Scaramouche's Diary

Paige Sandhu, who played Scaramouche (front in this picture from Headlong in the dress rehearsal) has written a diary of her experience during the week of the show.  Paige is only 14 and We Will Rock You was her first experience of being a principal.

Monday

   Today we had the technical rehearsal, meaning that, for the first time, we were performing with the sequences of lights and sound that would be going on throughout the real shows. And, oh-my-goodness, it was a NIGHTMARE.

   We’d never practised with the lighting and music before, so that made it a little more confusing for us anyway – but it anyone that had been watching would have thought none of us had a clue, because it was a complete MESS. Everyone was so confused.    I started to get really worried, because I was getting mixed up with the music, missing my queue and starting to sing after the song had already started.

 

Tuesday

   We had the dress rehearsal today, in front of some of Sheridan’s friends.

The rehearsal didn’t go that well. I think we were all nervous about actually performing in front of an audience – even though most of us have done it at some point or other, with different plays and stuff. Paul and I messed up a couple of dances, and some of the chorus got a little confused too.

   We were given feedback from each act, and I got really upset – because almost everything coming at me was stuff that I had done wrong! I mean surely I should be getting it right by now?. I felt awful – I thought I was going to let everybody down with the actual performances and I wondered whether I should have got this part after all.

 

Wednesday

   Wednesday was the first performance, I was TERRIFIED. When I got to the church, a few hours early, I saw the line of people coming to watch – it stretched all the way down the hill! This many people were coming to watch us?! What if I messed up? In front of this many people?!

   When it was time to start, I was still scared, and seriously nervous. I’d been worried especially because I didn’t think I was that great an actress – and it didn’t help that people had been saying I needed to work on it.

   But it was great! The first few scenes, well – ok, I was still a BIT nervous. But after that, it just felt…Right. It was fun! Fantastic! Everybody laughed when I said something funny, they cheered and clapped along with the songs. It was great!

 

Thursday

   Second show! I was actually MORE worried about this one than the first, because after all that singing the night before my throat had gone BLUGH! I was drugged up the whole day on medicines, most of which tasted AWFUL! But yeah. The show went well, really, though there were some singing parts I could have done better…

 

Friday

   Tonight was the night everything had to be PERFECT. This show was getting filmed, so I couldn’t mess up ANYTHING. So I was still drugged up on all the throat medicines – whose taste did not improve with time!

   Everything went pretty well after the first scene – when my throat gave out! Luckily, it was right at the end of a line, so I had time to swallow and get my voice back before I had to talk again. Few!

   After that, everything went really well, and everyone said that was the best performance we’d done!

 

Saturday

   We had two shows today. My family came to the matinee.

   I wasn’t sure how my dad was going to react when he saw the kissing scene with Paul. He didn’t really know I had a kissing scene. (Well, I can hardly TELL him, can I? He’s my dad!) It was very embarrassing – but I just pretended I couldn’t hear him whispering furiously to my aunt, who was sitting beside him, something like, “Easy, easy!”

   After the show, we all had dinner in the hall above the church. It was really sweet – we were exchanging presents with everybody else. It was so lovely, seeing EVERYBODY get gifts – the lighting people, backstage, the band, …The best was seeing David get his, though. He got his own standing ovation.

   The LAST SHOW and everyone was buzzing. We were all really exited, jumping around and laughing.

   I swear, everyone put their heart and soul into that show. The songs were the best we’d ever done; everything went perfectly – the music, the dances, and the lights. And the audience! They were our best audience we’d had for the whole thing! They clapped and cheered and sang along, and they ALL swayed to ‘We are the Champions’! All of them! It was so cool! And then, right at the end, we got a standing ovation! It was amazing!

   I was really upset when it was over. I didn’t want it to end – it had been so much fun, and I’d made loads of friends who I was really going to miss.

 

And hopefully if I bend David’s arm enough their will be another show which will be even BIGGER then We Will Rock You and everybody from PYT can come back and perform better then ever!

 

Paige Sandhu