Playing Maleficent in 'Sleeping Beauty'

"Sleeping Beauty" is at the top of my list of Disney movies and it's always been my favorite!  Aurora has been my all-time favorite Princess, too!  She's the only Princess to have violet eyes and I always thought she was just classical beautiful.  So I was very excited when Creating Arts decided to do this as our Pint-Sized Play during the Fall Season.

My Maleficent Costume!

For this production of "Sleeping Beauty," I'm playing Maleficent, the evil fairy who has magical powers and can turn into a winged dragon.  After seeing "Maleficent" in theaters this past Summer, I fell in love with the story even more.  I won't give away the storyline of "Maleficent" but I like the hybrid character I created to play the role with a mix of evil from the original Disney movie, and that air of confidence, an edginess, and a little humor from Angelina Jolie's role.  Plus, I've got my Guard to make me look more sinister and mean, and she gets to play it off more goofy.  As much as I'd love to play one of the Princesses for a show and not be the villain, this gives me more room to grow as an Actress and a better opportunity to delve deep into character work by doing some research and analysis.  And obviously, I'm not an evil person so this is truly acting...muah ha ha ;)

All the Fairies in "Sleeping Beauty"

We put this show together in just two weeks and it's got a six week run (with one weekend off, which was this weekend).  Right now, we've already had two weekends of shows at the Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica where we do most of the Children's Shows.  I think one of my favorite things about the show is how different each audience reacts.  The first week I made a lot of kids cry, I heard them wailing after my first entrance and exit (and that seriously tugs at my heart) but then the following day, the kids were more brave.  When King Stephan asks what he should do now that I've cursed Aurora some little boy yelled, 'kill her!'  We've had children with Birthday's in the audience so our next show we could barely get through our lines because all the kids were talking the entire time.  And our last show we did was probably the hi-light so far because when the Prince asks if the audience wants to forgive me for trying to hurt Aurora after they banish me from the kingdom, all the kids said yes, and as soon as I got on-stage they mobbed me, about 15 kids, hugging me, saying they forgave me, told me 'You're beautiful, you're evil, but you're beautiful.'  So cute!

The costume for the show is just incredible!  It's this long sequined one-shoulder dress with a wing on the one side, and I'm wearing the green glitter shoes from "Wizard of Oz" and of course the Maleficent horns, and later on, get a ginormous set of wings!  They are literally magical.  I came up with a make-up plan doing shades of purple, with winged liner, glitter, and then lots of contouring, plus no CAC show is complete without glitter lips!  As the villain I really do get some of the best and most beautiful costumes.

We've got four more weeks of shows lined up for "Sleeping Beauty" and a lot more fun to be had!  Each week brings a new challenge of scaring the kids but winning them over in the end, and finding myself in my character to bring out something new and different for every show.  I always look forward to those challenges!

Princesses in 4D!

Last weekend I was in Creating Art's 'Princess, Prince, & Pirate's in 4D' show.  Our director, Shannon, had written it to be a Choose Your Own Adventure show so the kids would actually decide what was happening throughout the show.  It was based strongly on improv and allowing the children to get involved and no show was going to be exactly the same.

Flynn & Rapunzel

To make the show 4D there were scents that were sprayed throughout the theater depending on where we were; there was a beach/sea scent, a clean scent for the library, and woodsy/musk scent for the forest.  We also had snow during our scenes with Anna and Elsa, and other little touches to create all the senses.  The kids really loved deciding how we would react or what we would do and were very vocal about it.  What Princess did they want to see first?  Did we want to find Elsa or build a snowman?  They were creating magic!  Of course, there were songs involved in every step of the way!

For this show most of us had to play two different Princesses, and the guys had to play multiple roles as well from Princes throughout history.  I started off the show as Rapunzel and the kids were so excited to see me.  During both shows I had little girls run up and hug me or tell me they just watched my movie.  They don't care that there's a show that's going on, they just want to talk to you because it means so much to them.  It was so adorable!  I also got to sing 'I See The Light' with Flynn during our opening scenes.  I had a quick change to Pocahontas, whom I played for the rest of the show.  Lucky for me, I had two extremely long wigs and got to play the best of both worlds, a blond and a brunette.  The story-line led us to find our Fairy Godmother's magic wand that was found by Robin Hood, stolen by Blackbeard, and with the help of Capt. Jack Sparrow, Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Prince Charmping, Aladdin, Jasmine, and more we were able to get the magic wand back to it's rightful home safe and sound, making it an adventure.  Along the way, I lead everyone 'Just Around The Riverbend' as we later on had to 'Build A Snowman' with the help of Christophe, Anna & Elsa, and more.

Just some of our Princesses before the show...Belle, Rapunzel, Tinkerbell, Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White!

It was crazy how excited all the kids were to tell us what was happening or what we missed while we were off-stage.  Our first show went almost 90 minutes because the kids were so talkative with us.  Luckily, we planned for that during our second show and were able to keep things moving more quickly for our Sunday show.  Either way, the children loved it, and the parents did too!  We always get the kids up and dancing with us and there's plenty of time after the show for pictures as we get mobbed on the Promenade after our final bows.  

It's not always kids wanting to take pictures with Snow White & Pocahontas ;)

This was definitely my favorite Princess Show because of all the characters involved and also having the Prince's and Pirate's join us too.  It made it exciting for the little boys as well to have someone to look up to.  For putting the show together in just a week I'm so proud of all of our new members as well as our veterans.  I only wish that the show would have run for another week or two!

