Picking up from yesterday –
I was toying with the new songs until the last minute. I sent my application in on the last day they were taking them. And it physically hurt a little to do so.
I knew I had to, ‘cause I made a promise to myself that I would apply to the BMI Workshop every year until I either died or got in (or possibly someday they forbade me from applying if it went on too long). So, I just did it, since it didn’t give myself a choice.
The world kept spinning. Life went on… until one day (August 18th, 2015), I was on my way to work on the subway (above ground). And I saw I had an email with the subject, “Your Application to the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop.”
It didn’t say congratulations. It didn’t seem any different to me than any of the other rejection letters I received.
As I was opening it, I thought, “Well, this is a little earlier than usual – nice to get this over with at least.”
But then it looked different. There was lots of information in there – information about the audition to which I was being invited!
Tears started streaming down my face. It is the weirdest crying experience I ever remember having. Usually when I’ve cried in the past, I know I’m going to cry. I feel some kind of emotion leading up to it. My eyes well up a bit. But this was so fast and unexpected. I didn’t feel any welling up of tears or emotion. One minute I was checking my email, and the next, tears. were. streaming.
I’m sure everyone on the subway thought I was a crazy person, and that’s okay. I immediately called my dad to tell him the news. Then I called B and talked to her for a bit. Even though I tried to be as quiet as I could in a compact space (at a super high emotion level), I’m still loud. And a stranger wished me a really sincere-seeming, “congratulations” when we parted ways.
I went to work practically shaking.
There was not a lot of time to plan for anything. The email just said there were three possible dates (Tuesday – Thursday of Labor Day week) and to write back with any conflicts. It didn’t give any information as to what we’d be asked to present. It said all that would come later and it was very intent that no one write back with questions – we only write back if we have any conflicts.
I wrote back saying if possible, I’d love to do Tuesday, since I have to fly in. And it’d be nice to miss as little work as possible.
(Thankfully the place where I was working was so super chill about my schedule. They made things really easy on me and I loved them for that… Although that all kind of became moot because I ended up working at a different place before the audition. But more on that later…)
And I’ll pick up here tomorrow.