him on a stretcher that was held by two soldiers, one of which was me. Now this guy was not light by any means. Plus, every night he squirmed more forcefully and added more fake blood which made it very hard to get a firm grip on the stretcher. But I looked across from me to the other soldier who silently encouraged me to hold on and helped me believe I could do it. It’s like a player who has been struggling offensively but is being constantly supported and encouraged. Sometimes that’s all you need to succeed.
EXECUTION
Have you seen a flawlessly executed alley-oop? YouTube these combos for examples: Blake Griffin/Chris Paul and Lebron James/Dwyane Wade. No one has perfected the art of the alley-oop like these guys have. You can practice these to a point but you can’t really prepare for the in-game obstacles that present themselves. You have to improvise. And because of that, it’s crucial that both players are on the same page. I was doing Wizard of Oz as a Winkie, and one of the scenes I was in was a big fight scene. With real daggers. They had been dulled but were still no less dangerous. This scene consisted of quick movements and fight choreography. A piece of cake in rehearsal. But when those lights come on, you hear the audience, and the adrenaline starts pumping, you have to be much more alert and focused in that scene and make sure the timing and everything else flows seamlessly. One misstep can be the difference between exciting entertainment or embarrassing disaster.
INTERMISSION
Halftime. Intermission. Two different words that have a universal meaning that says, break time! I always enjoyed those times between Act 1 and 2. It was a time to rest, go over lines, eat, change costumes, socialize, or in my case, hop the fence at the nearby Christian school and shoot hoops with some like-minded cast members. Many athletes use this time to go over film or plays, or retape a stubborn ankle that refuses to heal. And it’s an opportunity to bond with your teammates. Musical theater is no different.
And after the 2nd half or 2nd act, when the bright lights have been shut off, you still have your fellow actors, your teammates. You all become a second family and make memories that will keep you connected well after the last note or sound of the buzzer has pierced the air.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Musical theater is a sport!!
Musical theater is a sport!!
Being a Winkie is not all fun and games — it’s more of a sport.
Title: The Sports Expert Who Keeps it Real
Address: http://sportsriley.…">sportsriley.tumblr.…
From: Vista
Blogging since: 2011
Post Date: April 14, 2013
I have found, through firsthand experience, several similarities that connect sports and musical theater. Yes, I have participated in the world of show tunes and dramatic dance numbers. I have been a Winkie, a brother of Joseph, a Roman soldier, and an enchanted rug, just to name a few. And I’ll tell you this: like sports, musical theater is not for the faint of heart.
PREPARATION
I grew up loving sports and I still do. For a while, it was all I knew or cared about. As far as I was concerned, doing something like musical theater was way too lame and wimpy for my lofty standards. But my mom felt that I needed to broaden my horizons beyond sports. So I was coaxed into this new world that changed my perception of musical theater forever. For one thing, there is so much prep! Memorizing lyrics, lines, choreography, music; knowing where you should be in a scene, etc. One summer, I was in Beauty and the Beast. Me and another guy were enchanted rugs. We had to learn how to do a two-man somersault. On concrete. We had little foam noodles on our backs to cushion the impact, but it was still not fun to see concrete rushing up toward your head that quickly. We had to practice and adjust and practice and practice some more until we were in perfect sync. I’d love to see Kobe and Lebron try that.
TEAMWORK
One of the shows I did was an adaptation of the movie Ben-Hur. There’s a scene in the movie that shows an opponent on his deathbed after being severely injured in the chariot race. The way we did it was by having him on a stretcher that was held by two soldiers, one of which was me. Now this guy was not light by any means. Plus, every night he squirmed more forcefully and added more fake blood which made it very hard to get a firm grip on the stretcher. But I looked across from me to the other soldier who silently encouraged me to hold on and helped me believe I could do it. It’s like a player who has been struggling offensively but is being constantly supported and encouraged. Sometimes that’s all you need to succeed.
EXECUTION
Have you seen a flawlessly executed alley-oop? YouTube these combos for examples: Blake Griffin/Chris Paul and Lebron James/Dwyane Wade. No one has perfected the art of the alley-oop like these guys have. You can practice these to a point but you can’t really prepare for the in-game obstacles that present themselves. You have to improvise. And because of that, it’s crucial that both players are on the same page. I was doing Wizard of Oz as a Winkie, and one of the scenes I was in was a big fight scene. With real daggers. They had been dulled but were still no less dangerous. This scene consisted of quick movements and fight choreography. A piece of cake in rehearsal. But when those lights come on, you hear the audience, and the adrenaline starts pumping, you have to be much more alert and focused in that scene and make sure the timing and everything else flows seamlessly. One misstep can be the difference between exciting entertainment or embarrassing disaster.
INTERMISSION
Halftime. Intermission. Two different words that have a universal meaning that says, break time! I always enjoyed those times between Act 1 and 2. It was a time to rest, go over lines, eat, change costumes, socialize, or in my case, hop the fence at the nearby Christian school and shoot hoops with some like-minded cast members. Many athletes use this time to go over film or plays, or retape a stubborn ankle that refuses to heal. And it’s an opportunity to bond with your teammates. Musical theater is no different.
And after the 2nd half or 2nd act, when the bright lights have been shut off, you still have your fellow actors, your teammates. You all become a second family and make memories that will keep you connected well after the last note or sound of the buzzer has pierced the air.
Comments