Yesterday we went to go see Pirates of Penzance. It was at this outdoor amphitheatre that was by the water front in Hoboken, so it kind of worked as the set for the show. The show started out okay, but then it started raining so they had to stop the show in the beginning of the second act. It was kind of fun to get caught in the rain, except I didn't have an umbrella and I wasn't wearing water appropriate shoes. It only sprinkled a little bit, until we got back into New York City. We had to make a Walgreens run (which seems to be our primary social outing) and it was raining pretty hard out. It was kind of fun though! Rain in the summer was nice and refreshing. I looked like a stray dog though.

Tonight we went to go see our creative movement teacher's actual show. I wasn't prepared for how emotional it would get. He's a gay mime, and he covered a lot of heavy topics, like the Laramie Project and growing up as a gay kid in a podunk town, and how he got married a month ago today. That got huge "awws" from the entire audience. And he talked about his uncle Davey who he didn't really like, but grew to appreciate when Davey got sick and couldn't come out to visit. Everyone was bawling, but it had some really funny moments too. I absolutely loved it.

Tomorrow starts the crazy rehearsal days. From now on, I'm pretty sure our only activity after dinner is rehearsals, rehearsals, and more rehearsals. Our show is on Thursday and there's a lot we need to get done. We need to choreograph or block our huge group number, and figure out what songs everyone is singing. I still don't know what I want to sing. I worked on "Simple" in my voice class today and Prof Heldman really liked it, so we'll see.

Also! She and I had a pretty decent chat about the audition process into NYU and the chances of getting in, if I applied. She asked if I was looking into this school and when I said yes, she nodded and said good. And then I asked about how many people get in, stuff like that, and she mentioned that I most likely wouldn't get prescreened, along with anyone else from this program who applies. She also mentioned that auditioning as a soprano makes it harder to get in, but I have a very good chance because I'm flexible, easy going, fun to work with, and I'm willing to try whatever they throw at me. She also mentioned that I have a good attitude that's enjoyable to work with. So that was very good news indeed! It made me really happy. She wants me to keep in touch throughout the year, let her know what's up. I guess when I come back to audition for the school, they want to see how much I've retained of what they taught me, and how much I've grown since. So we'll see!

Tonight we got to watch a mini performance by our creative movement teacher, Bill Bowers. He's so cool! He's a professional mime and actor, and he originated the role of Zazou in The Lion King on Broadway! He did two short pieces and then talked to us a bit about himself and his journey to where he is today. I got a picture with him, which made me really happy. And it turned out good too!

Tomorrow we get to sleep in until noon, because we aren't meeting downstairs until 1:30 or so. I'm so excited, I feel like I haven't gotten as much sleep as I've needed to in a while. And then we're headed to Hoboken, New Jersey to see Pirates of Penzance. I'm pretty excited for that, I like that show and I hope it turns out good. And I think we might be going with the Shakespeare group, which is cool because I have a few friends in that program.  Some of the people in my program want to order pastries and such from this bakery that I guess is famous, it's run by the guy on Cake Boss on TLC and apparently  you have to order hours in advance. I don't know if it's going to  happen though, so we'll see.

For lunch, we had a two hour lunch break because my group was let out of dance an hour early. The teacher said the whole point of today's class was to know the dance and we know it, so she let us out early. Ten or so of us went to this reeeeally good Thai place, called Cafetasia. The food was super yummy! And then our AC, Joahna (she's from California too!) took us to this little hole-in-the-wall place that sells vegan food and we got vegan cookies which were actually really good.

I can't believe we're going into our final week. I'm actually going to miss a lot of the people, I don't want to leave quite yet. But at the same time, I miss California, and having more freedom to do what I want and not have to be escorted everywhere. But I wish our program was maybe a month, or even a month and a half. Because there's so much to learn that we're trying to cram into three weeks, plus learn songs and dances and group numbers for a final performance. It's crazy! The next few days are going to be insane with rehearsals and learning numbers last minute. But hey, that's show business.

We had a little pow wow yesterday in our song analysis class about what songs we might perform for the final showcase. We went around and listed our choices, and then Professor Ricciardone told us if he agreed or disagreed with us, and why. I said I wanted to sing "Movie in My Mind" but he said he wanted me to sing "Feelings". When I asked him why, he said it was because it was a hard song to pull off and I can sing it well. So that made me happy. And I like the song, I just didn't think he'd pick it for me. But if he thinks I can pull it off, then I'll do it.

