Tony, Tony

The Tony Awards were Sunday night, so I thought I would share some of the highlights.

The Opening Number



The winner for best revival of a musical: Hair



Best Score winner (and my personal favorite show from this year): Next to Normal



Best Musical winner: Billy Elliot

...What?

After months of hiding, I am proud (well, maybe not proud...) to announce my return to the blogosphere.

The past few months have been busy. And when they weren't busy, I was lazy.

I'm still lazy.

Anyway, since February, I've played a major role in my first university main-stage show, assistant directed my first community theater show, designed a set, seen Star Trek, traveled back and forth between school and home, held my three-year-old niece during a tornado and cooked chicken spaghetti.

Oh, and I finished my second year of college.

Weird, right?

So it's summer break now--at least until Tuesday, when I start my summer class (boo).

Summer means that it's time for me to
1. get some real writing done--I have about 20,000 words on the novel that I started for NaNoWriMo and lots of fun places to go with that
2. muddle my way through a science class--Again, boo.
And
3. find a job.

Exciting stuff.

But, even with that stuff to do, I still have more free time than usual. We'll see if I can match last summer's posts.

Thoughts For A Rainy Day

It has been raining here all day.

Which means that I've had rather a lot of time to think. And that's never good.

I spent a lot of time thinking about things that I've learned in my life-- especially the really odd things. So, today I bring you a list of (non)vital information for a rainy day.

* If you put thirty-five candles on a cake and light them all, you will set off the fire alarm and the fire department will come and shut down your opening night party.

* Nothing good can ever come from being in a Waffle House after midnight.

* It's a bad idea to wear a tank top and sandals on a late night walk in October.

* There's a song for everything. I mean everything.

* Some people should never have coffee.

* If you play a character that is stoned in a show, you will be remembered as "The Girl Who Was Stoned" or "Pot Girl."

* It's awkward when it's one of your professors who remembers you as "The Girl Who Was Stoned."

* Whenever people come to your apartment, there is a risk that they will fall asleep on your living room furniture.

* There's also a risk that your guests will break your dishes.

* There's always someone geekier than you are.

*Making a good grade in a foreign language class means nothing. Unless it's Japanese.

* Taco Bell is a brilliant idea.

* The bread at Olive Garden is not to be fooled around with.

* Hot dogs are made out of nasty.

* Kids shows will never be as good as they were when you were a kid.

* Calvin and Hobbes is still cool.

* It's always funny when friends who are drunk fall on their faces.

* Even people who love to read rarely have the chance to read for pleasure during the school year.

* It's far easier to sit in a coffee shop and talk for hours than it should be.

* Innuendo is everywhere.

* An hour spent watching YouTube videos is an hour well spent.

* Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Sierra Mist, Dr Pepper and Lemonade (sometimes) combine to make fruit punch.

* Adding "bitch" to the end of a statement makes it more authoritative.

* Carrying a wedding dress across campus will earn you a lot of strange looks.

* The word "epic" no longer has any meaning.

* The Wii is a dangerous thing.

* It is possible to injure yourself with a butter knife.

* The best stuff in the world hides in five dollar movie bins.

* Staying up all night with friends is, and ought to be, a regular occurrence.

I hope you're able to find some wisdom for a rainy day on this list. Or some random crap that got you to giggle. Either one.

Staged

Theater has always been something that makes me feel better when I'm down. Something about getting to forget who I am and what's going on in my life just really relaxes me. So, today's post is all about theater. I found this meme on Facebook a while ago, and I'm going to re do it, just for this blog.

LAST SHOW ADDED TO YOUR RESUME:
Company

LAST SHOW YOU AUDITIONED FOR:
Anything to Declare?

DID YOU GET IT:
Indeed I did. I'm playing Madame Dupont.

LAST SONG YOU USED AT AN AUDITION:
Well, we did songs from the show at Company auditions. Before that, I used "Taylor the Latte Boy" for Little Shop auditions.

FAVORITE MUSICAL:
I have three favorites: Les Miserables, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and The Last 5 Years

FAVORITE PLAY:
My favorite drama is Hamlet and my favorite comedy is either Noises Off or The Women.

