My Hard Drive is Full

It is Wednesday morning and I don't have anything to do today until it is time to go to choir rehearsal. The weather is lovely and the view outside my living room window is bright and beautiful so there is absolutely no reason I shouldn't sink down into my very comfortable leather sofa with my script in hand and a 4 x6 index card and memorize my lines for The Sparta Community Chorus production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. There is just one problem. at 57 years of age (I know. you thought I was older) the hard drive installed in my brain at birth is full. Memorizing new lines has become physically painful.

Maybe my brain needs an update. It has never been defragged or had the old files removed. I can still remember every insult, every put down, every snicker made behind my back. I would remove them if I could but I am afraid that I might forget all the family dinners, vacations and holidays that are imbedded there as well. Thankfully in my case the put downs and the family memories are not in the same folder. In that regard I am truly blessed am I not?

I stopped keeping track of how many shows I have done a long time ago but after memorizing lines and lyrics for over forty years I have a lot of scripts and songs in my "theatre file." Of course the lyric or line I need at any particular moment may not "load" properly at the time it is needed. Maybe I need a USB port so new files of scripts could be downloaded more easily. In the meantime I will spend this beautiful afternoon on my sofa with my notecard covering up line after line until I finally give up and nudge it downward to refresh my memory.

At least this is a musical comedy. I have always found comedies easier to memorize than dramas. I do not subscribe to the theory that dramatic acting is more difficult than comedic acting. It just isn't as much fun. Comedies are always easier for me to memorize because jokes interest me. It's always a privilege to be able to deliver a joke on stage. And a challenge to see if I can land it correctly and get the laugh.

I am a character actor so lead roles have been rare for me. That's great. I enjoy being the guy that has forty lines and one song. It's fun to go in, get the laugh and go hang out backstage with the rest of the cast.

Lawrence is never really a role that I thought much about. When I saw this show I was really drawn to Andre, the French assistant with attitude and a comic love interest.

Lawrence is an arrogant, snide and self-centered con man. How I didn't see what a great fit he was for me I will never know.

Hopefully audiences will also see behind the front he puts up and into his heart. The guy that secretly admires the upstart (and hilarious) Freddy as the free wheeling guy Lawrence used to be and roots for him when he develops a crush on Christine after womanizing every female on the French coast.

Now I know how Madonna feels, having a love interest half my character's age. The only difference is I know it's a JOKE!