Kyle Time

Getting Our Paddles Ready!

2012-01-28T20:54:00.001-05:00

A Longer Canoe Trip!

2011-10-15T17:56:00.003-04:00

A lot has been brewing since my last post about our Summer Music presentation of Making Love in a Canoe.

First, the show went great: we had an enthusiastic, sold-out crowd; our guests were fantastic; and Adam and I really felt positive about the whole night (which is saying something as we are both experts in self-criticism). It was an honour to be included in the Summer Music line-up and it was a real blast.

Since then, the show has been picked up for a two-week run in Regina!

In January.

Perhaps not the ideal time to hit the prairies, however it's a great opportunity lovingly provided by The Golden Apple Theatre. We're extremely excited to be able to present the show in a theatrical run and see what that teaches us. Sharron Matthews (whose own cabarets have had extended runs around the globe - she's fancy like that) told me that you think you know your show, but after you do a real run like that you know your show. So I think it'll be a very positive thing for Adam and I as artists, as well as for the show itself.

Finally, as if I wasn't already excited enough about the rest, Adam and I are making a Canoe album! We have already had a rehearsal session with John Loach (an engineer in Toronto) and are doing our first recording session at the end of this month. A lot of wheels are turning in order to make this all happen with the hope that the album will be released in tandem with our Regina run.

However, an album is not the easiest thing to finance, so we have created a project page on a crowd-funding website called Rocket Hub. If you click on this link, you can see what crowd-funding is all about and how you can invest in our album. Also on the page is a video of me explaining the project, and details on the awesome rewards you'll get because of your investment. It's definitely worth checking out.

So far we have fund-raised 67% of our goal. Can you believe it? We only launched the page a week ago. Insanity. It is, of course, due to the generosity and kindness of many people, namely:

Ken Golemba, Kyle Blair, Andorlie Hillstrom, Robert Ursan, Annie White, Ruth Korchinski, Peter da Costa, Stephen Greig, Terri Lemire-Wilson, Rachel Crowther, Steve Ross, Cathy Mackinnon, Heather Seip, Thomas White, Krista Leis, Stephanie Ramphos Galpern, and Mike Nadajewski.

They are superstars and heroes! But we're not there yet, so we would love it if you could take a moment to check out our page and consider an investment. Even $5 will take us one step closer to our dream of having Making Love in a Canoe available to the (smallish) masses!

Looking back on where we started five years ago, I don't know that we could ever have imagined all of this happening. It's pretty special to stand back and see that and know how many people have supported us along the way. Humbling and wonderful.

A Canoe Above the Rest

2011-07-26T12:15:00.005-04:00

(photo credit: max b telzerow)

Yes, you're seeing it: Adam and yours truly on the canoe that rests on a hill above the Gardiner! Our friends Max and Bryce ventured with us out onto the bluff in Toronto to get some promo shots for our upcoming performance of Making Love in a Canoe in Stratford. Bryce was precariously positioned holding a lighting umbrella and hoping not to get carried away by the wind while Max tried to time everything to get the perfect shot. Luckily, he got a few!

The cabaret is fast approaching - August 13! - and nearly everything is in place for a great show. Adam and I had a run through yesterday and it's feeling like it'll be a fun, entertaining evening. Plus we have three fantastic guests who are each going to add their own sparkle: Bruce Dow; Chilina Kennedy; and Monique Lund. How lucky am I?

So if you want to come (and who wouldn't?), you can sign up on our facebook event page: http://t.co/hBFymwp.

The show starts at 11:30 pm on the 13th at the Church Restaurant. Tickets are $35 or they have a $75 dinner/show deal...and if you've ever been to the Church, you know that's worth it. You can book your tickets by calling the Church at 519-273-3424.

OR you can enter our contest to win two tickets! The contest goes like this: if you can name ten Canadian images within the photo above, you will get your name in a draw for two tickets to see the show. Just send a message to info@stratfordsummermusic.ca with your ten answers and make a wish on your copy of Anne of Green Gables that you'll win. Contestants will be entered in a draw. And hey, if you don't clearly see ten items, creative answers might win you the extra points needed to make it into the draw! The contest winners will be chosen and contacted by Friday, August 12.

So buy your tickets or enter the contest and come on out for an evening of great Canadian music and laughs!

Aggregation Magazine

2011-05-04T23:15:00.002-04:00

This is about a week late, but I'm very excited to announce that I am a contributor to a new magazine!

Aggregation is an online 'zine out of Toronto that just started up in the last few months. Each issue has five contributors who each provide a topic of conversation and five links that flesh out the issue for the reader. (An "aggregation" of ideas, as it were.)

My contribution to this latest issue (#6) is about the current state of migrant workers in Canada. The topic was inspired by our research for The Grapes of Wrath here in Stratford. We spent a bit of time talking about the Dust Bowl in the 30s, as well as the conditions for migrants today. As I talk about in my article, a group of representatives from the United Food & Commercial Workers union came to talk with us about their experiences helping out workers from outside of Canada and that prompted me to choose this topic for the magazine.

So, please check out this great mag and pass the link on to friends if you're so inclined.

Cheers!

Memories of a Class Act

2011-03-29T22:24:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago, there was a terrible fire in Regina that burned down Class Act Studios. Class Act houses Do It With Class (DIWC), the performance company that I was a part of for eight years. While I didn't grow up at the studio in the Warehouse District, the company and its teachers were the biggest influence on me growing up. Not to mention the other students they raised, actors like Paul Nolan, Matt Alfano, Sabryn and Peyson Rock, Jeff Irving, Jacqueline Burtney, and the list goes on....

My roommate Jacqueline (the daughter of Class Act founder Andorlie Hillstrom) organized a very successful fundraiser in Toronto last week and had asked me to share a few stories of mine for that event. I came up with a good handful, so I thought I'd share them here. Do It With Class was an amazing safe haven for me growing up and I have a lot of amazing memories from those years. In no real order and with not much flourish, here they are....

When DIWC first started, we rehearsed in a church. A bunch of us didn't have to be in rehearsal for a while so we were hanging out in the basement and someone got the bright idea to play spin the bottle. We did so and as we were kissing (I was 10 at the time!), one of the old church ladies walked by and we got a HUUUUGE talking to from Andorlie and basically were threatened that we might lose our rehearsal space. Being a bunch of kids with no real concept of what we were doing 90% of the time, the "you kids need to know" speeches became something of a constant over my years with Andorlie.

When we were doing The Boyfriend, Rob (the Music Director) was trying to teach us how to say "can't" with an English dialect: "cahnt". But to get us to say it with him, he started to really emphasize it so that it elongated...it went from "cahnt", to "cahhh-unt", to "caaaahhhh-unt", to, essentially, well...something I don't feel right printing in this blog. My friend Sabryn and I laughed so hard that we almost got kicked out of class. Another not-so-rare occurrence in my years there.

One of my favourite things about the old days was carolling through the malls to fundraise for the company. Eventually, groups of us would end up carolling on our own, walking from house to house, spreading cheer...and singing Rob's holiday-neutral "Winter Carol" for the three Jewish families we knew in Regina.

No matter what show I do, I can always spot Rob and Andorlie's distinctive laughs when they attend and it always reminds me of us doing the shows in Darke Hall.

Ana, our ballet teacher, turning up the heat in the studio to 25 degrees because we weren't working hard enough. She would make us sweat if we wouldn't doing so of our own volition.

There was a class once in which a girl could not get the petit allegro combination. Ana made us do it over and over again, until I had to leave to take my inhaler, at which point Ana stopped the music, looked at her and said "See? You're so bad, you almost killed Kyle."

The old days where we were threatened to not touch our hair on stage. If we did, Tracey (the company's original choreographer) would come and do our hair for the next performance...painful and terrifying.
One time in City of Angels, the Angel City Four were behind a piano about to pop up for a song. It was closing (I think?!) and we had fashioned little angel halos out of wire and tin foil. We were about to put them on until Jane Ursan (playing bass) saw us and basically threatened us non-verbally that our lives would end at the hands of Rob if we were to put them on. We didn't.
Nathalia (another ballet teacher) marching past us doing barre with a knitting needle. If we weren't properly pulled up, we'd get a little poke. I still fear that needle today.

These are just a few of the fond, bizarre, and laugh-inducing memories I have of the studio. Andorlie, Rob, and Ana are still a part of my life and I love them all dearly. The studio is on its way to rebuilding itself for next year (in fact, they've already gone ahead with other productions planned for this current season!) and I know they will continue to train, inspire, and shape kids in Regina for years to come.

Before I leave this blog, one last bit.... Jacqueline and I were having dinner the other night, reminiscing about the past when this little conversation popped up:

JACQ: I remember that you were the only person ever allowed to nap in rehearsals for recital.

ME: I don't remember that.

JACQ: That's 'cause you were napping.

It made me laugh, so I thought I'd tag that on.

I raise a glass to Do It With Class!

Puppies for Dummies...Named Kyle

2011-01-07T22:12:00.003-05:00

I haven't written a blog in a while, but it's mainly due to the fact that I have been so busy training my new PUPPY!!!

I must say that it's actually going pretty well. The first few days were absolutely a lesson in patience for me, but eventually I started to adjust to Gypsy's pace. Part of the problem is that she's so sweet, good-natured, and acclimating so well that I forget I've only had her for a week! I forget that she is just a puppy and is adjusting to this crazy new world that surrounds her.

The other problem is that I have done so much reading that I know a lot of the theory and practice of dog training, but I think it'll go as easily as described in the books. Not so, my friends. Once again, Gypsy teaches me patience.

The thing I keep reminding myself is from Puppies for Dummies: the puppy is never at fault. Whenever something happens, look to what you, the human, are doing or how you have trained her that is causing the event to happen.

For instance, she has been nipping like crazy lately. I remembered that I needed to look to myself, so I re-read the section on nipping in the book and now have a new plan of attack. It remains to be seen how well it'll go, but it's in place none the less.

The other great thing about raising my puppy is my partner's support. He has been very good at reminding me of Gypsy's age, my own type-A perfectionism, and also that I am doing my best. He's a keeper too.

All in all, the first week has been frustrating, fun, exciting, terrifying, and filled with more love than I can handle. I'm learning many lessons and growing alongside my furry new friend.

Something I read in one of my books or blogs is what I choose to close this puppy blog with: you don't alway get the dog you want, but you always get the dog you need.

As They Shouted Out With Gleeks!

2010-12-18T16:59:00.004-05:00

For the many youthful fans of Glee, kids who love to sing, and the promotion of the arts in our schools, a new organization has been created. Show Choir Canada has just launched its brand-new website this week, revealing to the world its audacious, amazing mission:

Pretty exciting stuff.

Even more exciting (for me) is that I get to be one of the official Guest Bloggers on the website. A few times a month, I'll be blogging about my experiences as a performer and - if things go as planned - answering questions from kids about anything they might be interested in. The idea is to create a virtual forum/talk-back in which aspiring youth can find out about the business from working professionals.

The other bloggers include: George Randolph, co-creator of SCC and founder of RAPA; Elena Juatco, Jessie Award-winning actress; Stephen Greig, agent and choreographer; and Alana Randall, currently seen on the CW's Hellcats.

I really hope that this will encourage a serious spike in the arts in our schools and blossom into something terrific. If you know an educator or a kid who would be into this, direct them to the website. There's information on almost anything someone would need to know to get a glee club up and running.

Once the blogs have gotten responses, I'll post my entries on here as well. Hopefully there'll be some fun questions to answer and ideas to explore!

Bark Out, Louise!

2010-12-12T01:32:00.004-05:00

I am getting closer and closer to picking up my sweet puppy, Gypsy. I had miscalculated her age (ladies are tricky that way); therefore, I'm not bringing her home until just before New Year's.

Luckily, it's giving me tons of time to puppy-proof my house, read up on training, and ensure that I have all of the essentials. And, in the meantime, her breeder is sending me lots of pictures to keep me in on her growth. Here are two of her more recent headshots, at three and four weeks, respectively:

Couldn't you die? I mean, honestly.

Apparently, she's doing very well. She's very sweet, loves cuddling, and has been doing well with eating solids. Also, she's now walking quite effectively without - and I quote from the breeder - tipping. So you know what that means? As soon as she could walk, she was tipping!!! She really is a gypsy. (In one of her earlier photos, I swear she's beveling.)

As the days get smaller and smaller until her arrival, my anxiety about parenthood gets larger and larger. I know I'm doing everything properly, but I still feel like I'll be at a loss once she's here. It reminds me a lot of when my siblings had kids. But I'm sure I'll be fine.

Until then, I get to continue reading for, stressing over, and dreaming about my little Gypsy.

Christmas Ideas

2010-12-09T16:54:00.006-05:00

If anyone's looking for a gift idea for me (and I don't know why anyone reading this would be), I'm just throwing it out there that this T-shirt would make an excellent gift:

Sometimes when I'm working on Hysterium (my understudy in ...Forum), I feel a little bit like Jessie Spano. Remember that classic episode of Saved By the Bell?

It's amazing that a twenty-one second moment from a 90s Saturday morning sitcom has lived on in our hearts for so long.

All the more reason it should continue its immortality in T-shirt form.

On me.

Size small.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Xmas

2010-12-05T11:54:00.002-05:00

Today was the first beautiful December day: snow falling, glasses fogging, nose freezing. In honour of the awesome approach to Christmas, I thought I'd share a favourite holiday post from last year....

I was listening to the holiday radio station today and found a strong dislike for what is clearly the most annoying/disturbing Christmas song ever:

"I Saw Mommy Kissin' Santa Claus".

I saw Mommy kissin' Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe last night.

Here's the deal. From an adult's perspective, one could feasibly see why it's cute. A kid sees Mommy getting frisky with St. Nick late at night, unaware that it's actually his dad. Aww.

Although, one must ask: if the kid's asleep, why is Daddy bothering to dress up anyway? If you ask me, Mommy's obviously got a little fat-suit fetish, bordering on plushophilia.

Or maybe Mommy's a feeder! It's late, Johnny's sleeping; what better way to enjoy the quiet than get Daddy all plumped up with the cookies and milk left out for Santa, not to mention more than Rudolph's fair share of carrots?

No matter what way you look at it, there is some definite role-play going on.

She didn't see me creep down the stairs to have a peep;
She thought that I was tucked up in my bedroom fast asleep.

Where he should be! Clearly this child has the makings of a teenage runaway/hoodlum. At the tender age of eight or nine, he's already creeping around peep-less while Mommy thinks he's snuggled up in bed dreaming of getting a Ninja Turtles board game in the morning that he already knows about because - surprise! - while Mommy was taking Patches for a walk, the little bugger went ahead and carefully pried open the tape at the end of his present so that he could see what was inside.

Brat.

Then, I saw Mommy tickle Santa Claus underneath his beard so snowy white.

At this point, no matter how old the kid is, he must think this is kind of weird. It wasn't just one shy kiss, it's now progressed to tickling, which will probably lead to a massage, which...you get the point. At any rate, is the kid not thinking "ew, gross"? Kids don't even like to see their actual parents be affectionate; why is the kid happy Mommy is seducing Santa?

Oh what a laugh it would have been if Daddy had only seen Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night.

Yes, what a laugh. Imagine the hilarity: Daddy goes to check on Johnny fast asleep, only to realize he's flown the coop. Walking downstairs to see if Johnny's getting a glass of water, he stumbles upon his wife swapping spit with a balding, apple-cheeked, portly, 400-year-old, former Turkish bishop.

Upon realizing they're being watched, Santa splits up the chimney, immediately followed by a bright red nose passing the window as the sleigh jerks into the sky. Mommy's protesting violently, "It only happened this once!" She gets into her car, crashing into the tree stump at the end of the drive, protesting all the way, only to have texts surfacing days later. ("I will wear you out...when was the last time you had gingerbread?")

Fast forward to years later, Mommy and Daddy are divorced. Knowing Johnny, he's probably thinking this hypothetical sitch is still a "laugh". Well, guess what kiddo? You can't even have the fun of being a child of divorce. There's no playing your parents against each other for better gifts when your dad won't even let the word Christmas be uttered in his presence (although he has no problem with ho, ho, ho).

