BWW Blog: Abigail Shapiro - Creating Our 4th Performance at 54 BELOW

Creating our 4th performance at 54 BELOW

Hello Broadway World! Our concert is only two days away! Both of us are so excited! You can purchase tickets at the 54 BELOW website: http://www.54below.com/artist/milly-abigail-shapiro/. Along with that excitement we also have out CD coming out! The release date on September 9th is approaching quickly.

We've been rehearsing new additions to our show and I've really enjoyed the creative process. Each of our shows are unique as we adjust it to include new performing guests and switch in and out new songs - it's a different show every performance. For example, we performed "Popular," the same way for our first two shows but when our special guest, Ben Thompson, came to perform, we decided to switch it up a bit! I've always found it almost a little more difficult to relearn old material a different way, than to learn new material from scratch. To teach your body and your brain to do something familiar but slightly differently is a unique challenge.

With our shows I have come to learn about the importance of these rehearsals, and how much we can accomplish in a little amount of time. Even with only a couple of rehearsals, we were forced to buckle down and get through a lot of material. I also noticed how some of the best ideas we come up with are created last minute. In fact, we just created what we call "The Song Bird Medley," which features some 50s songs we harmonize to. The way we came up with it was by simply harmonizing to a song as we were coming in to the rehearsal studio. It's crazy to me how when Milly and I work together, we just naturally create and innovate, without even intending to (or when we should be a bit more focused!)

Last week we were so excited to rehearse with the one and only Laura Osnes. I had met Laura before - at the Tony awards party last year - and Milly filmed a Tony Awards commercial with her. She's fabulous to work with! In our rehearsal this week we worked as collaborators and created the story behind the songs Milly and I are singing with Laura as duets. We also discussed simple things like what we're wearing; another thing different about this cabaret is that we've decided to adjust our costumes a bit.

Yesterday, we also rehearsed with former Matilda cast member Ben Thompson. He will also be appearing in our show as one of our guests. I'm most excited about doing "Popular" with Ben in our performance, because a little surprise goes with it. He is great to work with. In our rehearsal, we got a lot accomplished in a much shorter time frame than we'd expected.

This show will be very special because we will be signing and selling our own CDs at 54 BELOW after the show. It's a dream come true! Well that's all for now Broadway World-hope to see you Thursday night!

Check out BWW's exclusive promo video here: /article/BWW-TV-Exclusive-Promo-The-Shapiro-Sisters-Prep-for-LIVE-OUT-LOUD-Launch-at-54-Below-20140825#.U_zEMICwIck

-Abigail Shapiro