FAVORITE ROLE YOU'VE PLAYED, AND FROM WHAT SHOW?
The title role in Laura. It was not only my first lead, but also my first experience with SCT (such a great group of people!). And she was so much fun to play. Madame Dupont may make it to my top two--we'll see later in the process.


FAVORITE ROLE OVERALL THAT I WOULD LOVE TO PLAY:
Wow, that's a difficult question! I guess my top three would be Clytemnestra in The Orestiea, Cathy in The Last 5 Years and Fantine in Les Miserables.


SUPERSTITION:
I usually try not to think that I'll get a role during the auditions-- it seems like when I see myself getting a role, I don't get it. Also, I never say the name of the Scottish play on stage. Never. And I don't say good luck.


YOUR GOAL IN SHOW BUSINESS:
Ideally, Broadway. I'd love to do national tours or regional shows, too.


FAVORITE DIRECTOR YOU HAVE EVER WORKED WITH:
Dwayne Craft. But I've been fortunate enough to work with a ton of great directors.



WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST SHOW?:
If we're not counting dance recitals, An Evening with Ed--A Really BIG Show (a dinner theater with AUM). My first community show was Annie.


HAVE YOU EVER HAD A DANCE SOLO?:
I had a dance duet in Pocahontas.


HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SINGING SOLO?
Yes.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THE LAST PERSON TO TAKE A BOW?
Only once-- in Laura.


HAVE YOU BEEN TO NEW YORK?
Three times. The first time with the youth group at church. We didn't get to see any shows. The other two times, I went with the drama department at my high school.


HAVE YOU BEEN TO LA?:
Nope. I've never been that far west.


WHAT'S THE SCARIEST PART OF AN AUDITION?:
The waiting. Open auditions are most nerve racking for me, because I find myself comparing my work to the other people's. It doesn't bug me with straight acting auditions, but I can psych myself out so easily when it comes to singing auditions.


WHAT'S THE BEST PART OF AN AUDITION?:
Seeing what a show could be. I tend to cast shows in my head at the auditions, so I get to imagine how it will turn out.


NAME A SHOW YOU WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN:
Pocahontas and Sound of Music.


NAME A SHOW YOU COULD DO FOR YEARS:
That I have done? The Good Doctor. I could probably do Last 5 Years or Les Mis for years if I had the chance.

WHAT ARE YOU AUDITIONING FOR NEXT?
I'm not sure. Probably the summer musical.

DO YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH PAST CAST MEMBERS?:
Yeah, most of the time. I've met some great people doing shows; it'd be a shame not to keep up with them.


ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW IMPORTANT IS GETTING PAID?:
Well, I've never been paid for it yet. But once I'm completely out on my own, it will become very important. Unless I make a lot of generous and rich friends while I'm in school.


SOMETHING EMBARRASSING OR UNEXPECTED THAT HAPPENED TO YOU WHILE ON STAGE?:
Well, pulling down the curtain during Laura was certainly unexpected. And embarrassing. It was a real shame, too, because, as far as acting goes, that was probably the best performance.


WHO IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PERSON (ON STAGE OR OFF) THAT YOU HAVE EVER WORKED WITH?:
Probably best not to mention names here, I think.

EVER BEEN NAKED ON STAGE?:
No.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN KILLED?:
In Laura, everyone thought I was dead until the end of Act One. That's the closest I've come to that. There was one point in the process for Orestiea when I was always there when someone died.

BEEN DRUNK?:
No, but I've been high. (On stage, of course.)

PLAYED SOMEONE HALF YOUR AGE?:
Nope.

PLAYED SOMEONE TWICE YOUR AGE?:
Haha--yes! I always play older.

CRIED?:
Yeah.

FIRED A GUN?
Nope.

BEEN DRENCHED?
No.

BEEN IN A DREAM SEQUENCE?
Yes, in Pocahontas

BEEN KISSED?:
Yes, in The Good Doctor and in Laura.

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na POT GIRL!

So, as you know, I was on hiatus from blogging for a while to be in a show called Company. For those who don't know, the show is a musical by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth.

