#Singer

Emily Ellet

Jan 23, 2017
4 min

How I’m Learning 60+ Songs This Year

Performing my solo show, “Shining, Shimmering, Splendid!” Photos by @hollyspiegellis A little over a year ago, I put on my first solo show. I had been dreaming (and talking) about doing so for literally years, but I had never found myself able to push through the inertia of daily life in order to do. Ideas spun through my head, only to flutter to the ground. I joked about missing the structured accountability of school (even as I thanked the heavens I didn’t have to write p

Gingham and Steel Bakes! Episode 6: Pumpkin Pecan Cobbler

Emily Ellet

Nov 21, 2016
2 min

Gingham and Steel Bakes! Episode 6: Pumpkin Pecan Cobbler

The last pumpkin recipe of the season, just in time for Thanksgiving! Thoughts and recipe below the episode: Thoughts: Huge thanks to my mom for this recipe idea. Very satisfying! So the cameras filmed everything slightly crooked because I’m still quite ghetto in my equipment setup. Didn’t know it till post-production, of course. I’m working on it…though honestly, I kind of like the angle! This is my LAST episode in this kitchen, as I moved. Expect a new kitchen environm

Gingham and Steel Bakes! Episode 4 – Caramel Apple Cookies

Emily Ellet

Oct 10, 2016
2 min

Gingham and Steel Bakes! Episode 4 – Caramel Apple Cookies

Here’s the latest episode of Gingham and Steel Bakes! Notes and recipe after the video. Notes: I have a new editor! My brother Brian gets all the credit for making this video series instantly more professional-looking and -sounding. Let us know what you think of the new editing choices! I think I messed up these cookies, as they didn’t look or taste as I expected. The cookies were practically flavorless, and the frosting tasted maple-y, not caramel apple-y. I suspect thi

Gingham and Steel Bakes! Episode 3: Fog City Diner Cheddar Biscuits

Emily Ellet

Oct 3, 2016
3 min

Gingham and Steel Bakes! Episode 3: Fog City Diner Cheddar Biscuits

Here’s the latest episode of Gingham and Steel Bakes! Notes and recipe after the video. Notes on this week’s episode: Honestly, guys, I almost scrapped this whole episode. I tried a new camera (my computer’s) and angle (on the counter) and HATED the result. The lighting is atrocious, I couldn’t stage the room cutely, and most of all, I spent most of the footage looking at my own image instead of the camera (which is cruelly located above the escape key). But…my schedule w

Emily Ellet

Feb 4, 2016
1 min

My Favorite Five Tools

I recently read an Ann Friedman interview on the blog “Ways We Work,” which was fantastic, because Ann Friedman is pretty awesome. But I was intrigued by one question she answered: “What are the five tools you use on a regular basis?” It got me started thinking if I had five tools I used on a regular basis, and of course the answer was yes. Maybe because I’m still in a top five mood, I don’t know. In any case, here are my five favorite tools for work and life. What are you

Top 10 Most FAQ of this Cruise Ship Performer

Emily Ellet

Dec 31, 2015
6 min

Top 10 Most FAQ of this Cruise Ship Performer

Here’s an unrelated-to-this-blog-post shot of beautiful Hawaii for your New Year’s Eve pleasure. Guess what time it is? Guess who can’t sleep? Guess who seems to come up with really entertaining blog posts when this happens? Seriously, though, this is a nice way to end the year. And what a year! So without further ado, I give you… the Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions of this Cruise Ship Performer. Having traveled so much, where do you want to go next? On a cruise sh

Emily Ellet

Nov 23, 2015
3 min

Vocal Rest

Last post, I mentioned that I lost my voice the week of our opening for Magic To Do. As a result, I went on vocal rest for two days in order to try to recover. This was my experience. Vocal rest was one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever experienced. It turns out, playing charades is not an enjoyable or efficient method of communication, and you can’t always have a piece of paper or a cell phone with you. I’d never had vocal fatigue before. Reading for hours on end

Emily Ellet

Jul 30, 2015
3 min

Ritual: Days 30-32

Part of it is human. Just as children like rules (I could write a whole blog post about that!), adults like routine. It’s comforting, for one; most morning coffee and tea drinkers like the ritual more than the drink itself. It’s reliable, unlike life itself. And it gives you the feeling of control and order. Another part of this is encouraged in school. In college, I took an entire class devoted to defining “my acting process” and another class that emphasized developing

Emily Ellet

Jul 27, 2015
3 min

Cruising with Friends: Days 20-29

Well, hello again! I hope you’ll forgive my absence this week. As I mentioned, I had friends come cruising with me (they were official passengers and everything!), and so the time I usually spend blogging was spent talking with my husband – because the time usually spent talking with him was spent hanging out with them! Not that I minded too much – it was wonderful to see friends and to share Alaska with them. So, in lieu of the couple of posts I would have written this we

