1 Week To Go

My new routine is to get up at 6:30, AM, and go for an early run, before anyone else in my house gets up. It's a very suburban thing to do, but I know when I start rehearsal, I won't have time for this kind of luxury, so I'm trying to take advantage of the opportunity now. I live in New Jersey and it's amazing to go down by the Hudson River that early in the morning and look out over New York City. It's an endless array of shapes, changing everyday as the sun muscles its way through the spires of concrete and glass.

One week to go before I start rehearsal. Actually a week and a day, since my Stage Manager Andy called me yesterday and confirmed my start time, next Tuesday, August 25 at 11am. People ask me if I've started to learn my lines. Learn my lines? Hell, I keep wondering if I'm gonna see a script before I start rehearsal. Probably not. Which is fine, because unlike a "straight play" where you spend a lot of time going over the script with a fine tooth comb, culling the nuances of a character and developing a through-line, in a musical it's mostly about getting up on your feet and moving as soon as possible. There's a lot of dance, or "movement for actors", in this show, so I'm sure we'll be on our feet early and often. There's also a fair amount of music to be learned, not that I don't know most of it already. It's ABBA, remember?

A note about the movement and my running. I run to stay in shape and, when I need to, lose weight. I've actually lost nearly 40 pounds in the last 3 months. It's the fourth time in my life that I've lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. People are always astounded that I lose that much weight. "How do you do it?", they ask.  The first time it happened a friend cautiously asked me if I had Aids. I did not.  But my answer is always the same, "It's simple, but it's not easy." I eat the same things that I've always eaten (pizza, peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti) only less of it, I snack a LOT healthier (frozen grapes and granola and yogurt instead of Costco chocolate chip cookies, milk and chocolate milkshakes) and I work out (run, swim, play hockey). Those three on a regular basis seem to work for me, but everybody is different and I wouldn't profess to be a diet guru, so don't ask me.
But I also run to be ready for a show like MM! No one is gonna stand by my side and hold my hand and tell me I should stay in shape in case a show comes along. I, as a professional, have to be ready for the possibility of what's out there. Of what could come next. I expect this show, as fun as it will be, to be grueling too. Eight shows a week can be tiresome and exhausting and it's my job to be ready for the rigors. And so I run. Or swim. Or play hockey. Not that there's much hockey in MM! But hey, they're Swede's, so you never know.