When I started Evita and the music director handed me the music score I knew that this show was gonna take some really hard work. The rehearsal process started with learning the music. If you know anything about Evita, you know that the music is legendary. It is a “Rock-Opera” which as you can imagine is pretty complicated. The harmonies for example were so weird. Also some of the music was in spanish… (which I will not take in school until next year 🙂 haha) The woman who played Eva Peron is actually Argentinian, and has taken her family to the Eva Peron museum and the Casa Rosada which is featured in the musical. Her daughter, was also in the show and we became very close… she helped me with my spanish pronunciation. About a week into the project, the director decided to give me the solo in “Santa Evita”. At first I was struggling to sing the part with power because it was so high and required a lot of control. After experiencing the amazing talent of the actress who played Eva, I learned she was a vocal coach and I asked her if she could help me out. We had one lesson and immediately afterwards I was feeling extremely confident with my solo and discovered a new part of my voice I never knew I had. I loved singing that solo on stage and having such a special moment in the show. Since the rehearsal process was right in the middle of a really bad flu season, we were very careful about sharing foods, and used a bunch of hand sanitizer. Unfortunately, during tech week, the actress who played my mother, in the show, caught the flu. As soon as I learned this I started to feel sick. When I got home I immediately told my parents, “I NEED to go to the doctors TOMORROW!” So we drove to the doctors office and I was diagnosed with flu B. I was so devastated that I was missing rehearsal during tech week. I missed the day we had gotten costumes and came back for “final dress” or the last rehearsal before opening night! Evita was a crazy experience and I am so glad I got to be a part of such a great ensemble and work with some of the most talented actors in the area. I learned so much and had such a fun time!