2013-07-20

【Aiden in English/红霞译文】

Mon. July 15, 2013

        This morning, I tested my costume designed for a mugger. But it had nothing in common with what I thought of. It was selected from one of the many racks in the costume room. I expected it to be a plain shirt and pants with holes. What I didn't anticipate was the one like this. A pair of light-brown pants with a sky-colored shirt and a tan vest. It looked shocking. My mouth was open as if I was looking at a check of $1,000. The costume designer asked why my mouth was open. Was it because you expected something more in tatters? I nodded.

        Then, we learned a new part of Act II. It was the song "Long as I am here with you". All people were sitting at a table with the empty bottles as props. We had no problem learning it except when Jimmy and Millie spoke their dialogue, they seemed so slow that we couldn't catch up to the time. Also, in the middle of a run, Gym the music teacher had to take Ching Ho, Bun Foo, Jimmy, Millie, Mrs. Meers, and Miss Dorothy away from the theater. That was a big shift and no one could possibly say Millie and Jimmy's lines.

        Everything turned out all right. But by tomorrow, we needed to be off-book by 100%.

星期一，二O一三年七月十五日

        今天早上我试穿了表演服装，跟我想像的“抢劫犯”装扮相去甚远，这是从戏装室柜子里翻出来的陈年旧货。我倒情愿衣衫褴褛，结果出乎我意料之外。浅褐色裤子配上天蓝色衬衫和棕褐色马甲，看上去实在扎眼，我下意识张开大口不知说什么才好，表情像是眼前突现1,000美钞。服装师问我为何闭不上嘴，难道你想穿破烂不堪的衣服不成﹖我连连点头。

        过了一会儿，我们学习第二幕歌曲《只要我在这里跟你在一起》，全体演员坐在桌旁，人手一个空瓶子作道具。歌曲唱得不赖，但问题出自吉米和蜜莉两人对白上，他俩说得太慢，我们的节奏合不上拍。偏偏在走台期间，音乐老师吉姆又把清河、彬富、吉米、蜜莉、梅尔斯太太和多萝西小姐几位主角叫出剧院，这下可好，谁都没本事替代吉米和蜜莉讲出台词。

        谢天谢地，一切总算对付过去。不过明天这个时候，我们绝对不能再翻看剧本。 

Tues. July 16, 2013

        Today was all about drilling the songs and dances of Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. into our heads. We were asked to turn better to the best.

        As for Nicoleta, she wasn't even here for 3 days and got kicked out of 4 major numbers. Meanwhile, Jason and Jess appeared extremely lucky because both of them only tried out their costumes. In addition, Bill the lights Director tested all lights of the theater.

        In the end, we learned the Finale. Basically, it was the same as the song "Everything today is thoroughly modern", except 10 times shorter. The selected part was modified a bit. So it felt more like an ending. And just before it finished, a "new modern" entered with the junior campers and stoke the pose Millie did in the beginning.

        Finally, the teachers informed us of the quickly up-coming show next week. They expected it perfectly memorized by Monday.

星期二，二O一三年七月十六日

        今天我们集中突击《仙乐美人》少儿音乐剧中的歌舞部分，要求越来越严格。

        尼科莱塔因为缺勤三天，有四段歌舞她根本无法上台。同时，吉米和杰西侥幸得出格，他俩竟然一直在试穿戏服。此外，负责照明的主管比尔调试了剧院全部灯光。

        末了，我们学习终场谢幕，基本上跟剧中《如今样样时髦》所表演的差不多，只不过缩短了至少10倍。这里节选的部分已略作修改，产生一种结束的效果。排练结束之际，一位“新潮派”随小班营员一起入场，并摆出蜜莉开场时的动作，令人忍俊不禁。

        最后，老师再三提醒大家下周演出在即，要我们在星期一结束之前记住所学东西。           

Wed. July 17, 2013

        Today we ran the whole show of Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. once. In the beginning, it wasn't so bad. I put that mildly.   

        Jason, who played Jimmy, arrived late, so he missed a lot of dialogue. The teachers made an enormous announcement that we would be practicing the show twice a day. They said that we might not even have a break and we would be wearing our costumes in the meanwhile.

        Just before we left, I was called to test a different costume. It was a pair of gray pants with a plain white shirt. Compared to the first set, it was way more comfortable but a lot less stylish. I would prefer this one because it looked much puffier which meant it would be cooler inside. In the end, I was assigned a pair of black shoes. They seemed so tight that I declined. I really hoped that they picked up the costume I wanted.