Today was an interesting day because after lunch we were supposed to have a master class with some teacher but she never showed up. I think they said it was because there are two similar programs going on and she got the details mixed up. But it was funny because we were just sitting there waiting, and we ended up pulling out our phones and stuff and just hanging out. It was fun. And then we ended up having a mini song analysis session and I got to hear some of the kids from Group B perform, which was really cool.

We had the most amazing pizza for dinner. A bunch of us went to Artichoke to get pizza and it was so GOOD! I had to make myself eat it slowly and savor it. I couldn't even finish it, which made me sad, because it was so yummy. And then I walked across the street with a few other people to get pearl tea (which I guess they call bubble tea on the East coast?) and that was delicious too. I got a coffee milk tea and it was sweetened perfectly, just the way I like it.

We stayed in at the dorms tonight, and watched movies. Well, we attempted to. I fell asleep a couple of times during  Tron, and I missed the entire beginning which I'm pretty sure set up the rest of the movie, so I had no idea what was going on. I wasn't paying attention at all. But that's fine, because I discovered a new game on my phone where they show you a bit of a logo and you have to guess what it is. It's strangely fun.

Tomorrow we're supposed to have some giant master class or showcase that one of our professors, Professor Gill, is putting on. But no one really knows what it is, not even him! So we'll see how that it. It's right after dinner too, until like 10 at night, so I have no idea what we're doing.

We walked the Brooklyn Bridge today. That's the kind of thing where I've done it once, and don't ever need to do it again. I suppose the view was pretty, but the walk was long and exhausting. And for half of it you don't even get a view. There are just tall metal walls lining the sidewalk that you have to share between pedestrians and bicycles. No on really wanted to walk the bridge, because we were all so tired, but we went and got really yummy ice cream afterward, which kind of made up for it. I got coffee, of course, and it was goooood.

We learned a pretty long tap combo today, or rather, we added more steps to it, but I'm feeling really confident about it because I feel like I'm really getting it. I can do the combination without making a mistake, which makes me happy.

Also, I've made a lot of new friends. Which might seem silly because we've already been in this program for a while, but I'm starting to get to know people I didn't really know all that well before. This one girl, Mimi, is really nice. We definitely clicked well. And overall, I'm just enjoying getting to know new people. Even though I won't see most of them when the program ends, I'm still having fun hanging out with them. Though it's true that after living, eating, and spending every waking hour with these people, I'm almost wishing I could just leave the dorm for a few hours by myself. But that's bound to happen with any group anywhere. If you spend enough time with them, sometimes you get sick of them.

I'm really looking forward to our final performance though. We're learning the dances and songs and everything is coming along. Though I wonder when we'll decide what songs we're singing for the final performance. I definitely have a few options that I need to choose from.

Today in my voice lesson the greatest thing happened. I was singing "Love, Look Away" from Flower Drum Song and after she said, "Wow, that was absolutely fantastic." And then she asked me, "Are you looking into this school? Are you going to be applying here?" And I said, "Yes, this is my top choice" and she looked at me and said "Good, very good". That made me SO happy! It was the best news I could have possibly received. I'm hoping that she has some say in who gets in when I apply so that she puts in a good word for me. I'm really hoping that the other teachers like me too, enough to want me to come here for actual school. One of the professors, Professor Ricciardone, is one of the few on the committee and I get the feeling that he really likes me and my voice and likes working with me. He walked in on my first lesson while I was learning "Love, Look Away" and he said "I love that voice!" Coming to Steinhardt is a real confidence booster, I'm loving it.

Our activity for tonight was cancelled too. We were supposed to go the Washington Square Park music festival, and I'm not entirely sure what happened there. They said something about possibly seeing a chamber choir perform in a  church but of course no one wanted to do that. So we walked to Union Square to hang out for a bit. One of the ACs, Adam, took me and my friends Mimi and Dexter to get pearl tea at this place called TMagic. Oh. My. God. It was SO GOOD! I really want to go back there. It's on some street on the other end of Washington Square Park, the opposite end from where our dorm is. And across the street is a restaurant called Artichoke and it sells the most delicious pizza I've ever tasted. They make artichoke pizza and it's so yummy! It sounds weird but once you try it, you'll love it. My friend Mimi got it because she didn't eat anything when we went to one of the cafeterias for dinner, and I had a bite. It was sooooo delicious. I want to go back there too.

Over all, I feel like I've been learning a lot from this program. I've been taking notes obsessively and recording everything that happens, seems like. But I'm really enjoying myself. And I'm making a lot of new friends. It feels like we're one giant family, which I love.

