shut up!

so, most of the time, working in a broadway rehearsal building is really awesome. when i came out of my bathroom stall the other day, sutton foster was waiting outside to take my toilet, and not two seconds later, i almost ran into kate winslet as she was rushing her little boy to the "loo." (incidentally, they were here rehearsing & checking out - respectively - the musical version of "shrek." whether this show will actually be picked up is still up in the air, but if the fact that they paid for 4 weeks of studio time JUST to showcase is any indication of how much money people are willing to put into it, i'm going to guess it will fare just fine.)

and yet, the more time i spend in this building, the more i begin to realize something: actors are really fucking annoying.

granted, some of this annoyance can probably be attributed to our space. in order to make our studios as performer-friendly as possible, the floors are made of very thin, flexible materials. this makes it both easier on the dancers' knees and easier to drive us banana sandwich. up until a few months ago, our office was on the 10th floor, where we would feel small tremors whenever a big dance show was below us, but now we are on the 5th, currently surrounded by "passing strange" on the 4th floor (drum and bass: THUMP THUMP THUMP) and "in the heights" on the 6th (latin hip-hop and merengue: ay-ay-ay OH-WEE-OHHHH).

the 5th floor also puts us face to face with the actors: they go in and out of the dressing rooms throughout the day, and 12-2pm is a dramatic clusterfuck in the green room, where actors jump in front of me and steal the microwave i was just about to re-heat my leftovers in.

but here's what gets to me: THEY ARE ALWAYS SINGING. these people literally just belted their lungs out for 3 hours straight, and even on their lunch break they insist on performing vocal gymnastics christina aguilera-style at full volume in the hallways outside our office.

i discussed this the other night with my dad's best friend, who was in town and offered me a free meal and broadway show (who am i to refuse?) and he said, "well, but they're just doing their job. the rehearsal studio is their office."

to which i replied, "yes, but do YOU work on spreadsheets while you're on your coffee break?" didn't think so.