Musical Ambitions

Feb-18-14

Acting is one thing that I can do, and enjoy doing very much. Movies, plays, joke telling, if it involves having a different persona or pretending to be something else I love it! But, one thing I never felt comfortable with is singing! Enter Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, this musical is my all time favorite (Phantom of the Opera is a close second). I've sung along with the production but never put in my all because I didn't think my singing was worthy of their caliber, though my mother told me to swallow my pride and try. She found an advertisement for rehearsals for a teen production of Sweeney Todd. I had from Thursday to Sunday to practice my singing, still something I am not comfortable with. After constantly listening to the 1982 production of the musical and attempting to create my singing voice I went to my mother and told her that I wanted her opinion. After 20 minutes of coercion I sang and we both were expecting some atrocity to emit from my lungs, but, she said she was surprised by my voice. My efforts seemed to have really payed off when I sang for my friends and girlfriend, they all told me I had a good chance. I was feeling pretty good about myself, though I was still reserved about how good my singing actually was.

Sunday came very quickly and I was sitting in the rehearsal room with nine other people before I knew it. I was seventh to sing (I went eighth due to a faulty CD) and I knew that I knocked it out of the park! The directors for the production have very good poker faces but they forgot to cut me off when I came to a pause in the song (time constraints) which lead me to believe that they were surprised by what I brought fourth. We then went over lines and that was it. I went home feeling proud and excited for call backs on Friday.

The very next day, right when school got out I received a call from the directors, they wanted me to go back that night and have a second rehearsal with them! I was nervous and excited yet again. I showed up at the exact time they asked me to (have to be punctual). We went over more lines and I did my best to show them my range of emotion with the character, from lamentation to blind fury, though I feel my nerves got the better of me and I didn't do as well as I know I can. Then they wanted me to practice singing a song by the lead role! The catch was that this song has the highest note that the character hits, I'm still not 100% comfortable with my singing, and I could not hit it for the life of me! They said that I hit the note Sunday when I rehearsed and we did a range of my singing voice, but my nerves and discomfort prevented me from getting there!

Now I'm spending my nights practicing to hit that note over and over until I get it down. It's only Tuesday, I have no idea if I got the part, but I am committed to perfecting this role! So, Sweeney or bust!

Feb-20-14

 So, Tuesday right after school I received another call from Majestic Theater... I got Sweeney Todd! The lead role on my first musical I've ever auditioned for! I was exhilarated, nervous, and proud once again! I told my family and friends and even made it Facebook official. Xavier Christensen is the new face of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!