A Reflection on My Time Before, During and After "Sweet Charity"

Goodbye my sweet libretto binder

The Ohio Northern Theatre Arts Department closed the spring musical, "Sweet Charity," on April 22. The show ran for a total of five performances. I just wanted to take time in this week's "ONU Blog Post" to reflect on being able to play a part in the wonderful world of "Sweet Charity." First, I'd like to share how thankful I am to have been able to be involved at all. I have thanked my director, Courtney Kattengal, over and over for allowing me to be a part of the show. When I saw the cast list at the end of last semester I was really confused because "Sweet Charity," is famous for being a dance heavy show and I have felt like a weak dancer for such a long time. When I first came to Ohio Northern University (ONU), I was not ready for the slap in the face that dance training brought me. I literally couldn't touch my toes and would cry after some of my ballet classes because I felt like I was in way over my head compared to other people at ONU and other musical theatre programs who had been kicking their face since they were four years old. I would cry because try as I might, the dance moves that came so easily to other people seemed so foreign to me. It was like being thrown into a foreign country and having everyone speak a language that made no sense to me. You could imagine my terror when walking into the dance audition and having to perform a tap dance call inspired by Bob Fosse, a famous choreographer who conceived, staged and choreographed the original production. I had never taken a tap dance class before this audition which just made the dance call that more stressful. After seeing my name on the cast list I was very confused, but excited to be one of the three freshman cast, but I was still scared to be a part of such a huge dance show. This was all right when the fall semester was coming to an end.

Winter break was a welcomed time off, but once the spring semester hit I was thrust into the "Choreogrpaher's Showcase," and started gaining confidence in my dancing, but "Sweet Charity," was a whole other level of dance. I had to ask Courtney to slow down the choreography for me many times, and I felt shy about it at the time, but she has since thanked me for being brave enough to ask for help. As the rehearsals went along I became more confident and more confident until it came time to put the show up in front of an audience. When this time came I was able to go out there and actually have fun and enjoy dancing. I gave so much face in the "Rich Man's Frug," and found myself having such a good time grooving out to the music. Hanging up my "Frug" costume for the last time was really sad because I knew I would never get to do it again with an incredible and supportive group of castmates. 

Other parts of the show I will miss was being able to get close to seniors before they left. I had glorious moments onstage with Megan Timmons during the "Coney Island Scene" where we had to be a couple, but Megan's character was blind. We would improvise lines every night, and then walk off our platform laughing at the end of the scene because we would come up with the most ridiculous things. On the final performance Megan, in character, blamed me for not being there for her which caused her blindness. More than anything in the world I wish we could do that scene a couple more times to see to figure out how I caused my onstage girlfriend's blindness.

I had other really goofy moments onstage with Alecia Pagnotta who gave me a lap dance as a dance hall hostess in the Fandango Ballroom. Every night we would have to freeze while Charity sang "Where Am I Going?" and I would mouth the words to her as my back was to the audience. However, I wouldn't mouth the song as myself, I would mouth it as the character who was getting the lap dance. I named him Chad, and he sang the song to reflect on how he doesn't know why he goes to a dance hall all the time even though he has a wife and two kids. I love creating ridiculous stories if you can't tell.

One day after the final performance we got together one last time to strike the set. This involves breaking down the sets, taking down the lights, dealing with sound equipment and cleaning up wood chips and metal shavings from literally sawing the giant platforms into tiny pieces. 

Now, as I am typing this, I no longer have a commitment six out of the seven days of the week. It feels weird to have freedom in the evenings again, but I wouldn't trade my experience with "Sweet Charity," for anything. I will forever be grateful to have learned so much and getting to make new friends by working on such an amazing project.