星期三，二O一三年七月十七日

        今天，我们试演了一遍《仙乐美人》少儿音乐剧，应该说开始不错。

        扮演吉米的杰森来晚了，所以他错过很多对白。老师作出决定，从今往后我们要每天走台两次，可能会取消中途休息时间，而且还得穿上演出服装。

        结束之前，我被叫去试装，这回是灰裤子配白上衣。与上套戏服相比，舒服归舒服，但式样“派”得不够。不过，我情愿选这套，因为穿上感觉松松垮垮，比较凉快。事后又试了一双黑鞋，因为紧巴得要命，我要求换成别的，真希望老师们在选择服装时能为我着想。 

Thurs July 18, 2013

        As the temperature reached as high as 105-106oF/40.6-41.1oC with the heat index, sweat poured down my face when I finished the opening number. I was on the edge of fainting. We were in our costumes, make-up, whatever we were wearing, and were getting barbecued alive. All we needed to be steak was a bit of sizzling.

        We were running the whole show of Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. to see if there were any problems with the costumes. I could've named a dozen. Not to mention no food or drinks.

        By the time it was over, my collar was all wet with sweat. It itched and seemed more than anything it was sticky. I could barely take it off. It stuck to me like a piece of bubble gum.

        Finally, we left the stage after an enormous announcement of how a great job we all did. We went to fetch our stuff. On the way, I heard a lot of questions. Most of them were "How did ya do?" Most of the answers were "Not bad".

        We had to face the counselors. Just as I thought, as soon as they saw us they began jibbering and jabbering as if they just had caffeine. They sounded like my parents, wishing me good luck with everything. I probably would need that luck because the performance was rapidly arriving at a scary pace.

星期四，二O一三年七月十八日

        随着华氏105—106度／摄氏40.5—41.1度高温天气的到来，开幕一场结束不久，我便汗流满面，快要热晕过去。演出行头、脸上妆、还有自身衣服加在一起，活像鲜味烧烤牛排，只欠发出铁板烧丝丝响声。

        我们彩排《仙乐美人》少儿音乐剧，同时检查戏服在身有何不周之处需要改进。我相信毛病百出，且不说没吃没喝的。

        等演完之后，我的领子湿得精透，痒兮兮黏乎乎的，从来没出过这么多汗。衣服像口香糖一样粘在身上，很难脱下来。

        大家在老师们一片赞誉中退场。去拾掇东西的路上，我听到不少议论，诸如“辛苦啦﹗”“还好哇﹗”之类问寒问暖相互关候的问答。

        静候在后台的辅导员见状与我们亲热得拳脚相迎，好像喝多了咖啡因一样情绪亢进，并留下大堆像父母常说的表扬话语，祝火车喷烟喜交好运。也许我需要这种祝福，因为正式演出将以骇人之速朝自己奔来。 

Fri. July 19, 2013

        Today was just like yesterday minus the costumes. As a matter of fact, it became a lot better.  The costume and her assistant told us that they were fixing any problems. I really didn't care how long it would take, just didn't have me wear it before the show again.

        Another thing that had me relieved was that there were no big speeches of encouragement. It helped me a lot because there was less pressure on meeting the teacher's expectations. But we still had to take in all the compliments from the counselors and I didn't hear one criticism coming from them at all.

        Up to now, it also went smoothly as expected. Last time, we stopped and repeated everything at least 2 times. If we kept this up, we would be ready in no time.

        Before we left, we had a notice that on the coming Monday, the main characters which were Millie, Jimmy, Miss Dorothy, Mrs. Meers, Ching Ho, Bun Foo, and Mr. Graydon, were going to be wearing microphones. They were asked to be very careful because the microphones were gifts worthy of a few thousand dollars. Even more, we were going to be the first ones to test them. How cool was that? I wished that I got to wear one. But I wasn't the main character. That was extremely unfortunate.

星期五，二O一三年七月十九日

        今天象昨天一样彩排，只是未穿戏服。其实这样更好，服装师们正在有目的地裁剪服装。我根本不在乎要花多长时间才修改完毕，只要公演前不再叫我全副武装就成。

        另一件叫我释然的事情便是没有滔滔不绝地鼓动情绪激励斗志，这样反倒轻松好多，不然心里总觉得达不到老师的要求。当然，辅导员们仍然赞声不绝，我没听到半点批评。

        话至目前，一切进展顺利。刚才排练中间，我们发现有不对的地方立刻停了下来，并反复两遍，照这样下去，我们随时准备就绪。

        临回家前，我们接到通知。下星期一，蜜莉、吉米、多萝西小姐、梅尔斯太太、清河、彬富以及格瑞顿先生等几名主要角色要戴麦克风，他们需要格外小心，因为这些全新的麦克风都是赠送来的，价值几千美金，况且又是首次试用。别提他们有多来劲﹗但愿我也戴上一个，可惜自己没资格，难免心生缺憾。

Caribbean Currents @ Adventure Aquarium (冒险水族馆·加勒比海洋流 06-23-2013)

YMCA Swimming Class (基督教青年会游泳班 06-27-2013)

Ocean City, NJ (新泽西大洋城 07-04-2013)

Balance Challenge @ Franklin Institute Sci Museum

(富兰克林研究所科学博物馆·平衡挑战)

Flight Fantasy @ Please Touch Museum (开心触摸博物馆·飞行幻想 07-14-2013)

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