All this weird fascination with watching Mommy and Santa get it on has just landed you years of therapy, cut your presents in half, and left you living half the year in a frozen wasteland with only a few measly elves as friends.

Still think it's a laugh Johnny?

Auto-Correct

2010-11-30T14:49:00.003-05:00

I am obsessed with the website Damn You Auto-Correct.

Basically, it is a collection of screen captures of funny text messages that have been unfortunately auto-corrected. It's worth a good look.

Here are three of my faves:

Kyle's Satisfactory Trajectory

2010-11-29T02:40:00.001-05:00

A little preview of Making Love in a Canoe!

This is a song that Nancy White wrote for my cabaret all about me quitting Starbucks to go do The Music Man at Stratford.

It was filmed last year at Stratford Summer Music, when I performed in Bruce Dow Presents the Future Generation of Cabaret Stars and I'll be doing it again next year as part of my own show!

Buckle up!

Here She is Boys! Here She is World!

2010-11-29T01:40:00.004-05:00

As I've written about already, I am getting a puppy. If all goes well, I should be bringing her home to stay in about three weeks. I have now entered complete craziness for puppies; my fauxvaries react every time I'm within six feet of a dog. It is insane.

Initially, I was supposed to be getting the lone male of the litter, a sweet little guy I was going to name Wick (for a variety of reasons). But, unfortunately, Wick passed away a few days after the litter was born. Apparently, it happens and is actually fairly common. So, since Wick had passed on, I then agreed to adopt one of his sisters instead.

Her name will be Gypsy.

The reason for calling her Gypsy is three-fold.

First - and most obviously - is because Gypsy is one of my favourite musicals.

Second, because a name should hold within it some qualities or a spirit with which you want to endow your puppy. I am a gypsy and so my dog will be too, by proxy. Therefore, by naming her Gypsy, I hope to imbue her with adaptability, a free spirit, and resilience.

Finally, because the real Gypsy herself only came into the spotlight because of her sibling leaving and, well, I'm only getting my Gypsy because of Wick, so....

Anyone? A little dark humour?

I made that joke at a cabaret last week and it kind of got half-laughs/half-gasps. I just to have to say that it is generally my approach to life to make light of m'troubles. Sometimes it's the only way to get through the rough stuff. And, even more honestly, if I can make a bit out of something, I will. Hence, my joke equating Wick with June Havoc.

But, I must admit, there is one more reason. In a lot of my studying that I've been doing on puppy training, the experts say you should only use your dog's name for positive reinforcement and, therefore, you should have something else to say when the dog is misbehaving. My friend Matt, par example, would say "Great job, Crigger!", but then, "No, sir!"

Therefore, I can then say "Good work, Gypsy!", but then, "No, Rose!!!"

So Gypsy she will be.

The Kids Are All Right!

2010-11-22T17:15:00.001-05:00

With all of the focus on the It Gets Better Project and all the bullying, suicides, and other depressing events going on in the world, it can be tough to see that positive changes are occurring as well.

Graeme Taylor, however, is living proof that there is some seriously amazing evolution going on in the way gay kids are growing up. Please take a few moments to check out his beautifully impassioned speech and his appearance on Ellen below. What an inspiration.

Kyle Learns to Juggle

2010-11-21T14:38:00.003-05:00

For the opening of ...Forum, I have to learn to juggle. Today I took a moment to work on it, ending in medium results.

Puppy Fever

2010-11-20T14:07:00.002-05:00

As of late, I am absolutely infatuated with puppies. Recently I decided to adopt a sweet Havanese and now can't stop squealing/sighing/baby-talking whenever I see a dog. I talk to dog owners about their pups, choice of collars, and favourite pet store. I've even taken to asking strangers about their choice of travel kennels.

In addition to the obsessive dog-watching, I'm also endlessly prepping for puppy-fatherhood. I read Puppies for Dummies, watch Cesar Millan, surf Havenese websites...I'm obsessed. I've even taken to practicing being calm-assertive and talking to my imaginary pup as I walk down the street.

Luckily for me, my upstairs neighbours/landlords have two lovely dogs and they're letting me walk them whenever I want to gain experience. So yesterday I got up early and took the pooches for a stroll around the park. Check out these sweeties!

'Til next time....

A New Canoe on the Avon River

2010-11-19T23:38:00.005-05:00

This just in...

From my secret spies in Stratford...

A certain canoe will be cruising down the Avon River next summer....

That's right, Making Love in a Canoe is going to be a part of Stratford Summer Music in 2011! In addition to hosting the cabaret series at the Church Restaurant for another year, I get to do my own show with Adam White on the keys. The date is still pending, although it looks like it'll be in mid-August. More details to come for sure!

Adam and I are working on the show over the winter, fine-tuning and adding new material/subtracting some old material. I've recently discovered the 1957 McGill musical My Fur Lady (thanks to super-usher Lois Z. - thanks Lois!), so that may make its way in. I added a Drowsy Chaperone medley in Regina, but I think that may be exiting stage right. I'm not sure how I felt about it. Not that I need to be sharing my neuroses about my act on the Internet.

What I'm basically saying is, we are still working away at it, finding new things and exploring how to tell the tale of the Canadian musical theatre along with the stories of the actors within it. So, stay tuned and I will be keeping the blog up to date with info about the show!

And now to bed, while "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" runs through my brain on repeat. But that's for another day.

Everybody Swing, Swing!

2010-11-18T00:47:00.003-05:00

Today I start my first day as a swing on the Mirvish/Stratford production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum!

For those not "in the know", a swing is an understudy on steroids. While normally a person would understudy one or two roles, a swing understudies many. Luckily, I am only understudying four roles: Hysterium and the three Proteans (sounds like a Roman doo wop group).

I am a teensy bit nervous as I have never swung before, but I am generally a prepared understudy so I'm not too nervous. I'm just trying to stay on top of things (see: my uber-organized binder, above). Most of the people in this production were in it last season at Stratford, but there are a few other newbies, so I'm hoping it will be easy to keep up.

Fingers crossed.

More to come, I'm sure. Happy Thursday!

It Gets Better!

2010-11-17T21:45:00.002-05:00

Dan Savage, columnist of the popular advice column Savage Love, started the It Gets Better Project to help struggling gay youth on their journey. The project was developed in reaction to a shocking rash of LGBT students committing suicide. The basic concept is: LGBT adults making YouTube videos to help our youth know that no matter what they're going through, no matter how bad it seems, it gets better.

Inspired by this project and our own struggles, Bruce Dow, Steve Ross, and I pulled together a wide variety of people from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival to lend their voices to this important project. What excited me about doing the project in Stratford was not only to show how many LGBT folks may be gainfully employed in an organization, but also how many varieties of people in a variety of positions are LGBT-identified. We had a stage manager, actors, an electrician, a props manager, a producer, a director...well, you'll see below.

If any LGBT kids stumble across this blog, I want to add a little more to my message. I was bullied from about the time I was 10. I walked in to school on Hallowe'en as Billy, the blue Power Ranger (who coincidentally, just publicly came out), and was mocked for dressing up. To make matters worse, all the grade fives who dressed up were paraded through all of the older classrooms. Awesome.

The bullying continued.

Older kids picked on me because I got good grades, because I sang, because I was different. I was chased home from school, thrown in garbage cans (it doesn't just happen on Glee), and called every name in the book. By the time I was in high school, hearing the word "fag" barely made me wince. It was just part of my life.

But I had an amazing group of friends. As I say in the video, I was part of a drama company called Do It With Class that was my life-saver. As I typed that last sentence, I almost wrote "drama community" - but that's really what it was. A network of amazing people, most of whom I'm still in contact with today, who shared a love of theatre and everything related to it. We were a crazy bunch and we were there for each other through thick and thin. With them I shared my passions, goals, loves, fears, and hopes. Being with them was what I looked forward to when kids at school would tease me, write offensive things in my yearbook, or shun me from their company.

Eventually, I got through it. I came out at 17 and, surprisingly, most people were pretty good about it. (I was actually annoyed that more people weren't surprised, shocked, or scandalized by admission.) I actually got harassed less once I had identified myself. My friends and family stood by me through it all. There were some rough times, some growing pains, but we made it relatively unscathed.

And now I'm 26, living my dream of being an actor, and in a happy relationship. If you had told me 10 years ago that this is where I would be, I maybe wouldn't have believed it. At times, it seemed too bleak; but here I am.

I do what I love every day; I have great friends; I have an amazingly supportive family; I am building a successful relationship daily with my partner; and I am here to say that it gets better.

And those guys that used to beat me up and call me names? I don't hear much about them anymore. But the last I heard, one of them got chased across two provinces and thrown in jail for selling drugs. You decide who's the cool kid now.

So, all that said, persevere and you'll be telling some kids about your horror/glory stories some day. I promise.

Harry Potter and the Brokeback Goblet

2010-11-15T22:11:00.006-05:00

In advance of this week's release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One), I have been re-reading all of the Harry Potter novels.

Yes, I am that 26-year-old man clutching the paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the subway.

I totally have Harry Potter on the brain 24/7 these days and so when my friend Dave posted this on facebook, my interest was immediately piqued.

Please enjoy this creative re-editing....

Bill and Che's Excellent Adventure

2010-11-10T12:47:00.008-05:00

N.B.: This is an extensive look at understudying, so buckle up. (Or skip ahead to the pictures.)

One of the blogs I meant to write all summer was about going on for my understudies this season.

I, perhaps foolishly, agreed to understudy two prominent roles: "Bill" in Kiss Me, Kate and "Che" in Evita. I say foolishly not because these roles weren't exciting and interesting, but because the stress of being in two shows as well as understudying two major roles gave me hives, anxiety, and insomnia. That said, I got through it all (relatively) unscathed with the help of family, friends, and pharmaceuticals.

There is little that can explain the feeling you get when a stage manager calls to tell you that you will be going on for your understudy. I've never had a baby myself, but the feeling of having your body ripped open by a small, alien being seems to be the closest thing to which I can liken it. It is a specific mixture of fear, elation, and heart-poop.

The first time I was called to go on for Che, I had literally just been writing in my journal that I wondered if I would end up going on for Josh that day. The first time I was called to go on for Bill, our KMK swing, Nicko, and I had just had a text session regarding whether or not we would be going on that day, ending in him joking: "And then my phone rings and it's the stage manager". Cut to: that's exactly what happened.

Luckily, the first time I was called on for both shows, I did have advanced warning. Neither actor was feeling well the night prior, so I did have a chance to review my material. But, that said, there is nothing that can prepare you for the panic one undergoes in the hours before a performance.

The thing is - for those of you who may not know - understudies generally do not get a ton of rehearsal time. I think I had a small handful of music rehearsals, a few staging rehearsals, and then the understudy run on stage. Other than that, it was work on my own and with coaches. So, not a lot, considering the people who normally play the roles get about 150 hours.

There are a lot of different paths to understudying and a lot of tips that people employ. The things that I had grabbed from various people were:

- already have a list made for parts you need to review with the music director, stage manager, dance captain, and cast;

- leave your main book at the theatre in case you go on mid-performance, have a "book-lite"at home for pre-show review;

- get to the theatre early so you have plenty of time to get yourself together between freak-outs.

So, with all of that in mind, I went to the theatre to get everything together.

Now, there is the phrase "It takes a village to raise a child". That phrase could easily be altered to "It takes a village to put on an understudy". Other than the learning of the part, there is so little I can take credit for regarding my relative success going on for Bill and Che.

The stage managers, music directors, and dance captains are so integral to making sure you feel comfortable and review everything you need to. They are great too for giving you little tips about spotlights, entrances, etc.

Next, the wig mistress(es) and dressers make sure that you know where all your changes happen, what needs to be done, and how to do it. They are also very good at being encouraging and reminding you to take a drink of water and breathe.

Finally, the cast is so supportive. For most people in a cast, it's exciting when an understudy goes on because it brings a new element to the show and helps keep it fresh, particularly part-way through a long run. There were several times when another actor would stop me from getting down on myself and encourage me to keep going (thanks Nicko!). As well, the cast helps with a little thing we like to call "shove with love". Basically, if you're in the wrong place, another cast member will help you out by gently guiding you to where you're actually supposed to be.

The main person in the cast who helps you out is the person you're playing opposite. In both cases, this person was Chilina Kennedy. She is a rock-star, for real. Gracious, sweet, and professional, she made all six performances of Bill and Che so easy for me. And she's such a great actor - it was really intimidating, but fun, to play opposite her.

Anyway, the whole experience is generally a blur and then you find yourself at the bows going "What the eff just happened?" A friend's agent commented that you can always tell an understudy not by the way they do the show, but by the way they do the bows. Most understudies worry so much about the show itself that they forget to look at the bows, and that's where they tend to show that they are not the regular actor. That thought always makes me laugh.

My favourite moments from going on were:

- almost falling off the stage as Bill, causing the rest of the actors to gasp and then cheer when I kept going;

- finishing the opening number of Evita the first time, knowing that I hadn't forgotten a single word;

- doing "Waltz for Eva and Che" opposite Chilina...seriously, she's a rock-star;

- accidentally breaking my mic cord in a quick-change as Bill but not realizing until I started to sing "Bianca", causing Mike (our sound man) to do some major level changes and every actor on stage to sing more quietly to support me - such amazing folks;

and

- having my partner, friends, and teachers drop everything and drive from all over Ontario to see me get a chance to go on.

All in all, it was a fun experience and I learned a ton from working on those parts. Especially Che. Bill was a huge learning curve, but it's on a kind of path that I've already explored, whereas Che is something I never in my wildest dreams thought I would tackle. I'm a blonde bari-tenor with a sweet side-part; what part of me suggests that I could play an Argentinian revolutionary with a high rock belt? Because of the giant gap between me and Che, I felt I learned a ton from exploring that part and proved to myself that I could do more than I thought. Which was kind of exciting.

And now a few pictures to highlight the experience and cap off the blog. Enjoy!

Lord of the Ringtones

2010-10-19T01:17:00.003-04:00

Let's not even discuss that I haven't written in two months. A LOT has been going on. But I'm working to remedy the situation. (Not to be confused with "The Situation", as there is apparently nothing to remedy that mess.)

Here we go: first blog in a long while!

I just got an iPhone. I resisted the urge for a long time, despite the constant pestering of my well-intentioned gentleman friend who loves his iPhone dearly. But then my phone was being held together by pieces of Scotch tape and I caved.

And I'm in love.

Dangerously so.

My new obsession, thanks to said iPhone, is creating ringtones. My goal is to create the most ridiculous (read: gayest) ringtones known to man. So far the 'tones I'm proudest of are:

1) the coloratura section of "Glitter and Be Gay", as sung by Barbara Cook;
2) Liza Minnelli's most recent recording of "Cabaret" which has a wanky belt note that literally vibrates between about three pitches;
and
3) a wacky line reading from the 1957 McGill recording of My Fur Lady.

However, the following assigned ringtones also make me laugh:
1) my agency - "N.Y.C." from Annie;
2) my best friend Adam - the line "Like a tiny asteroid is a little meteor" from [title of show];
and
3) my good friend Robert - the start of A Chorus Line, "a 5-6-7-8!"

It's the small things.

Briefing

2010-08-13T01:54:00.005-04:00

(Image courtesy of Natalie Dee.)

This is just a quick update but I thought it would be fun to post a goofy image to go with the title. Natalie Dee is one of my favourite comic sites. She's a very funny gal. Check it!

Things have been crazy. Blog posts to ensue.

Quick recap: have played Che twice and Bill thrice in the past few weeks. It's kind of been the Stratford Sickness Festival as of late. Lots of understudies and swings and casts and crews pulling together. But everyone has been great! So many fabulous people doing great work. It's been totally exciting.

