The Treasure Chest

Last weekend we had our first concert. We have to arrive 2:30 hours early to have time to get dressed, made up, vocal exercises, sound checks with the orchestra. There is excitement in the air.. our first night out.. how will people like it.. will they like it? will they hate it, fall asleep!

Putting on makeup is quite an ordeal. It's fun though, like playing when your a kid.. You cannot believe the amount of makeup you have to wear. A beige foundation, a deep muddy clay color for cheek-hollows, upper side of brows, sides of the nose, under your chin and jaw..and a bit on the indentation in your chin..
then yellow ochre on both sides of all that. White lines around your eyes, black lines around the black lines.. White foundation.. funnily called "Clown's Sperm" (I wonder how many people will be visiting this blog because they googled those 2 words together. :-) ) You put this white and very thick and sticky base along your nose, the center of your brow, top of you cheeks and tip of chin. Now a brown pencil line on your brows, around your nostrils and around your lips. Fill in the mouth with lipstick quite far inside so it isn't lighter when you open your mouth to sing..and you've almost completed your makeup. When that's done you hold your breath while someone pumps translucent powder from a small rubber pear and vapourizes your entire face. A coat of mascara and you are finally and truly "made up". Actually these are the way the peasants put on their makeup.. the citizens had a cooler palette and darker black around their eyes etc.,

The 3 scenes just flew by.. the audience loved it and when it was over we received a spontaneous standing ovation. Lots of WOO!!! etc., which always make you feel really great.

We did it all over yesterday and I have to say, someone we made more errors than the week before ..but the crowd was even more enthusiastic.. you tend to feed from that.. and it become even better. Some parts were so funny.. there is a place where we are going to make a magic potion.. and we need the someone's tooth.. so when the magician takes the tooth.. he exaggerates.. and even put his foot on the J.F.'s belly to pull it out.. he pulled so hard, J.F. fell down.. but that made it really extremely funny.. i don't know if the crowd thought it was on purpose or not.. but it was quite funny.

Next weekend.. I have 2 concerts .. both out of town. We are all crammed up in a school bus.. but it's fun.. everyone laughs and jokes around.. and usually on the way back.. there is lots of singing. We usually go to the restaurant to decompress.. but it'll be so late when we get back.. we will go directly home and hit the pillow.. cause Saturday it starts all over again.

This weekend I was talking with jinx about writing a song.. and he was giving me ideas.. and was saying how about something about 'winter rain'.. using it as a metaphor for life etc., I thought that was a great idea and sat down to try and write something for it.. but I just kept getting deviated and instead wrote a poem. I tried to pull the winter rain theme into it.. but it was like it didn't want to go there.. so I let it go where it wanted and it created a wonderful pretty story.

I showed it to Jinx, and asked me to record it and he would put it to music. I sent him the recording and he composed the most beautiful and haunting music to accompany it.. it just transforms the poem into a mystical and wonderful story. I'm putting the text here.. but wish I could put the recording with the music as it truly makes it magical. Thank you Jinx! :-) I showed it to Kitten and she told me it gave her goosebumps... and said I must put it on my blog to share with all of you.

so here it is:



I hope you like it


The Treasure box

A maiden through the garden ran
to hide her broken heart;
she ripped it from her aching chest
the pain so strong,
she could not rest
and underneath the rosewood tree
she bent down on one knee.
With trembling hands
she held it close;
one last time, did she,
then put it in a treasure box
and threw away the key.
the winds at once began to stir
whilst she read her magic spell;
the sky drew dark
and then her tears
like silent diamonds fell.
"My heart within this treasure box
safekeep for me, shall thee,
until my true love will be found
you shall not set it free"
for only he with true of heart
can find both box and key.
and with these words.. descended a chill,
embraced her to the bone
it blew through her
and through the box
and turned her into stone.
For many years she knelt there still
beneath the rosewood tree,
in her hands the treasure box,
awaiting it's destiny.
until one day
per chance arrived
a traveller from afar,
he walked a thousand
miles at least
to find the gate ajar
it was a scene
like in a dream
from many a year gone by,
that set him on his journey,
one he just could not deny
it pulled him here
from far away;
the stars were his guide
to this very garden
to find his future bride.
And there beneath the rosewood tree
a beautiful statue on one knee
and in her hands, an offering
a treasure box as he had seen
so many times
whilst he was dreaming,
and in the sky
something gleaming.
a bird swooped down
from the rosewood tree
and in his beak a golden key.
He looked upon the statue's face
his heart, it swelled
to see such grace
and by her beauty,
he was taken aback
and with his fingers,
her lips he traced
then in the lock the key he placed.
In dreams he knew just what to do
to break the solemn spell
"your heart within this treasure box
safe kept from all, lest me
I am your true love from afar
I've come to set you free."
the winds at once began to stir
the box it slowy opened
he placed her heart upon her chest
and soon it beat within her breast
and then the stone to flesh did turn
Her eyes they opened and looked at his
and she saw the love within
she knew he was her destiny
for he had found both box and key
and then she looked upon his face
and on his lips a kiss did place.

