Not gonna lie... when I was offered the role of Littlechap, it took me a little time to fully decide to accept. It's a huge undertaking! Littlechap solos in a majority of the songs including the three tunes that have become more or less the hits of the show. There are upwards of 18 monologues of varying sizes. And depending on the direction of the show (thankfully in this case, a staged reading) there could be any combination of mime, clowning, dance, hat tricks, etc. I was scared! I'm still carrying a decent amount of apprehension and worry at being able to pull it off. BUT... I've turned the corner and have begun accepting a couple things: 1. This is a fantastic opportunity! I get to step beyond my usual comfort zone of being the sidekick/supporting character/secondary lead. 2. I get to work with a fantastic team that is really committed to telling the story of this über-flawed, somewhat misunderstood character and those in his life. 3. This is sort of alluded to in the comment 1, but a few years ago, I took to heart the quote (Was it from Eleanor Roosevelt?), "Do one thing every day that scares you." A good number of my most cherished accomplishments to date have come from taking this quote to heart.
So Stop the World scares me. But I have an amazing, supportive show family to rely upon and learn from and cling to. Producers Michelle Duffy and Scottie Dreier made me do this. Ha... just kidding. Sorta. Director Doug Clayton and music director Ron Colvard have been great to work with in our meetings and music rehearsals and I have complete confidence in them (and choreographer Joe Giamalva and assistant director Ken Werther and stage manager Art Brickman). The cast is incredible, and I'm particularly thrilled to be playing opposite an actress I've idolized for so long (as well as cherished the friendship of her and her family), Tracy Lore. I feel blessed. As I mentioned, we had a couple days of music rehearsals and we get together tomorrow for a potluck and some fun before we look ahead to our wacky rehearsal weekend. Here we go!
Here's a peek at my script. Since this is a staged reading, the script will be an extension of my arm for most of the performance. I decided to create a personal master script and neurotically scanned the script and bits of the score into Photoshop. I cut and pasted the few edits and inserted the score bits where I thought I might need them. I just picked up the preliminary copy from the printer today. And after highlighting, it looks like you'll find a pot of gold tucked behind the last page. Since I have so many words, I decided to color code various scenes. Yellow shows typical lines. Orange features lyrics (anything sung). Pink shows the eight "Stop the world!" monologues in which Littlechap steps out distinctly to the audience. And blue highlights the "interview" sections where Littlechap converses with his unseen boss (voiced by a horn from the orchestra). It's a nice visual reminder when scenes shift gears.
The thing I've latched onto at this point is that this show, while a behemoth pile of songs and scenes, is just a series of moments. I just need to tackle each moment as they come and worry about the next one when it comes. That's the best I can do. I'm excited. Here we go!
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