Gloria the Dancer

I went to my first rehearsal thinking how awesome it might be to be in a trio or an ensemble and actually stick out in a musical for once where my friends and family could actually see me. Yes, I was Liat in South Pacific but she doesn't sing. She does hand dances and speaks six words of French. Yes, I was Connie Wong in A Chorus Line, but that was at college, and nobody made the long trek up there (I don't blame them, that winter was harsh).

At last I'm in a musical show where I can sing and dance and all of my loved ones could potentially come out to see me. Or so I thought....

I was given the part of Gloria in Bye Bye Birdie, a musical about a man who manages an Elvis-type character who was drafted into the army. I mistakenly thought that she'd get to sing. Boy was I wrong.

I'm not a tall person, I admit it. Being of sound mind and 5'1" body, I tower over cats and babies. With shortness as my downfall, I hardly get cast into lead parts because when standing with the rest of the cast, I look like a child. Needless to say, I've been cast as a child a couple times, the most recent one being Alexander Ivanov in Every Good Boy Deserves Favor where I was an eleven-year-old boy. Mostly though, I get cast into character parts.

Gloria is a character part.

So what does that entail for me? I'll get to wear leopard skin pants, hoop earrings, and big hair. That also means I get to tap dance to Swanee River. You should come and see :-).

I'm not begrudging my part. I just thought it was something else. Ah well. It should be a fun part. I'm not bad as the comic clown-type, and I like being funny. I've already started making up my dance (it includes feet slapping, hand clapping and barrel rolls).

Still, I wait for the day where I might actually have a spotlight role that requires a ton of memorization. One where I get to act like a somewhat regular person :-).