If you would like the recorded version with Jinx's amazing musical background,(complete with swelling violins and cellos)
follow this link to Jinx's Blog While you are there, take a look around, he is not only a talented musician, he is an incredible artist!

The premiere is tonight!

Ok, well, I promised a bunch of time ago to come and post pictures.. and in my heart of hearts it was my intention, but I was just so pooped from rehearsals, had the photography team tournament, and then my dad entering the hospital all at once... just turned out to be a bit overwhelming for me.. and yes, top that off with a bit of procrastination and well.. nothing got done.

So, we had 9 days of rehearsals, my feet were again sore everynight. We never finished before 11pm, but it was still amazing. Lots of hard work, lots of fun.

I got a lot of pictures, not all high quality as you are working with odd conditions, the lighting on stage changes in an instant and in the wings.. you are standing in the dark and really don't have lots of time to change your settings.

I did mangage to get some front views.. which makes me more than happy. Suzanne is our stage director and she is quite strict, most of the time... if you are not where you should be at a certain moment, if you are being noisy, or touching the props or whatever, you will get a stern and not too kind warning. She is an amazingly warm person, however, and the intense fire that she can throw out only has to do with her passion and her wanting the show to work perfectly. As I said, she is like this most of the time, but I guess she likes me.. cause she lets me take pictures, while she shuffles others to be quiet out into the corridor. During one of our practices, she even pulled me through the wings on the side near the edge of the stage (where she hates if you even move the curtains) and brought me really close in front of the orchestra to take pictures. She was with me and I'm looking and taking pics and all of a sudden I see the peasants are in and I'm not there... ooops! See normally, I would get yelled at for missing my entry, but here.. I looked at her.. and she looked at me, and we just burst out laughing, both of us. In a way, I'm really glad as these are pictures I would not be able to get otherwise.

so without further ado, here are some of the pictures, I've compressed them and made them pretty small so you could get to see as many as possible.

This is Stéphane (our director) with Suzanne behind him, tying a pirate scarf on him, and Valérie, the set and costume designer:


This is taken from the wings. Captain Proton, with the pretty lieutenant, who for the life of her, can't take her hands off of him, the narrator and Marcel, the robot:


Here are the dancers doing their monster dance. They are the cutest little things. One of the girls had her birthday last week.. she just turned 14! We sang her Happy Birthday backed by orchestra.. it was pretty cool!


Here is the bard ... he sings all the time and behind him the King's messenger:


Here you see the Pretty thief, the bard and the magician. They are in a dungeon where they are looking for gold etc., The bard has closed the torch.. and the thief calls on the magician (who is a meager level-one magician) to bring them light. Since he's not a great magician, he only is able to provide enough light to light up their individual faces when the sing. This song is very singsong.. dance in the forest type of song.. Tra la, lala, lala, we like adventure type of song.


And the magician and in the pretty thief in the dungeon.. same scene:



Here is our magician. His costume is awesome.. and his hat has an owl on it.. the hat must be at least 16-18 inches high if not more:



Our pretty thief... quite an hat that is!:


Again the pretty thief:



This is a pic from the 3rd act. Bob the terrible on the pirate ship.. the dancing girls are, of course, mermaids and you can see Captain Proton .. he's a prisoner on the ship:


Again, a mermaid.. It's so funny to look at them standing in the wings .. because their tails are on the side of their legs.. so you always have the impression they have their feet heels together and sticking straight out to the sides:




and more mermaids:


The captives on the pirate ship, Eve, Captain Proton, etc.:


