Team Chauvelin

I think it's about time I dedicate a post to the monster that has been taking over our lives for the past four months- The Scarlet Pimpernel.  The minute the Hale announced that Pimpernel would be a part of their 2010 season, we knew Dave was going to try out, and we knew he was going to play Chauvelin.  He's always been good at playing the bad guy, and this particular bad guy has *really* good songs.   It has been a truly grueling process, but we have had a lot of fun along the way.  We joke that putting on a play is like having a baby- rehearsal is the pregnancy, tech week is labor and delivery, and opening night is the birth of the baby.  Wonderful!  Joyous!  And then the sleepless nights begin . . . Anyhow, I wanted to share some of the high points with you all.

First off- the FABULOUS reviews (obscure though they may be- the big newspapers never seem to see Dave's cast):

"As evil Citizen Chauvelin, Dave Burton . . . brings fire-breathing charisma as he tries to discover the identity of his rival. . . Burton has the cast’s best singing voice: He has a strong baritone and sings with fervent modulation. His “Falcon in the Dive” is a masterful interpretation of the soaring ballad. He can be demonic but also shows great tenderness in “Where’s the Girl?”"
- Utah Theater Bloggers (full review here.)

“. . . Burton has the best voice in the cast, and he’s given some of the best songs, especially “Falcon in the Dive,” where he declares his intentions . . . [Chauvelin] is far and away the most complex character in the show, and I found myself looking forward to every one of Burton’s songs.”

- Provo Orem Word (full review is kind of hard to read, but if you really want to, it's here.)

Next, the T-shirts.  We joked from the beginning that we should capitalize on the "Team" phenomenon- we're Team Jacob, btw- by making some Team Chauvelin shirts.  I found a fantastic tutorial for DIY screen printing, and the shirts turned out better than we could have imagined! PS- if you're wondering how I did the super-cool silhouette, I used this tutorial.

And last, The Dress.  When the Hale last did Pimpernel (starring Melia Erdmann, cough cough), the costume designer, Maryann, made a tiny dupicate of the fabulous "Riddle" dress to fit her three-year-old daughter.  Well, Nora was asked to come join the official cast photo shoot to model it!  It took a lot of M&M's, but we got some fun pictures.  When the professional ones come back we'll share them, but these will have to do for now!

And so, just like our pregnancy analogy, this is the part where we swear up and down that it will be a long, LONG time before we do this again.  And then, in a few weeks or months, we'll see auditions posted for Hairspray or Seussical, and all of the pain, the exhaustion, and the sleepless nights will be forgotten.  Sigh.  Will we ever learn?  ;)