Hi! It's me, Melissa, the manager (and one of the teachers!) of Voice by Chelsea. I am the one answering your day-to-day questions and providing educational content on technique and performance. But not only am I a teacher, I am also a professional singer! So, for this month's blog, I wanted to do something a little different and take you behind the scenes with me on a show day as I open Ride the Cyclone, a recent cult favorite musical, with the theatre company Breakroom Entertainment!
If you're not familiar with Ride the Cyclone (and I wasn't before being cast in it!), it's a pretty interesting show. It's comedic and weird and ends up being incredibly sweet with a beautiful message about the wild ride that is life. It also has a ton of technical elements and really good music- but I am singing arguably the craziest song in the show. ("The Ballad of Jane Doe"- check it out if you haven't heard it!) It also seems to be the song people know and wait to hear. The pressure was on... so, I definitely had some nerves leading up to the performance. Here's how opening day went down!
Show Day Routine!
I tried to get as much sleep as possible the night before opening day, but anyone who has done theatre knows that after late night rehearsals every day leading up to the first show, you are possibly never more tired than you are going into opening day. Luckily nerves are there to help wake you up and get you prepped! (Haha, anxietyyyy) Well, to practice what I preach, I definitely made sure to drink a tooonn of water, starting early in the day. I also took time to eat so that I would have enough strength and not be hungry during the show, but it's a fine line to walk because you also don't want to be super full and trying to sing high Cs.
I want to be honest, because I know so many singers feel this way, whether you're a pro or a complete beginner. Even after 15+ years of singing professionally, I still get nervous. This is completely normal. We have worked very hard to put this show on its feet, and I want to be able to say I've done my part to the best of my ability every night the show runs. I also know I am human and will inevitably make a mistake or two, and even though the audience most likely won't know, I will know, and being a perfectionist, I was feeling anxious most of the day. Luckily I have a sweet husband who brought me roses and a kombucha to help ease my nervous stomach. More on how I deal with this later.
If you do know this musical, and specifically my character Jane Doe, you'll know that depending on the production, she can have a lot of different looks. In a nutshell, she is supposed to not have a head, but instead have a doll head. (I told you it was weird!) So I had to take some time at home to put my makeup on since our time at the theater before the show is limited. The director and I landed on this makeup and hairstyle to bring this complete weirdo to life. (Nightmare fuel!)
On the way to the theater, I used my time alone in the car to do some light warm ups and sing through my song. I took deep breaths, did the Farinelli exercise (which you may have read about in some of my emails about breathing!), sirens, and hums- mostly to wake up the vocal mechanism and make sure everything was in working order. I didn't want to warm up too heavily so that I could save my best notes for the stage!
Once at the theater, we took some time to preset our props and make sure everything would be ready for the show. There are some quick changes and other fast turnarounds where you have only a few seconds to grab a prop or put on a costume piece, so everything has to be in its place for easy access throughout the show. At about 1.5 hours to show, we did our sound check and sang through a few of the trickier harmonies with our music director. My character sings from backstage in the opener and the finale while everyone else is onstage, so I had to make sure I could hear what was going in my monitor.
I took the next hour to finish up my makeup and hair, get into costume and do one final check of my props. About 30 minutes before the show, we could hear the crowd entering, which always makes it real! The heart definitely started pumping even more then. We took a selfie for posterity and then it was time to start the show!
Show Time!
The opening night crowd was truly amazing- they responded well to every joke, cried along with us at the end, cheered, and made us feel loved! It's always a gamble on opening night. After you perform the show so many times in rehearsal for only your production crew, it's interesting to see which moments will actually get laughs. Sometimes the things you thought would land well don't get a reaction, and things you personally think aren't that funny end up being hysterical to an audience.
I was super proud of the entire cast and crew during our opening night. The show was tight, everyone sounded incredible, and things ran smoothly. Even with how well everything was going, I couldn't seem to get my heart rate to slow down, even taking deep breaths throughout the show. However, when my song was coming up in the second act, I became weirdly calm. I think being in this character definitely helps, as she just kind of stares off into space, expressionless, for good amounts of time. I always find that focusing on the lyrics and message of the song helps to ease my nerves in the moment. I've said it before, but focusing on what you can give the audience, and how you can tell the story of the song, is key. It's not about proving you're the best singer in the world. It's about the emotion of the song. I also drew on all of the techniques that have been ingrained in me from my own vocal teacher. I ended up being very happy with how my song went, and knew that no matter what could have happened, I did my absolute best, and that's all you can do at the end of the day.
Even though there's still 30 minutes or so left in the show after my song, my nerves were so much more at ease when it was over! Then I could just fully enjoy my time onstage with my castmates. After the show, we were able to meet and greet with some of the audience and were thrilled to hear awesome reviews! On the way home, I did some gentle exercises to warm my voice down a little bit, had a healthy snack, and attempted to get to bed early. That's the thing about opening day... it's only the beginning. The good habits have to stay for the whole run (and well into the future if you want longevity as a vocalist)!
So what's the moral of the story? No matter if you're well seasoned or just starting out... believe in yourself. Do the work. Keep up your good habits. And after the work is done, whether it was perfect or if there's room to improve for the next show, breathe easy knowing you did your absolute best.
Photo cred: Erin Payton Photography, @erinpaytonphotography on Instagram
Production: Breakroom Entertainment, @breakroomentertainment on Instagram. Tickets and more info at BreakroomTampa.com
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