Acting is my Crack!

Three performances in one day! The morning started off with my alarm going off at 6:30AM so that I could get dressed and to the theatre by 7:30AM for fight call. We ran fight call, got our makeup, hair, and costumes on and then ate a great breakfast provided by the Guild, and we were off and running. We had to cut down the show so that it wouldn't run over 2 hours, so that was a challenge, but the pacing of the show was great because of it. The two day performances were back to back, and full of Jr. High and High School students. I have to say, they were the two best crowds we've had so far! What a rush to perform in front of them. What's even better for me is that my first experience with live theatre was when I was 15 years old at the old Hale Centre Theatre. I saw "See How They Run" with my peers from High School and was never the same since. I can only hope that our performance has inspired even one of those kids to dream about performing on stage someday.

We had an hour between the first and second show to eat lunch, and then we were back at it. My step-son Dante was in the audience for this one. It was his first time seeing me perform on stage, and he LOVED IT! (I have to say, I love text messaging. During intermission I was backstage sending texts to him and my wife about how they were loving the performance so far.) That audience was by far the best! They cheered at all the right places and laughed and clapped in spots we didn't expect. One thing we knew for certain, they loved the kissing and stabbing. We were going to try to put a kiss and a stab in every scene, but that just didn't work out. Didn't matter, they still loved it, you could tell by the loud ovation they gave at curtain call.

After that we had a break from about 2:30 to 6, so I went home, ran some errands with the wife and then took a small nap. When I got back to the theatre, the gal in the picture above (Rosalie Bertrand) was just buzzing. I'm not sure if she had too little sleep, or too much caffeine, or was overdosing on adrenalin, but I can honestly say I've never seen her that way. She wasn't the only one either, I'm just glad I got in a nap!

The third performance, we found out that one of the major cuts we made is going to remain throughout the run. It was kind of a bummer because it contained one of my favorite fight scenes, but I can see why they decided to keep it cut. It really does slow the show down, and it's kind of redundant. So if you saw the performance before Wednesday, then you saw it all! If not, you really didn't miss too much, it was really just to show the audience how cool our stage is. (just kidding Kacey)

My wife's Grandparents were in the audience for the evening show. Of course the crowd was less energetic than the day shows, but that was to be expected. I think it kinda slowed some of us down because we finished the first Act 7 minutes later than we usually do. We managed to pick it up in Act 2 though, and finished ahead of where we normally do. (a big chunk of that time was because we cut the montage out of Act 2) A great performance nonetheless, and my Grandparents enjoyed the show!

When I got home, I was buzzing from all the adrenaline my body had endured throughout the day. I was literally shaking until Midnight. It was like telling a junky that they can have 3 free hits of smack, and then they take them all in the same day. I have to admit, Acting is my Crack! I'm addicted to performing! That was just AWESOME! It definitely goes up there among the best days of my life.

Today I'm experiencing a kind of hangover. I've had a headache all day long. Not sure if it's from lack of sleep, or my body just sapped from the adrenal glands riding overdrive, or if reality is setting in on the two latest losses of life in my family. I dedicated the second performance to my Grandma Lovato before curtain. I would have loved for her to see it, I'd like to think that she did.

31 to go

34 performances total. That's more than I've ever done for any show I've ever been a part of!
After the weekend I have 31 left, and I plan on loving every single one of them! The last three have gone pretty well. You read about opening night, but on Friday it was a great show, not really any technical issues, but we did have a problem in one of the sword fights. A guy who I'm supposed to parry wasn't able to get his sword out of his scabbard because his tabard was in the way. lol We still managed to make it work, but he fixed the problem after that, and I don't think he'll ever do that again.

I had a bunch of friends from High School come that night, so it was awesome. Lisa Thomas came down from Logan with her sis-in-law and was so excited for it. My best friend from High School Devin Marks and his awesome wife Franci made it all the way from Schweitzer, Idaho as well. The surprise friend was the gal I had a big crush on through High School. Wendy Mattingly. She shook my hand and tried to walk by without being recognized. She almost made it too, but I said her name when she was almost past me, and that stopped her in her tracks. That was fun to see them all. It was great that they all came out and supported me in my passion. I have such awesome friends. Can't wait to see who shows up next. Despite having those friends in the audience, the crowd was kinda quiet, especially for a Friday night. Not a lot of clapping or reaction from the crowd, but I did hear that we scared one of the patrons. She passed out during one of the fight scenes, and soiled herself. I guess it was too violent for her, and we must have been playing the realism of that pretty well. It may sound rude, but that's FREAKIN' AWESOME!

