Meltdowns are Not Fun...

Have you ever had a melt down?? I'm not talking an angry melt down where you yell at someone else. No, I mean the meltdowns where you look at what you've done in a situation, realize you've gone horribly wrong and figure that the best thing to do is ask for help. And then NO ONE helps you!! Aaurgh!

This happened to me this morning... I tried to be brave and push the "I'm gonna explode I'm so angry at myself" into my little toe, but that didn't work. Thus I let myself follow my worst recipe: 1 cup of Crazy and 2 scoops of Paranoid!

Here's the story:

I went to the Grease Chorus Call and I knew I was on the list at least twice. (I put myself on twice because in case I'm running late then I get a second chance!) Well, I get off the train, head into the Equity building - where I think the audition is at -and I'm EARLY for once! I was thrilled....

(Because you see, Ms. Musical actually HAD to be at work on the Upper East Side at noon to receive a delivery that was for the family. A very heavy delivery that involved Ms. Musical and two handy men lugging it into the service elevator.... Bottom Line: I had to be DONE with the audition by 11:30 so I could be at work by noon.)

And then I got to the top of the stairs & didn't hear the chatter of a million female voices.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

I ran to the Call Board where all the Audition Notices are posted and realized that the audition was at RIPLEY GREER!! (And of course it's a 10 minute run from Equity. And of course I hit ALL the red lights going there. And of course every slow moving cripple in NY was in front of me whilst I was running! Uugh!)

So I made it to Ripley Greer - at 9:40. The list was finishing up and my name(s) had already been called. Total bummer. Thus I was number 92.

Here's the deal: they usually call 40 girls in an hour... So that means I would've gone somewhere around 1pm. Usually OK, but with Special Delivery on the UES this was NOT going to work!

So I go politely around the room and ask nicely if anyone would please switch with me, as I have to be to work at noon and I really need to audition before 11:30 am.

Here's the response I got: Sorry. Sorry, I have a doctors appointment. Sorry, I have to work too. Sorry I have a callback. Etc, etc... They were all like this. (Except for one girl who told me that I should've known better and been more careful with my preparation..... Nice compassionate response, right?!)

Then I run into my roommates friend from North Shore. She saw that I was stressed, asked what was wrong and I just went abso-freakin'-lutely CRAZY. (see special crazy recipe above)

I was CRYING and in a tiff.... Then she told me "It's not a big deal. It's just an audition. The dance call is next week. Why don't you mail a note to the casting director & not worry about it." Very sweet & kind of her to help me - I calmed down a little.

So then I gave my card back to the monitor, in tears & said "It's not going to happen today, I guess."

And then she made my WHOLE DAY!!! She said "Oh, I'll switch with you! I'm number 60 - and I have to be here anyways! Why don't we switch?!"

I was shocked. And thrilled. And grateful.

So I said Thank You MANY times & got ready for the audition! Hooray! A bad situation turned into a great one! SO - I did what any nice Minnesota Actress would do - I tromped into the Ripley Greer Cafe and got the monitor a sizable gift certificate and a very nice chocolate bar!

I ended up giving a very good audition & got to use my new song: Aretha Franklin's "Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)" and they LOVED it!

Guess it goes to show that good things come to those who cry... WAIT. Yes, I mean wait....