This is Bob the terrible.. as Robert.. in the first act. He is the first to come out and explains how he met Eve in school.. how he liked her but she did not want to have anything to do with him as he was a computer pirate. He's a gorgeous hunk of a man, a nice one too. He is a singer and is putting together a cd. His real name is Ronald Loiselle and perhaps one day you will hear about him.. He plays guitar and composes and has a very beautiful warm voice. In the last act.. he comes out and talks to Eve... comes into the wings for about 30 seconds and becomes Bob, the terrible and becomes a pirate. It goes very quickly..people helping him put on his boots and eye patch, his coat. Suzanne always laughs because she says there is never a problem to get Bob dressed, there are always at least 6 girls willing to give a helping hand. ;-)



This is Suzanne, our stage director. She's hamming it up a little bit. She was looking for one of the girls to chastise her for having brought everything you see in that bag as makeup. If everyone did that, the costumes would not fit in the wardrobes:


A couple pirates, having a good beer:


Bob the terrible as Robert.. taken in the wings.. this is how dark it is.. there is just a tiny blue light so we don't trip over ourselves:


This is not part of the show, it's Cynthia, the pretty lieutenant, posturing for me! :


Group photo of our dancing monsters:


During a break, a percussionist, playing the bongos:


Captain Proton and the Robot:


This is one of the scenes that I have the most pictures of, as soon as Bob does his tiny opening speech, this is how the piece starts.. the blue on Linda's face is pretty intense. That bracelet is made up of several garage door openers..hence the blue light:


Sire Languedoc and his gang. They had to fix the hat cause it was gouging into his brow. He looks fantastic.


Searching for the Sire:


Again, the sire:


and again:


Here there is a lot of insulting going on between the worlds of the past and future:


Some more insulting:


and even more:




Eve and the centurions: They have amazing helmuts.. with huge brushes atop .. they would be great to clean ceiling fans! :




Eve has appeared and wonders where she is!:


Eve, being saluted by Proton and Languedoc decide that the insults should stop,
and that we proclaim Eve as our creator.


Amazing what you can do with some hockey equipment:


Bob, the terrible:


He sure likes the mermaids.. can you blame him? :


Vincent grew his beard all year just for this.. he looks very authentic, don't you think.. Here, he is pushing around Captain Proton.. who you may have noticed is wearing his legoland helmut which will pretty much be worn by everyone in the future.. lol! :


Jean François and Languedoc on the pirate ship:


The captives has released themselves and have decided that perhaps, Bob should walk the plank:


Bob tells Eve, that he does not want to go back, real life just doesn't do it for him, he wants to live here, forever:


Asked if this is possible, the magician tells Eve that yes, but that someone else must go back to real life with her.. (the same number that came must go back.. must be some sort of Star Trek physics, lol ;-) ):



Eve grants Bob the right to stay forever on the pirate ship:


Well, that's it for today.

I know this seems a bit confusing so I'll try and give you a quick synopsis of what the storyline is:

Bob starts off the story telling us how he fell in love iwth Eve, but she wants nothing to do with him.. AH! Women!! he declares.. and the first act starts:

It's the future.. and Captain Proton and his robot are making sure that the people of the future are safe and and he saves the pretty lieutenant.

then.. all of a sudden, it's the past.. medieval times.. you meet languedoc and his bard, musician and thief .. they are going through dungeons and adventures picking pu gold and treasure.

--suddenly both worlds, past and future collide.. they don't understand what's going on .. so they get the magician to conjure up the planets.. and to make some foolhardy potion made with pulled teeth, and other yucky ingredients.. as they believe that only a god could have made such a thing happen.

The magic works and we meet Eve.. who tells us she is not a God but a computer programmer.. and that we are not real.. but part of games she whas created.

We then find out that all of this has happened because, Bob.. very hurt by Eve's refusal to have anything to do with him has hacked into Eve's programs and mixed both worlds together.. but somehow the non-existant characters from inside the computer have real lives there.. and have been able to bring both Bob and Eve into their worlds.

When told that we don't exist.. we rebel and reclaim our right to live, to sing and to laugh.

now Bob will have his own adventure.. but Eve feels bad for all of us..as she is our creator and promises to make our wishes come true... that she will program them.

Bob doesn't want to go back to real life.. he likes it here.. so Eve will bring back the Robot, who has many ideas of what he'd like to be.. psychoanalyst, or maybe a cuisinart.. during practices Marcel would joke and say vibrator etc., .. it would crack everyone up!

In the end.. everyone is happy, we are all free.. and we will live in Eve's gardens. The narrator will run for politics, the magician will be a wood worker, Captain proton no longer wants to use his weapons and the thief will no longer steal anything but Captain Proton's heart.


So.. tonight.. the premiere.. as we say in French! "Merde"! .. it's supposed to bring good luck!