Rub-a-dub-dub

Something kinda funny happened to me yesterday so I figured I'd share. I was taking a shower before work - a seemingly normal routine that happens every day. Just before I'd gotten all the soap suds washed off, the water pressure started to get a bit low. I thought, "Oh. One of my roommates must have flushed the toilet or something." As I watched the pressure get lower and lower, it trickled down to nothing. I immediately realized the water had been turned off. There I stood, dowsed in soap, desperate to wash the suds off. I quickly reached down and plugged the drain with the palm of my hand and began splashing the leftover water in the bottom of the tub all over me. My quick thinking worked for a bit but the water soon drained completely. Luckily, I'd gotten most of the suds off and I was able to wipe the rest off with my towel. We found out later that there had been construction outside and an emergency situation caused them to shut off water in the immediate area. I just happened to be one of the unlucky people who chose to take a shower during that time. 

Just a normal morning bathroom routine for Matt James.

Today is my birthday!

Well well well... hello blog world! Today is my birthday! I can't believe I'm 24 years old. It's been quite some time since I've written a blog post. I feel like not a lot has happened since my last post but there have definitely been some life changes. I'll begin where I left off...

"Hairspray" was an absolute blast. Every night literally felt like a rock concert. Audiences gave us standing ovations and our reviews were really great. The cast was so much fun and I'm so glad that I was able to share that experience. After "Hairspray" ended, it was time to head into Tech week for "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." We had a great Richmond area actress named Kathy Halenda come in to play the role of Mona. She is absolutely fantastic in the role and a joy to work with. Right now, we're in our last weekend of the run. It's hard to believe that we've been running for nine weeks. Physically, this show has been exhausting for me. As one of the Aggie football players, our big showstopping dance number takes every ounce of energy I have. But I'm so grateful for the exercise I've been getting because of it. And my confidence in my dancing ability has definitely risen. Once again, Jonathan Dodd made a promo for the production. It looks great!



Once "Whorehouse" performances were underway, I decided to go ahead and audition for Riverside's next production, "Hello, Dolly!" I almost decided not to audition because I was getting a little run down and felt that I needed a break. Boy, am I glad I decided otherwise. Not only am I playing Cornelius Hackl, my favorite role I've ever played thus far, the theatre was able to hire Sally Struthers to play the lead role of Dolly Levi. For those of you in my generation who don't know who she is, Sally is best known for playing the role of Gloria on the hit T.V. show "All in the Family." Most recently, she's known for the role of Babette on "Gilmore Girls." She's a screen and theatre vet with a lot of fame and notoriety to bring to Riverside. It truly is an honor working with her. There should be some rehearsal footage soon! We open "Hello, Dolly!" on May 6 and run through July 3. I can already tell this will be one of my most memorable shows to date. So in a nutshell, that's pretty much what's been going on in my life.

Except for one more little detail...

I'm moving to NYC!

Yes, the Big Apple will now have Matt James as a permanent resident. Not only that, I'm moving with four other people: Ashley Keeter, Jordan Weaver, Matt Mitchell, and Margie Mills. WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN?!?!

In all seriousness, I'm really glad I've finally made the decision to go. Because of working full time and performing in this last string of shows, I've saved enough money to be able to support myself and get myself on my feet once I've moved. As of now, our projected time period is in September. We're all super excited. My next step in the process will be to find a job that has both, enough flexibility to allow me to audition, and enough pay to keep me afloat. Settling on an apartment will come once we get closer to the date. AHHH!!!

Alright, that's all for now. I'll try my best to continue updating as we get closer.

I just don't see why we can't all dance together!

Justine and I have yet to hear back from "The Amazing Race" applications. I'm certain this is because they're watching our video over and over again, trying to understand the brilliance of it. Once they calm down, I'm sure they'll be giving us a call. :-)

"Hairspray" performances have been going really well! The audiences are really loving the show. I think the show has so much heart, it's hard not to feel a part of it. While it is really quirky and fun, it also has a strong message that is really very simple. Tracy has a line saying something like, "I just don't see why we can't all dance together!" She doesn't understand (and neither do I) why people who are different have to be treated differently. After all, everyone wants the same thing. Audience members can always connect to some part of themselves that is different or unique. I think that's why people love it so much.

