2013-07-13

【Aiden in English/紅霞譯文】

Mon. July 8, 2013

            We did our first run of the show Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. on the first day of the week. Let's just say that the teachers didn't really accept it.

            First, Tommy almost lost his tap dance shoe when it flicked off his foot into the theater seats. Next, we had a counselor to take his place while he was picking it up. Then, Raymond fell into the laundry basket when Tommy pushed too hard. Finally, when alcohol was passed around, Gym of the music teacher said that we didn't have the proper bottle ready for the scene yet. So we used a script rolled into a cylinder instead.

            For the rest of the day, we fixed all the problems the counselors picked up. There were hundreds of them because of half of the people were not even here to learn how to perform last Friday.

            After a bit of arguing, the word of the day was "Practice". I really couldn't have thought of it any better.

星期一，二O一三年七月八日

      今天星期一，我們進行《仙樂美人》少兒音樂劇第一次彩排，老師們並不滿意。

      首先，湯米在跳踢踏舞時，不小心將一隻舞鞋甩到了劇院座位上去。他跑去撿鞋的功夫，輔導員只好替補空缺﹔不久湯米用力過猛，雷蒙一下子掉進洗衣筐里。最後，輪到喝酒一幕，音樂老師吉米告訴我們酒瓶尚未準備好，因此我們只能將劇本捲成筒狀當道具使用。

      我們剩下來的時間全部用來改正輔導員挑出的毛病。毛病不計其數，因為一半的營員上周五索性沒來，他們一時趕不上趟。

      雙方糾結了一會兒，得出的結論就得“練習”，我覺得別無選擇。 

Tues. July 9, 2013

            We had a long warm-up today. To start off, Gym of the music teacher asked us to sing all the songs we knew. Then Eric of the dance teacher told us to dance the opening number. It was so long that we spent half of our break on it.

            Next, we split up into two groups. One of them went to the theater where I did. The other headed for the dance studio.

            My group was going to learn the dance "What do I need with love". The props seemed really cheap and we had to hold up the bars for the jail where "What do I need with love" took place. So we were even supposed to dance while holding the bars. The biggest risk was hitting each other with the bars. That pretty much explained why so many people looked black and purple at the end of the day. At least, I came out unscathed. But if I was hit, the teachers were to blame for all of our miserable pain.

星期二，二O一三年七月九日

      今天我們做了充分的準備活動，音樂老師吉姆先發制人，要我們唱了所有學過的歌曲﹔舞蹈老師埃里克則要求跳開場舞。整個過程很長，結果竟占用了一半休息時間。

      接下來，我們兵分兩路，我參加的這組去劇場，另外一組人馬到舞廳集合。

      我們學跳的舞蹈是《我需要什麼的愛》，發生在監獄裡，其用作背景道具的材料一定便宜得不像話，以至於我們不得不一邊跳舞，一邊盡力扶住監獄欄杆。最要命的，這些柱子弄不好會打到我們自己，這就是為什麼排練結束之後，大家青一塊紫一塊的，好在我沒被打中，否則老師們一定認為我們無病呻吟。           

Wed. July 10, 2013

             Today was simple.

            All we were going to do was to run Act I of Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. over and over again. It's when Jimmy and Millie met, Millie found her job, Hotel Priscilla, and Jimmy and Millie were getting thrown in jail.

            By the end of our third run, my arms and legs were aching. But the teachers still continued to push us. I really wished that they could kick the air conditioning up a notch.

            At the end, we were told about something I didn't notice and that was pretty obvious. We were more than a halfway of dance! It was amazing and frightening at the same time. It was amazing since the time flew by extremely quickly. It was frightening because all good things came to an end and it would be over soon. Everyone knew that's no fun like this. I guessed that's just how Belfry Theater camp went. At least there was one thing to look forward to seeing our costumes. We would be trying them out soon! I wondered what I would be wearing for the mugger. I hoped that it's not tight or stiff.

