Day 3: Final Rehearsals

Yesterday was our final day of rehearsals before we begin performing here in Alaska (we get today off and start performing tomorrow). I think we all feel fairly prepared and are ready to tackle our intense weekend of performing.

Of the many challenges in Nutcracker, the most time consuming, but ultimately rewarding, one is working with the kids. Whether it is in the Party Scene or navigating around the eight girls in Candy Cane, you have to pay a bit more attention to what is going on than you do in something like Chinese or Spanish. In Portland the majority of the kids are the same year after year, and they have a pretty good idea of the choreography before they even begin rehearsals. In Alaska though, there always seem to be a large number of first-timers, which means we have to spend some extra time (especially in the party and battle scenes) getting everything set. However, the kids up here are never lacking in enthusiasm, you can tell they are all very excited to be onstage performing.

Last night we had our full dress rehearsal with costumes, make-up, and orchestra. We even had an audience, which I think was filled with the employees of one of the sponsors. Even though I wasn't dancing, just hearing the applause made me so excited to get onstage and perform again. It's been about 6 weeks since Swan Lake, and I'm chomping at the bit to get out there and dance again.

I decided to continue our chronicling of the make-up process for character roles. I don't think Sarah, our make-up lady, has any busier show with us than Nutcracker. She is in charge of Grandma, Grandpa, Drosselmeier, Chinese (2 women and 1 man), and Mother Ginger. Not to mention directing the wig and make-up crew on how the kids make-up should be done, how to pin on the angel wigs, and a slew of other things. Last night I followed Mike Davis as he got his make-up done for Mother Ginger:

When he arrived at the make-up room he had already applied a base foundation so as to expedite the make-up process.

Some new eyebrows.

Instead of gluing on fake eyelashes, Sarah paints on lashes so they are more visible from the audience.


Almost done. Brows, Lashes, Eye Shadow, and Lips.

The finished product. The Mother Ginger make-up isn't as much of a transformation as some of the others in the show, but it seemed a good place to start. I'll try to get the some of the other characters once we start the run.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Steven