#Carly Mercedes Dyer

[starkidlabs]

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Concert - 03.09.24

[sixcostumerefs]

Dreamcast: Anastasia West End…with Six actors!

At this point I don’t think it’s a secret that I love Anastasia. I grew up on the movie and was absolutely thrilled when the musical adaptation was announced. It had been announced way back in 2017 that the West End would be staging a production. The production never materialized, but since a few of the actors I’d wanted to see were in Six I thought I’d make a dreamcast entirely with Six actors! 

Anastasia is a particularly demanding show dance-wise, and requires a level of ballet/pointe/partnering training that most musical theatre actors don’t have. Many productions have actually had to cast professional ballet dancers, which Six does not have. As such I was really intentional in only casting actors that I could prove or reasonably assume had that required level. Tracking all that down has been a lot of work over a long period of time and tended to be fairly limiting, but with a few more additions in recent months I think I’ve finally gotten a group who can do it! I’m pretty happy with it and while I doubt a West End production will happen now...it’s still a fun one to dream about. 

Anya: Courtney Stapleton Lily: Christina Modestou Dowager Empress: Carly Mercedes Dyer Tsarina: Roxanne Couch Young Anastasia: Megan Leung Olga/Odette: Artemis Chrisoulakis Tatiana: Jasmine Jia Yung Shen Maria: Shakira Simpson Ensemble: Amy di Bartolomeo Countess Gregory: Cassandra Lee Singer swing: Bryony Duncan Dancer swing: Sophie-Rose Middleton Understudies: Anya: Bryony Duncan, Shakira Simpson Lily: Roxanne Couch, Bryony Duncan Dowager: Cassandra Lee, Amy di Bartolomeo Odette: Megan Leung, Sophie-Rose Middleton

A few additional notes on the ballet: All four of the sisters, as well as both swings, are required to have a pretty solid level of proficiency and experience with dancing en pointe. One of the sisters, Olga/Odette, is required to have a significant higher level (this is the track they often cast professional ballerinas for). I also needed two actors who could feasibly dance at that level as understudies. My parameters for proving that someone could most likely do that role included being able to find videos of them doing pointe work at the required level OR other certain indicators that I felt like proved they could most likely do it (e.x. - experience in a a specific show/track that would require an equivalent level of pointework).

[theonlyadawong]

A Chorus Line

Director Nikolai Foster

Choreographer Ellen Kane

Curve Theatre, 2021

(Photos by Marc Brenner)

[keenenthusiastinfluencer]

the music and the mirror

So given the recent announcement of Carly Mercedes dyer returning to a chorus line next year I’d like to share this clip of her signing the music and the mirror

[six-another-timeline]

CARLY DYER WEST END PRINCIPAL SEYMOUR OH MY GOD

[ulrichgebert]

Vergnügten uns dann mit Sutton Foster und ihrem Anything Goes -Prinzip, das wurde netterweise aufgezeichnet (jetzt warten wir nur noch auf diese Follies....). Es ist eigentlich auch ziemlich unmoralisch, dafür wieviele vorgebliche Moralprediger darin vorkommen, aber dabei wenigsten so albern, daß es nicht weiter auffällt.

[oughttobeclowns]

Review: LIVE AT LOLA’S A Musical Chat Show with Stars of the West End

Review: @liveatlolas A Musical Chat Show with Stars of the West End Some moments of sublime musicality, some moments of fabulously chaotic energy too!

Christine Allado, Carly Mercedes Dyer, Hadley Fraser and Isaac Hesketh give some great cabaret and chat at Live at Lola’s “I have somewhere exciting to go” She may have been a showgirl but Lola has herself a very swankily appointed space beneath The Hippodrome. Lola’s Underground Casino, incredibly, is a converted water pool from the venue’s old days as a theatre but in its luxe new form, it…

[feelo-fick]

HI SORRY, ADDENDUM TO BUDDY BEWARE THAT I FORGOT TO PUT IN THE ORIGINAL POST CAUSE I JUST RELISTENED, HOLY FUCKING SHIT THE TRANSITION AT "ILL OPEN ALL YOUR MAIL" IM GOING FUCKING INSANE. AND HER GROWL??? AND THE UH WHATS IT CALLED. I THINK ITS CALLED BELTING IDK. AT THE END. FUCKING INSANE. CAN SOMEONE RESTRAIN ME IM GONNA CLAW AT THE FLOOR. WHAT THE FUCKKKK

man, anything goes songs just get stuck in my head!!

such a fun style, i forgot which year the musical is based on so im not gonna guess but still!! rules!! blow gabriel blow especially reminds me of those cheery church songs like when the saints come marching in. the chorus in blow gabriel blow and anything goes are super satisfying, the instrumentals in all of these are sooo good too... and sutton foster is just a great vocalist obviously

but theres also a different singer i dunno the name of thats from the same musical who sung a song that got stuck in my head for a while too! hold on lemme grab it,

HER!!! SHES SO COOL!!! aghhh i love her voice + vocal acting so much... shes got a really good control on her voice and its so??? impressive??? screams