I believe I promised pictures. Well, I lied. You only get one.

Anyway, the show ran for two weeks (nine performances-- which is a lot for a Sondheim show, as theater people can tell you), and some members of the faculty from my university came to the performances.

One such faculty member was the woman who teaches the section of World Geography that meets before my class.

I get to class early (because I have an irrational fear of being late...but that's a post for another day), so she was still in the room, getting her things together.

And she was staring at me.

A professor staring at you is always unnerving, so I started racking my brain, trying to figure out what I had done to this woman to make her stare at me. I couldn't think of anything.

She walks up the aisle to where I'm sitting--I mean, she's pushing in front of students, standing in the middle of my row.

She leans over and asks me, "Were you in that play?"

"Yes, ma'am, I was."

"You were the pot girl, weren't you?"

In my scene, my character has just smoked pot. That's pretty much what the whole scene is about.

"Um, yes, ma'am. That was me."

I told a few members of the cast this at the next performance, and they, naturally, got a kick out of it. And they started calling me Pot Girl. Some of them even addressed me that way on their notes to me at the end of the show.

Pot Girl was hardly the endearment that I'd expected to leave the show with, but I've decided to make the best of it. I'm even working on a superhero idea for Pot Girl. I'm seeing a green costume and flower pot shaped grenades.


see more puppies


Here's my scene. :) Ain't we cute?

Back in Business

Hey folks!

It's been a really long time (reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally long), but I'm back!

The show went well-- we finished up performances on Saturday. I'm trying to get used to having free time again. It's weird.

Apart from that, I'm trying (trying...XP) to do NaNoWriMo this year. I'm already way behind, but I'll catch up. Or not. I'll give it a go, anyway.

The semester is drawing to a close (which means that I will soon no longer have an 8 o'clock class--yay!).

Well, that's really all I have to say for now. I haven't been able to plan a post-- spending all of my time at the theater and all. But it shouldn't be too long before I have more interesting (or not) tidbits for you.

It's good to be back.

Post Drought

Well, just as I was starting to get back in the swing of posting, something new has come up. Because of conflicts (someone else's, not mine), I've been asked to play Jenny in a local production of Company.

This is good news for me.

It's not-so-good news for the blog.

For the next six weeks or so, my rehearsal schedule will be pretty heavy.

But fret not! I'll do all that I can to keep posting regularly. Sort of. Yeah.

I'll try to post some pictures and/or videos from the show as I get them, if any of you are interested.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you all fair warning.

Be good while I'm gone!

Musical Friday

So I'm toying with the idea of devoting every Friday's blog (or maybe every other Friday's blog... I haven't decided yet) to sharing videos from musicals. I'm going to do it today either way, but I would like to know what you guys ( all three or four of you) think about it.

This week I'm posting clips from two musicals (well, a musical and a review).

First: 1776.

1776 is a musical telling of the writing and ratifying of the Declaration on Independence.

Hefty subject for a musical, no?

It originally opened in 1969 and starred William Daniels (yes, Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World) as John Adams. A movie version was produced in 1972. And, in 1997, a revival opened starring Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek: TNG) as John Adams.

Here's my roommate's favorite number from it-- "The Lees of Old Virginia." Ben Franklin has tol John Adams that he should let someone else propose the idea of independence to the Congress. Richard Henry Lee volunteers.



The second musical is actually a review of Stephen Sondheim music called Putting it Together.

I just bought a copy of the DVD of this and I LOVE it.

The cast features George Hearn, John Barrowman, Bronson Pinchot, Ruthie Henshall and Carol Burnett.

Here's a video of Carol and Ruthie singing "Every Day a Little Death" from A Little Night Music.



Now, here's the part where you tell me what you think. Would you like to see more of these, or can you do without?

Comedy Tragedy

Most of you probably know that Estelle Getty of Golden Girls fame died back in July.

And if you don't...what's wrong with you?

Anyway, it's not been a great year for me so far as deaths of funny people go. I'm not talking about George Carlin or Bernie Mac. To me, the losses of Estelle Getty and Harvey Korman are two great blows to the comedic acting world.

Just take a look at some of what we lost.

