BWW Blog: Its's Finally Here! MIDDLETOWN Week 1

A letter to 'Sweetheart' on Opening Night,

Well 'Sweetheart', tonight is the night. Its finally opening night of Middletown. The day I let the world see you. All your innocence and fun and curiosity. There was not much to look at on the internet when trying to figure out how to bring you to life from page to stage. To be honest, I almost never went in to audition. It took my mom to convince me to go and take a chance. If I did not, I would have not met so many people and experienced so many unbelievable things. When I read Middletown, I had a feeling you were something special. When Professor Einhorn wanted me to look at your parts for callbacks, we met and connected instantly. I am in a room filled with people getting ready as we are playing music to get ourselves pumped. We are similar, at least I think we are: shy, innocent and curious. All of this happened for a reason. We were meant to be. I never thought that for my first college show, I would be playing someone like you... As someone who has autism and playing someone so similar to me. I meant innocent and child-like with a lot of curiosity. Thank you 'Sweetheart' and let's rock these shows.

Hello BroadwayWorld, it's me, Lea. First things first, I'm sorry I have been MIA for these past two weeks. It's because I was opening up and closing up Middletown, on top of schoolwork, and having problems with technology. So, I have a lot of catching up to do. These next two blogs will be split into 2 parts: This one will cover Opening Night and that first week and the next one will cover closing week, life after Middletown, plus a very special trip to a place that means so much to me. What is it? Well I will let that be a surprise for you to keep reading.

Flashback to Opening Night and the first week of Middletown.

For this first part, what opened this blog, I felt I had to write to 'Sweetheart' as if she is a real person. Well, we did it. We opened Middletown and it rocked. We greeted everyone that came with hugs. The response has been very positive. I will admit that I held back a tear on opening night curtain call because I could not believe it happened. In the words of Elphaba "Did that really just happen?" It was a time of happiness. We had friends from the Drama Department come out to support us. I had my college guidance counselors, my parents (my mom got better in time for opening night), high school classmates, my Filipino club Big (or Ateh which means big sister), my boyfriend and his parents, friends and one of my best friends since second grade came to see the show. It was so nice for people to come see the finished product of what we worked on for so long since January. How great to have the show finally come alive. We had 4 shows this week. Our opening I would say was like our soft opening because there was a nice small crowd due to the rain storm (nor'easter) outside. For the next few shows, we got more people and more responses. Our director brought her husband and her family who gave positive reviews.

I watched some parts to see the show such as the astronaut scene, the bench scene between the cop and the librarian, the mechanic's dance and so many more. I would list them all but it would sound like I watched the whole show from backstage. I love to hear the audience's reaction to parts we loved and found funny. A tradition that I brought over from my community theatre was Facetimeing my friend, Stephanie, who was my first friend in high school and who lives all the way in North Carolina. I don't get to see her as much unless she comes in to visit. Part of our tradition is that I show her our backstage area and let her meet some of the cast before the show starts. Even though I know she could not make it but at least we are talking even if she is a few states down south. I miss her.

I had a lot to do as I worked on my journalism midterm as well. Our midterm is a one subject interview complete with B-Roll footage. I chose to interview my director and get some B-Roll footage of us backstage as we prepare to go on. It can be hard to do homework but you have to try. Professors will understand and will help you. I wanted to try to get my assignments done.

Note: As I wrote this, a huge snowstorm was heading our way, I prayed it wouldn't be problematic.

Update: They cancelled rehearsal and they are closing the school after. Guess who had to trek her way in the cold, in the nor'easter to get the bus to go home? Me. Whoever was in the way of that snowstorm, I hope you are safe.

My heart broke when I woke up one morning hearing about what happened to Ruthie Ann Miles. My mom and I saw her in her Tony Winning performance in The King and I twice and loved her performance. My parents and I could not believe what happened. I guess it hit us hard because we saw her perform. No parent should ever have to go through the pain of losing a child. It's heartbreaking. Stay strong Ruthie Ann Miles. We who love the theatre love you too.

It made me think about Middletown a little bit because it's about life and death (one character dies and a baby is born).