Steinhardt program

Our days begin around 9 am with a wake up call from our supervisor, Nija. We head downstairs by 9:50 to walk to breakfast, which is usually at Starbucks. Classes begin at 10, and it's different for everyone. We're split into Group A and Group B, and more often than not the two groups are doing different things in different rooms. For example, Group A could have song analysis while Group B is dancing. Lunch is a different time every day, just depending on how long our morning classes run. But it's usually around noon or one. After lunch we have class until 6, when we go for dinner and then head off to whatever activity they have scheduled for us that day.

The classes that we take are: song analysis, coachings, dance, tap, creative movement, private voice lessons, and various master classes.
Song analysis is what it sounds like. People go up in class, sing their song, and then Professor Ricciardone goes through the lyrics to help them improve their performance. It's pretty interesting to hear what he has to say for various people, it's never the same. People bring in different songs, and different types of songs, so it's always a mystery what he's going to say or have the person do. But he's a really good teacher, I like his class a lot. Even when I'm not up there performing myself, I feel like I learn a lot, purely from just sitting and observing.

Coachings are fifteen to twenty minute periods of time where we go in a practice room with the Group A (or Group B) accompanist and work through some of our repertoire. Because the time is so short, we don't really work on the voice or technique, like you would in a voice lesson. It's more time to get questions answered and work on the interpretation of the piece, the acting bit.

Dance is where we learn our group numbers for the final showcase. I'm in Group A, and we're doing "Coffee Break" from How to Succeed... It's a very interesting song for sure. Then for tap, I'm in Tap 1, so we're learning the basics and getting the foundations down in order to move on to more complicated steps. The teacher is a bit intense but in a  good way. She knows what she's doing and she gets results out of us.

I'm not entirely sure what creative movement is, because we haven't had it yet.

Private voice lessons are fun. We get to work with a professor in the program for an hour and basically just have a voice lesson. But it's so interesting to experience their different methods of teaching, or of getting you to improve. My voice teacher had me blowing raspberries on pitch for one of my warm ups. It was weird, but it made sense why I was doing that. And it was a bit of  a confidence boost too, because she and the accompanist kept saying how beautiful my voice was, and how I could easily switch "voices" and make it sound effortless. They gave me two new songs to learn, which are "Feelings" from The Apple Tree and "Love, Look Away" from Flower Drum Song. "Feelings" is a really fun, upbeat song that goes all over the place, and "Love, Look Away" is a pretty soprano piece. My teacher is having me embrace my inner soprano, and it's kind of fun to sing that high in a musical theater piece, because usually I only sing that high in choral music.

Master classes are always different. Sometimes it's a class on miming, sometimes it's one on audition skills. But I take notes on them all and learn a lot for sure. I'm recording them too, so I can go back and listen to them. I have a feeling I'll have a lot of new recordings from the next two weeks.

And that's basically the program. The professors are amazing. I really learn a lot from each and everyone of them. And they're all very nice and approachable. They just want to help us learn and grow, so they're willing to answer any questions we have. I hope I'm making a  good impression on them too.

Last night we saw Anything Goes, which was amazing! The tap number was spectacular. It was really long and I couldn't believe that they were still going. And the best part was that Stephanie J. Block tapped the entire time. I was impressed that she kept going, that she didn't stop halfway through. And her voice was flawless. I absolutely loved it. I got a picture with her and her signature too, which made me really happy. But I was so tired because we went straight from class and I had my backpack with me. So I looked really cute and then I had my heavy backpack on. But whatever, it wasn't a big deal.

Tonight we went shopping in Soho and we only got to shop for half an hour or so because we got there late and Soho closes down at 9. It was the shortest amount of time I've ever spent in a Forever 21, I was very proud of myself. Then we got ice cream at Pinkberry which I don't normally like, but I got the mango flavor and I really liked it.
But we got left behind! We were sitting in the back of the place and we looked over and they had left. We got really worried because if they went down to the subway, they wouldn't have service and we wouldn't be able to call them or reach them. But finally I got in contact with one girl and she said they all went to Duane Reade down the street. When we got there, they told us that we had missed seeing Christian Borle walking past them. I was so mad!

So now I'm going to bed. I feel like I've walked more than I ever have in my entire life. I'm pooped! Until next time!

Today was definitely better than yesterday. For one thing, it wasn't as hot! And I performed my song in my song analysis class and I feel like I improved a lot. It was really fun to hear from a different perspective, from someone who hasn't heard me sing.