Saturday we had a matinee at 12:30. I was a little more nervous for this show because I had a lot of people that I knew were coming. My Mother and Step-dad Gordon, my Father and Step-mom Nelly, my Grandma and Grandpa Bate, My Uncle Randy and his wife, and My Uncle Rick and his wife (who left after intermission, due to my Aunt being a freak and setting it up so that would happen, but that's another story) and my Brother Chris and his wife. So I knew there would be a dozen people there to see me perform. I had a great time and my performance I felt was great, all the way until the curtain call. The Three Musketeers all come on one after the other, and I was the second one. On the way onto the stage, I had a major faceplant and lost my hat. I was able to pick myself and my hat up in time to still do the bow, but with 24 eyes for sure watching my every movement, I knew someone had to see it. Surprisingly the only person who did was my Uncle Randy, who kind of has a negative attitude about life anyhow, and made no hesitation to ask me in the lobby if "I had a good trip." Ha ha pbffttbl! I was a bit upset, because I almost made it through the whole thing unscathed, but alas it wasn't to be. Despite my fall at the end, the show went great. My stepfather Gordon loved it! That was the biggest shocker to me, but he loved it so much he said, "that was the funnest Saturday I've had in a long time." He and my mom are buying tickets to come back and see it again! The other really cool thing about Saturday is that my Grandpa Bate was there to see it. He is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and his memory is really not what it was, but he was able to follow the story, and he even remembered the performance later at dinner! That to me was very rewarding. I'm glad it was entertaining enough to have that kind of impact on his memory.

So now I'm at work getting ready for the day here to end so I can get to the theatre for my 4th performance. We have Jeff Dickamore back tonight, so it's gonna feel like opening night all over! I'm so excited, I can't wait to perform with him in front of a packed house. It should be a great night!

Opening Night

After 11 weeks we have put blood, sweat and tears into this production, but I guess we didn't have enough blood until a half hour before curtain. Our Aramis (Jeff Dickamore) is the fight call captain. We were running through our fight call like we're supposed to at 6PM. Somehow or other, a sword went into and through the webbing between his middle and index fingers on his left hand. The producer called his double and got him to a doctors office where he could get it looked at immediately. Opening night hasn't even begun and we're a man down. Thankfully Jeff's double (Paul Cartwright) came in to save the day. I heard he had to break off a hot date in order to cover for us. Bummer man, I hope he gets a redo on his date, because he was a total stud to step in there and do an incredible job. We won't be getting our Aramis back until probably Wednesday.

So after I shook that off, I got prepared to perform in front of a sold out theater of 600 people. Quite a rush. Especially when you consider that this is the first time I've been on a stage in front of a live audience in over 5 years. This is what I've been missing, what I've been wanting back in my life, and now it's happening! I was still nervous, but that was to be expected when I knew that my Uncle, Sister, Mother-in-law, Brother-in-law & his girlfriend were in the audience. Top that all off with my amazing wife being there. This is the first time she's ever seen me perform in a play, so I was pumped up for this one.

I think overall it went really well. The responses I was getting from the patrons after the show were all good. They laughed in places I would have never imagined, and it was awesome! It felt incredible to be on stage again! I feel so at home there. I had a great time playing Porthos. I did have one small issue with my costume and I totally forgot to place one of my props before the show started. That was an interesting situation let me tell you...
Near the end of the show, we have an inauguration ceremony to make d'Artagnan a Musketeer. I am supposed to walk off stage in rhythm with the music, walk back to the prop table, grab the hat we put on him, walk back on stage in rhythm and hand it to the Queen. As soon as I got past the curtains, I walked quickly to the prop table and there was no hat! I had to run all the way down the hall to the dressing room, grab a hat off the rack, and run all the way back behind the curtain and then walk on in rhythm with the music. I made it back just barely in time, but I was breathing really hard all through the rest of that scene because of that. I won't let that happen again, I promise you!

I heard there was a technical issue with one scene as well, but I was too busy getting into costume to witness it. Really other than that, I think the show went great. If I had to give it a grade, I'd say overall it was a B+. We definitely have room for improvement, but it was certainly entertaining! Can't wait to do it again on Friday.

Get well Jeff! Can't wait to do this show with you my friend!

Final dress rehearsal

So we had our final dress rehearsal on Monday. It's opening night tonight for the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday cast. This is a picture of my boy. He did indeed get to come see that his Daddy is a Musketeer. He was a little bit afraid of me when I first walked up to him in the audience before we started, but he warmed up pretty quickly. It took longer to get started than when I told my wife it would. Noah wanted to go home before we even got started, but once it began he seemed to like it. He was able to stay long enough to see me do my first sword fight, and then he was ready to go bye-bye. That was totally fine with me. We didn't end up finishing until 12:23AM, so I'm glad he got to see what he did. On the way home he was telling my wife all kinds of things, but mainly that "Daddy's a Musketeer!" That makes my heart sing more than anything I've experienced as an actor. I'm so grateful that he got to see me on stage at this age, and as a character that he can recognize. I'm also glad that my beautiful wife didn't see the whole thing last night, because she's gonna see it a couple more times.

