Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Assassins: The First Week

Sup y'all. Nik Walker here, representing the cast and crew of Company One's 2008 summer mainstage, Stephen Sondheim's ASSASSINS.

Words aren't enough to describe how pumped I am to be a part of (and to be blogging with you guys about) this show. ASSASSINS has been my favorite musical since 7th grade; Company One has been one of my favorite theater companies since freshman year of high school, and The Balladeer has been one my favorite characters in musical theater for just as long - so the fact that I'm doing ASSASSINS with Company One and playing The Balladeer is just plain ridiculous. I'm not going to lie, I've never blogged before...it feels a little like I'm trapped in the ending of an episode of Doogie Howser, but anyway, look forward to a check-in on this site about once a week, with updates on rehearsals, behind-the-scenes stuff, shout outs from other cast members and tons o' fun.

We had a read-thru/sing-thru of the piece this past Monday after a week of busting out on the music. It was so good to hear everyone doing their thing, so many great choices were being made - I was bopping along uncontrollably. Jeff Mahoney is quite a force to be reckoned with - loud, proud and has put forth what is, in his words, a "Bat Shit Nuts" Guiteau. John Wilkes Booth is also electrifying in the hands of David DaCosta. We talked a couple of rehearsals back about where he wants to take the actor-turned-assassin with this production. He's done a lot of historical research on Booth, and he's very excited to see where this vantage point puts him.


Jeff, David, Mason Sand (playing Sam Byck), Ed Hoopman (playing Leon Csolgosz) and I were sitting around on our break time, discussing the large periods for each of us in the show where we don't have anything to do...the scenes for each character are pretty evenly spread. Ah, the wonders of a true ensemble piece. I think we unanimously decided that there would be plenty of runs across the street to the pizza parlor for a slice and a soda during performances. Hey, if the audience can't see us, we are most definitely not on the clock.

Talk to you soon.
-Nik


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I cannot wait to see this. It's been a while since I saw a really great show, and if I don't see one soon, I'm going to quit all involvement in the theater whatsoever.

So don't let me down.

Also, if you run to get pizza during the performance, you should bring some back for the audience.

Eclectic_Liz said...

i heart nik.