In an earlier post, I put up a video that Jonathan Dodd made showcasing us in rehearsal. He's now made a promo video with all of us on the set and in costume/makeup. The video looks great! Check it out:



Also, here are a few still shots of me performing in the show:

Singing "The Nicest Kids in Town"

Singing "(It's) Hairspray"

The "Corny Collins Spectacular" finale suit

I'm also the "flasher who lives next door"

Our curtain call final pose

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In other news, I've recently found out that I'm cast in Riverside's next production, "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." The cast is super strong for this show so I'm very excited. I'll be in multiple roles but mostly as the Bandleader/Deputy. Basically, I am one of the narrators in the show, singing a few songs that serve as exposition. I'll also be one of the "Aggie" football players as well as the top tenor in the Quartet. AKA, I'll never leave the stage! :-) We started rehearsals this past Sunday and open the weekend after "Hairspray" closes. "Whorehouse" will be directed by Patrick A'Hearn and choreographed by Christopher Noffke. They were the same team to direct and choreograph "Chicago."

Update

Hello everyone,
"Hairspray" opens this Friday night at the Riverside Dinner Theatre in Fredericksburg, VA. It's gonna be a great show. We had a fairly quick rehearsal period. Especially with Christmas/New Years added into the equation. We're in tech week right now getting down to the final wire. Costumes/makeup will be incorporated over the next couple of days. We're all pretty confident that we'll be ready for Friday.

Jonathan Dodd, who made the awesome promo video for "Chicago" also made a rehearsal promo video for "Hairspray." Check it out.



This video was made during one of our rehearsals last weeks sans the set/lights/costumes. He'll be creating another one this week to showcase what the show looks like as a finished product.

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Now, for those of you wondering about our "Amazing Race" status, Justine and I unfortunately did not have any time to film a new video to send off to the producers. FORTUNATELY, Justine is amazing and was literally able to create a video with old footage from throughout the years. I think it turned out great. Our applications and video were sent and guaranteed to be delivered by Noon today. They could actually be watching our video right now. Of course, by "could actually be watching" I mean they "ARE watching." Here's the video that Justine created. The only difference between this one and the one she sent is that there is a small outro riff at the end to give it a clean ending.  ENJOY!

"The Amazing Race" and other things

  

I'm not sure if this is the best idea we've ever had or if this is possibly the worst idea to ever come out of anyone's head, but Justine and I have decided to apply for the "Amazing Race" Season 18! I've been doing some research today and I think we definitely have a good chance to be chosen - at least as semi-finalists. All they need is a partnership to create a 3 minute video that shows personality and gives them a reason that we should be on the show. We definitely have that covered. The new applications aren't up yet. As soon as they are, you better believe Justine and I will be all over it. I don't understand how the show has survived without us yet.


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On a different note, my ten week production of "Chicago" ended this past Saturday. I was sad to see it end. I've been working on the show for so long, I feel like it's become part of my life. However, it will be nice to have a small break. Rehearsals for "Hairspray" are underway and they've been going well so far. We're obviously still in the very beginning stages of everything. My track as Corny is pretty relaxed. I'm only in a few quick scenes and a couple of songs so my rehearsal schedule is very lax. The rest of the cast is really great and I'm so excited to see what this show is going to turn into.

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On yet another note, I leave in 5 days for Disney World! I'll be there Dec. 4 - 10. My parents and I are going together and they'll be celebrating their 30th anniversary while we're there. Once again, it will be great to get away for a week and not think about rehearsals or performances for a while. (Although, I'm not complaining because I'm very lucky to be getting the work that I have!)

That's it for now! Toodles!

The only thing better than Hairspray - That's me!

Hello there guys and gidgets!

I'm so excited to have been cast as Corny Collins in Riverside Dinner Theatre's production of "Hairspray!"

It's a role I've been wanting to play for a long time. I'm not sure of the entire cast yet; We'll find out on Sunday. However, I do know that the Richmond/VCU area totally dominated the casting process! Current VCU Theatre majors Antonio Tillman and Katie Ford were cast as Seaweed Stubbs and Ensemble/Amber Von Tussle u/s respectively. Myself, along with VCU Theatre graduate Sarah Pruden were cast as Corny Collins and the Character Woman (Prudy Pingleton/Matron/Gym Teacher) respectively along with VCU Music graduate Kimberly Fox being cast as Motormouth Maybelle. CNU Theatre graduate Kevin Scott was cast as Link Larkin who is also from the Richmond area.