We changed the dance scene at intermission, and I still don't think I have the new step down, but everyone said it looked better, so whatever. It was fun and it was kind of bittersweet because we are now split into our two casts. I've really developed some good relationships with people from both casts. We've been working together nearly every day since February 4th. I can't believe it's opening night tomorrow. I'm excited, nervous, happy, and relieved that it's finally here.

So long Tuesday Thursday Saturday cast. I will miss you. Have a great and amazing run, and we'll see you on the other side. Break a leg everyone tonight.

I had a few minor personal costume issues. It's been a while since I've been in a play that has costume changes. This is probably the most costume changes I've ever had before. My costume looks pretty good- yesno? The best thing of all...My hat stayed on, through the whole show! John the Director busted my balls after the curtain call on Saturday and pointed out that my hat fell of like 4 or 5 times. I was disappointed in myself after, but I was also mad because I felt like I haven't had enough time to even work with that hat. Plus I had a nightcap that I was being tyrannized by, but there you are. Oh and my sash. Geez louise! That thing is my own personal hell, I can't seem to keep that damned thing on in the right position AND make it look good. One other thing that I noticed about my performance. I let the costume stuff effect me from getting fully into my character. I can't let that happen tomorrow night. I think I just need to change into my clothing while I'm in character, and add that to my "moment before."

Anyhow, if you are a reader of this blog, and you're coming to the show, please leave a comment as to the night you're coming, and then again after you see it and let me know what you thought of it.

I know tomorrow night, My lovely wife Rachel, my awesome Mother-in-Law, my Brother-in-Law, and his girlfriend Elise are coming to see it. I think our show is sold out, it's gonna be a fun night for all!

I'll report again after opening night. Stay tuned for more Marked Anthony to hear some backstage stuff.

"Cling-ting-clangety-clang!"

Saturday! In my heart! (I wish I knew how to make music notes) Anyhow, we did a double header today in tech week. The MWF cast (that's my cast) went in the morning, and the THS cast went later. I've been at rehearsal today since 9:45 AM and finally got into my car to go home at 11:11PM. It took us that long, but only because the Tech crew had to work on putting all the finishing touches on all entrances and exits.
At the beginning of our run, the Rochefort sword broke during the Luxembourg fight. I had just finished off my first Cardinal guard in the scene and I turned towards my next opponent and I heard a "cling-ting-clangety-clang" as a shiny silvery sword tip was heading in my direction. Of course the clangety-clang part of the sound was it hitting the ground well before it got to me, but still. As my son Noah would say and still does say, "Whew-da whas close!" We stopped and changed swords and started again, but I really hope that doesn't happen again, although I have a feeling that it just might, because it happened again today, to our cast even. I agree with Brad on this, and I think it's because we are hitting too hard in our fights. I like what one of my fight partners said, "we need to really work on pulling back on every hit, every parry, every floor touch." It really is a team effort in the sword fights. Although one person is winning and one is losing the fight, it still takes both of you to make it all happen the way you want it to in looks and in relation to how the story goes. It really is telling a story in of itself. Like a dance. I think the second break occurred with a d'Artganan fight. We had a little kid in the audience (a child from the parents of someone in the THS cast as they ran final dress rehearsal) who we all looked at because Brad pointed him out to us, and it really did make me think about how horrible it would be to see something happen that would damage that child, physically or mentally. He doesn't need to see anyone get hurt, (parent, patron, actor, or otherwise) or seriously injured.

**Just a side note, we don't use blood packs in the show, and I am thankful for that for a few reasons, but it's clear to the audience when we make a kill, or a slice to an arm, so there is no need to make our costume and the changes any more difficult than quick costume changes already are by themselves. (We have a few of them in this run and it's no picnic, but it's also kind of a rush. It's a great feeling when you pull it off with time to spare, a real thrill in the theatre biz.)***

I'm really excited about the performance of this show. It's been great to see the actors really step up and take on this character. I think it's even greater for me as someone cast in this show to see how a fellow thespian takes on their role and develops it into something real and tangible, and intriguing at the same time. The characters they all play are not what the actor is really like, in fact it's often times a long way off from how their characters really are. It really helps to see them off stage to realize that when they are on stage, they truly are that character, that person. Who knows if Porthos was ever a real person. History says that all the Three Musketeers characters were real, but may or may not have been the person that is being portrayed in this play. I would like to think that Porthos did exist and he was written about and mentioned in journals from back in the seventeenth century, so he must have been someone worth noting, and someone worth noting must have done something that was quite exceptional to have someone else write about you. So what was it really? Was Porthos a pirate? Was he a womanizer? Was he foppish, or just someone who really liked to look good? Was he a brawler, or did he just like to fight because he was really good at it, and it was something that was put to service back in those days? Did he want to honor the King and protect the Queen? To me a Musketeer is a lot like someone from our secret service would be in the U.S.A. A Musketeer was probably the first service where a body guard could say, "I took a bullet for them." However they were troublemakers, and great fighters to have lived as long as the stories say they do. I think the real Porthos is smiling at the way that I am portraying him, and I really enjoy what choices others are making and playing off of them for their character.

