A breath of fresh air...
So, Layton High did their preview for Aida tonight. I've got to say, right off the bat, that I don't particularly care for the show. Not their production of it, but the show in general. It is, to me, kind of the opposite of my standard experience with musicals. Usually, I find musicals to be really cheesy, but the music is catchy enough to keep my interest to some degree. With Aida, I really enjoy the story, but there are only about five songs that I actually like...
But I have had fun working with the kids. I've talked about this before; but, as I put it to someone tonight, when I go there, I feel like years slide off my life, and it's really easy for me to forget that I'm going to be 38 this year. I think most of the kids would kinda freak out if I said I was that old (I am older than the parents of a few of them, I know...the guy playing Merab was one of our dressers at Lagoon last year...comes from a family of seven kids, and his mom is the same age I am...)
It's funny, because every time I start working with them, things just kind of multiply before my eyes. At first, I was just designing one temporary tattoo, for Radames...a tattoo that was seen for only a couple of minutes, in the first ten minutes of the show...and then, never again, for the rest of the show. Then, they decided they wanted some kind of chest tattoo for Zoser. Then Zoser's ministers asked if they could have tattoos...and the director said he didn't mind, as long as they didn't overshadow Zoser's--so I said I'd go ahead and design some, to make sure. And then, tonight, when I was putting the tattoos on the ministers, people were so intrigued by them that about a third of the cast ended up asking if they could get some kind of tattoo...and I agreed, as long as we put them someplace that the costumes would hide them. (Dennis said I should start charging for them, $10 a tattoo beyond the ones I'd originally agreed to do for the ministers, Radames, and Zoser...)
But the sheer excitement they had over what is, really, such a simple thing was just...well...intoxicating, in a way. I'm glad it happened, because I'd been thinking last year that it might be a good way to make a few extra dollars, somewhere along the line, being set up to do temporary tattoos. One of the big expenses in doing these is coming up with the stencils...and since I know how to make my own, I can get off the ground with that much less overhead. But, as has happened with a great many other projects, I had kind of stalled out. I had multiple pages of designs worked out, just waiting to be turned into stencils...but they'd been sitting since last fall. Since I got started working on this, I've got most of the existing designs drawn onto the stencil material and just need to cut them out...and I've made six or seven designs specifically for this show, and have ideas for a few more (and these are NOT the typical designs you'd see for tattoos...Anubis, Thoth, scarabs...)
I need stuff like this to come along every so often...gives me a kick in the pants and gets me moving again. I wish I had the willpower, or the focus, or whatever you want to call it, to stay on task for stuff like that, without any outside influence.
But I don't, so I get a thrill when someone comes along and helps me out that way. Thanks, kids...for keeping me on task--and keeping me young at heart.
So, Layton High did their preview for Aida tonight. I've got to say, right off the bat, that I don't particularly care for the show. Not their production of it, but the show in general. It is, to me, kind of the opposite of my standard experience with musicals. Usually, I find musicals to be really cheesy, but the music is catchy enough to keep my interest to some degree. With Aida, I really enjoy the story, but there are only about five songs that I actually like...
But I have had fun working with the kids. I've talked about this before; but, as I put it to someone tonight, when I go there, I feel like years slide off my life, and it's really easy for me to forget that I'm going to be 38 this year. I think most of the kids would kinda freak out if I said I was that old (I am older than the parents of a few of them, I know...the guy playing Merab was one of our dressers at Lagoon last year...comes from a family of seven kids, and his mom is the same age I am...)
It's funny, because every time I start working with them, things just kind of multiply before my eyes. At first, I was just designing one temporary tattoo, for Radames...a tattoo that was seen for only a couple of minutes, in the first ten minutes of the show...and then, never again, for the rest of the show. Then, they decided they wanted some kind of chest tattoo for Zoser. Then Zoser's ministers asked if they could have tattoos...and the director said he didn't mind, as long as they didn't overshadow Zoser's--so I said I'd go ahead and design some, to make sure. And then, tonight, when I was putting the tattoos on the ministers, people were so intrigued by them that about a third of the cast ended up asking if they could get some kind of tattoo...and I agreed, as long as we put them someplace that the costumes would hide them. (Dennis said I should start charging for them, $10 a tattoo beyond the ones I'd originally agreed to do for the ministers, Radames, and Zoser...)
But the sheer excitement they had over what is, really, such a simple thing was just...well...intoxicating, in a way. I'm glad it happened, because I'd been thinking last year that it might be a good way to make a few extra dollars, somewhere along the line, being set up to do temporary tattoos. One of the big expenses in doing these is coming up with the stencils...and since I know how to make my own, I can get off the ground with that much less overhead. But, as has happened with a great many other projects, I had kind of stalled out. I had multiple pages of designs worked out, just waiting to be turned into stencils...but they'd been sitting since last fall. Since I got started working on this, I've got most of the existing designs drawn onto the stencil material and just need to cut them out...and I've made six or seven designs specifically for this show, and have ideas for a few more (and these are NOT the typical designs you'd see for tattoos...Anubis, Thoth, scarabs...)
I need stuff like this to come along every so often...gives me a kick in the pants and gets me moving again. I wish I had the willpower, or the focus, or whatever you want to call it, to stay on task for stuff like that, without any outside influence.
But I don't, so I get a thrill when someone comes along and helps me out that way. Thanks, kids...for keeping me on task--and keeping me young at heart.
posted by Curtis at 12:28 AM
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