[heartofsix]

Things I want to see in Six in 2024

This is a part-prediction, part-bingo, part-want, part-far-fetched-ideas-to-see-if-they-magically-become-true list of things I have in mind for Six in 2024. Please reblog and add your own let's be chaotic together. Enjoy:

UK Tour ends or gets a revamp

A more permanent crossover between Canada and the US productions (i.e. universal alts somehow cover in Canada officially)

Courtney Mack returns (bonus points if she debuts a 4th role)

Another cruise member debuts in a land production

A cancelled debut finally happens (i.e. Carly Mercedes Dyer, Shantel Cribbs, original Breakaway 2.0)

A change in the North American alternate system

Someone joins a production with little-to-no announcement

A new or majorly updated costume

Principal-to-alternate pipeline but on land

New US sit-down production (bonus points if it's Los Angeles) ((extra bonus points if it's majority professional debuts/recent grads cast)

Something with Natalie Pilkington or the Harriets

An original WE or BW cast member returns

New weird production (i.e. Amusement park production)

Another Bliss Seymour comes to land (after Caitlin, Gabriella, and now Wesley)

Bizzare emergency cover

Entirely new cast for UK Tour, Boleyn Tour, or Broadway

Canada extends and gets a cast change

All alternate show on Broadway

Someone from the last cruise casts goes straight into a land production

[redladydeath]

"Jane Seymour, The only one he truly loved (Rude) When my son was newly born I died But I'm not what I seem, or am I? Stick around and you'll suddenly see more"

[Holly Musgrave; Natalie Paris; Abby Mueller; Caitlin Tipping; Lauren Byrne; Amy Bridges; Loren Hunter; Gabriella Stylianou-Burns; Carly Mercedes Dyer; Elizabeth Walker; Wesley Carpenter; Claudia Kariuki; Casey Al-Shaqsy; Shelby Griswold; Keri René Fuller; Jasmine Forsberg; Ellie Wyman; Jasmine Hackett; Amina Faye; Kathryn Kilger; Bella Coppola; Hannah Taylor; Park Hye-na; Park Ga-ram; Erin Caldwell; Lucinda Wilson; Maggie Lacasse; Ruby Gibbs; Marta Burdynowicz; Viki Singh; Anna Peller; Kayleigh McKnight; Billie Kerr]

[dxntloseurhead]

anyways ignoring the fact that she’s never going to make her debut look how gorgeous carly is in the seymour costume

[heather-rose-owens]

What might have been. Carly looks sensational in the Seymour costume. I really hope she can come back one day.

[sixcostumerefs]

Hey y’all!

Carly Mercedes Dyer has an important medical surgery coming up later this month to remove fibroids, which are a form of non-cancerous growth that many women/AFAB people (particularly Black women/Black AFAB people) get. She’s created a go fund me to help offset some of the costs. Haven’t seen it over here so thought I’d share it for anyone who is able to help donate!

Here’s the link.

[six-costume-refs]

It keeps me wondering since cast change – does Claudia wear Carly's wig? Or did they just make the same // similar one?

Congratulations, you have stumbled on one of my biggest questions post-cast change! The TL;DR is we don’t know for sure but it seems like they’re different. I also checked in with @poc-dreamcast and asked for her input.

(top right is snappy_six, the other two are from their respective personal Instas)

So Broadway/WE wigs are custom made. Some wigs, like the ponytail wigs used for Howard on most productions,* are more easily repurposed. However, the majority of the wigs Six uses are full wigs that cover their full head of hair and therefore have custom hairlines etc and as a result it’s usually not super easy to reuse them - here’s a really great video from Wicked’s YouTube channel that explains the basics of the fitting and construction process if you’re not familiar (starts around 1:50). However, it’s definitely not impossible, and sometimes people do go back in later and alter a wig even to the point where it can be used for someone else.

With this scenario specifically, Carly and Claudia’s are shaped pretty differently but the hairline and shape is similar enough that it there’s potential it’s an alteration. However, the texture and styling is significantly different, so @poc-dreamcast said she’d lean towards it being different. It is potentially a restyling - with the amount of alterations that would need to be made to the base, that would be necessary anyway - but it’s significantly different enough that chances are it’s a different iwg.

*Tsemaye Bob-Egbe and Esme Rothero both use a full wig for Howard, but so far they’re the first actors to do so.

[keenenthusiastinfluencer]

Screaming crying throwing up

[musical-dreamcasts]

Moulin Rouge! - Carly Mercedes Dyer (she/her) as Satine, requested by anon

Birthday: January 10, 1987 (age 35)

Birth Place: Middlesex, England

Theatre credits include: Erma (Anything Goes), Fate (Hadestown), Jane Seymour (Six), Anita (West Side Story), Ensemble/First Cover Lorrell/Michelle (Dreamgirls), Ensemble/Cover Jeanie (Hair), Ensemble (Chicago)

(Pictured on the right is Ashley Loren, who is currently playing the role in the Broadway production)

Credits: Mike Marsland, JP Yim