Day 394: Conducting

I had the greatest day today. I was blessed with the opportunity to conduct the final run through of The Addams family before we started dress rehearsals. Both our musical director and assistant musical director have church jobs and couldn't be there. They asked if we would be okay playing without a conductor and that's when the bright idea hit me that I could conduct and Olivia, the other pianist, could play. I figured I had watched them enough and was enough of a musician to be able to manage it. However, the thing standing in the way was the musical director, but more importantly my fear of asking if I could conduct. I was sure she'd say no. But one thing my Papa always said was that the worst someone could say was no, so I took a chance. She said I was more than welcome to give it a go. Also, she said that the actors would probably appreciate someone cueing them and helping with entrances, vamps, etc. I was stunned and ran around all day in elation. Granted, when I was conducting, I was terrified because I was flying solo with a professional company even if I was just acting as a sub. The actors were depending on me. I was so nervous that some of the tempos were a little brighter than normal but the director actually liked that. It was a great experience and just proved that I definitely want to play for and conduct musical theater as a career. I already knew; this just confirmed it. I had a blast and am so grateful for the opportunity. I can't wait for the masters program where I'll be able to study musical theater conducting as my graduate program of study.