Yes, like a lot of people out there, I tuned into the Live "The Sound of Music" last night to see if all the hype I'd been hearing was worth it. As they used to announce after editorials that ran on the "big three" stations when I was a kid, this is my opinion. I welcome yours......
I had a music teacher growing up who thought that the 1965 movie with Julie Andrews in the lead role was the BEST MUSICAL EVER!!!! (And yes, I did that all in caps for a reason.) Mrs. Clark ALWAYS had at least one tune in the chorus recitals from the time I first met her in 1st grade right through graduation. I'm not sure if she continued in this tradition after I left the school, as I didn't make it back for any of the recitals after my graduation and before her death in a car accident, but I have a suspicion she probably did include at least one of the songs. She was that enamored with the show.
I kept hearing Mrs. Clark's voice during the short time I watched the production last night. Carrie Underwood is one of my favorite country singers, but last night wasn't her best performance, and Mrs. Clark would have been yelling at her about "bellowing the songs" instead of "singing them with sensitivity". I was left with the impression that someone - the director? One of the people who had acted on Broadway, maybe? - had told her that she had to belt out the songs so that the person sitting in the very last row of the theater would hear every syllable. That was one of the things we were told during the stage productions in high school and college, because it was before the advent of wireless microphones. They obviously had good sound pick-ups on the production last night, and I think that Carrie would have been better served if she had been singing with the normal emotions that come through in her regular songs - and she seemed to be the one I noticed that with the most.
At about the time when the Captain returns for the first time after leaving his children in the care of the new governess and is mobbed by a bunch of hooligans in clothing made of curtains, my husband came in and changed the channel. I can't blame him. I had abandoned actively watching the show and was here at my laptop, working on a scene or two. Once sports were on the screen and I zoned out into my own little world, I started hearing some of the compliments I've been getting from the local fans who have read my books and been following my Facebook fan pages.....
In talking to a co-worker last week about Chase - and the fact that the character came in much more clearly after I found photos of model Dylan Griner to represent him - I started thinking about my current characters. Yes, I have a Facebook fan page up for "Rhawneth". Yes, I have a model to represent some of the characters, most of whom aren't named on the pages where I found their photos during a general Google search for certain attributes. But they aren't coming in as strongly as Chase, so I'm having a much harder time with the editing and writing process.....
So, did I choose the wrong models for the characters? Might I be getting a stronger vibe with a different face to represent my "cast"? Did I do as poorly as NBC's casting agent in picking someone who isn't an actor/actress to "play" my parts on Facebook?
Here's the deal. If you know of anyone who, like Dylan Griner, is an actor as well as a model, who might meet my descriptions, please feel free to suggest them. Here are the characters and the descriptions:
Rhawneth Kenna, the main character: blonde, brown eyed, with the body of a warrior and powers that are well beyond any Healer that her planet has ever known...
Roth Garret, Commander of the Guard at Dahmehn/personal bodyguard for Prince Nicholas Kenna:
brown hair, blue eyes (which he hides with brown contacts), an experienced warrior who is a Sensitive, meaning that he psychically links to Healers.
Matthew Rossi, Commander of the King's Guard at Beni: brown hair, brown eyes, the epitome of a Benite warrior. He has a haunted look resulting from marrying the love of his life at an early age, and then watching her die of an incurable disease.
Loralie Kenna, Crown Princess when Rhawneth is disavowed: brown hair, brown eyes, the epitome of Benite beauty. She seems very malleable while the King lives, but proves to have a spine of steel when she takes over as the Queen.
Nicholas Kenna, Prince, second in line for the throne: brown hair, brown eyes, a bit of a mischief maker in order to draw the fire away from his sisters - especially Rhawneth. If there's something that is against the rules for him to do, he'll do it just to make sure that he catches the fire of his father's anger and give his sisters a free pass.
Eondach Roema, Captain of the Guard for Tario Venides: blonde hair, blue eyes, a true giant of a man. He is a Sensitive serving a warped Healer, but more because his grandmother has convinced him that he's needed to make sure that a prophesy is allowed to come to pass...
Tario Venides, a rogue Tarist who is also borderline insane: blonde hair, blue eyes, very handsome, but the most evil being one could ever imagine. He needs to see blood to get sexually excited, and he wants to be sexually excited several times a day. Needless to say, he has a LOT of victims...
Any actors/models you know of who you would suggest will be graciously considered. I would truly love that face that stirs the characters in my head to speak louder so I can get this story completed.