We are finally on the stage! Days to go:8

Wahoo! We finally got to be on the stage today! And what a stage it is! This is not your normal community theatre, that's for sure. This stage required the assistance of the Las Vegas stage engineers to come and get it ready for this show. The stage (costing a million dollars) can now do things it never could do before, and we get to be the first run with all it's modifications.

The best part was being able to do the sword fighting scenes on stage to see how much spacing we actually have, and to make sure that with the new spacing, we don't accidentally lop someones head off, (These are real swords boys and girls.) and to get used to going up and down stairs in the fights. Here are a couple of pics of the action.
We did have someone rack their knee on the center column, that was no good, but it was a reminder of how we all need to be careful of all your moves, not only for swords, but for the stage as well. I'm just glad we get to do 3 full run-thru's on the stage before opening night. I'm telling you, this stage is another character all on it's own. Parts rise and lower, parts rotate, the center section can transform into stairs, it's amazing! I just hope it's nice to us from here on out. We don't need anymore injuries. So we have One week until opening night! I can't believe it's almost here. Thanks for reading. More tomorrow.

The the music begin - 9 days to opening night

Welcome to tech week! Tonight we added another layer to this show...music. We worked from 6 to 11 PM on adding music to the fight scenes. We had a good time with it and it really is like having another character in the show. Our fight choreographer had an especially fun time with it. Check out this little clip I shot on my phone.

What's great is I never thought I'd ever see Brad doing this. Truth be told, it really did help get us all into the spirit of the music combined with the fighting, but I'm still not sure what was up with the bull horns. It was good stuff anyway. I only wish I would have recorded him every time he did it, I could have melded them into one long ballet.

11 days to go: A bitch that slipped

So today's rehearsal went great! We took time today to really work some scenes. Of course they were only in the 1st Act, but it was still awesome. We needed to work on some of those scenes. The timing really felt like it was dragging in parts, and today we really put our foot on the throttle, and it made a huge difference to me, and because they had everyone from my cast there tonight I took the liberty to pick fights with a few of the Cardinal guards. Well...we went over our fight scenes on our own anyway. I also worked a scene I've been struggling with on the timing with d'Artagnan, and it got a lot better. I'm getting so excited about getting the show going, 11 days to go, oh wait, It just turned midnight...10 days to go!

I got some great news today at rehearsal today too. My boy is 3 years old now, and they don't let kids less than 5 in to see the play. We've taken him to see his Uncle Jesse in a couple of plays at The OBT in Salt Lake and he's done pretty well sitting there and watching, (at least while there was action on the stage and the lights are on anyhow) and I was bummed that he wasn't going to get to see his Daddy perform on stage as a Musketeer. He watches the Mickey Mouse version of The Three Musketeers all the time, and I know it's not the same story, but still he'd get that it's the Musketeers. So today I asked if he could come to one of our full dress rehearsals, and I got a green light! I'm so excited! He gets to come watch the show on the Monday night before my opening night! I just hope he enjoys the show and stays riveted. If we can keep his 3 year old mind glued to what's happening, I'll have no doubts that we're going to electrify the rest of the people who see the show.

So one other thing. The Director of this production is John Adams. He is a great joy to work with, and I really like his style and way of thinking, and he really does bring the best out of his actors, but he says the funniest things sometimes. Especially when you think of what he says as a sexual reference. It's really hard to not let your mind go there, because I get what he's saying, and it's extremely helpful. Today however he went right after it, and it certainly made me chuckle, I'll leave it up to you to decide. He said, "W-H-O-R-E It's like a bitch that slipped!"

Full costume

So here are a few of the costume shots, the first is a publicity photo and the second is a shot from my phone. wearing the Musketeer tabard.

I'm getting pretty excited about this. Next week is tech week. We'll be rehearsing on the stage, and in costume so we can work all of that out. I'm looking forward to it, there are still some things that I've got to work out, like the hat. Will it stay on, or is it going to constantly fall off? The stage is a lot taller in places than I originally thought, and I have to jump up on it in one of my sword-fighting scenes. I've got to get my legs into game shape to be able to handle that on a nightly basis. Not to mention getting from one spot when I come off stage to get to my next spot that I enter the stage. We've had 2 full run-thrus so far and they've been pretty decent. I'm really getting along great with my fellow Musketeers and we're starting to bond in ways that are going to be really helpful on stage. It should be an amazing show!