What was your favorite part of the show and why?
Jaclyn: I would have to say my favorite part was learning all the choreography. I have a dance back ground, and so finally getting to be a part of a show where dancing is an integral part of the production was amazing! We had a really fantastic choreogra pher, Rodney, who was always energetic and ready to go. He made every dance rehearsal so much fun, and I loved working with him and dancing with the cast!
What was the hardest part of the show?
Jaclyn: I would say the hardest part was work ing on my lines. I had to really learn how to slow down my speech to get the right effect the direc tor wanted. I talk really fast and have a pretty thick country accent at times. Learning my monologues at that tempo and almost monotone voice took a lot of work, but I think my director, Gene, made a great piece of work. He had a vision for me and how I would sound, and I had to spend extra hours ev ery night working on it. It was really hard at times because I just wanted to get it perfect as fast as pos sible, but in the end it came out great and I'm so glad something I worked on so hard came together so nicely.
What did you think of the audience's participation?
Jaclyn: The audience's participation was very in teresting to me. I didn't know much about the call backs when we started the show. I only knew a few lines to shout out at the movie, but I learned so many new ones when we practiced the callbacks one night with a "heckling crowd." They were a blessing and a curse at times. I loved some of them because they were just so funny, and they really made the show come alive with even more ener gy. But at other times, it was bad, too. Sometimes people would shout things that weren't actual call backs, and it got hard to go on with the show. And sometimes people wouldn't say any lines, which was sometimes a real downer. I think the real hard thing about it, though, was having to pause and sometimes react to the lines the audience said. I had to create new "blocking" to react to the lines and still keep in the same tempo for my lines. But I really loved that this fan-base was there to make our show unique!
Did you approach this show any dif ferently because it is such a fan-based production?
Jaclyn: The one thing I can say that I had to ap proach differently was my being cast as the Nar rator. Since this part is typically cast with a man, I got really nervous as first. I was scared that the audience would disapprove of me because I didn't fit the stereotypical character perfectly. It was really hard for me to get past that, especially when learn ing my lines. Gene then had me talk in a really deep voice, though, that I think helped keep the "man" aspect of it, while Dr. Swanson, the music director and Riff Raff, contrasted that, having me sing in my feminine head voice. But this became kind of a blessing to me one night when a woman in the au dience told me she had played the Narrator when her school did this show. I was immediately excited that another woman had played the character. And many audience members told me they loved the spin on it, which made me feel more comfortable. So, I ended up loving it even more!
Do you have any final thoughts as this show comes to a close?
Jaclyn: I thought I would be really sad that it was ending — that I would feel a bitter end to this pro duction's close. But I felt a great joy. I was so happy to have finally been in my first Main Stage produc tion, something I had been working for since my arrival at Longwood. I was so ecstatic that I had had this experience, and could put this under my belt. And, above all, I felt very blessed. I worked with so many great people and got to see such a wonderful show come together, and I really loved the amazing people I got to meet and entertain. I can't believe it's over, but I loved this opportunity.