I was part of a really fun evening entitled Bruce Dow Presents the Next Generation of Cabaret Stars at the Church Restaurant a couple of weeks ago as part of the Stratford Summer Music cabaret series. Lindsay Croxall belted her face off - through a cold I tell you! - with a killer rendition of "Everybody Says Don't", Jordan Bell licked his way through "Boy with Dreams" to the audience's delight, Jen Rider-Shaw could not have sounded more beautiful with "I Won't Mind", a great Jeff Blumenkrantz tune, and I did a 40s Yip Harburg medley. Natch. Lots of duets, group numbers, other solos, all accompanied by Michael Barber and a fun time was had by all.

I continue my hosting duties for the above series this week with a presentation by many company members of the tunes of Marion Adler and Jonathan Monro. It should be AWESOME! Sean Cullen was last week and he brought the house down with laughter. It has been a great series this year. Kudos to John Miller and the Summer Music people for making it happen!

In other news, Steve Ross and I are busy bees planning this year's PAL benefit: Stratford Miscast. Details to come....

And I've re-jigged the blog a bit...enjoy the new design? I've also added a little gadget that puts my twitter feed right here on the page. Who knew?! I can barely keep up with the technology.

Peace out!

Bruce Dow Goes to Church!

2010-07-23T23:06:00.004-04:00

The Church Restaurant that is.

I don't know, I was trying to go for a catchy title.

Franklin (our Kate MD) would always tell Keisha T. to "take us to church" when she sang "Another Op'nin', Another Show" in rehearsals. So tomorrow, Bruce Dow is going to take you to church both literally and figuratively.

Bruce is kicking off the cabaret series for Stratford Summer Music with the lovely Marilyn Dallman on the keys, singing songs from both his albums and an added assortment of other treats. Bruce has a kick-ass voice and is also charming, sweet, funny; it's sure to be a great night. I'm MC-ing the night, which is a blessedly small task after a double-show day.

I'm really looking forward to it. I've quite enjoyed the cabarets at the Church over the past two years, so I'm thrilled to get a VIP pass to all five and perform to boot. The only problem is finding five different outfits to wear... I have Week 1 down...my blue-and-white bee bow tie is all laid out. Seriously.

See you there!

Stratford Summer Music

2010-07-17T17:21:00.003-04:00

All right, I have been very inconsistent with my blogging this season. Needless to say, it has been crazy busy. However, I miss writing and blogging is a great way to keep that going, so I am hoping to be on here a little more. Here is my first day back.

I'm very excited to say that I am going to be a part of this year's edition of Stratford Summer Music. I've been in the audience for the last couple years that I've been here and am very happy to be on board for the cabaret series at the Church Restaurant.

I am hosting the five-week series (including cabarets by Bruce Dow, Michael Therriault, Jonathan Monro, and Sean Cullen), as well as performing in a night called Bruce Dow Presents the Next Generation of Cabaret Stars. For that one, Bruce is presenting some of us younger folk from the musical casts this year; namely myself, Jordan Bell, Lindsay Croxall, and Jennifer Rider-Shaw. We've had a couple rehearsals so far and I am very excited about this! There is a lot of great music being planned, with Michael Barber on the keys, so I think it'll make for a fabulous night. Jordan, Lindsay, and Jen are all phenomenal actor-singers and I, for one, am glad I'll get to be a part of the evening with them.

Also exciting is that I finally got a song I've been wanting for years from Jeff Blumenkrantz. I'll be using it to open the five cabarets and I'm thrilled. It's a lot of fun and will hopefully get the nights off to a fun start.

Anyway, be sure to check out Summer Music if you are in the area at all in the next five weeks. The big kick-off is on Monday at Tom Patterson Island and this year's line-up looks incredible. I put a link on the name of the festival at the top of this blog, so check out their website and see what you can find!

Kiss Me, Kate

2010-05-16T14:08:00.003-04:00

We are well on our way toward opening with Kiss Me, Kate at the Festival. The show has been such a fun experience and we've been discovering so much through our preview period; it's been great. And now the Festival has just released this little video of production clips which I thought I'd share.

The design is so outrageous and silly, so visually stunning, that I'm glad I can share it now. I didn't want to say too much before the videos and production photos were released; but now that you can see it, I've just gotta say - can you believe it? My costume feels like it's a good three-feet wide and, indeed, might very well be. It makes me laugh every time I put it on.

The other costume I wear in the show (which you can see briefly in a clip or two) is my Stage Carpenter outfit and I think it's equally amazing for its simplicity. Plaid shirt, singlet, jeans, boots, apron. But the best part of the outfit is a little secret which I'm going to share: it contains pieces from every season I've been at Stratford. The bulk of the costume is from this season, but then I have a belt that I wore in West Side Story and boots that I wore in The Music Man. Isn't that fun? This piece very much focuses on the actor's life and the cyclical nature of our careers, so to have little pieces from my past experiences as part of this present experience in a literal way is really special to me. It happened unintentionally, but has become one of my favourite things about the show for me personally.

Anyway, that's just a little glimpse into the show for now. I'm sure I'll write more again, but - even though it's my day off - work is calling to me! Until next time, enjoy the video....

First Preview

2010-04-11T15:45:00.003-04:00

We had our first preview of Kiss Me, Kate yesterday. Craziness! It hardly feels like we've been in Stratford for very long at all and all of a sudden we were in front of an audience.

It was fantastic.

I had a great time being a part of this very exciting production (my lips are sealed; come see it to know what I mean!) and I think the audience really enjoyed themselves. And, I must say, it was a relief to have people laughing. We've all seen each other's scenes so much that they've mostly ceased to be funny which leads to that awful feeling of "Oh God, I'm terrible and this is awful". Luckily, the audience enjoyed what we were serving them (mostly ham - I'm looking at you, Chioran) and had a great time.

So now we have 24 more before opening. What the what?

I'm sure there will be lots of little changes and tightening up of moments, but overall I think the show is shaping up very well so far. John has been amazing to work with, as have Franklin and Tracey and the rest of gang making us look our best.

And speaking of look, WAIT until you see the costumes. Again, my lips are sealed, but W-O-W! Sometimes I forget what I look like and feel totally comfortable and natural...and then I walk by a mirror and burst into hysterical laughter.

It's a good one, folks. Don't miss it!

Extra! Extra! Sharron Matthews Takes Over World

2010-04-01T21:48:00.004-04:00

Gentle reader(s?),

Please be advised that the wonderful Sharron Matthews is going to kick ass all over the world. She is taking her fabulous self on the road to exciting places like Joe's Pub (so jealous I could kick someone) and Scotland (to quote Liz Lemon: "What the WHAT?").

However, world domination does not come easily and, therefore, she needs your help. If you are in Toronto Friday, April 16 or Saturday, April 17, you need to go to her sure-to-be-sensational World Domination Tour 2010 Kick Off Fundraiser. Tickets are $30 (or $20 with an arts/student discount) and can be purchased through Buddies.

If you are on the fence, (which I doubt, but just in case), remember that you are doing more than just getting a great show, you are supporting one of our own and helping someone fabulous realize a dream. What could be better? Please do so.

Sincerely,
Kyle.

I'm Alive

2010-03-25T21:28:00.002-04:00

It has come to my attention that people may think I have dropped off the face of the planet.

Fear not, gentle reader(s?): I am still here.

Life has just been a little crazy and the Festival has swept me up in a mad whirlwind these past few weeks.

That said, rehearsals are off and running and it is all very exciting.

More thoughts to share...soon...I promise!

In the meantime, have you seen this or this? Do yourself a favour, take five minutes, and watch both!!!

Making Love in a Canoe: Regina Edition

2010-02-09T00:36:00.001-05:00

So, the Regina premiere of Making Love in a Canoe is in only four days.

Wow.

I'm feeling very excited. Well, excited and scared - to quote Sondheim's Little Red. I feel so lucky to be able to bring my show home and perform for my family, friends, and the community at large. I did so many productions here as a kid that it just feels appropriate to be back again, doing what I've always loved.

And it is such a ~~chore~~ ~~bloody nightmare~~ wonderful honour to be performing with Rob Ursan again. He taught me everything I know (mostly sarcasm and music theatre trivia) and is always a riot to be around.

Plus, it is exciting to be the first official offering of The Golden Apple Theatre Company. (That makes it sound like I'm a sacrifice. Which, in all likelihood, I could be. I hear Regina audiences can be ruthless. No blood-letting please!) Seriously though, I so believe in Rob and Andorlie's vision for this company and think it will be a really thrilling addition to the community here. Theatre that heals, provokes, inspires, and possibly lives forever! Yes, please!

All of that said, I am also nervous. Which is a good thing! If I wasn't nervous, I would be nervous. Although then I would be nervous, so then I wouldn't have to be nervous. Well, it's all just a vicious cycle isn't it? Aren't neuroses fun? At any rate, this is my first show where 50-80% of the audience isn't made up of my friends, so I'm nervous for the usual things. Will people laugh? Will people enjoy? Will skinny jeans be the right choice? And so on and so forth.

But, with the ideals of The Golden Apple before me, I tread on, eager and grateful for this opportunity. One question still remains, however: will I see you there?!

Special Outtake

2010-01-19T00:42:00.001-05:00

I know YouTube videos as blog posts are kind of lame, but this really tickled me. Suck it.

Brava!

2010-01-13T23:19:00.003-05:00

As you probably already know from this little blog of mine, I am a huge fan of Seth Rudetsky's. He's super smart, hilarious, and a talented writer. Every Monday I get super excited because that is the day Playbill.com publishes his column, Onstage & Backstage.

Well this week he had a little blurb about Christiane Noll, who played "Mother" in the recently closed revival of Ragtime. (Which I am devastated that I didn't get to see...but that is for another blog.) Anyway, he wrote this bit about her performance at his Sirius XM show:

"I asked Christiane to sing "Back to Before" and we talked about how hard it is for most women to belt the C sharp at the end of the song. Of course, Christiane has no trouble with it, so I told her she should take it up to an E! She laughed and then sang the song. After it ended she gave me a look and I knew what she meant: I played an intro and she launched into the end of the song again but this time, she not only went up to an E, but interpolated an F sharp as well! It was a brava."

Well, he put the clips up on his website and I just have to share them with you because they are awesome. Not only does she sound phenomenal, but the belty second version is killer. Enjoy!

Opening Night at the Morosco Theatre!

2010-01-12T00:27:00.016-05:00

We opened The Drowsy Chaperone on Thursday at MTC!

There was a lovely crowd, very supportive and engaged, and it was - in my opinion - a fabulous show. Everyone brought their A-game and we had a terrific time. Even mishaps turned into glorious bits! (see: Thom Allison's blog) I'm pretty sure a fun time was had by all.

I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed myself.

It's been great watching everyone put their performances together over the past month, so to see them be shared with the world was extra exciting. Everyone's gone on such a journey from the first read to opening, and it's cool to see where everyone's wound up. And where they'll keep going with it, of course!

One of the joys, for me, this past five weeks has been watching people discover new choices, fun line readings, and really play with the material. I have to admit that one of my bad habits (sometimes!) is to make a choice and stick with it right away, so it's been fun to watch people try a million different things until something feels right. Or seeing people gradually build on what they're doing and meander into something that works. Both have led people to deeply funny, honest places and that's been pretty educational for me. I love watching everyone every night and the discoveries that keep happening will keep me loving them even more 'til we close.

And, to top it all off, everyone looked fabulous! I thought I'd close this post with a few pictures of the gorgeous cast with one special treat of the "crazy costume" I referred to the other day....

Nadine Roden (Trix) and Thom Allison (Aldolpho).

Naomi Costain (Janet) and Kyle Blair (Robert).

My crazy monkey outfit, designed by the lovely Charlotte Dean.

Alison (Dance Captain) and myself.

Julius Sermonia (Gangster #2) and
Tracey Flye, our choreographer extraordinaire.

Eric S. Robertson (Gangster #1) and
his girlfriend, the gorgeous Lynda Sing.

Diana Coatsworth (Kitty), Alex Frohlinger (Ensemble),
Ailsa Birnie (Asst. Stage Manager), and Naomi Costain (Janet).

Last, but not least, the Boy in Chair (moi),
with the beautiful Man in Chair (Dean Paul Gibson).

High Life

2010-01-08T14:09:00.003-05:00

So exciting!

My dear friend Lee MacDougall has written a film based on his award-winning play High Life and it is about to start playing in Toronto and Winnipeg!!!

It played film festivals all over the world and was dubbed a "brilliantly-acted caper flick" by The Globe & Mail. The movie is also called High Life and you can view the trailer here.

It opens on January 15th at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto and the Silver City Polo Park in Winnipeg, with an eventual release in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Sudbury, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax.

Directed by Gary Yates, written by Lee (!), High Life has a stellar cast including: Timothy Olyphant, Stephen Eric McIntyre, Joe Anderson, and Rossif Sutherland.

Check it out! Support Canadian film and the awesomeness that is Lee MacDougall.

Just What the Show is...Fun!

2010-01-07T00:17:00.004-05:00

Photo Credit: Bruce Monk

We open The Drowsy Chaperone tomorrow at MTC. What an experience it has been! I don't know when I have laughed more in my entire life. The show itself is funny enough, but the people. Don't even get me started. These folks tickle my funny bone on a daily basis with their bits, their stories, even their laughs. It has been such a great ride.

And doing the show is also such a fun time. For one thing, I love doing a show that is roughly 100 minutes with no intermission. It breezes by like nothing's happened and all of a sudden it's the curtain call. Amazing. I wear crazy costumes (more on that to come), sing some fabulous harmonies, get entertained by the comedy, and call it a night. What could be better? Not much, in my books.

Oh and the dancing! I can't remember when I've had so much pure, unadulterated fun dancing. Obviously, yes, shows like West Side Story had unbelievable choreography that was a gift to perform, but it took its toll on us. Tracey's choreo is so madcap twenties and free that you just let loose and go nuts - it's fantastic.

So now, as midnight creeps near, I should get going...perhaps start some opening night notes...maybe get a little sleep...and tomorrow will be the big debut.

Get ready, Winnipeg!

Battle of the Playlists

2010-01-06T02:16:00.004-05:00

Since it's a new year, I've been trying extra hard to be good about going to the gym. My goal for the month is to be there five times a week. ... We'll see if that happens. I've been once this week, so...off to a good start?!

Anyway, the gym here is in our building (sweet!), so it's super convenient, but also ends up being a little mixer with the other cast members from time to time. It's always nice to distract yourself from the task at hand with a little post-rehearsal chat or share looks with a friend about the overblown gym rats dropping weights beside you.

Today provided one such occasion when I finished doing standing rows and walked past Thom Allison on the treadmill. I pulled my iPod out to show him the album cover: The Essential Barbra Streisand, Disc 1.

He laughed, made a comment, then clicked the iPod on his arm to reveal the cover art of...

Mame.

The question still stands: who wins?!

I Don't Wanna Show Off!

2009-12-18T14:29:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I was informed by a colleague who lives on my floor that he could hear me working on my harmonies from down the hall. Apparently he was waiting for the elevator and suddenly heard "I do! I do! Oo oo oo oo ooh, up in the sky!"

I said it's a good thing he didn't walk by a half an hour later or he would have heard me doing my rendition of "Nobody's Side" from Chess.

At that point, Tracey (our choreographer) warned me: "When we hear you doing torch songs, we're breaking down the door and staging an intervention."

Imagine my friends busting into my apartment to see me draped over my chesterfield, sheathed in a terry cloth bathrobe, clutching a bottle of Bombay Sapphire, and singing "My Man".

I can't quite put my finger on it, but the thought delighted me for some reason.

VoiceInPMsHead

2009-12-16T18:15:00.003-05:00

So, as I posted a few weeks ago, I am now on Twitter. I'm not exactly sure what micro-blogging is doing for me, other than taking up more of my time, but I must say I enjoy the challenge of distilling thoughts into 140 characters.

Plus there are some fun people to follow.

This sounds stalker-y, but I love following the exchanges between Sofia Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family. They're very cute and often include fun pictures from the set. Chris Colfer, of Glee fame, is also entertaining in his tweets. But my favourite tweeter of all is Scott Feschuk of Maclean's.

His twitter account is "VoiceInPMsHead" and all the tweets are the thoughts that go on inside Stephen Harper's brain. Hilarious.

