Saturday, May 1, 2010

Sunday, April 25th, 2010 4:01 AM

So it’s the official end of my first day on the ship. What a day. We’ll be in Nassau tomorrow morning which is normally the last stop on our seven day Eastern cruise. They reversed the trip for maintenance reasons. I got a message from the captain that explained the new itinerary. In my email inbox. On my TV. This ship is NUTS.

I’m eager to see how the next few days pan out for a few reasons. First, our rehearsals are going to be scheduled from Midnight until about 6 AM every morning. So I’m sure I’ll have a HELL of a time readjusting my circadian rhythm. The reason for the wacky hours is that we’re on the main stage for the first two weeks of rehearsals, and it’s the only time available. Our rehearsal tonight lasted about 3 hours and I’ve decided to do my best at making tonight as long as possible to force my body into submission so that tomorrow (later today) when I go to bed at noon and wake up at 11 PM I’ll be pretty much set. We’re only focusing on one show (Come Fly With Me) until we open it on May 8th, and then we’ll move to the other (Oasis of Dreams). No one has said anything about Splish Splash but that definitely doesn’t mean we’re not going to get thrown into that at any given time. But seriously, Come Fly With Me is going to be BADASS. Second, I’m amazed at how much we’re actually going to be doing in the show as acrobats. There’s a whole bungee session that we got introduced to today in addition to all the fast track stuff. My body is not nearly as physically strong as it needs to be for that! My forearms and abs are especially inadequate. Ironic? Not really. Third, I’m sitting in my own room right now because I’ve been told I’m the Acro Captain. Trust me, it’s definitely news to me. But I’ve been told by the Dance Captain, the Production Manager, and pretty much any random person who knows more about the ship than I do, so apparently it’s true. The reason that my being Acro Captain is so intriguing is because I have no idea why or how they came to the conclusion that I am best qualified acrobat for that position. And unfortunately, after today, it’s very clear that I’m not. I’m not the worst by far, but there’s a very clear cut difference in quality between four of us (myself included) and two people: Tiago and Katie. Katie is 21 and a complete and utter badass. She just got done performing in Cirque Du Soleil’s Mystere. WTF?! How on earth is she not getting paid an excessive amount of money and in complete control of all of us? And although I’m not sure of Tiago’s resume specifics it’s extremely clear that he is the most experience and mature of all of us. The thing is, no one higher than our production manager has explicitly said “Pete, you’re acro captain” so this is what I’m thinking. Jeremy, the shows’ creator, just chose an arbitrary person to fill that position at first because he didn’t know any of us and decided on the only person who has a degree (not exactly sure about that, but it’s a safe assumption), and he’s assessing us all right now, in rehearsal, and will make appropriate adjustments as we get closer to show time. BUT! Get this! Apparently, Come Fly With Me has a “protagonist” (code: lead role) named Max (?) and I’m cast as that part too. I’m really not complaining, and this actually might be a good fit, but again. Why me? I suppose I do have the most theatre training, but why wasn’t anyone aware of these casting choices before we got here? And am I getting paid more? Haha So needless to say, on one hand I’m wishing I was in MUCH better shape and I’m just praying that I don’t completely embarrass myself with my lack of strength and on the other hand, I’m hoping that the way they have it stands, and I’ll always have my own room for when Todd comes, and I’ll get to put Acro Captain and Max on my resume. (Kickass)

So after getting up at 7 AM, sitting on a shuttle bus for about 2 hours, arriving at the ship, going through an excruciating boarding process, taking tours of the ship, sitting through our first of several safety training sessions, forgoing a much needed nap, eating three times at the 24-hour crew mess, watching Hairspray (which was pretty well done), and finishing a 3 hour rehearsal, which, was, BANANAS, I suppose it’s finally time for a little sleep. It is now 4:26 AM and we have our 2nd training session at 8:30 AM. After a 3rd session at 10:30 AM, I’ll be settling in for a long sleep session (think 10 hours or so) to try and reset my already fragile internal clock (only to reset it again to normal hours in two weeks). Ugh. And all the while I’m praying to the god of this ship that I’m not completely immobile when I wake up because of a limp, sore, flabby body. Cheers and good night (morning).

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