Red Granny Boots or Too Good To Be True!

I wasn't seen at Jekyl and Hyde yesterday. It bummed me out at the time, but I'm starting to get my old NY callouses back. Bit by bit. Missed out on some background work because I still had my phone on silent. Worked in Florid,, but gotta turn all that noise back on in NY. Getting back in the groove.
It always helps when you see an audition notice up that tickles you. Houston Grand Opera is looking for local hires for Showboat. They want three white couples and one black couple to dance, plus Frank, Ellie, and their under studies. While I could very possibly be a Broward Stage Door Ellie, I am def not an HGO Nellie. I can't wait to get my dance shoes on and go audition. Reasons it would be amazing to book:
1. I'd be home for Christmas while working. Money to buy presents, possibility of making at least a few of our five million family Christmas shindigs, and avoidance of snow.
2. It's a Co production between four opera companies and is huge. Costumes, sets, and everything are just phenomenal.
3. Pay is triple what some theatres pay Equity members. And that is just for your chorus kids. Two months of that please!
4. The Wortham. The stage is gorgeous. The dressing rooms are huge and fabulous and have locks on the door.
5. Showboat is fierce and it would be amazing to do it with an insane production budget. Broward's will have heart, but not this kind of splash and coin behind it.
6. Full orchestra. I've never worked with one. I've generally had a "band." While I love band guys (they are always the best crowd at post show parties), a full orchestra is such a rarity nowadays. Just to do it once would be phenomenal.
7. Red can can boots. I saw this picture from Chicago Light Opera of the production. Costumes are Fab and those shoes are a dream. And that's right where I fit in! Red granny boots. Sooooooo pretty! (I also miss my crummy granny boots from MFL. If I could always book shows with granny boots, I would be in a dream!)


There is my current pipe dream. Hopefully it works out. If not, there will be another audition posted in a few weeks that will also make me squeal. :-)

Goodbye Florida. Hello New York and Pants.

In a whirlwind of cartwheels and cockneys, My Fair Lady closed. While part of me is ready to move on, a huge part of me wants to continue My Fair Ladying. It was one of my favorite shows as as a kid, and it was with a great group of people. Between the shows popularity and my Englishness, I am sure we will cross paths again. Please let it be soon! (Plus sweating through those heavy costumes keeps me skinny!)
Special thanks to everyone at the Broward Stage Door especially Michael Leeds, Dave Campbell, Dee Bunn, and Dave Torres. I had a blast! :-) Here's to hoping it's the start of "a beautiful friendship" (Casablanca style minus the Nazis). I will miss you all. And the beach.
I'm back in New Jersey after a quick visit to my parents. I had to wear pants and a jacket today instead of a sundress. I'm not used to the cold anymore. Even checking the weather, I underestimated the cold. Shivering away my Blue Bell ice cream? Not how I planned on working it off.
Hit the Catch me If You Can call today. They typed us out by having us "ooze" sexily to some perky sixties music. I refrained from asking whether they wanted whips and xhains or playboy bunnies. I just went with being myself. It was actually pretty funny to watch. Which I went smiley through my oozing. Laugh while you can. Bad attempts at porn by Musical Theatre ladies. Where were the straight men at this moment? Where was my flip camera? Too bad my slow motion shimmies didn't type me in! (Just the thought of attempting slow motion shimmies makes me giggle!)
The grind stone continues tom. La Cage and Jekyll and Hyde tour ECCs to hit up tom. Two shows that I could play in the right production. The big question is if this is the right production. Right now I am in good shape vocally and physically. Hopefully, I can book something now when I am skinny and fierce!
Me pretending to do My Fair Lady in Jr. High. The Christmas tree just makes it better! :-)


My reality at 22. Trapped in the Cockey closet!


Everybody ought to have a maid...


Titanic moments! Why didn't James Cameron use us? (My wildly unflattering dress probably turned him away. If only it had been tailored!)

The Cradle Might Rock....

