One More Week in Denver

Hello all!

Another week down, another one closer to our opening performance! It is crazy (and a bit nerve-wracking) to think that we will be performing in front of over 2,000 people in SIX days, in one of the biggest and coolest theatres in Denver. Whew! Honestly, though, I’m excited to get this first show underneath my, and cast’s, belt. It’s exciting to think about the show, which is slightly strange since that was the one thing I wasn’t looking forward to in this experience. But, it is looking amazing, and it’ll be great performing it for real for once and not just for our staff.

This week has been full of preparation for the show. Plenty of blocking, cast movement, and cast vocals. Beyond that, microphone groups (or mike groups) have been picked and they’ve begun working on their notes. I’ve been placed in the mike group, so I’ve been right there with them trying to learn all the tenor lines for the songs. As a mike person, you have to know all the songs for a couple different reasons: 1) in case someone gets sick/injured/etc. and you have to step into their spot for the show to go on; and 2) the different parts in the show are constantly changing. One moment you could be on mike groups for a song and then you could be on a different song. It’s all about versatility.

Beyond mike groups, I’ve been refining and learning more dance moves for the few remaining songs. None have them have been too challenging, but I did have to do a dance workshop yesterday for “Step into the World,” which was kind of a challenging dance, but nothing terrible. We worked on it for about three hours and I had the steps down by the end. Now I’ve just got to be able to DO them on time. Besides that, though, we’ve run through the show a few different times, the last being with costumes. Thankfully I didn’t have to worry about that aspect on Thursday, but who knows if that’ll stay the same?

On Friday, the cast had a CI day (community impact), and there were many different options available to the cast. Some groups worked with homeless people at different centers, others packaged food again for needy families, and some others visited a center for people with mental health problems. However, there were some students that had to remain behind to work on a few things: lead dance, band, and mike vocals. I was part of the mike groups, so I didn’t get to go out with the rest of the cast. There were about thirty of us that had to remain behind and work on different aspects of the show. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy I got to work on vocals – God knows I needed to get the different parts down and I was really able to do that Friday, but I was a bit disappointed with missing out on a CI. But, we haven’t even begun to travel yet and there will be plenty of CIs along the way. We did, however, still all go out to eat together again at the end of Friday. About 12 of us made it to the Hard Rock Cafe, and we has some amazing food. I, myself, had some BBQ brisket which was delicious. We had a great time, and got a chance to really hang out with each other in an unstructured setting. Some of the others went to a place called "Johnny Rockets," a 50's themed fast food place. About 27 of them went, and as soon as they walked in, they heard the song "Twist." Of course, someone jumped up and started to dance to it. Soon the ENTIRE group of them were up dancing away in this tiny fast food place along the 16th Street Mall. They even had the staff of the place dancing away. People were walking by the restaurant and stopping to look through the window at all the crazy people dancing in a fast food place. It was a good time, I hear.

With the end of this week came the last day at our beloved Sherman Center, the place we’ve been staging at for the past three weeks. It is strange to think that the next time I step into the building (if ever) I will be an alum of the Up with People program. I’m not really sure where the past three weeks have gone. The first week seemed to drag by, but now every day seems to kick itself into high gear, speeding by faster than I can appreciate it. In another week, the cast will be LEAVING Denver and our host families that have graciously allowed us into their homes for the past four weeks. It’s going to be a sad going away. I’ve REALLY enjoyed my host family, and I feel I’ve started to find a place here, but now we’re going to be picking up and moving again. It’s exciting to get on the road, but it’s sad to leave all the friendships here in Denver. But I suppose we’ll all have to get used to it because that is what our lives will be highlighted by for the next five months.

Today, our host family is having a small Superbowl party, and I think Kristian is a bit excited to see this one-of-a-kind American event. While it’s not an official holiday in the United States, it might as well be. Beyond that, I’m hoping that another Manning can ruin Brady’s hopes for a Superbowl win. While I appreciate the talent and skill of the New England Patriots, they’ve still won it four times in the past seven years. Time for a new champion.

Until my next post!

Dan