These are some of the best:

"Humiliating to get briefing from Biden not Obama - like expecting booty call from Lynda Carter and opening door to see Rosalynn Carter."

"I love the Commonwealth. It’s such a delightfully archaic concept, like the fox hunt or women’s lib."

"Feeling low energy and jet-lagged but need to get to work. The gays aren’t going to keep themselves down."

"H1N1 – it’s surprisingly easy to avoid when your natural disposition is to never let anyone touch you."

and possibly my all-time fave:

"Wow, Tiger Woods. There but for the grace of God, my pale body, my hairdo, my personality and my chosen profession go I."

If you're on Twitter, or if you have a blog roll that you regularly go through, I recommend adding Feschuk to your list. You won't regret it!

Suri, Don't Eat the Cupcake!

2009-12-15T01:04:00.003-05:00

I know this is the second post in the past week that I've added via Joe.My.God., but it was too good to pass up.

The following image comes courtesy of Buzzfeed's Top 40 Funniest Celebrity Candids of 2009.

So classic.

Week One

2009-12-12T23:07:00.002-05:00

And on the seventh day, the actors rested.

Yes, we've made it through the first week of rehearsals for The Drowsy Chaperone. I think I'm finally settling in properly now. I re-arranged my living room and have at last found something that works. I have a lovely view of...well, not much, but at least I can be at my computer and have the sun shining on me and get a nice slice of city life from the window.

Also, we are in full staging mode over at the theatre. We ran about the first 30 pages of the show today, which was pretty cool. Lots of big numbers in the first chunk, so it's a huge achievement. The whole team is great to work with and the first real go at things was a huge success. Everyone is hugely talented and funny; it's great. Naomi (Costain, our Janet) ran all of "Show Off" today with full splits, cartwheels, and Broadway belt. Day six. Pretty exciting stuff.

But now we get to rest...let things settle a bit...and then attack the next chunk on Monday!

Until then....

New Christmas

2009-12-09T23:42:00.003-05:00

As much as I love my belters, I love a good comedy at Christmas too. Here are two new faves from YouTube...

Miranda Sings has a Christmas album! If any friends out there are wondering what to get me...you know what to do! My favourite track is her version of "Carol of the Bells". Gorgeous.

And a funny twist on a holiday classic: "How the Stritch Stole Christmas". Props to Joe.My.God. for pointing me toward this one....

Merry Christmas!

Feelin' Drowsy

2009-12-08T23:08:00.003-05:00

We started rehearsals yesterday for The Drowsy Chaperone at MTC!

First things first, it is cold here. I'm from Regina, so I know cold, but it is COLD! I need to buy an extra ten pairs of long johns at this point...and maybe wear them all at once. It is crazy, but I was expecting it. I have full toque, scarf, mittens, winter jacket combo in effect. I should be okay.

Second, the cast is awesome. Great bunch of people, all super funny and talented. I'm very much looking forward to working with everyone on this and getting to see everyone be ridiculous every night. I was already crying with laughter during the first read, so that's a good sign.

And third, I love the show. I thoroughly enjoyed it when I saw it in New York, but, going through the libretto and score, I now have a new appreciation for it. It's so clever and witty, with such great music. It's fun to sing and will be so fun to perform, I can tell.

Now, to learn the harmonies!

Mommy + Santa Sittin' in a Tree

2009-12-04T23:43:00.006-05:00

D. and I were listening to the holiday radio station today and found a mutual dislike for what is clearly the most annoying/disturbing Christmas song ever:

"I Saw Mommy Kissin' Santa Claus".

I saw Mommy kissin' Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe last night.

Here's the deal. From an adult's perspective, one could feasibly see why it's cute. A kid sees Mommy getting frisky with St. Nick late at night, unaware that it's actually his dad. Aww.

Although, one must ask: if the kid's asleep, why is Daddy bothering to dress up anyway? If you ask me, Mommy's obviously got a little fat-suit fetish, bordering on plushophilia.

Or maybe Mommy's a feeder! It's late, Johnny's sleeping; what better way to enjoy the quiet than get Daddy all plumped up with the cookies and milk left out for Santa, not to mention more than Rudolph's fair share of carrots?

No matter what way you look at it, there is some definite role-play going on.

She didn't see me creep down the stairs to have a peep;
She thought that I was tucked up in my bedroom fast asleep.

Where he should be! Clearly this child has the makings of a teenage runaway/hoodlum. At the tender age of eight or nine, he's already creeping around peep-less while Mommy thinks he's snuggled up in bed dreaming of getting a Ninja Turtles board game in the morning that he already knows about because - surprise! - while Mommy was taking Patches for a walk, the little bugger went ahead and carefully pried open the tape at the end of his present so that he could see what was inside.

Brat.

Then, I saw Mommy tickle Santa Claus underneath his beard so snowy white.

At this point, no matter how old the kid is, he must think this is kind of weird. It wasn't just one shy kiss, it's now progressed to tickling, which will probably lead to a massage, which...you get the point. At any rate, is the kid not thinking "ew, gross"? Kids don't even like to see their actual parents be affectionate; why is the kid happy Mommy is seducing Santa?

Oh what a laugh it would have been if Daddy had only seen Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night.

Yes, what a laugh. Imagine the hilarity: Daddy goes to check on Johnny fast asleep, only to realize he's flown the coop. Walking downstairs to see if Johnny's getting a glass of water, he stumbles upon his wife swapping spit with a balding, apple-cheeked, portly, 400-year-old, former Turkish bishop.

Upon realizing they're being watched, Santa splits up the chimney, immediately followed by a bright red nose passing the window as the sleigh jerks into the sky. Mommy's protesting violently, "It only happened this once!" She gets into her car, crashing into the tree stump at the end of the drive, protesting all the way, only to have texts surfacing days later. ("I will wear you out...when was the last time you had gingerbread?")

Fast forward to years later, Mommy and Daddy are divorced. Knowing Johnny, he's probably thinking this hypothetical sitch is still a "laugh". Well, guess what kiddo? You can't even have the fun of being a child of divorce. There's no playing your parents against each other for better gifts when your dad won't even let the word Christmas be uttered in his presence (although he has no problem with ho, ho, ho).

All this weird fascination with watching Mommy and Santa get it on has just landed you years of therapy, cut your presents in half, and left you living half the year in a frozen wasteland with only a few measly elves as friends.

Still think it's a laugh Johnny?

Belt-Off

2009-12-03T01:50:00.008-05:00

D. and I spent a good hour watching different YouTube videos of people singing "O Holy Night" today. Not only is it a great song, but there are so many fierce renditions of it. My friend Callandra (one of my fave singers) says that it is the best hymn to sing as a belter. Apparently it is to Christmas carols what "The Star-Spangled Banner" is to national anthems, which is to say that it's the most conducive to ridiculous, often masturbatory, belting.

As D. and I were watching tonight, we decided to have a little belt-off competion between our favourite renditions.

The Criteria:
The Fake-Out. Any belter worth her salt will do the ending of the chorus in a mix or even head voice the first time around. If you give it all away at the beginning, what's left to wait for?
The Money Note. How high? How long? How absurd?
The Phrase Ending. Do they just finish the chorus abruptly or does it end with some panache?
Runs & Riffs. Points for excellent runs, boos for extraneous riffs.
Extra Credit. Is there that something extra-special that takes this above and beyond, or drives it into the ground?

The Contestants:
Mariah Carey
Celine Dion
Christina Aguilera
Jennifer Holliday
Regine Velasquez

The Assessments:
Mariah Carey
The Fake-Out. (1:40) Pretty sassy. Not full-out belt, but not a soft mix either. She serves it up and makes you wonder: what will she do for the big one? The Money Note. (3:24) Wow. Absurdly high whistle-tone. I believe that was technically a Q#. Still, not quite as satisfying as a big-ass belt. The Phrase Ending. (1:43-1:5o) Flexible, delightful riffing. Approx. 25 notes within that one phrase. Runs & Riffs. Not too ridiculous, considering it's Mariah. "The weary world rejoicing" (2:34) rocks. However, the hand-in-ear-finger-wave move (2:56) should be saved for recording sessions. Extra Credit. One kick-ass gospel choir.

Celine Dion
The Fake-Out. (2:04) Pure, simple, sweet. The Money Note. (4:29) Six seconds of solid belted D. The Phrase Ending. (4:08) Full of runs and earnest delivery, it goes right into another money note. Spicy. Runs & Riffs. (3:30) The riff on "ever, ever praise we" has some kind of weird mixolydian quality to it that I love. Extra Credit. Bizarre gestures and facial expressions that we've come to know and love from our Celine. See: (1:34) does she hear the voices herself?; (3:10) an oddly showy flourish that reminds me of the ol' Rod Maxwell lightbulb twist; and (5:06) I think she thinks she is Jesus at this point.

Christina Aguilera
The Fake-Out. (1:50) Breathy, riffy, tame. Right on the money as far as fake-outs go; however, I object to the register flip right before. We know you're switching. You don't need to illustrate. The Money Note. (3:02) Impressive. D#, then up to an F for a run down. The Phrase Ending. (2:00) I don't know what to say...it goes from a solid riff into space-inspired organ sounds, an 80s style monologue delivery of "The Lord's Prayer", and extraneous riffs in the background. Fail. Runs & Riffs. She can't seem to stay on the same note for more than a millisecond, right from the beginning. (see: 1:33) It wears, Xtina. Extra Credit. (3:10 on) The song quickly desolves into a whole other style, with even more masturbatory riffing. A turn for the worse.

Jennifer Holliday
The Fake-Out. No fake-out. This is actually from a medley, so she cuts to the chase. The Money Note. (1:27) Yes! D# for six seconds, replete with tongue undulations. The Phrase Ending. (1:35) Jennifer Holliday as Effie White sings classic carol. Runs & Riffs. She stays pretty classic, relying on the power of her belt and her great voice. Well done! Extra Credit. Ending every phrase with a shadow vowel. You decide whether or not that's in her favour.

Regine Velasquez
The Fake-Out. (1:43) Lovely, controlled, just enough power. The Money Note. (3:30) No solid held belt, but what a goosebump-inducing riff! Starting on an E, popping it up to an F#. Hot. The Phrase Ending. (3:32-3:37) Crazy all around D-F range riffing, ending with a controlled decrescendo. Werk! Runs & Riffs. (2:45-2:55) Nothing too flashy, just nice ornamentation. Extra Credit. Singing so amazingly in that gorgeous, wacky dress. How does that even stay on?!

The Winner:
Celine Dion. Maybe because she's Canadian, maybe because she's crazy, but we think that she has the overall package: solid fake-out, great belting, well-placed riffs, a choir, and great make-up, not to mention just the right balance of solemnity and theatricality.

The Runner-Up:
Jay Madela. Okay, not entirely fair as this comes out of left-field, but I was blown away by this guy. He pulls a Celine and goes for the money note twice, first (3:45) belting a C and then (4:03) popping off the C to a D. Gorgeous! My favourite part (the extra credit) is in between the two money notes where he puts his hand out as if to say "No, don't even bother clapping yet" and then welcomes them in with an arm flourish, inviting them to hear the real money note. Or is it a tip of the hat to Celine, who does the same flourish before her belted D? Clearly someone else was obsessed with YouTube performances too....

To quote Seth Rudetsky: "Brava"!

Sounds of the Season

2009-12-01T22:56:00.003-05:00

The other day, while perusing Playbill.com, I discovered that the folks over at Glee have just released a new version of "Last Christmas", that Wham! hit we all know and love. I was delighted to actually enjoy this version and I'm sure I'll have it on my iPod shortly. However, click on the link and listen to the whispered "Christmas" at 0:57. I'm obsessed with how awkward that is; who told her to do that?

Anyway, listening to the Gleeks got me inspired me to put on a Christmas radio station on the Internet while cooking dinner, only to be dismayed at the dearth of Christmas music out there. Ashley Tisdale singing Christmas music? Really?

Listening to that auto-tuned disaster forced me to seek out a few past favourites, the songs that really say "Christmas" to me. (Though not awkwardly whispered; see: above.) These are my Christmas picks:

1. Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time"
2. "Walking in the Air" from The Snowman (a classic!)
3. Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You"
4. Boney M's "Mary's Boy Child" (the Christmas album of my youth)
5. "Christmastime is Here" from A Charlie Brown Christmas

It's officially December now, which means it's no longer just for the hardcore Christmas fans to be getting into the spirit of things. So take a listen and, if you feel so inclined, post your own Christmas faves!

Crotchgate

2009-11-27T14:12:00.008-05:00

I have to admit that I have been following the media frenzy surrounding Adam Lambert's AMA performance on Sunday in utter disbelief.

The fact that 1,500 people called in to complain to ABC over what happened is kind of mind-blowing. I wonder how many people called in when Britney and Madonna made out? I haven't checked the facts, but I'm curious. I'm guessing not that many. Regardless, it seems kind of ridiculous. After all, aren't we used to these kinds of shenanigans after years and years of "shocking" pop performances?!

Even worse is the fact that CBS blurred out the "hyper-erotic" image in question when they re-aired the clip on the Early Show - on which he was a guest - but then didn't blur out the reel of Madonna/Britney's lip-lock. And people are saying that there is no double-standard.

Hmm.

All in all, I think that this is way too much uproar for something that is completely insignificant compared to the real problems of the world, say like this or this.

But, considering the media is making it a huge deal, I have to say that I'm deeply impressed with the way that Adam Lambert (and, presumably, his people) are dealing with the situation. It actually flies in the face of Out editor Aaron Hicklin's claims that Glambert isn't being "honest and true" to his gay self and to the gays of the world.

In his interview on the Early Show, he made the argument very clear that he believes the controversy stems from being both a man and gay. He didn't shy from talking about himself as an out gay performer. And, when asked about the children (think of the children!) who could have been watching, he gave my favourite answer of the whole interview: "If they're concerned with certain material maybe TiVo it and preview it before your small child is watching it. [...] I'm not a babysitter. I'm a performer."

You tell 'em.

You Can't Stop the Tweet

2009-11-25T19:36:00.001-05:00

I've officially just given into yet another social network.

If you are so inclined, you can now follow me on Twitter.

Dear Lord.

Twihard

2009-11-25T12:58:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was my sister's birthday. I Skyped her during her birthday party to wish her well and was subjected to a shocking revelation.

My sister is a 31-year-old "twihard".

She's already seen New Moon twice and received both an Edward Cullen blanket and an Edward/Bella pillow for her birthday. Her science classroom (she's a teacher) has several posters of the characters plastered on the walls.

She was describing to me a poster with Edward on one side and Jacob on the other that she stuck in the window of her classroom. Her female students (and probably a couple of male ones, silently) pleaded with her to keep the Jacob side facing in, but she protested, saying that Taylor Lautner is only 17, so that would be creepy. "At least Robert Pattinson is in his 20s," she reasoned with me.

"Kendra," I replied. "Whether you love the werewolf or you love the vampire, you're still a cougar."

Strange Fruit

2009-11-23T15:59:00.005-05:00

The last event I attended at Exposure was Brian Francis' reading of Fruit. I have to say that it was my favourite event, hands down. Granted, I am a huge fan of both Fruit and Francis' writing, but it really was a fun, informative, and hugely interesting chat.

Francis is a natural speaker, very charming and funny, with a warm, down-to-earth personality that endeared me to him immediately. He is, simply put, Canadian in the best possible sense of the word.

The two selections from the book he chose to share with us were: 1) where Peter decides to "do the right thing and sign up for shop"; and 2) where Peter and Mrs. Paddington go on a date to see The Sound of Music.

What I loved in both of these passages was how keenly aware Peter is of his parents' emotions. An emotionally sensitive kid, Peter has such a sweet caring for his parents and their well-being. There is something about Peter's relationship with his mother, the way that he is the one kid in the family who seems to understand or empathize with what she's going through, that really touched me.

In addition to the readings, Francis shared with us the journey to getting Fruit published. It was amazing to hear about the struggles he endured trying to get someone to believe in his work. The book is so original, interesting, and funny that a lot of agents and publishers couldn't see it being worth taking the risk. Well, lucky for him (and us!) that ECW Press saw its potential, because it is a fantastic read and surely has touched many people in the way it did me.