So get ready for a stellar show. The cast is great and I'm really happy to be doing another show at Riverside. Here's where some true time management comes in. Our first read/sing through takes place this Sunday. Since I'm still in "Chicago," I'll be performing that show and then immediately jumping into "Hairspray" rehearsals for the next three weeks until "Chicago" ends its run. I guess that's the life of an actor!

I'm so grateful to have been able to get three really great shows back to back and have them work out so well. When "Hairspray" ends its run, I will have either been rehearsing or performing a show for ten months straight. I'm staying busy and I love it!

So "come on down and meet the nicest kids in town" at the Riverside Dinner Theatre in Fredericksburg, VA. We run from January 7, 2011 until March 6, 2011.

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Side Note --

If you get a chance, go see the Broadway National Tour of "Hair" at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. I saw this current revival in New York when it was on Broadway and just saw this tour last week. The show is truly a religious experience. The acting/singing is great and their energy is infectious. I highly recommend this performance! It's running at the Kennedy Center Opera House until November 21.

Update... after 5 months...

Hello all,
I can't believe it's been 5 months since my last blog entry. I promise I'm going to try to be better about this. My last update was still in the middle of rehearsals for "Rent" at the Firehouse Theatre Project. At this point, that shows seems so far away! So what's been going on since then? Okay, I'll try to be brief...

"Rent" ran for six weeks at the Firehouse making history as the highest grossing show they'd ever produced and being the first show to completely sell out every single night of the run. I was so proud to have been a part of this production. Our cast meshed so well together and we brought this story to life every night. Audiences and critics agreed that the show was a great production. We were all so honored with the following nominations and wins at the third annual Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards (*bold=Win) :

Best Musical
Best Actor in a Musical (Durron Tyre)*
Best Actress in a Musical (Joy Newsome)*
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical (Antonio Tillman)*
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical (Jaci Camden)
Best Musical Direction (Leilani Mork)*
Best Choreography (Maggie Marlin)

I'm so proud that we were able to get so many nominations and wins and will never forget this experience.

During the run of "Rent," I auditioned for Mary Sunshine in Riverside Dinner Theatre's Production of "Chicago." After three callbacks, I landed the role. The timing worked out perfectly. "Rent" was to end August 1 and I was leaving a few days later to be in Disney World for a week. They ended up not needing me in rehearsals until after I returned. I was very excited to be joining this cast as Mary Sunshine. As most of you know, I played this role my senior year at VCU. And it wasn't until after I was cast that I came to realize that my director, Patrick A'Hearn, had played Mary Sunshine for years in the Broadway National Tour and also in the Las Vegas Production (starring Chita Rivera and Ben Vereen). Needless to say, this was a little intimidating. Rehearsals began strong with some amazing choreography by Christopher Noffke. We blocked the show fairly quickly and within three weeks of opening night, we were running the show every night. We opened the show on September 24 and began our 10 week run. WHEW!

Currently, we're in our seventh week of shows with three more to go after this. It's definitely been a very interesting experience playing the same role in the same show with a completely different director (not to mention one who had played the role professionally). Another really interesting thing about doing dinner theatre is that many times the actors can serve tables before the show to pick up extra cash. Obviously, I definitely wanted to do this. However, since the entire point of my character is that the audience is supposed to believe that I am literally a woman until the very end of the show, I have to serve tables as a woman. It's exhausting, but loads of fun! Oh, the things we'll do for our craft!

Working with Patrick has opened up doors to some great opportunities for me. He really likes me in the role and is trying to work out an audition for the National Tour. To have this opportunity would be a dream come true. I'm also auditioning for the same role on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's newest ship. Hopefully, one of these great opportunities will unfold.

Here is a production photo of me from the show as well as a promo video created for advertisement:

 

So, what's next?

On Monday, I have a callback for Corny Collins in "Hairspray" at the same theatre. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. This would be another great opportunity. The director, Mark Minnick, is one of the main casting directors for Pheonix Entertainment, casting many different National Tours. Being able to work with him would also be an amazing door opener.

So there's my life for the past five months. Luckily, it's been engrossed in working full time and doing theatre. I guess I can't really ask for a lot more right now. I'm very happy with how things are going. I feel confident that I'm doing what I need to be doing in order to make this career work. I'm building my résumé and getting my name out there as much as possible. As new auditions arise, I'll let you know.

Hope you enjoyed the update!