August: Osage County

Well, not really.

My apologies for my lack of content lately--I moved back to school a couple of weeks ago, classes have started, so on so forth, busy busy.

So here's an update on what I've been up to while I've been...not updating this blog.

Like I said, I've moved in to my apartment (which I'm sharing with my darling roommate from last year--thank God we didn't kill each other last year). The place looks beautiful: in the mid-afternoon, the sun comes in through the curtains in the living room, and the whole front room of the apartment is gold. I pretty much love it.

My classes have started. My Spanish teacher is still waiting on her visa (which doesn't bode well for me, but whatever). The freshmen are all bigger than I am.

I have my first audition in a week. It's for The Sugar Bean Sisters, which I know nothing about, but that's half the fun, right?

And I've been writing lately. Some of you (well, only Colby, really) have asked what I'm working on. There's a short story contest with a deadline coming up in November; I've been pulling together something for that. And I've signed up for NaNoWriMo (I'm gonna die...). We'll see how all of that goes--I might post bits of the story here, after the deadline, of course.

So that's what I've been doing the past few weeks. What have you been up to?

I Return to Blogging

But not with one of the posts that I had planned.

I found out recently (just a few hours ago, as a matter of fact) that my favorite musical, Les Miserables was performed in concert at the Hollywood Bowl last night.

The cast included some of my favorites, most notably Brian Stokes Mitchell (who has one of the best baritone voices ever) as Javert, Lea Michelle (who was the original choice for this role in the revival) as Eponine, and John Lloyd Young (the tony winner from Jersey Boys-- I had the pleasure of seeing him as Frankie Valli... it kinda rocked) as Marius.

I've only seen a couple of videos from the concert-- I'm really hoping for a DVD version to be released.

Here's John Lloyd Young and Lea Michelle singing a wonderfully emotional version of "A Little Fall of Rain."

Enjoy!

Blog Envy

Last summer, while I was in Chicago, I saw the musical mentioned in yesterday's post (if you're reading my facebook feed, you'll have to go to my site to see the post I'm talking about).

A friend of mine from school saw the tour around the same time (er...maybe some time later... I don't know, I'm not always listening) and got to meet the cast.

I'm insanely envious, but that's not what this post is about.

Anyway, he became fans of the actors in that show. One of them has a blog...vlog...both...something.

I checked it out for the first time today. It pretty much rocks. Would that my blog was that cool.

If you're interested, here's the url for Andrew's blog: http://www.keenanblogger.blogspot.com/

Incidentally, it's Andrew's sister that I met after Les Mis. I think I mentioned that a couple of posts ago, too.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

So I had to go to the Strange Reunion today (I wish I was making this up), and I started thinking about things that are, well, strange.

One of the things that came to mind was one of the strangest and most clever things I've seen: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. If you aren't familiar with this, it's a musical that opened a few years ago that tells the story of.. a spelling bee. Kind of like the title would indicate. That sounds like it would be stupid and boring (or stupid AND boring), but it was probably one of the most enjoyable theatre experiences I've ever had. Here's a look at parts of it.

This is from the opening number on the closing night of the show. The quality's not so great, so I apologize for that. I didn't record this. Yay for YouTube.

And here's one of my favorite numbers from it: "The I Love You Song."





And this is "I'm Not That Smart"

Debate

So Patti LuPone won a Tony this year for her performance as Mama Rose in Gypsy. This musical has been revived more times than I think anyone can count.

And, as with any musical that has more than one vision, there's a debate as to who did the best job in the lead role.

I'm not going to ask people to dig through every bootleg video of this show, but I am curious as to what other people think or the two most recent revivals: the one starring Patti (obviously) and the one starring Bernadette Peters.

Here's Patti.


And here's Bernadette.


Let me know which you like more.

I asked my mom who she thought was better between Patti and Bernadette, and she gave me the completely unhelpful though not untrue answer of Ethel Merman.

Here's Ethel. :)

Tony Awards

The Tony Awards are tonight, so I thought I'd give you a glimpse of the winners of this decade. (Note that last year's winner, Spring Awakening, is already on here in another post.)