星期三，二O一三年七月十日

      今天日程簡單。

      我們要做的事情就是反覆排練《仙樂美人》少兒音樂劇第一幕，其劇情包括吉米與蜜莉相遇、蜜莉找到工作、普麗西拉酒店、吉米和蜜莉雙雙入獄。

      第三遍走台結束之後，我已腰酸背疼。不過老師們仍不善罷甘休，但願他們能開高一檔空調降一下火氣。

      到目前為止，不覺我們已學了大半部分舞蹈﹗說起來叫人既開心又恐慌。開心的是時間過得飛快，而恐慌的卻是天下沒有不散的宴席，戲劇夏令營不久終將結束。這裡寓教於樂，其樂無窮，大概是鐘樓劇院經久不衰之所在。眼下至少還有戲服一件事令人期待，我們馬上就該試穿戲服﹗真想早日得知，我所扮演的小偷一角究竟會穿什麼服裝，最好不要太緊或太挺。 

Thurs July 11, 2013

            For the start, we learned a new part of the musical. The dance was with the song "Forget about the boy". It was surprisingly boring since we boys were entirely ignored and didn't get to stay on stage the whole time.

            Finally came the time we had been waiting for. We were running Act I of Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. and then the teachers would give us a rating! For dancing, we had 8.5, for lines, we landed on 9.75 and the music came up at last. Gym of the music teacher summed it up with a great ending of 4. He said that he could barely hear the Priscilla girls sing and criticized us for our terrible high notes. What a great way to end our day. The junior camp appeared to be luck because they achieved straight 10's.

            It looked as if we would be meeting Gym for a few days each and everyone of us.

星期四，二O一三年七月十一日

      今天一開始，我們便學了一首新歌舞片段，《忘掉男生》的舞蹈與唱歌同時進行，別提有多無聊了，我們男生從頭到尾全部閒置台下，被忘得一乾二淨。

      好不容易輪到我們排練《仙樂美人》少兒音樂劇第一幕，老師們硬要打分評定我們。結果，跳舞得了八分半﹔對白差一點拿下滿分( 9.75分)﹔音樂則被抓到小辮子，吉姆老師四捨五入，不多不少恰好給了四分整，原因是我們唱“普麗西拉酒店女生”時聲音小得夠嗆，高音部又高不上去，實在令人掃興。相反小班營員運氣正旺，竟然一連得了大滿貫。

      無庸置疑，未來一段日子裡，我們少不了要在吉姆眼皮底下多多練習。 

Fri. July 12, 2013

            Today was probably the most boring day of Belfry Theater camp. We had to sit in the theater and to watch Jason who played Jimmy and Jess who played Millie do their solos. At the moment, the junior campers were occupying the Dance Studio. We had no place to go. Both Jason and Jess were practicing their conversation in the center of the song "Long as I'm here with you". All I could hear was that Amy, the teacher in charge of the spoken lines, was yelling at the top of her lungs. When Amy finally settled down, I barely heard her speak. She might have lost her voice from all that yelling. Jason didn't seem be affected, nor did Jess. But both were louder than ever after Amy stopped.

            All I did was watching Matt play on his iPhone. At one time, we had to assist them and another time we had to sing the beginning of a song to pick them up. And that was about it.

            Occasionally, people were taken away for costume try-outs. So I was extremely bored when Matt had to leave to test his costume and took his cell phone away.

            I really hoped that it's better on Monday.

星期五，二O一三年七月十二日

      今天算得上鐘樓劇院夏令營開始以來最無聊的一天，我們一直坐在劇院內觀摩分別扮演吉米和蜜莉的傑森和傑西兩人表演。此時，小班營員占據舞廳，所以我們沒地可去。傑森和傑西正練習對白中的一首插曲《只要我在這裡跟你在一起》，除了聽見台詞老師艾米聲嘶力竭說這說那，我再也聽不到其它任何東西。好不容易安靜下來，她一定喊啞了嗓子。不過，傑森不痛不癢未傷到一根毫毛，傑西也跟沒事似無動於衷。只要艾米默不作聲，傑森和傑西兩位的嗓音反倒比從前更加洪亮起來。

      我目不轉睛盯着馬特玩蘋果智能手機。與此同時，我們也會扯一嗓子，要麼在他倆表演期間當配唱，或者為他倆登台前做引唱，這就是我們所做的全部。

      偶爾地，人們為試穿戲裝進進出出劇院。當馬特被叫去試穿戲裝，他隨身帶走了手機，令我感到特別無聊。

      我真心希望下個星期一有所改觀。