As a budding writer, it was inspiring and edifying to hear Francis speak. Kudos to Exposure for bringing him in!

Brian Webb Dance Company

2009-11-23T15:48:00.003-05:00

This is my Exposure blog from Saturday, November 20. -- K.

Last night I attended the Brian Webb Dance Company's presentation of The Effects of Sunlight Falling on Raw Concrete at the John L. Haar Theatre.

As we took our seats, we were greeted by an empty stage. Large, white scrim-like material encircled the white floor with a slim opening stage right. Upon Webb's first entrance, simply stepping into the space, I recalled Twyla Tharp writing about the empty room symbolizing "something profound, mysterious, and terrifying". As Webb breathed and observed, simply taking in the environment, I was transfixed. Being let in on this "moment before" was captivating.

Meandering around the stage, Webb explored the space like a world-weary New Yorker pushing through Times Square: vision narrowed; firm, direct steps; and only the occasional look up. Mixed with Dave Wall's moody, dark rock score, I got the feel of a life lived in every step.

Nancy Sandercock's entrance brought a youthful, feminine energy that served in stark contrast to Webb's gruff, sometimes stunted style. The tension between the pair filled the empty space around them as they moved past each other in an almost determined avoidance.

Only when they met for a moment of soul (and body) baring did we get a sense of connection. But, as the movement progressed into a sparsely lit, sexually charged contact improv, Webb's ambivalent gaze betrayed the intimacy of the moment, suggesting that, even in those moments, he was still searching.

The piece continued on through various 'movements', as the music dove-tailed through silence and into the next piece. Most thrilling for me were the moments where they engaged each other; climbing, lifting, and embracing. Their distance in the preceding movements left me starved for connection and, when it happened, it was beautiful.

The bravos from those around me suggested they felt the same.

VolunQueers

2009-11-20T17:37:00.004-05:00

D. and I are volunqueering (seriously) all weekend long at Exposure, Edmonton's queer arts festival. We were brought on as bloggers, so we basically attend events and then blog about our experiences. Our posts will be featured on the festival blog, but I'm also going to post my blogs here on Kyle Time. This is the first entry I wrote after attending a panel discussion with Brian Francis and Cindy Baker entitled On Queer Bodies. -- K.

Two reasons spurred me to attend On Queer Bodies. 1) I have a queer body and 2) I heart Brian Francis.

Interest: piqued.

Moderated by Kristy Harcourt, the panel discussed concepts including: the intersection of queer identity and work; the influence of media on identity; and the effects of coming out.

Brian and Cindy (Baker) offered stimulating and, often, humorous observations. My favourite “Cindy thought” was how her art has made her more confident and comfortable with herself. The experience of art is such an important teaching tool and her stories reflected that.

My favourite “Brian thought” was on the lack of literature concerning boys navigating adolescence. He talked about knowing everything about being a 13-year-old girl from Judy Blume, but not having the same knowledge of boys. I later told him that I strongly identified with that and wished Fruit had been around ten years ago.

When things opened up to the floor, the conversation often drifted from the question-at-hand, but the resulting discussion was totally engaging. Talking about the need to connect to queer images inspired us to share our experiences with LGBT representation in popular media. A lot of people had visceral reactions to Queer as Folk and The L Word. For many, those shows served as reminders of what we aren’t, but, for some, interactions with mainstream media prompted important conversations with family, allowing for relatability to queerness.

My favourite question was when Brian pondered whether Jack (Will & Grace) would really wear khakis, or was someone so queeny GAP-clad for palatability?

All in all, we laughed, discussed, and left thinking. In a room full of strangers, I was allowed the exposure (!) to ideas on fat theory, trans issues, and belonging that I’ve not considered.

Cheers to exposure for another fabulous, fun, and informative event!

Wacky Wednesdays

2009-11-19T01:54:00.002-05:00

Today D. and I ventured out to the West Edmonton Mall for a little getaway from academia.

Growing up in Regina, I went to WEM practically every year for one class trip or another, so the whole thing was pretty old hat for me. But D. was pretty much astonished as we landed upon wing after wing of stores, the ice rink, the water park, Galaxyland, etc.

We only did a little bit of shopping, relatively speaking, given that there are 800 stores. And by we, I mean me. I'm spending December/January in Winnipeg this year so I was determined to get a proper winter jacket. I found an awesome Canada Goose coat (I know, I know, equivalent to a month's rent, but so worth it!), but then also ended up finding a great trapper hat and some classic salt-and-pepper sweatpants from Roots. What're you gonna do?!

In addition to the shopping, we took over Galaxyland. It turns out today was a "Wacky Wednesday" at the mall, so we got in for only $15. Awesome! Not only was it half-price, but there was no one there, so we basically had the place to ourselves. We went on all the roller coasters...twice, went on the swings, killed some aliens on the lamest 'ride' ever, and got in some major collisions at the bumper cars. D. and I have never been to a theme park in our two-and-a-half years together, so it was a lot of fun to see stars and feel nauseous beside each other.

We also ducked out halfway through our theme park adventures to check out the sea lion show in the deep sea adventure area. I was totally into it until the star of the show started clapping for himself. Can you believe it? That self-aggrandizing little bastard totally ruined a good sea show for me. I mean, sure he could sing the opening bar of "In the Jungle", but the rest of the show wasn't that impressive.

Other than that, we caught a bit of a talk on sloths while searching for a washroom. Seriously. A woman had a sloth around her and was talking about their habits as several meerkats and another sloth made their way through a little glass zoo behind her. So bizarre.

The one thing we were surprised they didn't have was a petting zoo. It would have been nice to chill with some llamas. Or, as I joked to D., perhaps Jose Llana. (Flower Drum Song; anyone?) I'd totally go to a Broadway petting zoo. Especially if Cheyenne Jackson was there. Although, D. pointed out that if I saw Cheyenne there, it would be a heavy petting zoo. Har har.

Anyway, that was our day at the good ol' West Edmonton Mall. If you want to have a fun time and feel like barfing, be sure to check out Wacky Wednesdays. We highly recommend!

(Go)Ogle

2009-11-17T00:50:00.003-05:00

Recently I noticed that an image search on Google always ends up in something pornographic, no matter the title. I was searching for various images to use to describe characters in my novel the other day and every single search had at least a few pornographic pictures per page.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the photos that resulted from the following searches:

"older lady waitress"
"Canadian trucker"
and
"hockey player".

Needless to say, I promptly flipped the "Safe Search" option back to on.

In Conversation

2009-11-15T18:42:00.003-05:00

The following is taken from a conversation I had with D. last night as we walked home from a house-warming party full of Ph. D. candidates at approx. 2 AM.

ME: For real, I heard someone say "heteronormative" as we were leaving. That's gross.
D.: Baby, people at your parties do across-the-floor routines.
ME: Okay, fair.

Sophie's Choices

2009-11-13T18:36:00.009-05:00

When I did my cabaret last month, my friend Sophie took some fabulous promotional pictures for me to use. She is an awesome photographer and an excellent lady whom I met through her husband, Andrew (Bernardo in our West Side Story). She spent the whole evening capturing some great moments (and some not-so-great ones; I look weird when I sing sometimes) and, as a result, I have a ton of great shots to use for the future.

Anyway, I thought I'd post some of her choices up here for your enjoyment, as well as her website in case you should live in the New York area and need some new headshots or promotional photos yourself. She's fantastic!

(All pictures by Sophia Jasnowski, www.fotofia.com,
Copyright 2009)

1-2-3 JETS!

2009-11-12T16:54:00.004-05:00

This was written on Monday, but I'm just getting a chance to post it now. - K.

Well, it happened. We played our last performance of West Side Story yesterday. It was an incredible show, in my opinion, filled with fun, passion, and celebration.

I remember reading in Michael Shurtleff's Audition about "mystery and secret" and their effect on a performance. I think he cites Katherine Hepburn in On Golden Pond as an example. During the filming of the movie, she had some personal tragedy going on off-screen and it brings this depth of emotion to her performance. You don't know exactly what it is - hence, mystery and secret - but there's just something about her that moves you. There was a lot of that going on in our final show.

Some things, however, have always been there. For example, in "Jet Song", Matt Alfano and I would share a look on "Someone gets in our way, someone don't feel so well." Well, Matty and I have known each other since high school, so that look contained the memories and experiences of old friends, a strong connection that the Jets would have. Perhaps no one really saw all of that in our look (perhaps I feel it more keenly than others could), but those moments of something deeper, those connections help to build little moments of depth that register on some level. Chilina and Nicko have those, having grown up practically as siblings; I've known Paul since the age of 11 - those connections are just real.

So those moments have existed since day one, but others found their way through the cracks. Shared glances of people who've spent nine months together. Extra emotion under scenes fraught with the sadness over closing. Extra fire under our butts during "Cool" as we united as the Jets for the very last time. It was magic.

And then came the end. I had really hoped I could make it through the show without crying. I knew the bows would get me, and I was okay with that, but I was determined to keep it together during the show.

Well, you can't win 'em all.

I had a handle on it, but when I bent down to pick Paul up, I just dissolved. I did my best to fight against it as we carried him up aisle five, but I was a goner. Then, the rest was a whirlwind. The lights went down and came up again. We bowed, taking our turns at the forefront, all the while celebrating what we had created and the time we'd spent together.

Afterward, the closing party was fairly subdued. We toasted each other and said our goodbyes, but calmly and without many tears. This struck me as odd, that we could be so moved on stage, but later the goodbyes were almost easy. As I thought about it more, it made total sense. The real goodbyes were on stage. The goodbyes at the party were really just "see ya later"s. With facebook, Skype, and e-mail, even those of us who'll be the farthest away from one another can keep in touch. But the show, the Sharks and Jets, we said goodbye to for good. In its ephemeral way, that world existed for a time but is gone now. And that's the saddest part of all.

So, goodbye A-rab and friends: it's been a pleasure.

Stratford '09 Stats

2009-11-11T23:08:00.004-05:00

You may remember that last year I made a little list of stats from The Music Man.

Here is this year's edition that Krista Leis and I put together for the closing of West Side Story:

15, 225 Jet snaps
4, 410 "Maria"s uttered by Tony
2, 100 "Ay"s yelled by the Shark girls
1, 470 "Cool"s said/sung by the Jets
315 calypso jumps
210 knee spins
105 Pits of Despair (a section of the ballet)
7 combinations of stage management teams
5 people lost
5 people gained
2 new babies born
1 fabulous company putting together a fantastic show!

That last factoid is a little bit cheesy, but - hey - it's a closing note!

First Day of Vacation

2009-11-11T01:55:00.004-05:00

I have some posts coming up about last week, but I've been too lazy enjoying my first official day of vacation to type up anything.

So, in the mean time, I have this...

I woke up this morning looking like Angela Lansbury in the Sweeney Todd poster art circa 1979.

Anybody?!

My Brand-New Favourite!

2009-11-06T02:06:00.004-05:00

Five Reasons Why I Love Modern Family:

5. I know every character: who they are, what makes them angry, what makes them unique. I care for and love every one.

4. There are really honest, touching moments, but they never finish on them. There is always a humourous curveball to crack you up again.

3. Mockumentaries make me howl! I love the actors talking straight to me and I love when they sneak glances at the camera during tense moments.

2. A gay couple on prime-time television with a baby! They have a totally real relationship, they care for each other, and they have real fears and conflicts. No cardboard, neutered gay friends here. It's the real deal. Love it.

1. Manny. Who da Manny? Watch and find out.

I dare you not to love it....

Somewhere

2009-10-31T15:00:00.004-04:00

"There's a place for us/
Somewhere a place for us/
Peace and quiet and open air/
Wait for us, somewhere."

The other day Eric S. Robertson and I were conducting a workshop for some Grade 8 students before a matinee of West Side Story. We taught them one of the combinations from the show and then did a little Q&A at the end. The last question of the session was a particularly good one, especially - I thought - for an eighth-grader. She asked us what it was that we took away from the show each day when it finished.

That has been on my mind a lot lately and I told her as much.

What I have been taking away from the show lately has a lot to do with a question someone asked at a Cyrano Q&A back in the spring: "Why do you think theatre is still relevant?"

At the time, I said something about how theatre, like any form of media, can teach us something or help us recognize something in ourselves. We see something of ourselves and/or our world reflected from the stage and better understand some kind of truth. To illustrate my point, I used The Trojan Women as an example, citing how the play was thousands of years old, but still spoke to our world today.

Unfortunately, I've recently realized how that example holds with West Side Story. Some people have commented that the show is dated, even antiquated, and that it holds no relevance to society today. "It seems laughable now to think of being racist toward Puerto Ricans," someone said to me. While that may or may not be true, the core message of acceptance and love applies just as much today as in 1957, when the show premiered.

One of our cast members was called the "n-word" while walking around town earlier this season. I was shocked to hear that. It's 2009! We live in Canada, the great mosaic! But it still happens.

Just the other day, I was riding my bike to the theatre and a passing pre-teen called me a faggot. I can't even describe to you how angry I was in that moment. My heart raced immediately at the sound of the word. I screeched to a stop and threw my bike down, turning around to face the group of kids. Part of me now wishes I had said something, but I was afraid of what I would say or do, so I got back on my bike and rode to the theatre.

That day as we sang the lyrics of "Somewhere", the words felt truer than they ever had. The theatre is that place for me. I forget sometimes what a bubble we live in at the theatre. People are so open, loving, and accepting that I forget that intolerance exists. But then one day some kid I don't even know calls me a faggot and I remember that we are but a small slice of the world that is comparatively utopian.

And worse things happen all over the place. People are murdered in other countries for the "crime" of being gay. There are racially charged attacks for no reason. Wars still exist.

But even here at home things happen that boggle the mind. One such instance that has been particularly troubling to me and many others is the recent murder of Christopher Skinner. Whether or not it was a hate crime is an issue that I won't begin to delve into here, but, regardless, there are people out there, in our city, that chose to beat someone and drive over him with their SUV. They didn't know him; there is nothing he could have done to warrant that behaviour, but they did it anyway. For the same reasons that people have always committed those acts: fear and misunderstanding.

And people say that theatre, that West Side Story, is no longer relevant.

So what I take away at the end of the day is that the story of our play happens every day, all over the world. Our message is still important because the world still needs change. What I take away is that we need to love one another, respect each other, and accept. Not tolerate, accept. Even in the smallest interactions on the street, at a coffee shop, we need to respect and love. I fail at this all the time, but we all need to work harder to live a life of love even in those small moments because those interactions are what everything else is built off of.

What I take away at the end of every show is that there is a place for us, somewhere, but each and every one of us needs to work together to create it.

This is Canada to Me

2009-10-31T14:35:00.003-04:00

As described in my last post, Adam and I performed the new one-man version of Making Love in a Canoe in Stratford last week.

I am pleased to say that it was a successful, fun night. We had a lovely, warm crowd who were very supportive and kind, which was quite a relief. See, I've only ever done cabarets where I'm the main act and then have guests throughout to break up my sets, so I was a bit nervous to do the show solo. However, the crowd seemed totally appreciative of and positive about the evening.

Yay for that.

My stories went over well (always a big concern for me) and I managed not to say "uh" too much. It's a personal hurdle of mine to overcome, and I'm slowly but surely getting there. Luckily, the audience found the stories funny and I didn't seem to offend anyone, which is always a bonus.

Likewise, the songs were a hit and we were totally happy with our selection. It was difficult to choose just eleven songs to represent Canadian musical theatre and its writers, but I think we did a pretty good job. In the end, it was a small cross-section of composers, comparatively, but some of my favourites and certainly a lot of my favourite songs.

We had a surprise encore, which was quite funny. I had told Adam we weren't going to do it when we rehearsed earlier in the day, but then my West Side friends were - perhaps teasingly - screaming "Encore! Encore!", so I kind of felt we had to pull it out anyway. Normally, that wouldn't be a huge deal, but it's a Jonathan Monro tune and he is a bit famous for writing complicated songs, so it was Herculean of us to pull it out unrehearsed. However, there were no train wrecks and it proved entertaining, so I'm glad we took the risk and did it anyway.