2000- Contact


2001-The Producers


2002-Thoroughly Modern Millie


2003-Hairspray


2004-Avenue Q


2005-Monty Python's Spamalot


2006-Jersey Boys

Only Six More Days...

...until this year's Tony Awards.

Here's a look at last year's winner for "Best Musical."

The 2007 Tony performance from Spring Awakening.

Noise

From the sound of it, they're doing touch-and-gos at the airport.

The screeching made me want to listen to arias, so now I share two musical-theatre-y (it's a technical term) arias with you.

"Glitter and Be Gay" from Candide sung by Kristin Chenoweth



"Green Finch and Linnet Bird" from Sweeney Todd sung by Celia Keenan-Bloger (An alto singing a soprano role. What can beat that?)



Enjoy.

The Tony Awards Are LessThan Two Weeks Away...

So I thought I'd post something from a little-known musical.

Cause that's how I am.

Tagged Again

My brother-in-law has once again tagged me in yet another Meme (I imagine this will get old before too long). The only people I know who have blogs have already been tagged, so I'm just going to fill out the thing, and if you want to take this and post it on your own blog, go for it.

So here goes....

1. I have bad luck with vending machines. Aside from the earlier post about the machine in my dorm being after my blood, I also have a hard time getting machines to accept the money I give them. I'm not just talking crumpled old dollar bills-- lately the machines won't even take change from me. I put a dollar in quarters in one of the machines and got back twenty nickels. The one in my dorm is still the worst. Every time I go to get a Dr Pepper, there's a chance that I might not make it back.

2. I love crime shows. I watched one episode of Law & Order because it had an actress I knew in it, and now I can't get enough. Well, at least, that the explanation of the recent trend in my television habits-- this probably dates back to all of the episodes of Matlock I used to watch while my mother took her afternoon naps. But seriously, any time that there's a Law & Order or Monk or Psych or Matlock marathon on, it's usually a pretty safe bet that I'm holed up somewhere with a bowl of popcorn and the lights off watching.

3. I have a tendency to ramble. A lot. It's usually worse when I'm tired or sick or both, but I'm one of the most skilled people I know when it comes to talking forever about nothing (though I'd say my big sister has me beat). And I talk in circles. It's like word salad-- like I'm two steps away from schizophrenia. It's a mark of how wonderful and devoted my friends are that they're able to follow me when I start talking nonsense.

4. When it comes to politics, liberals AND conservatives make me crazy. This is especially true during election years, like this one. Frankly, I don't care if you're way to the left. I don't care if you're way to the right. Both sides of the coin have reasonable points they've made; both sides have flaws. What bugs me is that people are so STUPID about it. There's no point in a conservative bashing a liberal candidate just because the candidate is liberal; there's no point in a liberal bashing a conservative candidate just because the candidate is conservative. Different people have different opinions. Suck it up and GET OVER IT.

5. I can't eat during hour and a half before a performance. It didn't bother me before, but in the past couple of years, I've found that, if I eat less than half an hour before a performance or call for a performance, theatre or otherwise, I get sick. All I can assume is that it's nerves, but it makes for some long, hungry nights when I have a 5 o'clock call for a show that runs until nearly 10.

6. I am a wealth of musical theatre knowledge. This comes as no surprise to anyone who has spent any considerable amount of time with me. I saw my first professional musical (a touring production of Les Miserables) when I was 8 years one, and ever since, I've been quite a fan of the art of musical theatre. I can name Tony winners for the past several years, obscure musicals and quite a number of theatre actors. The Tony Awards are to me what the Oscars are to my peers. Yes, I realize that makes me a nerd. But I'm okay with that.

So there again, Josh. You can feel like you've fulfilled your Meme obligation. Next time, tag someone else. XP

For Your Friday

I've only recently been informed about being "Rickrolled" (I live under a rock as far as pop culture is concerned, apparently).

But, if you're into that Rick Astley video (or if you just want a laugh), you should really check out the Pop Up Video version of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOU8GIRUd_g


Or, if you'd rather just hear something pretty, here's a video of my favorite song from Mack and Mabel.

"I Won't Send Roses"




Happy Friday.