I had a music teacher growing up who thought that the 1965 movie with Julie Andrews in the lead role was the BEST MUSICAL EVER!!!! (And yes, I did that all in caps for a reason.) Mrs. Clark ALWAYS had at least one tune in the chorus recitals from the time I first met her in 1st grade right through graduation. I'm not sure if she continued in this tradition after I left the school, as I didn't make it back for any of the recitals after my graduation and before her death in a car accident, but I have a suspicion she probably did include at least one of the songs. She was that enamored with the show.
I kept hearing Mrs. Clark's voice during the short time I watched the production last night. Carrie Underwood is one of my favorite country singers, but last night wasn't her best performance, and Mrs. Clark would have been yelling at her about "bellowing the songs" instead of "singing them with sensitivity". I was left with the impression that someone - the director? One of the people who had acted on Broadway, maybe? - had told her that she had to belt out the songs so that the person sitting in the very last row of the theater would hear every syllable. That was one of the things we were told during the stage productions in high school and college, because it was before the advent of wireless microphones. They obviously had good sound pick-ups on the production last night, and I think that Carrie would have been better served if she had been singing with the normal emotions that come through in her regular songs - and she seemed to be the one I noticed that with the most.
At about the time when the Captain returns for the first time after leaving his children in the care of the new governess and is mobbed by a bunch of hooligans in clothing made of curtains, my husband came in and changed the channel. I can't blame him. I had abandoned actively watching the show and was here at my laptop, working on a scene or two. Once sports were on the screen and I zoned out into my own little world, I started hearing some of the compliments I've been getting from the local fans who have read my books and been following my Facebook fan pages.....
In talking to a co-worker last week about Chase - and the fact that the character came in much more clearly after I found photos of model Dylan Griner to represent him - I started thinking about my current characters. Yes, I have a Facebook fan page up for "Rhawneth". Yes, I have a model to represent some of the characters, most of whom aren't named on the pages where I found their photos during a general Google search for certain attributes. But they aren't coming in as strongly as Chase, so I'm having a much harder time with the editing and writing process.....
So, did I choose the wrong models for the characters? Might I be getting a stronger vibe with a different face to represent my "cast"? Did I do as poorly as NBC's casting agent in picking someone who isn't an actor/actress to "play" my parts on Facebook?
Here's the deal. If you know of anyone who, like Dylan Griner, is an actor as well as a model, who might meet my descriptions, please feel free to suggest them. Here are the characters and the descriptions:
Rhawneth Kenna, the main character: blonde, brown eyed, with the body of a warrior and powers that are well beyond any Healer that her planet has ever known...
Roth Garret, Commander of the Guard at Dahmehn/personal bodyguard for Prince Nicholas Kenna:
brown hair, blue eyes (which he hides with brown contacts), an experienced warrior who is a Sensitive, meaning that he psychically links to Healers.
Matthew Rossi, Commander of the King's Guard at Beni: brown hair, brown eyes, the epitome of a Benite warrior. He has a haunted look resulting from marrying the love of his life at an early age, and then watching her die of an incurable disease.
Loralie Kenna, Crown Princess when Rhawneth is disavowed: brown hair, brown eyes, the epitome of Benite beauty. She seems very malleable while the King lives, but proves to have a spine of steel when she takes over as the Queen.
Nicholas Kenna, Prince, second in line for the throne: brown hair, brown eyes, a bit of a mischief maker in order to draw the fire away from his sisters - especially Rhawneth. If there's something that is against the rules for him to do, he'll do it just to make sure that he catches the fire of his father's anger and give his sisters a free pass.
Eondach Roema, Captain of the Guard for Tario Venides: blonde hair, blue eyes, a true giant of a man. He is a Sensitive serving a warped Healer, but more because his grandmother has convinced him that he's needed to make sure that a prophesy is allowed to come to pass...
Tario Venides, a rogue Tarist who is also borderline insane: blonde hair, blue eyes, very handsome, but the most evil being one could ever imagine. He needs to see blood to get sexually excited, and he wants to be sexually excited several times a day. Needless to say, he has a LOT of victims...
Any actors/models you know of who you would suggest will be graciously considered. I would truly love that face that stirs the characters in my head to speak louder so I can get this story completed.
i will probably come back to this and suggest actors later when i have the time to really search for them, but i would suggest watching movie trailers on youtube to find the actors.
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