Lestat- the Undead is Dead

I haven't had a chance to write about it, but the big new musical Lestat, written by Elton John has already called it quits. After only a month of performances, Lestat closed its doors on May 28. That makes it the third vampire musical in the last three years to close in less than a month and a half of performances. They must suck the life out of their audiences or make the public batty or drive a steak through the heart of musical lovers- no don't stop me, I can go on forever- better yet, maybe I will stop... nothing like too many lifeless puns. Hopefully though, composers have now learned to keep that coffin lid shut. Ok, I had to get one more in.

Whew!

Can you tell that school is almost out? Frenzy, chaos and the ultimate sense that we could suddenly and tragically fall off the end of the earth with out warning. All of that and a big show right in the middle, not to mention more sets, costumes and props to move than I have space to move it to.

Conflicts

I have come to realize, the larger the cast, the larger the conlficts. You my be saying, "duh?" But really, it is so much harder to do large production numbers. I have decided that if we ever have another cast as large (and if I do, knock some sense into me), that we are going to go into quaritine during the production of that show. Meals will be provided as well as exercise, entertainment and clothing- yes, we will all wear matching jumpsuits, but being the show people that I know you are, each person will have their own bedazzle kit to enhance theirs. That way, no conflicts, no problems with working with schedules or anything- well maybe the bedazzled jumpsuits will give some people 80's flashbacks. But for real, time is ticking- it's time to get tough and say too bad, we can't wait on you. Wonder how many mommys will call me now?

It's Been a While

Haven't had much time lately to visit, but here goes the last few days:

Been packing up at MMS ready for the move to FHS. I've got lots of stuff, more than I realized- where to put it all? Praise the heavens for plastic storage boxes, I'm a big nerd when it comes to those things. I should get a discount because I buy them in bulk.

I saw two plays this week. One very good and entertaining, but not at all what I had invisioned. That is my problem when it comes to a show I am familiar with the cast album. I get pictures in my head of how the show is supposed to look and feel and when it doesn't I get a bit disappointed. It's not that the show was not good, it's just it didn't happen the way I had planned. That sounds egotistical and I don't mean for it too, I was entertained. The other show... have mercy... it was the first show I have ever left at intermission. I was so bored and not because some claim that I have ADD. The pace was slow and the scenery was a non exhisiting study type room and the accents were terrible. There were two entertaining things about it though, the person sitting to my right had long dangling earrings on and everytime she moved her head, which was always at a quiet moment, I could hear a tinkle. It sounded like on of those rain sticks that you used to find a booth in a flea market run by hippies. It made me laugh and I shouldn't have been laughing when I did. It was like the giggles in church. Then to beat it all, an older gentleman in the row behind me fell asleep and began to snore. I had to squeeze my eyes together and hold my breath. It is a wonder I didn't snort because the giggles were slipping from the corners of my ever so tight lips. I went outside to stretch at intermission and never went back in. Then later that night, I had an absolutely perfect moment, which I did not appreciate or take time to enjoy because I do have ADD. Maybe someday I'll learn.

Rehearsals are coming along, but now is when we start losing so many people due to summer vacations. One month from now we will be running tech. Note to self, refill nexium prescription.

Saturday night I went to Steve and Karen's wedding for the second time (they renewed their vows). It was very nice. It was one of those moments that when you left, your heart was really full and you hope you are so lucky, no a better way to put it is blessed, to have an experience with someone in a manner such as theirs.

Happy 25!

Happy 25th anniversary Steve & Karen!!!!! Wow! Do you know how much has happened in the past twenty five years? Let's just think about what was going on 25 years ago:

Ronald Reagan becomes president of the US.

Minutes after Ronald Reagan becomes president, Iran releases 52 American hostages that had been held captive for 444 days.

President Reagan is shot in the chest by would be assassin John Hinkley.

Space shuttle Columbia, the world's first reusable spacecraft, is sent into space.

President Reagan appoints Sandra Day O'Connor to be the first woman on the Supreme Court.

The Pac-Man video game is introduced in the US.

Alicia Keys, Elijah Wood, Kelly Rowland, Anna Kournikova, and Britney Spears are born.

Los Angeles Dodgers win the World SeriesOakland Raiders win Superbowl XVNew York Islanders win the Stanley Cup.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is the top grossing film.

"Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes spends the most time at the top of the US charts.

MTV debuts on cable television, playing music videos 24 hours a day.

Gimme a Break premieres on NBC with Nell Carter.

You may wonder why I don't have picture of the two of them. Well, the reason being is this photo was taken before the wedding, you know when the bride and groom are seperated and not seeing one another. Anyway, Happy-Happy-Day!!!

