THOMAS MADIGAN AND THE AUGUST CIRCUS

Date of Show: May 10, 2012
ROLE: Pepe

This was the last show I did of any sort as a student of SSU. This show was not a full stage production, but rather a staged reading of a new musical. The book and lyrics were by Ryan Neely and the music was written by Brent Bain. I first heard about it in Ives Hall when I passed by a flyer mentioning auditions. I felt it was worth checking out. On the night I auditioned, it was only me, Zach Hasbany and Jon Ostlund. After we sang our audition songs they had us read parts and sing different parts of the score. Brent was in the room, but Ryan, lived in Southern California (SoCal), listened via Skype. A few days later, I got a call from Brent offering me the role of Pepe, one of the clowns.


I'm not sure if the writers of this show would want me to reveal any details about the show until they have it firmly finalized.

Brent was a music major at SSU majoring in music composition. In addition to writing the music, he would also be writing all the parts for the different instruments. We'd be performing with a full orchestra, not just a piano. This show was more or less his senior project. Ryan Neely would be directing as well as playing one of the principal roles. Ryan and Brent worked and managed their own radio company called The High Street Broadcast which had radio shows like they did in the 1930s and 1940s. Together in many of these they wrote original songs. They had done this particular show some years before, but now they had lengthened the story and were going to add more songs. Brent had also given the book to Lynne Morrow to proof-read for any plot holes. This show was going to be done like an old radio show with sound effects and everything.

In the cast were several of my Oklahoma cast mates including Zach Hasbany, Jon Ostlund, Chris Colburn, Asella Medina-Smith, Kirsten Torkidson, and Talia Trozzo. Also in the cast were my friends Ashley Rollins, Margaret Starr, and Chris Trujillo. There were several others, many of whom were music majors. One of them, Rick Lejano, was a photographer who gave me updated headshots like the one in my first post "The Beginning."

My main role was a clown named Pepe partnered with another clown, Sir William, played by Jon Ostlund. I was also a roustabout, but briefly. But for my clown character I'd be in two scenes in the first act and then only in the first song of the second act. That song was a duet for Jon and me called "Clowning Around." I was thrilled that I'd get to do a song and with Jon Ostlund no less.

Before we began reading the script in rehearsals, we first learned the music. Some of the songs, like a couple large group numbers, were not quite finished yet, but my duet with Jon was. About once or twice a week we came in to practice with Brent. My part was in bass clef, but Brent had sent us links with the piano arrangement playing. Accompanying it were two voices singing the parts in a series of "Ahs." There was one with both and one for each part by itself. I must've listened to it a thousand times memorizing the notes.

It was about two months or so that we rehearsed, though usually two or at the very most, three days a week. Many of those involved with the show, whether playing a role or making the sound effects, lived in SoCal. When it came time to start reading the script we read and rehearsed with them via Skype. There were a couple instances where the connection failed and we were forced to wait, but it was nothing really.

For the most part I knew of everyone's vocal abilities having worked with them or having heard them at school before. But now I'd like to take a moment to talk about Margaret for a moment. Margaret was a transfer student from the Santa Rosa Junior College and she and I met in Lynne Morrow's senior seminar class on American Musical Theatre. She was taking the class and I was "auditing" it. I heard a brief snippet of her singing one day but didn't think much of it. Then during the rehearsals when she sang, I was really amazed. Margaret had one of the most unique singing voices I had heard in a long time. She was a mezzo-soprano. I can't really describe in words how it truly was or what she sounded like, but if you heard her you would agree.

The show would take place in Warren Auditorium in Ives Hall and would be performed on Thursday May 10, two days before I was scheduled to graduate. That same week I got a new job at the Doubletree hotel. They tried to schedule me to work that evening, but I had to tell them no. I got off work at four on the day of the show, but I missed some of the run through.

The day before the show we were joined by the SoCal people. For the first time we saw them out of the screen and kidded with them about it saying things like "Oh my god, the box people!" or "You're real!" or "You're out of the box!" At that rehearsal we ran through all the songs and music cues. Some people at a little more trouble than others in terms of finding their cues, but when it came to my duet with Jon, we sailed right through it without stopping once.

"Clowning Around"

The stage was set as such. The cast and musicians were arranged in a half circle. The cast was center stage and stage left. We were grouped by vocal groups. I was in the front with the baritones. The musicians were stage right. There were somewhere just under ten musicians including Yvonne, who was at the piano. The sound effects person was to the left of the cast. In this show we were going to use microphones. Those of us who had experiences in SSU musicals before couldn't believe our ears. We were ecstatic. The microphones would be in front of the music stands we'd use for our script folders at the foot of the stage. They had special screens in front. When I asked why, they said it was to protect against spit. The show was going to be recorded on video and sound only. So naturally they'd want it to be perfect.

This was the staging

As a surprise my favorite aunt had also come with my parents for graduation. I had no idea. Though I was not wearing contacts or glasses, I knew my parents were in the front, but I saw someone between them. The only other person I thought it could possibly be had sadly passed away a couple months earlier. But then I got to thinking "No. It couldn't be. Could it?" I was thrilled when I saw her after the show.

The show itself was well attended and a success. Brent's music was beautiful, and the lyrics and book were wonderful to read along to. It was weird listening to myself in the sound recording afterward, especially because for the first time I heard a professional level recording of myself, not a amateur tape. I finally got the chance to sing a full song with an orchestra, though I have as of this post, yet to have a full solo song. It was a great way to end my time at school.