Emily Ellet

Jul 4, 2015
4 min

Afterglow: Day 6

I suppose I should have known it would be a good day, because I got to start it off with ZUMBA!!! I am a passionate fan of Zumba, even though I’ve only taken a handful of classes in my life. But it is my absolute FAVORITE way to work out. Work up a major sweat, burn a ton of calories, learn fun new dance moves, and oh by the way, listen to awesome Latin music?? Yes, please. I was a little disappointed to learn that the Zumba instructor will actually be moving to the Dawn

Emily Ellet

Jul 3, 2015
6 min

Showtime: Days 3, 4, & 5

Some days, you just have to go into a practice room and sing Barbra Streisand tunes, loudly, fully, and preferably alone. Today was just such a day. Though wouldn’t you, with this view when you wake up?? Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska It’s day five of our Alaska cruise, and we’re anchored in Skagway. Yesterday involved “scenic cruising” through the Tracy Arm Fjord in the morning and a port afternoon in Juneau (Alaska’s capital, as all third graders will tell you), but I was in a

Emily Ellet

Jun 30, 2015
7 min

Whirlwind: Days 1 and 2

Good morning. What a whirlwind the last two days have been! (At times, literally – quite the weather we had this morning.) I am currently sailing up the Canadian coast towards Alaska, but let’s start with yesterday… Seattle greeted us Sunday morning with warm, bright, and slightly overcast skies. It was gorgeous, in other words. Despite having visited Sea-Tac airport numerous times, I was taken aback to find that there was a whole section of the airport I didn’t know abou

Emily Ellet

Jun 22, 2015
3 min

Rehearsals: Exhaustion Edition

Yah. My sincere apologies. The truth is…I’ve been sooooo tired when I get home that I just haven’t been up to posting. It’s amazing how exhausting eight hours a day of learning/rehearsing/running/reviewing choreography can be. Most of my life, the longest I’ve ever had to rehearse was six hours…on, like, tech day or something, and never was I on my feet that whole time! It’s also been high 90s hot for the last couple weeks, and it’s amazing what that takes out of you (se

Emily Ellet

Jun 11, 2015
2 min

Rehearsal Process

Granted, they’re shorter shows (between 30 and 45 minutes), but it’s still a ton of information to receive, process, and commit to physical and mental memory in less than a week. Last night in particular, I think we all felt like we had pea soup for brains, as we learned an entire show yesterday alone. It’s a funny thing about choreography. Often, the simplest movements are the hardest to remember. “Tombe, pas de bourre, glissade, saut de chat?” No problem. But “step, to

Emily Ellet

Jun 5, 2015
2 min

First Day!

The requisite pilgrimage: a classic burger meal from In-n-Out! I’m back home after my first day of rehearsal in Los Angeles (or technically, Santa Clarita)! Thought I’d share a handful of pictures from this first day as a production vocalist with Princess Cruises. I’m really trying to document this experience, guys! For you and for my eventual children. Other than the photos, there’s not that much that’s cool or unusual to share. It was like most first days at a new job: s

Emily Ellet

May 27, 2015
4 min

7 Steps to Learning All That Music

I’m singing all of them on the cruise ship. And they’d better be memorized by next week, along with a whole bunch of other material. Not all theatrical/singing jobs are like this, I suppose, but it makes sense that with 5 full-length shows and a handful of smaller shows, you are required to show up totally memorized to learn choreography and blocking. How else can you get all that done in three weeks?? I’ve had quite a few people ask what kinds of shows these are. Each crui

Emily Ellet

May 26, 2015
1 min

Cruise Preparation!

The last time I blogged here at Gingham and Steel, I was an auditioning actor. I am now a week and a half away from being a working actor. Yes, it took that long to book a job whose news is worth sharing (that’s a subject for several blog posts, undoubtedly), but here we go, off to a new adventure, a cruise ship, and an unforgettable 2015. So what is this exciting job? I’ve been hired to be a vocalist for Princess Cruises for seven months! I’ll be sailing to Alaska, the C

Steel, Spunk, and Grit – Why I’m Not a Soprano

Emily Ellet

Nov 5, 2013
4 min

Steel, Spunk, and Grit – Why I’m Not a Soprano

(That sound you just heard was my voice teachers of yore choking on their collective arpeggios.) The news was a shock to me, too. I’ve spent the last almost ten years training to be a lyrical ingenue soprano, equally comfortable in both the classical and contemporary genres. I have spent countless hours preparing to pitch myself to the theatre world as a Galinda in Wicked, a Laurie in Oklahoma, and even a Maria in West Side Story, (if I could ever tan enough to pass for His