The Best Singer in the World...

The first in a series of posts from BLO Emerging Artist Michelle Trainor who sings the role of Bombalina in John Musto's The Inspector this month.

So, rehearsals for The Inspector have begun. After all of my hard work preparing I was really anxious to meet the cast and just dive in. I’ve been working with a coach and feel quite confident about my role. I will have to adjust to the commute to the city again. Driving to the station at rush hour is not so much fun and I really dread sitting on the train because, as a singer, I am constantly thinking I’ll catch a cold every time I hear a sneeze or cough. But, due to the astronomical prices of parking in the city, the train is my most economic choice. It has been wonderful to have time lately to coach, take lessons, teach and go grocery shopping. I will now have to adjust and find a schedule that works around the staging rehearsals so that I still have time to spend some quality moments with my husband, Scott and our beautiful cat, Sut.

Our first musical rehearsal went well. There was some unexpected free time given to us in our schedule, and this is when living outside of the city can become bothersome. Sometimes you might have a three or four hour break in your day, I live too far away to go home and come back, so what do you do with yourself? Well, in a foreign city, I would go to a museum, go shopping, go back to the hotel and take a bath. But, I have already done all of that in Boston. So I walked down to the yarn store that is very close to our rehearsal space to kill some time and look around.  I love to knit or crochet during rehearsals while I am waiting for my scenes. My grandmother taught me how work magic with yarn, we were extremely close. It had been many years since she had been able to hear me perform, but every Sunday I would visit her and tell her about the music I was learning, show her pictures, and show off the new crochet project I was working on. She especially loved seeing pictures of me in costume. She would laugh so hard at the wigs, or when I would tell her about how fast some of my costume changes were.

We lost my grandmother last fall, and I inherited her knitting needles. I am finding great comfort in holding my needles and yarn… Periods of uncertainty happen to every singer even though they might not admit it to others. Things like, will the cast members like me, does the conductor think I’m a good musician, am I doing what the director wants…am I doing my job well…It's at times like these that I just grab my knitting, with my grandmother’s well-worn needles, and think of her telling me that I am the best singer in the world…

Michelle Trainor with her grandmother.

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Check back soon for more musings from Michelle, and see her in The Inspector, April 20-29 at the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre.