A Good Week

I know I don't talk about school much. It's probably healthy that I don't eat, sleep and breathe musical theatre like most of the kids at my school. But I've been doing a major scene from Carousel, If I Loved You, with my colleague De'Lon for our Script & Score class. It has been such an exciting journey. I have always loved Rodgers & Hammerstein, but studying their characteristics has served to reinforce that affinity. In this breathtaking scene, Julie Jordan sort of knocks Billy Bigelow off his personal carousel, when he realizes that he is just a speck of nothing and that he doesn't matter at all--and she is the first girl to cause him to see himself this way. But he says he doesn't need her or anyone else. She mentions the blossoms coming down because of the wind, but there is no wind. Together they reckon it must just be the blossoms time to fall. And still they can't express their feelings. The music that is written to underscore this dialogue is so painfully beautiful.

Because of certain things that didn't work out the way I thought they would in my own past, I was able to draw a deep connection with this scene when performing for the class. I got some really encouraging feedback from my professors and classmates. Comments like, "Who are you and what have you done with Jayme?" My professor even got up from his chair and came over and hugged me because he was so moved emotionally and asked me how did I do that and do I think I could reproduce it because that is the difference between professional and amateur theatre. What a shot in the arm, never having had a lick of acting before this year! I gotta say, I'm not really happy about school coming to a close for the summer. I only have two more weeks of intensive school work and due dates and then I'm left alone with my music and self-discipline.