Blocking Beauty

Last night we finally began the actual stagework for B & B. I only had a few people there, but we got a lot accomplished. The entire first act is blocked minus two small scenes that we will make up for tonight. Amazing when you have smart people to work with. I almost think we could start doing two shows in the summer. You know that whole summer stock routine where you rehearse one show earlier in the day while doing another show at night. Just kidding- don't panic, you guys. At least we won't do that until we start getting paid. By then I'll have to direct holding on to my walker and hope my plastice hip doesn't give out.

Relay for Life

Some of the singers from the donner show sang under th big tent at Relay for Life Friday night. The microphone was very pingy. When you said anything that began with an "f" sound it came across the mic as a "s" sound. I had several people, that I didn't even know was there, comment on how fun it was. As loud as the PA system was, they were probably at hot spot and still heard us.

Frustration is My Middle Name

It is a terrible let down when the hustle of a show is done. Even though the exhaustion is heavy, the needing to be somewhere getting something done is satifying- so when it is gone, it hurts... big time. I swore that I would not darken the door of school or the stage to work this weekend and I had made plans to assure myself of that- I was going to make myself relax and enjoy my company without anything to preoccupy my brain, which hasn't happend in several weeks. Lately, I have been places that should have been lots of fun, and they were, but in the back of my brain while I was eating cake I was making out my list for the following days. Ahhhh, for an entire weekend I didn't have to do that- I could just live in the moment and enjoy it. Well anyway, plans fell through so I made other plans then those fell through and everyone else was busy to fill in so what did I do? Yep, went to the stage and started pulling cords and tearing down scenery. I can't sit and do nothing- especially when I want to be doing something fun so badly and I can only watch so many episodes of American Idol Extra (You know Ty Treadway, it isn't as earth shattering as you make it sound that another Idol contestant is going home and who cares if you are having "the worlds first concentrated, in-depth interview" with the idol that just go the boot Geeez! It's a talent show contestant, not a leader of a super world power nation.) I can't begin B & B work until I get all of The Wiz packed and put away. I am also going to be moving stuff out of MMS to FHS in the middle of all of that. One would think I have plenty to do, and I do, I just needed that little bit of fun to give me a boost of energy. Right now I am frustrated because I can't seem to get my head focused on any of it.

Wiz Photos

Here are some of the photos from The Wiz. Some are publicity shots, some are dress rehearsal and some are actual show photos. You can alos go to the MMS/FHS Drama webpage and click on "scrapbook" to see pictures from the entire year or the past eight years. Enjoy!

So Proud Am I?

Yea, those drama kids are reeeeeaaaaaaallllllll classy!

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Yet another show is done (and done well by a great group of performers)- after a weekend of playtime, B & B watch out on Monday!

Gaston... in Purple Bellbottoms?

It was just announced that Donny Osmond will play a limited engagement as Gaston in the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast. Watch out Everett!

As cheesy as that sounds, I have to admit that I love the old Donny and Marie Show from the 1970's. To my thrill, they are going to be released on dvd this summer. I feel a marathon coming on. Can't we just be the type of friends that hang out and... watch old Donny and Marie re-runs?

Tarzan Not Swinging So Well

The newest Disney Broadway musical Tarzan is being ripped to shreads by critics. Not only that, but the only Tony nomination it received was for the lighting design. I thought with Bob Crowley designing, it would be a visual feast, but from what I've read his directing can't come close to mediocre. It is interesting how some creative people can only function in one form of creativity and find it difficult to branch out into a different medium, but yet the same creative form. I just read an interesting article titled "What Went Wrong with Tarzan?" I posted it below. It suggests that the material is what went sour, but rather the creative team. I remember seeing a production of The Scarlett Pimpernel and thinking how great it was. That production, however, was the third rendition with a third director of the same material. The first two directors never found their vision, but the last had finally created a fun, fast paced interesting show. The bad part is, by the time the third good version arived on Broadway, the public was so disgrunted by the other two bad shows which proceeded it, that they automatically dismissed it before giving it a chance. You can have a million perfect notes in a show, but if you squeak once- the audience will remember that squeak more than those million perfect notes- audiences are very ready to have a good time, but they are not very forgiving. That is why I surround my self with capable people. One of my acting professors told me once I was very shrewd in the sense that I knew who to hang around with and who to get involved. I also like to think I know who is fun- that's the most important. Below is the Tarzan article.

