Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » Were you a THESPIAN during any part of your life? Were you very good at it? How did you happen to thesp?
RosieG

Were you a THESPIAN during any part of your life? Were you very good at it? How did you happen to thesp?

Thespis was a 6th Century Greek Poet.

Thesping goes back a very long way.

Pretending to be what you aren't I guess is endemic to being human. The better liar you are the better you are at thesping. Pols are superb liars. I guess they missed their calling and shoullda couldda otta have chosen acting. Next time around.

Posted - May 5, 2021
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Responses


  • 10664
    The closest I got was being 'voice #2' in the play "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street".  My line was - "the phones don't work" (never onstage, just a voice behind the curtain). 
    I took theater in 7th grade (not by choice, it's just how the schedule worked out).  The play they decided to put on was the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street".  The lead student was a self-centered prick(!) who really hated me (and I still remember his name).  I was out sick for a few days early in the semester, and when I came back mr prick had talked the teacher into eliminating my part.   I was relegated to doing nothing (and I mean nothing).  As fate would have it, I got majorly sick and missed the last 2 weeks of the semester - including the night of the play (just before Christmas)  The entire theater class even got their picture in the year book... all, that is, except for me.  Since I had missed the play, I was not allowed.  
      May 5, 2021 11:16 PM MDT
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  • 16840
    I'm a good singer but a lousy actor - I played Papageno in a local production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte when I was 19. The role wasn't supposed to be min, I was the understudy, but the lead baritone came down with some form of lurgy on the eve of the premiere, so I was pitched head first into it.
    It's the best operatic part ever written for a baritone (tenors usually get the good bits, the recognition and the money) and I identified with the character (the star's sidekick, an irreverent smart aleck who never takes anything or anyone seriously), but the problem was that I tried too hard to play him instead of being him.
    After that, I got roles with big songs but hardly any lines or scenes (Steve Bullnack in Paint Your Wagon, Freddy Eynesford-Hill in My Fair Lady etc), or relegated to the chorus.
      May 5, 2021 11:34 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Pretty doggone impressive m'dear! OPERA? Lordy that's awesome! Did you take lessons with an eye toward that life? Ever get stage fright or were you meant for the stage? 19 is so young R. Not only an understudy at 19 but you actually went on stage and PERFORMED in front of a paying audience? Just like in the movies. Except it usually ends with the understudy breaking through and becoming a huge STAR.  Would that life have been your cuppa tea? Opera requires learning a lot of languages. I always wondered how difficult that would be. Thank you for sharing that part of your life with us R. I got chills imagining just waiting in the wings for you to go on. Have you kept your "hand" in it through the years? Inquiring minds wanna know these things! Nifty memories I betcha! :) This post was edited by RosieG at May 6, 2021 1:32 AM MDT
      May 6, 2021 1:31 AM MDT
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  • 16840
    Opera often requires a suspension of reality, the character is in his early twenties. The guy who was supposed to play the role was fifty at least, in my late teens I LOOKED the part as well has having the voice to sing it. What I lacked was acting ability. The local newspaper reviewed it thus:
    "Where did this boy get his voice? Sings with the power and control of a man more than twice his age. No child has the right to own pipes like that, he's a spotty-faced teenager for heaven's sake.
    What a pity the kid can't act."
    I did take lessons under an elderly Maestro from the Elizabethan Opera - he was more ambitious regarding my future career than I was, living vicariously I suppose.
    Unfortunately I didn't keep at it, life got in the way. You can't make a living in opera unless you go to Europe, I lacked the funds - and from the age of 20 I was also raising a family. This post was edited by Slartibartfast at May 7, 2021 5:04 AM MDT
      May 6, 2021 4:16 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Through the years you have alluded to your singing but I had no idea you were OPERA grade. You might have mentioned it but it either didn't stick or I just forgot. That's a real shame. Why do you have to know how to act? Why can't you just SING? Why must it be a role with others on stage telling a story? See how little I know about that world? I mean "no child has the right to own pipes like that" is really awesome! OK. Do you sing at home? I sure hope so. Fred Astaire's wife was asked if he ever danced at home for her and she said yes he did. Thank you for your reply R. Thomas Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard"(not sure if that's the exact title) comes to mind. "Full many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste its fragrance on the desert air." Yes some heard you sing but for how long? How many others might you have given pleasure to if all you had to do was just sing? One wonders. This post was edited by RosieG at May 7, 2021 5:15 AM MDT
      May 7, 2021 5:13 AM MDT
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