And, perhaps most pleasing for me, my voice held up pretty well. A combination of fall allergies, Assassins madness, and end-of-season fatigue has had me feeling pretty tired vocally, so I was understandably worried that I wouldn't be able to sing the show as well as I'd like. I will say it wasn't my best vocal performance, but, in watching the video, I've realized it sounded worse in my head than it actually did on the day. So, as my voice teacher pointed out, now I've learned how to deal with a performance when in less than optimum circumstances. Good ol' life lessons...

Anyway, all in all, I was very pleased with the show and now we have a pretty good idea of what a one-man version of our Canadian material looks like. And I got to satisfy my craving for doing a cabaret that I've felt all season. I was listening to Patti LuPone's Les Mouches album a lot, as well as being a guest in various other cabarets, and it all just made me want to do our stuff again. So it was nice to get out, flex those muscles, and just have a fun night.

But now...time to relax! It's kind of amazing to have so much time outside of the shows, with no cabarets to plan or benefit concerts to be a part of. I've been sleeping, reading, and watching TV. Beautiful! And yet, sad, as another season comes to a close....

Sweet Canoe Lovin'

2009-10-22T10:58:00.005-04:00

For those of you who are in the Stratford area tomorrow night, Adam and I are premiering my new one-man show, Making Love in a Canoe.

Some of you who've known me for a while are probably thinking, "That's not new. You've done that show before." You are right; however, the last time I did a cabaret with that title, it was in my usual format with guest performers. This one is a solo, one-act version of our Canadian cabarets. I just really liked that title and wanted to use it again.

Anyway, the show is an evening of all-Canadian musical theatre woven together with stories of mine from on and off the boards. Adam and I have taken our favourite home-grown pieces and put them all together into a show that promises to be fun, entertaining, and uniquely Canadian. It's happening in the Chalmers Lounge, upstairs at the Avon Theatre, at 11:30 pm, with tickets going for the low, low price of $10.

I'm really excited about this project, as it's something I've been wanting to do for a couple of years now. I've been itching to do my own cabaret all season and now it's finally happening. So please, if you're around, come on out and see how much fun Making Love in a Canoe can be!

From A (-rab) to Z (angara)

2009-10-18T16:39:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow is the staged reading of Assassins that I wrote about last week. It's at the Avon Theatre at 8 pm, with all the proceeds going to PAL Stratford. You should come out and see!

We had our sitzprobe today with our awesome 14-piece orchestra (led by the lovely Laura Burton) and it was fantastic! They sound great and, as always, it was thrilling and goosebump-inducing to sing with them. They're all so talented and it adds so much to have the energy of an orchestra thrown into the mix. Exciting!

Now all that's left is our dress rehearsal on-stage tomorrow and then the big show at night. We were saying today the show is kind of crazy because it's everything all at once. First preview, opening night, hump day, and closing night all wrapped up into one performance. In a way, that's kind of liberating as well. Get up there, have fun, and never have to worry about sustaining the performance over a run, re-creating night after night. Just throw all caution to the wind and hand your binder in at the end of the night. Pretty cool!

However, I was thinking today how sad it is that the show will only be for one night. It's been such a cool experience and we've put so much work into it that it seems a shame to not have at least a couple weeks to run it. As well, it's been such a neat opportunity to work with some great folks from outside my shows like Geraint Wyn Davies, Deanne de Gruijter, Sean Arbuckle, and Cliff Saunders.

But what can you do? Another cool project soon to come to a close.

So come on and check it out tomorrow. It'll be a fun night and a great cause!

Diva Tag

2009-10-14T01:52:00.001-04:00

Props to the [tos] blog for this amazing clip. This is something from a club in New York called "Diva Tag". You will get it when you see it. It is amazing and hilarious. My favourite part is around the 1:44 mark where they pass off a Jennifer Holliday-ism.

Check it!

The Simple Life

2009-10-11T23:52:00.003-04:00

Last weekend my dad and I went on a wee tour of the Amish country near Stratford. A few places about a half an hour from here open up their homes/shops every Saturday in October for people to come in, check things out, and ask questions. It was so cool!

We ended up having an extended dinner at a place called Anna Mae's, so we actually only went to three places of the eight or so available. First, we checked out a shop where they make buggies, then we went to a furniture shop, and then we went to a goat farm. It was so wild to see all these places running with no electricity, doing things in a way that seems so complicated and old-fashioned considering the advances in technology. However, it was so amazing to be reminded of how little we need to actually survive.

People say things all the time like "I would die without my Blackberry" or "My iPod is the one thing I have to have with me at all times". (And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I saw the goats on the farm and thought of the recent Telus smartphone ad campaign. Media/consumerism has a hold on us.) Meanwhile, here is a whole society of people living without anything remotely close to those things. They lead happy, meaningful lives and have all they need for a good life: a roof over their heads, good food, friends and family, clothes, clean water.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still glad I have my iPod and, well, here I am blogging on my laptop, but it was nice to get a little perspective again. It was healthy to remember that I really do have all I need and to be grateful for that, rather than constantly giving in to our consumerist society and thinking of what it is I want next.

Of course, I was thinking about all of this today as it is Thanksgiving weekend and thoughts usually turn to what it is we're grateful for. I am grateful for what I've mentioned above, that I do have all I truly need to be happy in this world. But I am also blessed with much beyond that. I have shared Thanksgiving dinners with a variety of friends and family over the years, with more than a couple "orphan dinners" in there. I am grateful that I've never gone hungry or friend-less during those holidays. I am grateful to be supported and loved by many and to have many in my life to support and love! I am grateful to be surrounded by wonderful people, to be given exciting opportunities, and to get to do what I love every day.

And now I drift off to sleep - thanks to the soporific combo of wine, Marcy's cranberry-orange stuffing, and a few other tasty delights from this year's edition of Thanksgiving dinner - happy, blessed, and grateful.

Everybody's Got the Right to Sing Sondheim

2009-10-09T13:43:00.005-04:00

In just over a week, I am participating in a really exciting benefit performance of Assassins. The staged reading is being put on at the Avon Theatre to help raise funds for PAL Stratford and features a really talented group of folks from the Festival, plus myself. Steve Ross is at the helm as director, Marc Kimelman is choreographing, and Laura Burton is musical directing/conducting.

We've just recently started the staging and music rehearsals and I must say the project is a bit daunting. As Randy Ganne was commenting the other day, this show is Sondheim at his most Sondheim-y. I think the show is quite brilliant and the music is really wildly interesting, but it is a tough sing. We were saying that usually when you're learning music you can tell if you're missing the boat because it just sounds wrong. However, with this show it sounds wrong even when it's right so it's pretty hard to tell where you're hitting the marks and where you're out to lunch. Not so easy to learn.

My own journey with this concert has gone from "What an exciting challenge!" to "What the hell was I thinking?" to "I'm making a fool of myself!" to "This could be okay!" to "I'm not gonna suck!" Originally, I was really hoping to play John Hinckley, Jr. ("Unworthy of Your Love" is one of my all-time faves), but then Steve asked me if I would consider Zangara. This was a bit of a surprise as Zangara is supposed to be a short, Italian man, but, it is a benefit concert after all, so I said I'd take a look.

Initially, I looked at the music and listened to the recording of Jeffrey Kuhn and thought, "It's a bit crazy, but it could be a really great challenge." Also, I had just finished reading The Outliers by Malcom Gladwell and was therefore inspired by being given an exciting opportunity and thought myself a fool to say no.

Once I started working on it, I felt like I was a fool to have said yes. "How I Saved Roosevelt" (Zangara's featured number) is probably the hardest song I've ever sung. Of course it's Sondheim, so it's incredibly wordy and the intervalic structure is all over the place. But then add to that the fact that the whole song sits around a high A and is meant to be performed with an Italian accent and you've got yourself a stressful situation. So for the last few weeks I've been working on the material with my voice teacher here, endlessly working on the accent and building the stamina to get through the piece, most often leaving my lessons close to tears.

But then in the past week or so, it's started to come together. Last Sunday we sang through the whole song and I didn't die! Parts of it may have been less than ideal, but I did it. And there is still over a week before the concert, which means there's more and more time to feel more and more comfortable. So now I really am at "This is possible!" and back to "What an exciting challenge!"

Now, I realize the above perhaps doesn't instill a ton of confidence in coming to the concert, but I promise you it will be a really fantastic evening. My own worries aside, the show is so cool and really deserves being seen just on its own merits. But then add to that the fantastic cast (Geraint Wyn Davies, Sean Arbuckle, Steve Ross, Paul Nolan, Barb Fulton, Krista Leis, Andrew Cao, Jordan Bell, Randy Ganne, Jennifer Rias, Deanne de Gruijter, Mike Nadajewski, Cliff Saunders, Josh Assor, Matt Alfano, Genny Sermonia, Tessa Alves, Jessica Keeling, Brandon Espinoza, Douglas E. Hughes, Jen Mote, Julius Sermonia - hopefully I'm not forgetting anyone) and a fantastic orchestra and you've got yourself a great evening!

Hope to see you there!

Golden Summer

2009-09-29T22:10:00.006-04:00

"There is a golden summer waiting for you."

That is one of my favourite lines from Anne of Green Gables: The Musical. I think those lyrics are beautiful and the moment of the show in which they fall is beyond gorgeous. It was always one of the parts I looked forward to each night.

Outside of that show, I have had the good fortune to enjoy many golden summers. This past summer was no exception.

One of the things that made this summer so golden was how creative it was. Putting together the shows is, of course, always an intensely creative time and figuring out the worlds of each show is a continuing journey. But then there was also the reading of my play, the writing of my novel, and the cabaret series.

The cabarets and benefits I performed in this summer were all great opportunities to bring out material that was wildly different from that which I perform at the Festival. Singing a ten-minute ode to Sharron Matthews, a song about Facebook, or Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" provided a welcome change from "Jet Song". Similarly, the dance cabaret gave me an opportunity to choreograph, as well as to learn a piece choreographed by someone else: Marc Kimelman.

Marc is already well-known as a choreographer in Toronto and has done a lot around the Festival in his two seasons here, so he was the obvious choice when it came to asking someone to create an opening number for the dance cabaret. What he created was a beautiful, alive, joyful piece to "Aquarius", the opening number from Hair. The piece was a perfect start to the dance cabaret as it included a large number of company members and also embodied the spirit of the evening: "...then peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars."

Well, Marc invited us to film the dance in a park last week and the majority of people involved were able to be a part of the project. We spent a couple of hours of the morning dancing around on the wet grass and loving each other in the sunshine. It was so fun to be with each other literally frolicking around in nature, being creative together and making a little art. Marc's direction and choreography took us from giant trees to a little hill, to a small patch of grass with a view of the river, to the shade of a huge, beautiful tree.

The whole event was so fun and free and made me feel so fortunate to be surrounded by creative people who love what they do. Together we've been able to create so much this summer, whether it be something ephemeral or something, like Marc's piece, that can live on through the beauty of the Internet.

To celebrate all the inspiring times I've been lucky enough to have because of all the people around me this year, I thought I'd share with you Marc's video. Now get out there and create!

Fall TV

2009-09-28T19:10:00.004-04:00

I have to say that I'm not much of a television watcher. Life is so erratic at the Festival that it's rare for me to have the same night off week after week and I don't have PVR. These two factors make it difficult to follow shows. Now, I have to confess that I do download torrents of shows (please don't hate, appreciate), but keeping track of too many shows and downloading them all is too much of a hassle.

That said, I do have a few shows I make the effort for. I'm working my way through season one of True Blood and just watched the first episode of Modern Family, which I think is going to be added to my list. (Props to Josh Assor for pointing me toward that last one.)

Then there are the shows that I watch with D. Our system goes like this: we download the episode (sorry, it's just convenient) and then open it up while we are on Skype together. We start the episode at the same time and then mute our mics, typing our reactions to each other in a quasi-live blog commentary. It's really fun and, dare I say, our observations are pretty funny. Perhaps one day I will share highlights.

We absolutely love watching 30 Rock and try our best to support So You Think You Can Dance Canada, despite our not totally loving the home-grown edition as much as the original. However, the one new show of the fall season that we're both captivated by is Glee.

A lot of people around here have mixed opinions on the show and I agree with what they're saying, but I have to say I still really enjoy it. I love the singing, I love the quirky humour, I love the characters. And I love Kurt! I would have killed to have had a character like Kurt on TV when I was young.

What I love about what they've done with him is that he's so clearly gay and seems so confident in that fact, but he's so scared to come out and hadn't told a soul until two episodes ago. I love this because it's so true. All my friends knew I was gay before I did, so much so that I literally shouted at one of my friends "Can someone please be surprised?!" when I got a nonchalant reaction to my pained confession. So I love that Kurt, while possessing a litany of gay characteristics, is still figuring himself out.

I also love the way they handled the coming out scene with his father. As D. pointed out, they could have been totally typical and made the very butch, plaid-clad dad blow up and throw Kurt out of the house, but they didn't. However, they didn't make it completely sickly-sweet, after-school-special either. While the dad assured Kurt that he loved him and accepted him, he still wasn't completely comfortable with the idea. I loved that. It felt so real to me - human and flawed - and,therefore, that scene is a huge gift to people struggling with sexuality, either their own or someone else's.

And, as I mentioned in my last post, how could you not love a show where a girl spontaneously hurls a rock through a windshield and then works it out in a two-minute hip-hop number backed up by fierce cheerleaders in Converse high heels?

I'm sold.

New Music

2009-09-28T00:11:00.003-04:00

Top five songs/albums I'm totally digging right now:

1. Bust Your Windows - Glee Cast Version
2. Girls and Boys - the entire album, by Ingrid Michaelson
3. People Like Us - The Wild Party, original Broadway cast
4. Taller Children - Elizabeth & the Catapault
5. All I Want - Jay Brannan's version of Joni's classic

All of the above have been playing constantly on my iPod lately. "Bust Your Windows" probably more than anything else. Mercedes can si-i-ing. But Ingrid Michaelson is right up there with her. That album is playing whenever "Bust Your Windows" is not. So awesome.

Just thought I'd share.

What I Did This Summer

2009-09-20T22:57:00.004-04:00

Remember when you used to have to write those reports for the first week of school? I kind of feel like that's what I need to do right now because it has been so long since I last blogged. All I can say for myself is that is has been a busy season and that I tend to drop everything that isn't a necessity in times of stress, which includes my blog.

But I intend to make things right with a play-by-play update.

Sing Out Baby Louise
What was advertised as a bunch of young kids puttin' on a show was actually an elaborate ruse. The cabaret was really in honour of Sharron Matthews and Jenni Burke, to thank them for all they've done for the young people of the community. Sara Farb and Thom Allison orchestrated it and I was more than happy to be a part of the scheme. As you know, Sharron was a huge influence on me when I first got to Toronto and a real inspiration when it came to starting my cabarets.

The night was a huge success - how 100+ people kept the secret from the two of them I'll never know - and both of the ladies were massively surprised. Each of the young peeps performing did a song or two along with an anecdote in their honour. Ever the over-achiever, I did an entire songologue (in Sharron's signature style) telling the story of how she changed my life. It was a mammoth endeavour, but with the able hands of Dan Rutzen on the keys, it managed to come off pretty well. To give you an idea of how the story went, the songs I used were "9 to 5", "Her Voice", "I Wanna Be A Producer" (with changed lyrics), "Alone", "Don't Rain on My Parade", and "To Sir, With Love" (with changed lyrics).

It was a lovely night and so fun to see all the other talented people of my age bracket kickin' it up on the Buddies stage. As well, my mom was down from Regina so she got to have a taste of what I do in the whole cabaret scene in Toronto. All in all, it was a fabulous night.