The fact that Disney's Tarzan opened on Broadway to largely terrible reviews last week can't have been a huge surprise to anyone who'd been listening to word of mouth (not to mention word of internet) about the show. But what really made me despair about the production even before I saw it was an article by Robert Feldberg that appeared in the Bergen Record on Sunday, May 7.
According to Feldberg, a major question for director Bob Crowley, composer-lyricist Phil Collins, and librettist David Henry Hwang in putting Tarzan together was "how to present the title character, whose image as a primal macho man is so deeply embedded in our culture. Would he, for example, sing? 'We discussed it for a long time,' said [Crowley], who is staging his first Broadway show -- one of a number of risks Disney is taking. 'A singing Tarzan -- it seemed rather weird. He doesn't sing in the [Disney cartoon] film." But "Crowley and his colleagues realized it would be hard not to have the lead character in a musical express himself in song, and they finally hit on what seemed a good solution. 'He sings about his feelings, what he isn't able to say,' said Crowley. 'I think the character gains real emotional depth.' "
Of course, this brainstorm is no brainstorm at all; the vast majority of all the songs ever written for musicals are about the characters' feelings. Confusion on this matter, not to mention everything else that's wrong with Tarzan, might well have been avoided if Disney had chosen a different creative team. Crowley has made a great name for himself as a set and costume designer but has never before directed a show. Hwang's play M. Butterfly is excellent, but his musical theater work thus far -- the libretto for Aida and that rewrite of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song -- has been, shall we say, less than excellent.
As for Phil Collins, his credentials as a pop singer-songwriter are beyond reproach but his knowledge of musical theater is spotty at best, as proven by a comment he made about his Tarzan score in the Bergen Record interview: "I didn't want to do the heavy vibrato, Ethel Merman kind of song. That's the cliché of Broadway. I saw Idina Menzel in Wicked singing 'The Wizard and I.' That had a kind of pop sensibility, and it showed me that it could be done." Note to Collins: The kind of sound you're talking about has been a part of Broadway at least since Hair in the late 1960s and has become more and more prevalent in the intervening 40 years. Further note to Collins: Denigrate Ethel Merman and the traditional Broadway sound at your own risk! Who do you think you are? Simon Cowell?
That Crowley and Collins have stumbled in their Tarzan assignments is certainly not to say that talented people shouldn't be allowed to grow and challenge themselves; but when artists branch out into different fields, they need strong support. I've often criticized the most recent Broadway production of Cabaret, but at least the Roundabout Theatre Company had the wisdom to tap musical theater veteran Rob Marshall as co-director and choreographer of the show, which would surely have been far less successful if Marshall hadn't lent a helping hand to out-of-his-element director Sam Mendes. There's a lesson to be learned here, and it's really too bad that it wasn't applied to Tarzan.

One Down, One to Go

We opened The Wiz last night with a great show. The actors were good, the crowd was good and everyone had fun. It is always a relief to get the first show done and everything work well. At the same time, my nerves get a little more buzzed when you've had one good show and you want another so that the audience can have as good an experience. I think the kids are up to it. The stage crew, however, is nothing but a bunch of loser drunks. Geez! Where do I find theses people?!?!

Poppy or What?

I think one of the "freaks" from Oz has escaped a little early!

Ease on Down to Opening Night

After months of planning and weeks of rehearsal, not to mention nights of no sleep and tired muscles, The Wiz opens tonight! It is going to be great fun. The silver shoes are polished, the Scarecrow stuffed, the Tinman good and rusty, and the Lion permed- not to mention Toto's rhinestone encrusted water dish filled. Yea, now I remember why I do this. Break a leg, gang!!!

Heeee's the Wiiiizzzzzz

Last night was the first dress rehearsal for The Wiz. Things went well, in terms of a first dress rehearsal. The kids are doing a great job and we only have a bit of cleaning up to do before we are ready to fly.
What is it about putting a costume that makes people ham it up so? Great fun!

Tony Time

Nominees were announced this morning for the 60th annual Tony awards to be aired on CBS on June 11th. The Color Purple and The Wedding Singer (surprised?) cleaned up pretty good. Lestat and Tarzan got zipo other than lighting design by Natasha Katz for Tarzan. Here is the entire list of nominees.

Celebrations, Cuts & Cake

You'll be very happy to know that I celebrated my "milestone" last night. Nothing big, just simple, fun and very pleasant. Actually, it was so good I'm going to have to think of other moments to be declared "milestones" so I can celebrate them as well. Ishould be very ready for B & B rehearsals to resume. As for The Wiz, we tightened some things up today which included cutting two small scenes. They really weren't crutial to the main story and it felt as if those scenes were slowing down the action. We were able to cut another ten minutes off of the pace of the show, before we even cut those scenes. Everything is up and ready to be costumed now- that's when everything falls apart again. But alas, the show does go on! By the way, thanks to Betsey for giving us the top front page of the Macon News in color! Big weekend ahead- setting lights, sorting props and finalizing sets- plus another wedding to go to. Where will I find the time? I'll make time for dancing and cake. Ah, the excitement of showtime!!!

Tarzan Video

Here is some cool video from the opening night of Tarzan on Broadway. Check it out!

Milestones

Today I have reached a milestone in my life (at least if everything is the way I think it is this morning, I have). It is a moment that most people would go "good grief" to, but not me. There are several things that I aspire to in life, things that most people take for granted, and to go to a place that I have never been in regards to one of those aspirations is a big deal for me. I'm not going to say what it is, because all of you will make fun of me. All I can say is that as insignificant as it might be in the eyes of others, it is the most significant to me- especially knowing how long it has taken me to get there. Good day- I shall celebrate!

