There Are Worse Things Than Gray Hairs

I was sitting in my chair at the hair and makeup table, itching for something to do. I’m used to styling my own hair and applying my own makeup for musicals, not being pampered by someone doing it all for me. I’m an only child of two virgo parents; if I can do it on my own, I will do so at all costs. But as I squirmed in the chair, it really started to hit me:

I’m playing a principal role in a musical at the iconic Lido Theatre in Paris, France.

We were shooting promotional materials for the upcoming production of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (opens Oct. 2). For the shows I’ll do my own styling, but they wanted all of us to look our best for the camera. This was my first time in costume with a fresh new haircut so I felt like I was meeting Andy Miller (the character I’m playing) for the first time. I also hadn’t seen most of my castmates in costume yet, so the whole theatre was buzzing with excitement.

I’m 25, but Gene Kelly1 was 55 years old when he played Andy Miller in the original movie. Even on stage it would be hard to age me up by 30 years without it looking ridiculous. So, how am I playing this character?

2 easy solutions: Age the character down a little bit, and add some silver streaks to my brown hair.

Other than a lyrical reference another character makes about Andy having a couple streaks of silver hair, there are no concrete age indications. So with the hair being an important plot point, I feel like we were able to realistically add about 10 years on to make him approximately 35. See for yourself below with this BTS photo from the promo shoot day:

I’m going to be honest: I’m not mad about my hair going gray someday! In a world where it feels like pre-teenagers are being sold preventative botox and aging is worse than dying, I truly feel excited (not to mention privileged) to grow old.

I think a lot of this excitement dawned on me when I started watching Sex and the City for the first time a few years back. I saw those women in their mid 30s-40s as inspiration for the future. They showed that you can be hot and confident at any age, but they only gained more financial ability and status as the show progressed. But at the same time, many of the trials and tribulations they endured weren’t so different from some of the things I’m experiencing as a 25 year old.

I’m only going to gain more wisdom and perspective as I age. I can’t wait until I can look back on this season of my life as a more fully evolved version of myself. The thought of that is so exciting to me. Everything that feels so big and scary now will likely be a fleeting memory in ten, twenty years time.

And not to mention what a privilege it is to get to live to old age. I feel like every single day, I am confronted with horrible news. Mass shootings. Famine and desolation in Gaza. The pain seemingly never ends. We hear so many of these monstrosities on a day to day basis that it’s easy to become desensitized to them.

I also find myself feeling powerless. What can I do to stop things happening across the globe from me? I’m not a world leader. I can’t actually pass any legislation or effectuate change other than writing to my representatives and speaking out against injustice.

But you know what I can do? I can live every day with as much gratitude as I can. I am so fucking lucky that I get to grow old. I get to follow my dreams, living in my dream city, doing a dream job. Instead of focusing on things I wish I had, I can actively choose to focus on the many blessings I do have. And I choose to be grateful that I have even more unrealized dreams. I don’t even know what the future could hold for me.

So forgive me if I don’t want to dye my greying hair or fill in my wrinkles. I’ll be excited to be around at all when I get to that age! And playing this (slightly) older character has given me a thrilling glimpse of what that might be like.

Finally moving into the theatre for technical rehearsals was such a blessing. A lot of the elements that didn’t completely make sense to me in the rehearsal studio suddenly became a lot clearer. But, tech week is never without its challenges.

I think a lot of times actors can be so focused on themselves that tech rehearsals can feel really grueling. You go from the rehearsal room where everything is about the acting process. You are learning your lines, your blocking, working on developing the character, etc. Suddenly you are thrust into tech rehearsals, where rehearsals are no longer for you.

Yup, I will repeat it. These rehearsals are no longer for you, the actor. While you are still continuing to dig deeper into the aforementioned things, these rehearsals are now for the tech team to work their magic (in a very short period of time, mind you). It’s really hard to go from being busy in the rehearsal room to standing still onstage while they light you for 30 minutes.