Company Cabarets
This season, Lindsay Croxall and I organized and hosted five company cabarets at the Festival, including a dance cabaret held in honour of a good friend of ours. The talent in this company blew me away at every one. At the regular company cabarets, we had everything from spoken word poetry to ukulele to duct tape craft demos to jazz standards to a punk rock version of Hamlet. And all of those were performed by everyone from actors to musicians to crew members to customer service representatives! It was so fun to have everyone come together, celebrate the great people we work with, and have a few laughs along the way.

The dance cabaret was probably my favourite of them all, however. Dan Chameroy hosted, which was just the start of the fun. He is the most ridiculous man who always makes me howl and he did not disappoint. Then we had about ten different numbers choreographed and performed by various members of the company. What I loved about it was the sheer variety that came without us even trying to attain it. Everyone kind of did their own thing and we ended up with a real mix of jazz, contemporary, musical theatre, hip-hop, bad competition lyrical...you name it! The highlight for me was probably Kolton Stewart (the Boy in West Side Story) performing "The Rumble" from the end of Act 1 as Bernardo, with Brandon Espinoza in his role as Riff. Seeing a small ten year old beat the crap out of a grown man was one of the most hilarious things I've seen in a while.

The Shows
Of course everything else happened around our usual show schedule, which is always quite busy. Steve Ross joined the cast of West Side Story as Officer Krupke and, sadly, we said goodbye for now to Bruce Dow. My mom and I saw a bunch of the shows around the Festival, taking her through the annual show tour. (One of our mutual favourites was Rice Boy in the Studio Theatre - so beautiful!)

After my mom left, my oldest sister came to see the shows as well. This was especially exciting as she had never seen me perform professionally! It was so very exciting to have her in the audience for both the shows and to have her get to experience what it is I do. Also, I took her to see ...Forum (my fourth time seeing it), which we both thoroughly enjoyed. We both have a taste for Borscht Belt comedy and let out a few belly-laughs together.

...

Well I think that's about it for now, to be honest. We have a lot of stuff coming up in the next stretch (workshops, the PAL benefit concert version of Assassins), but I promise to be at least a little bit more diligent with my blogging.

Until then, enjoy the fall weather (sigh) and I'll see you soon.

Sing Out!

2009-08-08T02:00:00.003-04:00

A little plug for a show that I am doing: Sing Out Baby Louise!

This Monday at Buddies in Bad Times, a motley crew of performers from the Toronto scene are putting on an evening of fun times. The show starts at 730 pm and only costs $10. Even if you're a recessionista, you have to agree that is a budget-friendly price.

Especially considering the bang you get for your buck. Check out the line-up:

Sara Farb
Kritty Uranowski
Ari Weinberg
Gabi Epstein
Bryce Kulak
Kelly Holiff
Jeigh Madjus
Allie Hughes
and
moi.

And we are being accompanied by the fabulous Dan Rutzen - currently subbin' at The Shaw and MD-ing a Summerworks show entitled The Ecstasy of Mother Teresa.

What could be more fun for an early August evening?

NOTHING!

So get your butt down to Buddies and check that shiz out!

Do the Humpty Hump

2009-08-02T01:38:00.003-04:00

Today (meaning Saturday, though this post will say Sunday as it's technically early Sunday morning) was our Hump Day for West Side Story.

50 shows out of 100. That is a lot of shows!

I remember when I was younger I would do shows with Regina Summer Stage and think, "12 performances - holy crap!" Now here we are at show 50 thinking, only 50 more to go.

At this halfway point, I do have to say though that I am still thoroughly enjoying myself and the people around me. It is a supremely talented group of people, not to mention a caring, hilarious, ridiculous group of people. I feel very lucky to work with such a fun group and spend our days laughing together after we've finished fake beating each other up.

Also, I have to say that I still get just as excited and nervous for the show as on day one. Maybe that's a bit of a lie on the nervous part, but certainly as excited. Though I will say the show does still seem like an insurmountable beast at the very beginning as I hide on the staircase, waiting to make my entrance. But, once it all gets going, it really rolls along and then there we are taking our curtain call.

And, in the midst of it all, there are small moments where I step outside the show for just a second and feel so appreciative of what's going on. I had one of those in "Krupke" today where I just thought, "How cool is it to do this show with these awesome guys?" It gave me the biggest thrill to realize how much fun I was having and how lovely it's been to get to know my fellow Jets and the rest of the cast over the past five or so months.

So there we are. 50 shows. 50 more, plus a whole whack of Cyranos and another contract has gone by. So much is changing all the time in this business, with colleagues weaving in and out of our lives and our home base shifting constantly, so I'm trying to remember to enjoy the time I have here with these people and appreciate how (forgive me) magical what we have is.

And now I've gotten all sentimental on you. I'm going to stop now before I say something truly gushy and/or gag-inducing and just say that it has been a slice and I'm super excited to do the next chunk of the season!

Quarter-Life Crisis

2009-07-30T01:16:00.003-04:00

I am 25 and yet I feel old. Old and untalented. Why?

Because children are taking over the world.

Kolton, the Boy in West Side Story, is a sick drummer, great singer, and already has a natural talent for dance. Oh, and he's 10.

Jennifer Damiano, Natalie in Broadway's Next to Normal, was nominated for a Tony the same month that she graduated from high school.

Trent, David, and Kiril - the three Billy Elliots - won their Best Actor Tony Awards this year. They are each between 13 and 15.

And, to add insult to injury, there's this kid:

Sometimes, life just isn't fair.

My Personal Guitar Hero

2009-07-29T13:07:00.002-04:00

So I've been teaching myself to play guitar over the last couple of months with the help of a Guitar for Dummies book given to me by my best friend. I'm getting better, but slowly. So far my biggest hits consist of "Auld Lang Syne", "It's Raining, It's Pouring", and a very slow-paced "Home on the Range".

However, given that my speed changing chords and the skill with which I play said chords has been improving steadily, I've been feeling pretty proud of myself.

And then I saw this video (on Joe.My.God.) and immediately felt terrible again. His awkward-cute kid voice aside, this boy is totally putting me to shame.

Off I go then - practice, practice, practice!

Life, Oh Life

2009-07-22T22:01:00.002-04:00

Time is just flying by at the Festival....

The shows are both going really well and are settling nicely. I think today was our 46th West Side Story and I have to say I'm still totally loving it. It's such a challenge to get through (sometimes your body just wants to sit down instead of doing "Cool") that you really have no choice but to commit 100% and enjoy the ride. Anything less and you will most likely fall off the stage...or at least that's what it feels like.

We have Cyrano tomorrow, so I'll have to put my sword-fighting hat on for that. I have to say I was less than exuberant about the sword-fighting in the beginning, but it is one of my favourite elements of the show. I guess I was just nervous in the beginning that I would stab someone or get stabbed, but once I realized it was all very safe and fun - I began to quite like it. Now I'm actually kind of disappointed I don't do more! Maybe another show....

Not much else is new... A new commercial came out for WSS which is very exciting. You can see me more in this one (which is probably why I find it exciting): on the right side of the screen in the word "SIDE" dancing with Krista Leis, my dance partner for life, and on the left side of the screen jumping in the word "STORY".

Check it out!

The Big Apple

2009-07-12T19:54:00.003-04:00

Like I said in the last post, I went to New York!

I had four days off from the shows, so I decided I would seize the opportunity and take a little trip down. It was about the halfway point of the contract and I thought that the perfect time to get away for a few days and get re-inspired to finish off the season.

It turns out I was very right!

First of all, it's always nice to leave town and spend some time with people you don't regularly see. I was put up by the very lovely Tricia, a friend from my lululemon days, who very kindly gave me her spare set of keys and said "Have fun!" I also got to catch up with some friends of mine who live there now and went for all sorts of dinners and drinks.

Second of all, I decided to be brave and take dance class at Broadway Dance Center. I know that doesn't sound especially heroic, but I've had a real fear of taking class down there. I guess I just thought that it's New York so of course I'd be the worst person there, fall doing a pirouette, and never be able to show my face again. Luckily, I picked appropriate enough classes and had a ton of fun. And, to be honest, it was a lot like taking class anywhere. There were some great people, some not so great, and a lot in the middle. The teachers were great and I had a lot of fun! And I didn't fall! Most enjoyable was (our Associate Choreographer) Josh Bergasse's Theater class. If you're ever down there, take it. So much fun and such a good workout. Definitely sweat through every inch of fabric I had on and devoured about two litres of water....

Last of all, I did my favourite thing of all - saw shows! Between Sunday and Wednesday I saw: Shrek, In the Heights, Next to Normal, 9 to 5, and Hair. Definitely enjoyed myself overall and felt really excited by the fabulous performances. To give a quick rundown: Shrek was a bit hot-and-cold for me, but had some really great performances, a few songs that I can't stop listening to on my iPod, and a first-act closing that had me in tears; In the Heights was amazing as always with everyone giving 100%...so beautiful...four understudies on who were all incredible...just such a fabulous show; Next to Normal was off the hook...astounding performances...unbelievable voices...daughter understudy was fantastic...truly inspiring; 9 to 5 was also a little hot-and-cold but really fun and the girls belt belt belt, which I always love; and Hair was also really incredible with a fantastic cast, amazing voices, and an infectious energy. I'm not a huge fan of the show necessarily, but I found myself shouting "Peace now! Freedom now!" and cheering spontaneously throughout. That's a good sign.

Anyway, the whole trip was so fun and exciting. The energy of the city always makes me feel so happy and seeing shows is really my absolute favourite thing to do in life. So, needless to say, I came back very happy to get to do our fabulous shows and - hopefully - provide the same experience for show-lovers here!

Update

2009-07-11T21:26:00.003-04:00

OK...I haven't posted in a while. I really hope to buckle down and write a post in the next few days, but tonight is just not the night. Lots to write about though! I went to New York last week and saw some amazing theatre, then came back here and saw more amazing theatre. More on all of that later.

In the meantime, have you seen the new commercial for West Side Story at Stratford? I really like the commercial and think that you should come check it out live on stage! :)

Wow.

2009-06-20T21:32:00.001-04:00

I am a big sap, but this is totally one of the saddest things I've ever read....

Opening Night!

2009-06-09T16:11:00.003-04:00

We opened West Side Story at the Festival Theatre on Friday night! Huzzah!

I could not be more excited to open. For one thing, we've been previewing for a while and rehearsing for months, so it is exciting to move on to the next phase of life here. For another thing, opening nights are always really fun. I love the energy when you walk in the building and everyone is excited and ready for the Big Show. I love the cards at your station and the tremendous amounts of candy and baking that get dispersed throughout the dressing rooms. It's all so much fun.

The show itself went well. I think everyone felt pretty good about it and the response from the audience and our peers was phenomenal. I have to say that I personally didn't feel like I gave the best show ever, but I think that has a lot to do with still figuring out where the show sits for me. In the beginning of previews, it was all about really focusing, remembering everything, and being there with the other cast members. Now that we know the show so well, a lot of that is coming more naturally so it's tough for me to know what the feeling of doing it really is. For the most part, I just keep listening, focusing, and letting the others influence me and see where that takes me.

And now I feel like these are things I shouldn't be admitting. But it's the truth!

Anyway, the show was great and people were very moved and it was all very exciting. We got very dressed up (we clean up well) and had a fun party and celebrated all the hard work that has gone into the last three months. It has been a difficult road, an interesting journey, and a lot of other cliches, but now the show is ours and we get the pleasure of climbing that mountain every night.

I, for one, could not feel more grateful for that very fact.

My Birthday Mug

2009-06-04T00:46:00.005-04:00

For my birthday party, a few of us spent the afternoon at the Clay Cafe in Stratford. I decided to make a giant latte-sized mug as my birthday piece. My theme was painting outside the lines, as a throwback to this blog I wrote.

And here it is!
Now whenever I have way too much coffee, I remember to have fun and feel free to live life outside the lines...doin' it my way.

The Days Ahead

2009-06-02T19:27:00.004-04:00

Today was our second last preview of West Side Story before Friday's opening night. I haven't said too much about the show yet because I feel weird about writing things on here regarding it all. Part of me is worried that I'm breaking some kind of code of silence when it comes to Stratford, and part of me doesn't want to go on and on about how wonderful the show I'm currently appearing in is....

However, I'm breaking that all now. I have to say I'm really proud to be a part of this show and I think it is something incredibly special. It really is such an ensemble show and it really is - in my opinion - a fantastic ensemble of people. I think everyone is doing tremendous work and it all feels very exciting.

Now, I won't say any more about it for fear of sounding like a first-year music theatre student. (No offense to any current first years, but you have a tendency to get overly appreciative of your friends' talents. Don't worry, I was there too....)

The other thing I will say is that this year I'm not reading reviews. For one thing, whether the review is positive or negative, it can mess with your brain. If it's negative, then you start to second-guess all the work you've done. If it's positive, then you can start to feel overly confident and that can be bad for you too. And, for me, the most important thing is that the show is ours and I'm very much in love with it. Someone else's opinion could mar that and I think that would be the worst thing of all.

So, as the next days go by, I'm going to do my best to just focus and keep doing the show we've been doing. I've learned so much in the last three months and I'd really like to honour that.

And with that...more rehearsal!

Extra, Extra: Writing War Won!

2009-06-02T00:11:00.006-04:00

Well, I'm back from the writing crusade. A bit bruised, slightly sleep-deprived, but valiant! I completed the project as I said I would, knowing the whole while that - if I didn't - there would be many people who could publicly mock me for so blatantly blogging and facebook-ing about my quest. Yet again the success of the "tell-people-so-you-have-to-do-it" method is proven.

In 30 days, I wrote 223 (double-spaced) pages and 54, 546 words. Today, I printed off the first draft for my perusal.

And, all the while, I had my handy No Plot? No Problem! kit by Chris Baty, replete with tracking sheet (pictured below, on the right) to help me through. Note the shiny stars along the way. Every 2, 000 words I awarded myself a shiny gold star of motivation. Quite the thrill! And you'll notice the column to the left of the shiny stars is empty. That was the column for "onerosity coupons", the coupons that you would give to friends saying you would do a task for them (ie. walk their dog, clean their bathroom) if you didn't reach a word goal by a certain date. I am proud to say that I made it through the whole project without needing to dole out a single onerosity coupon. Boo-yah!

Now that I'm done I feel a strange sensation. It's called having time on your hands. I also realize how much I can truly get done if I get off of facebook and do something with my life. Those two hours a day I spent writing for the last month can now be filled with learning how to play the guitar or writing more blogs. Or sleeping. That's one thing that I kind of missed out on in the last month.

The other strange sensation I have is a weird protection surrounding my first draft. A couple of people have asked to read it and I feel very weird about it. I haven't even taken a full look through it all yet. I think that is the next step. And then, who knows? Maybe it will stay a neat project in a box in my closet, or maybe I'll continue to work on it and try and make something of it...

That next step remains to be seen...

For now, OPENING WEEK!

Back from the Dead

2009-05-28T20:33:00.003-04:00

I have been away from the blog for almost a month now, largely due to the massive writing project I announced in the last post.

Blogging will commence again shortly.

But right now I'm at 45, 094 words and the goal of the project is so close that I can't turn away from it.

See you soon!

The Write Stuff

2009-05-04T19:53:00.005-04:00

First of all, let me say that the mug I'm drinking my expired Christmas Blend from is my first Clay Cafe original mug. Not too shabby, eh?

Second of all, let me say that my first three days of novel-writing have been great! So far, I've reached 6, 836 words. Again, not too shabby!

Already I'm finding this challenge really interesting and fun. It's really nice to have a couple of hours a day to just create something with no guidelines, no observers, and no plan. My boyfriend commented that he would have a really hard time working on a project of this scope without making any kind of outline to work with, but I have to say it's one of the most freeing things about it. There are no points to hit, no plot points or characters that must appear. I simply start writing and see what happens.

What happens is even more interesting to me so far. A lot of writers have been recorded saying things like the characters inform you, or the story tells itself and all of that, but I kind of thought it was esoteric, artsy bull. On the contrary, it's bizarrely true. I'll start writing having no idea where I really want it to go and all of a sudden ideas keep coming and then a whole scene comes out that I hadn't anticipated. It may just be a fantastic symptom of being in the first week of this whole thing, but it's certainly a cool discovery.