*Thanks to Kristina, Alex, & Finley, Neil and Spark, and others who came to see our Princess Show!*

'Wizard of Oz' Weekends!

We're four shows into our 10 show run of Wizard of Oz at the Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica and it's been an absolute blast!  I've gotten to play the Wicked Witch for three of the shows and have three more to go.  I can't believe how quickly the time is flying and how much fun I'm having playing such a crazy character!

From Wicked Witch to Oz Debutante!

The cast and crew of our show really enjoy bringing happiness and joy to those attending our mini-musical and it's incredible to hear stories from families that come to all of our shows, and how we impact their children's lives.  This is why we do this, this is why I love what I do!  On top of it all, I'm getting to do my own make-up and play such an iconic character.  It's been a challenge to change my voice and be this mean and horrible person but I've been excited about it every step of the way.  My make-up takes me about 45 minutes to do and I usually wait till the last minute to get into costume since there are so many layers and it gets hot.  The costume is one of the most beautiful costumes I've ever gotten to wear; I feel like it's a couture piece!  In fact, pictures don't even do it justice.  It's amazing how incredible our team really is!  And if Dorothy gets to wear red glittered shoes than the Wicked Witch should get to wear green glittered shoes.  When I'm not playing the Wicked Witch, I play a Munchkin or Citizen of Oz which is also fun just to do something different and be a cheerful and colorful little character.

Scaring Dorothy without my gloves ;)

Our rehearsals went by just as quickly as we had three weeks including our tech rehearsal before we opened two weeks ago.  Since it is Children's Theater, the show was supposed to be around 60 minutes but it's currently running around 70-75.  The kids really seem to be enjoying it and even though I was warned that I'm going to make kids cry and then I'll know I've done my job, I haven't seen any tears just yet.  Although, on Sunday I heard one little boy whimper and repeat a couple times throughout the show, 'I hope that Wicked Witch doesn't come back.  I don't like her.'  I almost have to laugh because if they knew the real me, they'd be begging their parents for me to be their new babysitter.  (I used to bring Kid Kits that I learned about from "The Babysitter's Club" books, and my little ones always loved playing with them and I baby-sat some families for years!)  The Wicked Witch really isn't that bad, I think anyone would get cranky if they had buckets of water thrown on them out of nowhere.

In fact, after the shows, most of the kids want to come up and talk to me.  Some are proud to admit I didn't scare them, while others tell me they're going to throw more water on me, and then I'll get the one adorable little nugget that will ask, 'Why are you so mean to Dorothy?'  I do have to talk and answer any and all questions in character which can be difficult when kids are a little nervous.  So I flash a big smile, get down to their level, and wave them over; hopefully they're not too afraid of me.  That has probably been my favorite part of this whole experience!  Well, that and getting to die on-stage.  'I'm melting, I'm melting, oh what a world!'

To purchase tickets or find out more information about our show or Creating Arts Company check out their website at www.creatingarts.org.  You can get discounted tickets on www.goldstar.com but make sure to hurry because they are selling out fast!  I'm so thankful to all my friends who've gotten to see the show so far: Neil, Sam, and Danny, thanks for coming!  Hope to see y'all in the audience soon :) 

*I play the Wicked Witch on Saturday's at 2 pm and the show runs under 75 minutes at Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica!*

'Wizard of Oz' Promo Video

The Cast & Crew of Wizard of Oz has been fortunate enough to sell out our past four shows!  We've got three more weeks of shows coming up and it's been such an awesome experience playing the Wicked Witch and getting to perform and talk to the children and parents after the show.

You can see a Promo Video for Wizard of Oz right here!

I can't believe we put this show together in three weeks and we're all having a blast playing and entertaining families and attendees.  You can find out information and details about how to get tickets on our Creating Arts Company website at www.creatingarts.org or find half-off tickets on www.goldstar.com.  Come and see the magic :)

'The Wizard of Oz'

I'm happy to announce that I will be playing the Wicked Witch of the West in Wizard of Oz.  Once again I will be working with the wonderful and talented Creating Arts Company!  It opens on April 12th at the Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica and I will be performing on Saturday's at 2 pm as well as one Sunday in April at 3 pm.  It's running for six weeks and I can't wait for this exciting challenge :)

Playing the Wicked Witch will definitely be a fun experience for me since I'm used to playing the good girl but as I've been doing some research on witches, I've found some really awesome traits to use for this role.  Hansel & Gretel with Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner was really beneficial for me to watch as they're witch hunters and Famke Janssen plays the main evil witch.  She was a great strong character and her demeanor was interesting.

I've also been trying to find the perfect make-up for the role.  In typical Wizard of Oz fashion the Wicked Witch was an ugly evil witch but Mystic (we're sharing the role, she's incredible and performing on most of the Sunday's) said she brings out the fun and sexy side of her.  Since Wicked has come out there's been a whole new idea that the Wicked Witch is just misunderstood and really not some horrible person.  So I plan on using qualities from that musical and the movies I've seen to create an intriguing but really sassy and wicked character with stylish make-up more like the movie Oz: The Great and Powerful.

Rehearsals are under-way, I'm almost completely memorized and we open in two weeks.  We've got an amazing cast and crew and I can't wait for this acting adventure!