opening night....lead can barely speak
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Topic: opening night....lead can barely speak
Posted By: lucyvanpelt04
Subject: opening night....lead can barely speak
Date Posted: 11/04/05 at 12:58pm
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I am SM for a community theatre production of Arsenic and Old Lace. One of our leads came in last night (opening night) with a cold or something of the sort so bad that she can barely speak. The director put her on anyway because we don't have understudies since we are a small community theatre. I am sure that using her voice last night will only make it worse for the next 3 performances. Any ideas? Has anyone ever been through anything like this before?
HELP!
------------- "When I grow up, I am going to be the biggest queen there ever was..." |
Replies:
Posted By: Aimee
Date Posted: 11/04/05 at 2:34pm
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With no understudies, not sure there is much you can do. Tell the actress to save her voice for the show, drink plenty of fluids and get lots of rest! The saying "the show must go on" certainly comes to mind. Good luck!
------------- Aimee |
Posted By: Joan54
Date Posted: 11/04/05 at 3:15pm
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I'ver heard many actors muttering about lemons and tea and honey and what not to "save their voice"...there must be some recipes out there somewhere... actors?. March her off to the doctor...explain the situation and see if the doc has something to clear the mucus from the vocal chords. ------------- "behind a thin wall of logic panic is waiting to stampede" |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 11/04/05 at 7:18pm
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A thing that I have seen singers in musical hall [yes - I?m rally that
old] & even opera do, which can help! Is to gargle with apple cider
vinegar & honey. I have used it a number of times, it does work. Only remember to spit it out though & get rid of all the throat rubbish with it. Although it is also quite a good drink, if you use Scrumpy [alcoholic cider] & by adding the honey, your getting fairly close, to producing the same taste as Mead! The vinegar cleans out & breaks down the mucus, while the honey tends to coat the voice box & soothe the inflamed throat areas. You can also use pure lemon juice, but the vinegar works better in croaky cases. ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 11/04/05 at 7:28pm
Blimey! That should be ' really', rather than 'rally' - old chaps! [that's my toofee nosed pohmy accent creeping in again!] ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: k8tt
Date Posted: 11/05/05 at 1:37pm
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Almost half our cast had colds during our musical which closed last weekend. I found an herbal tea called 'Throat Coat' with Lemon and Echinacea that helped and they liked the taste (I also got a 'Breathe Easy' tea with Licorice in it but they couldn't stand the taste of it). Any hot beverage with lemon and honey will help As SM I always have tons of Halls and other assorted cough drops on hand and dole them out backstage. Make sure your actress warms up her voice gently before the show. Do you have microphones? Can you adjust her mic so that she doesn't have to project too much? But I hear you about small community theatres with no understudies. I am always terrified someone will be deathly ill or hurt themselves. Actually, one of our leads did break his knee 2 weeks before opening night and we re-wrote the script to allow for him being on crutches. He was a trooper as he was in quite a bit of pain. I had chairs for him to collapse into as soon as he got offstage. The show must go on, right? |
Posted By: MoonlightFlame
Date Posted: 11/05/05 at 7:31pm
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One show my community theatre did.... the lead actress got mauled by a dog the day before closing night and was in the hospital, and the morning of the show an actress that I work with was the one they called... right before the show someone got up and did the usual "house"-keeping rules and then explained what had happened and that they did have a replacement, but that she had to hold book, and if they wanted their money back after the show the box office would do so.... FULL house and knowone asked for the money back... Smit |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 11/05/05 at 7:46pm
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Thanks K8tt! I forgot to mention the Cider vinegar/honey works better as a hot gargle & not that bad a beverage either! When I directed the Man of La Mancha years ago. The female lead ?Aldonza,, pulled the pin on us for a part in another show, a few weeks before the opening. So I replaced her with a young lass from the chorus, who did a great job! Unfortunately she contracted a throat frog infection, the day of the preview. So I put a radio mic on her & she delivered her dialogue thru the sound system. When she came to singing, another young cast member sang the songs off stage, into a hand held mic & Aldonza gold fished the songs. Worked great & the punters could not pick up any difference in the audio reinforcement of someone else?s voice, even though we announced that this would be the case before went up, to the bums on seats! Worked fantastically well. The only other problem was Aldonza advised us on opening night, that she was 4 months pregnant, so we quickly modified the her costume & the rape scene! Otherwise it was a great show! ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Julien
Date Posted: 11/08/05 at 1:16pm
| lemon juice and honey warmed with some type of alcohol. It works magic. We had a male lead with laringytis(sp?) and lost his voice about two hours before curtain, I drove home, juiced a bunch of lemons, mixed it with some honey, vodka, and cognac, threw it in a pot, heated it up, made him drink it, and he STOLE THE SHOW. |