For now, I'm going to keep riding the wave and see where this story goes. As of day four, consider me having a great time!

Marvelous Novelist You

2009-04-30T00:09:00.004-04:00

A year ago I was walking through a bookstore on Bloor St. and I came across a neat looking kit called No Plot? No Problem!. It's a writing kit to help you bash out a first draft of a novel in one month. Having always wanted to write a novel, I picked it up thinking it would be a great idea.

Cut to a year later and the kit has sat in immaculate condition on my bookshelf, collecting more dust than words per day. I've just never found a month that I thought would be ideal for taking time to write a novel. But, the other day, I came to the conclusion that there will never be a month in my life ideal for writing a novel. So I am going to seize the day and start my writing adventure on May 1.

May is a crazy month. It not only contains my birthday, but also several tech days and it is the month of rehearsals prior to opening week. Perhaps not the best time, but June marks the opening of both my shows, July will likely contain some auditions, my mother arrives in August, and, well, the list goes on. Therefore, May it is. I'm just going to go for it.

Now, of course, the reason I'm writing this blog all about it is part of my key to success: if you tell people you're going to do something, you'll look like an ass if you don't. It's how I got my cabaret series started and that worked out pretty well. So I'm telling all four of you - I am going to start my novel and have it be done by May 31st.

That's a pretty huge sentence. A novel done by May 31st. All I can do is my best! And write an average of 1, 613 words a day.

I'll monitor my progress on here...and probably little else. If I need 1, 613 words for this novel project daily, I may not have any others in my head for blogging...

Wish me luck!

In the Lines

2009-04-28T18:27:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I caught the most beautiful view outside of my front window. There was an elderly man walking hand-in-hand with his grandson, who was dressed like Spiderman. In mid-April. The sight of this kid in full Halloween gear just made me laugh so hard; it was absolutely adorable.

Later that week, I spotted a lady wearing bunny ears walking down the street on Good Friday. This sight also made me laugh really hard, but in less of an adorable kind of way. This was a grown woman sporting a bunny hairband in the middle of the day.

And then - like our dear friend Carrie Bradshaw - I began to wonder: at what point are we no longer allowed to have fun?

We have dinner parties, we go for drinks, we watch movies. We tell jokes and laugh and enjoy life, but when do we dress up like Spiderman? (Unless you're doing the new Bono/Julie Taymor musical...yeesh.) When do we sit down in the middle of the day and colour a picture? When do we make a fort out of cushions and blankets while snacking on milk and Oreos?

More importantly, when did it stop being okay to do those things? Because, ultimately, that's it. You see a kid wearing a Spiderman costume and think it's amazing; you see a grown woman with bunny ears and you wonder where her marbles have gone. Why can we not afford ourselves the same amount of silliness that we allow for kids?

I think it has something to do with colouring in the lines. We all enjoyed having fun with crayons and making our own kind of art, colouring all over a picture. But, at some point, some adult inevitably told us - more than likely in a mildly scolding tone - to stay in the lines. And so fun became acceptable only if it was done in a generally pleasing manner. You colour in the lines, the fort becomes a couch again, and you grow up.

Having thought about all of this, I revoke my laughter at the bunny lady and applaud her for having a bit of fun. And I think the next time I go to the Clay Cafe, I might just make the weirdest, most colourful, all-over-the-lines kind of design I can.

While having milk and Oreos.

In a Spiderman costume.

In Conversation 2

2009-04-28T16:02:00.000-04:00

Another snippet of conversation heard around the Festival this week...

JANE: So what are you up to today?
ME: I think I might swing by the Clay Cafe to pick up some flower pots I painted on the weekend.
JANE: (laughing) How much gayer can you get?
ME: I painted them while listening to Mame. That's how much gayer I can get.

Reading, Writing, But No Arithmetic

2009-04-22T22:02:00.003-04:00

A couple of months ago, I was asked to write a play for an evening of one-act plays in Regina. I was matched up with an author from the Saskatchewan Writer's Guild and set to work on actually completing my first major writing project.

Over a few weeks and several drafts, I came to a pretty happy place with my play, entitled In the Room. I wanted to write something that I would have wanted to perform at 16 (the age of the company members), so the play is all about six people auditioning for a national tour. Initially it sounds like I'm re-inventing A Chorus Line or other such shows, but I think that what came out is a pretty current perspective on what it's like to be in the business. Certainly it's filled with a lot of stories and feelings that I've come across in my few years performing professionally and I would like to think that personal experience has made it something unique and different from shows like ACL, [title of show], etc. That said, I could be full of crap; so who knows?!

Anyway, the point is that the evening of one-acts ended up being cancelled due to a variety of reasons and so my play ended up not getting produced. I was a bit bummed and certainly felt I was missing out on the final educational step of the process: seeing how successfully the words can jump off the page. Luckily, in talking with my best friend/personal support team Adam, I decided to do a reading of the play with a few actors from West Side Story.

First off, let me just say that I have never worked with such a giving group of people. Every person I asked (eight actors in total) agreed to do the reading without blinking an eye, even though it meant giving up a chunk of their lunch break in what is certainly one of the busiest months of the season. Secondly, let me just say that these were eight very funny and talented people who gave a great first read having just read the script the day prior. Everyone came in with a great take on their character and really honestly delivered the material; it was very exciting.

All in all, I learned a lot from the experience. A lot of jokes and moments really landed, while others were clearly funnier at 3 a.m. when it was just me, my laptop, and the light of the moon. The actors' fresh eyes pointed out some really keen observations which I think will make the play stronger and their encouraging remarks definitely made me feel like I have some idea what I'm doing, which is always nice for someone as needy as myself.

I think the one thing that really surprised and informed me was hearing how the actors' voices/personalities/ideas/emotions/experiences coloured the lines so differently from the way I heard them in my head, but in a way that was still truthful, interesting, and deeply funny. I have to say Lindsay Croxall gave one line read that still makes me laugh on a bit that I don't even consider to be a laugh line. The whole experience was just so edifying and fascinating and fun.

In the end, this whole writing business was a long haul, but a really cool journey. I feel very grateful for the artistic directors of the company in Regina for starting me on a project that I actually had to finish, first and foremost. (Apparently deadlines are the only thing that will get me to finish something.) I also feel very grateful for my writing mentor, Jean, for all her help, and to the fabulous actors - Lindsay, Bruce, Jen, Krista, Genny, Andrew, Matt, and Jordan - for giving up their time to let me hear something that had formerly only existed in my twisted noggin.

Sometimes I feel there is so much I want to do and learn and experience in the world and so little time to get to do it all. So, whether or not I get around to doing more of it, it was really cool to put on a writer's hat for a little while and feel that out.

Fun times.

As Zee French Say...

2009-04-12T18:40:00.003-04:00

My friend Annie (also known as the author of Bloggerina, one my fave blogs) posted this article on my last post because of my affinity for language and pet peeves.

I've always liked language and found it extremely interesting. One of the thing that fascinates me is the evolution of a word. How it starts, when it is officially included in the English language, how the pronunciation of it changes over time, and even how its usage changes. (ie. "gay", anyone?)

The article goes on in great detail about the pronunciation of words that are included in our everyday English conversation but are actually of another language. When do we pronounce them properly? When do we Anglify them? What is proper?

There is a character in Seth Rudetsky's Broadway Nights who says absolutely every French word with perfectly French pronunciation, even when it is in the middle of a completely English sentence. And you know what that is? Annoying. There is a line. Do it all the way and you are pretentious and no fun to be around. That said, if you completely Anglify every foreign word, you've just tumbled out of a barn.

I like what Russell Smith says in the article is the general rule: "to go halfway on the real thing". There is an attempt to show that you understand that the word is foreign, but it is not so showy as to put anyone off.

I suppose, after all, it's just a matter of style and personal taste. Maybe I don't like people who use the proper pronunciation at all times because I, myself, can't do it. Perhaps at a dinner party with sparkling conversation and witty bon mots, anything less than the proper pronunciation is unbelievably gauche.

But, in the end, I prefer my own method of tackling this particular obstacle: saying it in an incredibly awkward manner so as to show that I know it's foreign, I have no clue how to say it properly, but I can make fun of myself for just that very fact.

File Under: Silly Pet Peeves

2009-04-06T23:28:00.002-04:00

I know this is totally silly, but this is something that has been bugging me for a while now.

I go to the grocery store and, at the check-out counter, I hand the clerk a bit of cash. For the sake of the story, let's say it's fifteen to twenty bone. I give them this fifteen to twenty bone while saying, "I'll pay [amount ranging from fifteen to twenty bone] with cash and then just put the rest on debit."

So far, so good.

However, it is at this point where the cashier seems to inevitably say, "Would you like cash back with that?"

No, I would not like cash back with that! I just gave you cash! Why would I want any back? Why would I give you a twenty, pay the rest with debit, and then get twenty back? It makes no sense!

Now I realize that the check-out position probably gets really old, really quick, but if you're at the point where you just say phrases like an automated call centre service without even thinking about what you're saying: what else are you doing without putting any thought into it?

As I said earlier, obviously a silly thing, but it just blows my mind a little.

Live in the moment, people.

Life on the West Side

2009-04-03T19:44:00.004-04:00

It is hard to believe that we have been working on West Side Story for about six weeks now. I feel like we just made all of our introductions on the first day and now we are already a week away from our first preview.

Today was our first run-through of the show with tech and costume and it was thrilling! I have to say that everyone has done an incredible job. Our costumes are unbelievable, the lighting is beautiful, the set and props are fantastic - it is so exciting to see it all come together. And the orchestra! A 25-piece orchestra wailing the gorgeous score...there is nothing like it.

I may be gushing, but it is from a place of pure childish glee. I honestly had a few moments today where I was almost a bit overwhelmed at what was going on around me. I've just watched the movie for years and loved it so dearly that getting to do this show with these great people - with the design team and the creative team and everyone involved - is a bit of a wild experience.

Of course there is still a lot of work to be done and changes to be made, but I feel like something great is coming...

Coming This September

2009-04-03T19:38:00.003-04:00

Papa's excited...

In Conversation

2009-03-29T22:22:00.001-04:00

A snippet of conversation from around the Festival last week...

MATT: Hey, what book are you reading?
ME: An Introduction to 17th-Century France.
MATT: You would.

Small Town Saskatchewan

2009-03-22T23:46:00.004-04:00

I was just looking through old pictures on my computer and found a few from a trip home a few years ago. I used to live in a very small town called Ituna, Saskatchewan, which is pictured here:

In such a place, there are often found hilarious signs, such as the one which is pictured here:

This little meat shop on the prairie makes Corner Gas' Dog River look New York.

Ah, home sweet home.

The Race is Still On

2009-03-19T22:03:00.003-04:00

I was sorely disappointed - at first - to see that this week's Drag Race was a "look-back" episode. (Or as D. said, an "After the Final Rose" episode before the final rose!) However, it was greatly entertaining and filled with a lot less filler than I would have expected. Plus, an hilarious reappearance by my personal fave, Ongina. She should have her own MAC campaign regardless of who wins the contest.

That said, my absolute favourite was this quote regarding Bebe's hair:

MERLE: And you know what they say in Texas?
RUPAUL: What's that?
MERLE: The bigger the hair, the closer to God.
RUPAUL: Ooh! Praise Jesus!

As I've said this whole time, RuPaul is Tyra Banks with a sense of irony and better skin tone. Maybe they can do a cross-over season where they pit the queens of Drag Race against the gals of ANTM?!

Now that I would like to see.

Celebrity Casting Wish List

2009-03-17T16:15:00.006-04:00

In light of the recent economic downturn, I know Broadway producers are probably really working to come up with that Next Big Thing to be a big hit for the Great White Way and the Road. Given the joy I take in casting musicals, I thought I'd post my wish list for celebrity casting that could really invigorate the theatre...

1. Patti LuPone as "Elle Woods" in Legally Blonde: The Musical's 2010 revival cast. She's used to wearing big heels and could actually hold the final note of "So Much Better". As LBTMTSFEW host Paul Canaan would say, "I call that a hit!"

2. Cher taking over for Topol as "Tevye" in the Fiddler on the Roof National Tour. I figure it it's Topol's farewell tour, who better to continue it than the queen of farewell tours herself?!

3. A reworking of the hot Disney hit High School Musical directed/choreographed by Jerry Mitchell and starring Cheyenne Jackson as "Troy", Karen Olivo as "Vanessa" (natch), Megan Hilty as "Sharpay", Barrett Foa as "Ryan", and Tituss Burgess as "Chad". The title? High School Reunion Musical.

4. Carol Channing stars as "Curly" in an avant-garde, gender-bending comeback performance of Oklahoma! "The corn is as high as an elephant's eye... Corn?! I don't remember eating corn!"

And, finally, I would stop at nothing to see:

5. The [title of show] sequel, taking place years after the original's final Broadway bow. Paul Gemignani as "Larry", Boyd Gaines as "Jeff", Nathan Lane as "Hunter", Elaine Stritch as "Susan", and Mary Testa as "Heidi". Now, that's Broadway!

Racing to the Finish Line

2009-03-06T18:45:00.001-05:00

RuPaul's Drag Race keeps getting better and better.

This past episode was just mind-boggling.

All I have to say is: Ongina was totally robbed; Shannel is the pot calling the kettle rainbow; and Robin Antin was the prettiest drag queen of them all.

Movin' Out

2009-03-03T22:25:00.005-05:00

My boyfriend is moving away this fall to ~~get as far away from me as possible~~ ~~punish me for always living out of town~~ further his education. Naturally, I am ~~critical of~~ ~~unhappy about~~ supportive of his decision and very proud of him for being accepted to do his Ph.D. Of course, this comes mainly from the fact that one day I can sign our Christmas cards with "Dr. and Mr. Mason". Given the massive effect this move is going to have on our lives, I've taken to teasing him about the fact that he'll be gone for the next four years.

Today was one such occasion:

D.: But imagine how nice it'll be when I'll be back. We'll own our nice little condo together in Little Italy and I'll be like, "Bye, just going to work at the university."
ME: And I'll be like, "Bye, just going to dye my graying hair because I'm thirty."

That doesn't make me a mean boyfriend, does it?

Thai At My Pad

2009-02-27T20:21:00.003-05:00

This is a conversation that came up on the phone with my boyfriend today:

ME: I really wish I lived closer to...Chinese food.
D.: Oh, I thought you were going to say me.
ME: No, Chinese food.

What can I say? Rehearsals make me hungry.

Go, Mambo, Go!

2009-02-27T19:48:00.005-05:00

I mentioned on Tuesday that my body was too sore to even type a blog. I am just now at the point of recovery where I can actually post about it.

We started our dance rehearsals for West Side Story on Monday and it has been a whole lot of crazy. The first day we learned "Cool", which is equal parts amazing and excruciating. The choreography is so inventive, expressive, and all-out awesome, but it is also murder on pretty well every part of your body. My neck and quads left the building by hour two.

Throughout the course of the week, we also learned a couple other numbers and today we got to go on the set to try it out in the theatre.

I have never performed on the Festival stage before, but that theatre is unbelievable. There is no hiding on that stage. Everywhere you go, someone can see you. It requires absolute commitment and that is totally exciting. It feels so intimate having the audience around you like that, bringing the relationship they'll have with the world of the show so much closer. I'm really loving the feeling of it so far.

As for the choreography...it's getting there. I feel like learning this show is like learning a new language. I don't speak French fluently, but I do know a few words and phrases. I can hear something in French and recognize it, but by no means can I actually speak the language with ease. It's the same way with Robbins' choreography. I recognize the steps. Pirouettes, ball changes, and battements are all elements I understand. But his style is so different for me that making it all happen in the way he created it is a total personal challenge.

Luckily, I feel we have great translators in the choreographic team. They are able to adjust our positions to show us just the way it was intended to look and give images to help us understand why the move is that way or what the storytelling is in that moment. The dances are filled with so many images of what's going on inside for these characters; they are just amazing pieces.

Tomorrow we are starting yet another piece of the show and I can't help but feel that, if my body will keep up with me, this is going to be an unreal experience.