Howdy friends!
God is good. But I suppose you already knew that:).
On to things you may not know...
I HAVE OFFICIALLY MADE MY EUROPEAN PREMIERE!!!
Wahooooo! God has blessed me more that I could ask, think or imagine. It's surreal. It's overwhelming. And two days later I keep wondering if it was a dream. But even a dreamer like me couldn't have dreamt this experience up!
I thought that now would be the appropriate time to take you on a pictorial tour of what I do 8 times a week. You caught me on a very exciting day: Opening Night). Here goes!
Where I work
The Stage Door: The back entrance for cast and crew
My laundry from the night before is waiting on me when I arrive
My comfy robe too!
Pre makeup
Ready to get to work!
My show make up is very heavy and elaborate. Looks interesting up close but great on stage. First I start with a layer of white on my eyes.
Next a layer of pink and purple:)
INTERRUPTION: I got called downstairs because I had visitors! My sweet conservatory classmates Melanie, Marco and Maxine came in from Hamburg! Happiness!
Germans typically don't use the thumbs up signal or cross their fingers, they "press their thumbs" for good luck. See all my lucky thumbs!
Lots of opening night gifts from colleagues, teachers and friends
Back to work! Next comes the gold on lids and under brows
Time for false lashes! Halfway done. Can you see the subtle difference;).
I can scratch my forehead just by blinking
If you're thinkin' I'm almost done, you have no idea. Introducing...THE GLITTER MONSTER
The makeup designer has graciously endowed me with the lifelong gift of shimmer. And I forgive her...Mostly. I wear so much flipping glitter in this show that it NEVER all comes off. I will be picking shiny pieces of matter off my person til Jesus comes.
Yup. On my cheeks, under my eyebrows, inside corners of my eyes. Heaven help me.
******
Now I take a minute to get dressed before I finish makeup-ing:).
Welcome to the women's dressing room backstage!
My station
back upstairs to my dressing room. First costume!
This is the part where Ryan calls!
He's my favorite:)
***********
The show starts and I do my first short scene. Then I have time to keep getting ready for my big scene!
WIG TIME!
I stinkin' LOVE this wig. I only wear it in one scene. This is the one the was created specifically for my head/hairline. Each hair was sewn in by hand (40-50 hours of work). The finished product is worth 3,000 Euro (approx. $4,500)
This is Kiwi. (Yes, Kiwi) She's the boss of my wig:).
First a headband, then a stocking cap.
Almost there!
Viola!
Zero to drag queen in less than an hour!;) Whaddya think?!
This dress was also designed and created just for me! One of the perks of being original first cast. So grateful
Fun with my Buddy Holly glasses
Shot of my mic. Notice how authentic the hairline is.
Closeup of "lipstick"! I actually don't wear lipstick. Just glitter. Shocking, I know.
Why, yes I do have to floss glitter out of my teeth at night. Thank you for asking:)
Wanna see how all this crazy stuff looks onstage? LET'S GO!!!!!!
***************
Note to my moms: click on the picture to make it larger:)
You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Dionne and Myrthes. (Dionne on the left is actually our understudy. She was in for Anastasia that day.)
The back of my beautiful gown!
Anastasia
Me and my girls
Meeting the Crickets for the first time
Meeting Buddy. Not impressed
Caron's incredible bass solo
Love this shot:)
And that was the Act one finale! I have a complete makeup change and several costume changes for Act Two (including a 40 second quickchange!!). But that's another story for another day
Hope you had fun reading my cyber chatter! Drop me a line and let me know that my first day off in ages was well spent;)!
LOVE!
s
P.S. Don't stop now! Great footage of the show, the red carpet, and pre and post show festivities on Part Two of this post! Scroll on down!
