OOOH OOOH OOOH cont’d

Ah, so where did I leave off?

Right, Eunice and I had just watched Nereids’ rehearsal.

So, we went to Maccas and came back to school to eat with NicJing, Kris-, Bald Bec (I’m not being mean; she’d shaved her head for charity) and some other people. We made jokes about Kris-‘s industrial sized tub of food. Well, it was a really large tub, the kind that would feed a family of 8 for a day, and she was eating it for dinner. It was amazing that she’d downed 3/4 of the thing already.

Finally, went up to the House Room (ie a heavily crepe-paper-and-ballooned-science-room) and sort of walked around a bit in there, watching the cast members put makeup on each other. I commented that you could tell the front half of the room was artsy cast people, as they were all off their heads shouting and makeup and hairspray etc etc, and the back half of the room were the orchestra people, dressed conservatively in black, quietly cradling a ‘cello or sucking on a Chupa Chup.

Then, Chorus was called for a last minute rehearsal. Chorus, for those who are not familiar with Greek plays, are a large bunch of people who stand off to the side of the main stage, and they sort of act/interact with the play. So, if something shocking happens, the Chorus would gasp. If there is a song, the Chorus might sing along.

Avs and Millie took the Chorus, a crowd of maybe 30-odd girls, out behind the gym. By this time, dusk had well settled in. Well, dusk was about to get a very loud show.

Suse had gone with me out of curiosity to see how Chorus would rehearse. Avs and Millie told the entire Chorus to back, back, back into the oval. They themselves took 15 paces back, until they were roughly 100 meters apart, across the grass from each other (my perception of distance is somewhat shite. Maybe it was 50 meters). Then, Avs said, “IF YOU DON’T SHOUT, I WON’T BE ABLE TO HEAR YOU! SO BE LOUD!” (as Chorus don’t have microphones, to be heard in the hall they’d have to be loud).

Then, they proceeded to rehearse and show me the funniest part of the night.

One of their lines were cued by Enrique’s “I CAN BE YOUR HERO BABY!” to which they all chorus “OOOH OOOH OOOH” as backups. So, Avs and Millie at one end of the oval, screamed their cue, and like 30-odd angels of hell, the Chorus hooted “OOOH OOOH OOOH!” into the appalled dusk (and much to my continued amusement). After the 1st time, where I fell down onto the ground in laughter, they did it again. A cyclist going home passed just as the 2nd round of hearty yet haunting “OOOH OOOH OOOH” pierced into the terrified atmosphere, and he – the cyclist – turned his head around in a sort of “WHAT IN THE NAME OF FUCK WAS THAT?!”

I watched them go through Bohemian Rhapsody, which the Chorus did well in, but of course Avs and Millie had to give them their cues. They didn’t know the lyrics, so they sort of did a combination of drums/electric guitar/dananana in a hectic harmony. I suppose words aren’t good enough to describe how insanely funny that was to witness.

Suse and I went back to the House Room, and then Nat provided me with the 2nd funniest moment of the night.

For some odd reason, Nat stood next to me and pointed off into the distance. She’d done that thing where you look off into the distance and get someone else to look at what you’re looking at (that is, nothing). So, Nat and I decided to prank a few more people, and flagged down whomever we recognised as they passed us. We pointed out the window, “SEE? Oh my god see that? It’s so awesome! Look! Can’t you see it?” Most of our victims tweaked after a while and walked away shaking their heads, but Fatty Tran (merely a nickname to censor her name; she is by no means fat) was so excited to see this “AWESOME THING! JUST PAST THAT FORK IN THE TREE!” that she even put on her glasses and consented to making binoculars out of her hands and turning her head to the side, which is the “best way you can see it!”

Right before our performance, we all went back behind the gym (furthest from the hall, so if we made noise it’s okay) and did a warm up. We, as a house, stood in a misshaped circle and shouted the “Hokey Pokey”, shaking all our limbs as well as our bodies, and generally making a very weird cult-like presence. All warmed up, we realized we were a bit late to go onstage, and hurried into the hall.

So, showtime. Got the laughs we wanted, and Fel did fantastically conducting us, especially in Bohemian Rhapsody (the time change just before “he’s just a poor boy”).

Afterwards, we said bye to Eunice and Fel, Bee and I went home, driven by Fel’s dad. Slept at 11 and could barely force my eyelids open this morning. I went to Dani’s place in the morning and while she was getting ready Andrew and I watched Dracula. It. Was. Cool. I want to see it all now.

And that, was most of yesterday and this morning.

Now, I will go watch Ghost Whisperer. Will Jim/Sam remember Melinda? Haha.

Alex.