2000-09-20

Brown or Blue?

Links and Shameless Plugs aplenty. You have been warned.

So I had my first serious rehearsal last night for what is my Supreme Guilty Pleasure in Life: Jesus Christ Superstar.

The last time I did Superstar was in �96, for the same company. I knew that some of the people I'd hung around with then were returning for the 2000 production, but I also knew that there would be a whole lot of people that I didn't know.

The first rehearsal of a production is always kinda scary for me, like the first day at a new school. Who will I eat lunch with? Will any of the kids want to be friends with me? Happily, I always make cool friends during the rehearsal process; some of my best and most enduring friendships had their starts in school plays, summer musicals, and what-have-you. But there's still always that fear that Nobody Will Like Me, that I'll be the pariah of the show and no one will sign my program on the last night of the run. It's a cheap thrill, the first rehearsal.

Fortunately, we got off on the right foot last night, when John and I got into a discussion typical of the Shameless Superstar Aficionado: Carl Anderson or Murray Head? I've seen bitter, bitter feuds erupt over the question of "Who's the Best Judas?" but fortunately this current cast seems to be a good-natured lot, and the debate quickly turned silly as several of us decided that it wasn't merely a matter of having a Favorite Judas, but of pledging unerring loyalty to one of the two major soundtracks. To that end, John and I decided that you were either a "Brown Record Person" (the original 1970 recording, the one in the heavy brown double-LP jacket with the insanely thick vinyl pressed so that you could stack �em and listen to them uninterrupted) or a "Blue Record Person" (the movie soundtrack). I began fiercely questioning the other cast members: "Are you a Brown or a Blue?"

I think that Bo was scared of me until I made him an accomplice, getting up in his face and yelling: "Brown or Blue, Bo, Brown or Blue?!"

"Oh, Brown, definitely. I'm down with the Brown."

Down with the Brown. I liked that. Giddy from too much rehearsal and not enough dinner, I scrawled on the front of my script: "Lisa McC: Representin' Tha Brown Rekkid. Word."

From there it just got stupid. As we were being encouraged to make background conversation during "Heaven on Their Minds," Bo, John and I beat the Brown Rekkid bit into the ground ("That Jesus guy is okay, but I hear he likes the blue rekkid." "No!").

I went home last night feeling just great, like I had people who would save a seat for me in the cafeteria.

lisamcc at 16:19:02

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