Going in Circles

I'm in a funk right now. I have clothes to pull, things to hot glue and two styrofoam trees waiting on me outside to be painted... and what am I doing? Going around in circles, constantly getting side tracked with another list. Earlier today I got a sudden burst of creative energy and focused it in the wrong place saying crackpot things faster than I realized I was saying them. Boy, I was in a mood. Hopefully I'm known better by someone to realize I was being serious. I was a massive heap of giddy insults- whew! And now, my trees still wait. It is a strange thing to be working on one show while another one is running through your brain. I have to stop and write down my ideas or draw a picture so I don't lose those thoughts. I guess it is my own little form of being bi-polar. Did I mention I am starving too. I've been skipping lunch in favor of working then getting something to eat after school that fills in the space of both lunch and dinner. Anyway, while I think about how hungry I am my trees are not painting themselves.

On a better note, B & B scripts came today!!!!!

Disney is Up!

Everyone will be happy to know that Disney is on its way up. After a stretch of dwindling theme park attendance and poor box office returns, Disney is showing sign of a turn around. Maybe they just heard I was coming back soon. That's enough to thrill anyone- no wonder theme park attendance is climbing!

Tarzan Swings onto Broadway

Disney's newest musical Tarzan opens tonight on Broadway. Based on the film, with songs written by Phil Collins, the new musical is claiming to be unlike anything ever seen. How are they going to do the gorillas and other animals without looking like the Lion King? Producers have said they have done it, and done it well. Collins wrote nine new songs for the production which is directed and designed by Bob Crowley (the genius who designed the amazing sets and costumes for Aida). From what I've read, most of the show takes place in the air. Can't wait to see it or hear the new cast album. Check out the official Tarzan the musical web site. Also, here is an interesting interview with Phil Collins from Broadway.com about the show and how it was conceived and then put into production.

Ease on Down the Road

We had a good rehearsal for The Wiz Monday night. Most of my panic, performance wise, eased up a bit. The kids were great to come on their free night. I love dedicated people willing to do their best in order to look their best. Of course, free food probably didn't hurt either.

This morning we took some publicity photos for the newspaper. The costumes are just rough examples of what they are going to be, but in a newspaper photo, not much will show up anyway. Samuel, Whitney, Paul, Jarrod and the unnamed dog are going to be great. One week from tomorrow!

Do's and Don'ts

I have decided there are only two types of people in the world- those who do (in other words the real go getters) and those who don't (the dead beats). There are no in betweens. You are either so on fire (the do's) for what you are doing that the only reason you stop is so you won't die from starvation of fatigue or you (the don'ts) just never get off of your lazy rear end and therefore suck the living life out of those who are killing themselves to make the world easier for you to live in. What is the reason for being a "do" rather than a "don't". Stuborn pride in yourself- pride isn't always a bad thing.

Back to Reality

I had a wonderful weekend out of town for the past few days. Lots of food fun and incriminating photos. Ha! Now it is time to get my rear in gear and get The Wiz done. We have one week till dress rehearsal and ten days till show time. In terms of how far behind I am, let's put it this way: If this were a trip to the moon, I wouldn't even have my seat belt strapped on in the rocket. Don't worry- it will get done. Like anybody would worry? I may be really grouchy, unpleasant and even a little irritating- I know this seems impossible, but it is true. For the most part, I am looking forward to the actual show. It is just going to take some time to get everything ready- time I don't have, but will find. Tomorrow is newspaper picture day, so I at least have to have enough for a good photo. Toto is being groomed at this moment. I imagine he will be the most tempermental actor demanding this and that and yapping like the "special" poodle that he is until he gets it. Whew! Divas!

Knight Rider vs. Peter Pan

Book your plane tickets NOW! I just read that David Hasselhoff will be staring as Captain Hook in a London production of Peter Pan this December. We all know what a great Jekyll/Hyde he was in the Broadway production of Jekyll & Hyde. I can only imagine, but don't want to.

Speedy

Do we need to explain what this sign means?

Rehearsals Begin

Tonight is rehearsal number one for Beauty and the Beast. I'm excited, nervous, and tired. Tired from all the work on The Wiz, but happy that we are getting so much done. This show (The Wiz) is fast approaching and things are coming along, very slowly at times, but still coming along. We have had the usual several people drop out of B & B. Amazing how a person is free as everything with out any conflicts and then when the cast list comes out and they haven't gotten the part they wanted, suddenly the calendar is filled and they drop out. Oh, well- fewer costumes and more space backstage. We have lost seven, but expect a few more. At the same time, we have gained four new actors. Here we go!!! Fun, fun, Fun!!!