It’s also so hard to keep up with the many changes that inevitably happen between the rehearsal room and the stage. Spacing that worked in the studio will likely have to change to account for sightlines2. Entrances and exits will adjust because you have to do a quick change in a certain place. Right when you start to feel comfortable with a show by the end of your time in the studio, it can feel like everything you know about a show is being turned on its head.

So how do you keep track of everything without getting overwhelmed?

Here are some tips and tricks I’ve accumulated to navigating the tech week process as an actor:

1. Write down your notes as soon as you get them. This is one that is hard to do sometimes in tech but if you can, keep a little notebook on you! That way you can write down all of the changes as they’re happening so you don’t forget anything and revert back to old versions of the show. Even if you don’t get them in the moment, you can refer to it after rehearsal, or the next morning before going back in. Swings write down new numbers, why shouldn’t you? I also recommend keeping a notebook during rehearsal to write down your notes (I use my iPad), but it’s especially crucial in tech.

2. Be full out every time. Don’t mark. After tech, you open the show and likely start going into doing 7-8 shows a week. In tech, you’re probably not running things fully that many times, if at all. This is crunch time to start figuring out what it feels like to do the show multiple times in a row. You have to give your body a fighting chance to start to build stamina by doing everything as full out as possible, every time. Otherwise, you’ll get into shows and it will suddenly feel so much harder.

3. Get lots of sleep. Your brain and your body need lots of time to process all of this new information. Tech is not the time to start skimping on your sleep schedule. Some other things might have to give, but sleep should not be one of them. Some things I have traded in favor of sleep during tech include going to the gym and going out. It’s just not realistic to do those things, and I need to prioritize sleep.

4. Eat snacks. Even if you’re just standing around in tech, it’s so important to fuel your body and your mind. Keep lots of snacks on hand so that at the end of the rehearsal day (especially if you’re doing 10/12s), your brain won’t be completely fried. Try to choose snacks that will provide long sustaining fuel, but also sometimes you need to dig into that bowl of candy. Life is about balance, after all…

5. Use your free time wisely. Speaking of balance, I think this is one of the trickiest tips to get a hang of. When you’re in tech, it can be really grueling on the mind. It can be easy to just completely clock out when you go on break or when you’re not being used in a scene. However, this is precious time where you could be reviewing new blocking from the previous day. If you mentally clock out, it can then feel even harder to go back into rehearsal, especially if you’re only called right at the end of the day or something. My general rule for myself is that if I’m in the building, I’m in work mode. I give myself breaks off but I am mostly staying off my phone while in tech. I do this so I can be “clocked in” while at work so I can leave a lot of it behind when I go home. I do however use some of my free time at home to go over my notes, because this is my full time job. Like I said, it’s all about balance. It’s a really fine line but it cannot be all work or all play otherwise you will crash and burn.

I hope these tips are helpful for anyone heading into a grueling tech week!

A final parting thought I’ll leave you with: I don’t know if I’ve ever had a “smooth” or “easy” tech process. I don’t think such a thing exists. So please make sure to give yourself and the people around you lots of grace during this time. Everyone is doing their best to put on a theatrical production. You’re not doing brain surgery. It’s not the end of the world.

Before I go, here’s some of the weekly roundups!

Music I listened to this week:

• “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” (RAYE)

• “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” (David Marino)3

• “L’amérique” by Ginette Reno

Okay this is usually the portion where I post pictures of the food I ate, but this was a flop food week. I think I ate out maybe once, and was making myself salads at home all week. Nothing particularly good or aesthetic. Next week will be better though hopefully!

For those of you who are new here, hi! I’m Paul Amrani, and I just moved to Paris to star as Andy Miller in the Lido Theatre’s production of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort. I was born in France and moved to the US when I was 2 and a half, but it’s always been a dream of mine to come back and live here. I post weekly diary style (or however I feel that week) entries detailing my life in the city of light. Subscribe to Paul in Paris to follow along on my journey!