More than this provincial life
Hmm, this is an interesting subject, I don't know if I've ever really thought about when I felt most satisfied with my life...
One moment that stands out to me was mentioned a little in the 30 facts post. When I was a junior in high school I got to play Belle in Beauty and the Beast. I know that that event was about 5 years ago (yikes!) but there's a reason that the memory is so important to me.
Slight backstory: I'm a huge Disney nerd. When I was little all I would watch would be Disney. I have a theory that Disney is the reason I'm an actor, because tiny me would watch a Disney movie over and over until I had memorized the entire movie. THEN, tiny me would watch the movie and act out the role of the heroine in my bedroom along with the tape.
One of my biggest dreams is to voice a Disney character (either singing or speaking voice), preferably in an animated movie (there are more fairy tales that Disney could adapt).
Beauty and Beast, it so happens, was my all time favorite Disney movie. I think it was because Belle was a bookworm and I have always loved to read. I taught myself to read and walk at the same time because of Belle. I also plan that when I have a house of my own someday, I will have a library, and in that library I will have a sliding ladder attached to the shelves that I can slide all I want (ever since I saw Belle slide on the ladder during the opening song I've wanted one of my own).
So when I was given the role of Belle (over a few seniors in my school who I thought for sure would get the part) I was ecstatic. This production was going to be big: we had rented costumes from a professional company that costumed the Broadway tours of the show, we had hired an illusionist to create the Transformation scene and our cast was very nearly prefect.
I had so much fun working on that show, getting to sing the gorgeous songs and for the first time since I was a little girl, I got to act out the role of my favorite Disney heroine for all to see. Opening night I remember standing in the wings, watching the Prologue and smoothing down the skirt of the well known blue dress. As the flute played the opening little trill to "Belle", I took a breath, stepped out onstage and became Belle. A small part of me was aware of the lights trained on me, of all of the faces filling the auditorium and of the small but talented orchestra playing just below me, but for the most part I was transported into the story. A few of my favorite moments in the show included:
- The opening song
- "Me" (it was fun being tossed around by huge, 6 foot tall Austin as Gaston)
- The "come into the light" moment
- Wearing the pink dress during "Something There" (the only scene I got to wear it in, alas!)
- Singing the little reprise of the "Oh, isn't this amazing" section heard in the opening while standing on the tall catwalk during "Something There"
- Coming out in the gold dress (it was gorgeous. I wanted to keep it forever).
- The Transformation scene
- Bows
Another huge reason that this moment in my life was wonderful was the reaction outside the theatre after the show. We call came out in costume once the show was over and I was immediately swarmed by little girls who thought I was really Belle. Seeing the joy and wonder on their little faces, taking pictures and signing my autograph for them was amazing. Knowing that I made a difference in their lives and that they whole-heartedly embraced the story was extremely fulfilling to me.
There have, of course, been other times in my life where I have felt extremely satisfied with the work I was doing or where I felt my life was headed, but that show will always have a special place in my heart and I feel so blessed to have been able to have that wonderful experience when I did.
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