And we went to see Xanadu in some park in Brooklyn. It was actually pretty good! The Clio/Kira was good, and so was the Caliope. The others, eh, not so much. You could tell that the Sunny's voice was kind of dying too, which was unfortunate. But the experience was fun. It cooled down and there was a nice breeze, which was very enjoyable.

So now I'm just sitting around in my dorm room relaxing, and eating the surprisingly good tiramisu I got from Walgreens yesterday. Tomorrow we're going to see Anything Goes on Broadway. I'm so excited! I can't wait! Though unfortunately we're going right after dinner so we have to bring all our stuff to change into. I don't mind, except I don't want to carry my backpack to the show. Oh well, that's life.

Until tomorrow!

Crazy days

I have never been so hot or so tired in my life. Our days consist of walking everywhere (and luckily the buildings are air conditioned or else we'd die) and being rushed from place to place. The staff is extremely concerned about our safety, which is nice. Not everyone is used to the city environment where yellow means go faster, not slow down. They have us doing a count off to make sure we have everyone with us, but we've definitely forgotten a few people accidentally. There's one person who is in charge of walking us everywhere, and her name is Nija. She's really nice, and I don't blame her for sticking to the rules. I just wish we had a little bit more freedom. We have to be escorted everywhere and have to do everything in a group.

Today we did one of those double decker bus tours which was absolute misery. We sat on the top in the direct sun and it was soooo hot. None of us had sunscreen or sufficient liquid, and those who did bring a bottle of water shared with everyone. A lot of people got sunburns, which is unfortunate. But it was just so hot! We cheered every time we drove into the shade of the taller buildings. We did pass by some cool places, like the huge Trump building and Ground Zero.

Then we walked to Washington Square Park and hung out there for about two hours. It was kind of boring. A lot of us wanted to go back to the dorm rooms but they weren't letting us for some reason. And there were a lot of other teenagers there, I guess they were the ones from other programs at NYU.

For the fireworks we went to the Hudson River around 7 or so to sit and wait for the fireworks to start. It was a lot cooler there because we had a breeze, so the heat was tolerable. We sat there for a very long time. I fell asleep for about an hour! I actually took three naps today. One on the tour bus, one at lunch (I crawled under the table and fell asleep), and then at the Hudson. But once the fireworks started it was really amazing. I took a bunch of pictures and videos of them. My friends and I started playing a game to see if we could name a musical for each new spurt of fireworks. It was like, "Oh! That one is all red! It must be Saigon!" Kind of silly, but it made it fun.

And the subway ride home was CRAZY! It was super packed, an absolute nightmare. We had to get on one subway and then transfer to another one. But we all made it together! I'm very proud that we didn't forget anyone. We joked that we survived the crazy New York subway. It was a definite experience.

So now we're back in the dorms, and I'm absolutely pooped. A quick shower and then I'm hitting the sheets. I've gotten so fed up with the sheets they gave us, they keep coming off and they're super stiff. Solution? I took them off. The mattress is covered anyway with some kind of waterproof material so that's good enough for me. It's weird though,  I guess the AC runs so much during the night that I actually wake up cold. It's a nice change from being super hot and having sweat dripping down my back all day...

Until next time!

eating dinner at Vapiano's and seeing Brian D'Arcy James' show at 54 Below was definitely an amazing start to my New York adventures. the food was FANTASTIC, and I love Italian food. the restaurant was very modern looking, and the way you ordered food was cool. you get a card from the hostess, and then you can pick what sauce you want and what pasta. then you tell the cook and they make it in front of you, and they ask you to "tap your card" on this little machine. I guess it's almost like a mini account, because when you're done you go back to the hostess, give them the card, and pay whatever amount is on it. very cool.

and Brian D'Arcy James' show was AMAZING. my jaw was on the floor the entire time. I was so close to him, it was unreal. he didn't sing any musical theater numbers, but honestly that's okay. it was just a surreal experience to be able to watch him perform live and for free! my friend Claire took me with two comps that she'd gotten from work. the bar/club thing was super swanky too, and really nice. I'm just in awe of that whole experience.

today I moved into my dorm at NYU. it's so big! I love it. I love my roommates too. after I put all my stuff away I walked around with Sarah, just exploring the city. we got Starbucks and came back into the room, and I met my roommate (the one who is sharing my room) and got to know her parents a bit. orientation was actually pretty fun. I got to meet everyone else in the program and they're all SO nice! I feel like I'm already super close with some people. I guess that's just the nature of theater. and I have a feeling all the boys are gay. you can just tell. one guy, Ricardo, is incredibly loud and obnoxious, but in a good way. I have a feeling I'm going to like this program a lot.