I'm keeping my eye on the SAG AFTRA merger. First and foremost, it would create a better union name. Hopefully. But it could also have a big impact on my furture. Whether it goes through or not, things are changing. People no longer work just one portion of their field, they do everything to pay the bills. And have to join multiple unions to do so.
Unions are not at their best in the entertainment world. Having watched my dad's union do excellent work most of my life, it gives me a different look at the unions that are very possibly in my future if I keep at what I am doing.
My dad is a pilot for Southwest airlines. His union does well and handles things in a calm adult like manner. Which us funny considering it is a bunch of fly boys (man child dream job?). On the other hand, performers unions treat everything as a giant fight with the management. Yes, our management does tend to be more scatterbrained and less respectful, but does it have to be this hard? Can't we all discuss business like adults? Especially when it pertains to physical and mental safety.
Part of the problem with theatre is most theatres are non profits (non profits have no problem with screwing over employees because it is noble work for a good cause) or they are big buck operations trying to make the spectacle and the profits. Two things that don't go together. Just look at Spiderman. It's nigh impossible for them to make all that money back, yet they will continue a show that needs lots of work to make the profit. Chicago only needs a sixty percent capacity in the house to make money. Do they keep those numbers by putting on a damn good show? No. They keep them by giving Christie Brinkley her Broadway debut. It's just money. Is it better to screwed over and unemployed more often for more money when you do work, or to be working more in screwed up less money and safety situations?
We had a guest artist in a show when I was in college who was an equity member. Her general advice was to sit and wait for a while as young performers. Work non union cause it is pretty prevalent in todays world. Watch what is going g in both worlds and figured out if the time is right to take that union card. But when there was a dangerous platform against union code on the set, she got a railing. Working non union, we only got a lip after one of the producers took a dramatic and painful fall off of our unsafe platform.
It's a Catch-22. As I get ready to head back to New York, I am curious to see what happens next.
Favorite new names post merger:
FASTRA
RASTA
FARTS
GAST
STAR
It's probably a good thing I'm not involved. :-)
The Cradle Will Rock. What naive me wants union reform to be like. With Jerry Orbach. A great man who is missed! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaGnVyZa8iI&sns=em

Dancing with Technology

I have lots of video footage of me dancing. And none of me singing. So when I got an email from a producer asking for both, I knew it was time to wrangle with technology again. The possibility of a 600 dollar a week tour salary made me believe I could!
I only brought my tablet to FL. Previously, my tablet has largely been used for:
1. Reading dirty books wherever my gigs may take me.
2. Looking up my favorite cookie recipes. They take up a huge chunk of my bookmarks.
3. Submitting for jobs while waiting on trains.
4. Doing dumb things to pictures in the name of humor.
5. Crosswords!
6. Words with friends.
7. Playing Stupid Zombies, Office Jerk, and Angry Birds. Or whatever dumb game comes up next.
8. Tunes.
9. Attack of the Cute. The dangers of cute animal pictures!
So, I had no idea how to what I needed to do. Due to scarey wig hair and Cockney dirt related break outs (my face doesn't agree with taking it on and off and on and off), I decided audio was the way to go. Expiramenting with karaoke tracks, free recorders, and free editors, I eventually had three solid minutes of "Someone to Watch Over Me." It's still a little gheddo, but better than nothing. Hopefully it could lead to another audition and a gig. But even if it doesn't, I conquered technology today!

The Final Countdown

There is only one week left on my contract. Almost back to the old grind. I've got a Chezzam gig lined up for Easter, but otherwise, it is going to be some furious job hunting. And doing my taxes. Woo!
We've had an injury this weekend. Groin pull. Or as most everyone in the cast phrased it "Addie pulled her hoo-haw." (I believe that is hyphenated.) A little extra time in some quick restaging and away we went. The old folks in the audience still like it, so it's all fine by me!
I'm ready for a change of scenery, but I've been hit by my "I will never work again" blues. As a wise woman once told me, you feel that way after every show. Then you book another!
So I'm not very exciting right now. Enjoying the sunshine while I may and getting ready to head back home!

Beach! :-)

The sun is shining. We only have an evening show today. We are half an hour away from the beach. We are going to the beach! My whiteness will be hiding from the sun underneath an umbrella, large hat, sunglasses, and long sleeves. Beach! :-)

Shoe Lust

Sex and the City reruns at cast housing have inspired some shoe lust. The episode where Carrie's new Manolo's disappear sent me seeking shoes. But my tast runs more toward Jimmy Choos! My budget runs towards shoes that are much less fun. But hey, a girl can drea. After all, what is a better end to a superchill day at the beach than lusting shoes that can pay your rent!

Catch Up!

I have been a bad blogger! My parents came into town for a week. They watched a weekends worth of shows, pooled and beached it up (with some delish mojitos), an then went to Disney world. I pounded the pavement with them on my days off, then headed back to work as they headed off to Epcot. I came back to Cockneyland with sore joints, a big smile, and a stuffed piglet. I am five years old.
Actually running a show is never as eventful as rehearsals or auditions. Moments are gelling and expanding. There becomes a groove to the show. You work it and the audience, take off your granny boots, have a beer (I hear people yap about beer through the entire show. It make me want it. Like when they made bacon for Hay Fever. And of course I didn't actually get to eat the bacon.), and then I go to bed. Cause I am a little old lady. Hot to dies and a book to lull me asleep.
Last night, I had a cricket friend outside my door who wouldn't shut up. Earplugs took me back to old lady sleep land quite happily. Take that Jiminy! Today one of our crew of crazy old ladies has invited us all over for a pool party. I'm debating making sangria.... :-) Yum

Welcome to my castle. The hills are alive....I am a big dork.


Mum and I. Old lady hats on it's a small world. Hells yeah!