Here's the four of us in the parking lot of the MBar in Hollywood, right after Rick's cabaret debut "Dare To Be Truthful" with ANMT's Performers Workshop taught by Joshua Finkel.
As someone commented on my MySpace: "That's whole lotta Memorial [High School] there!"
Diane, yours truly, Jeffrey and Rick.
What a powerful group of artists. My grounding.
What a whirlwind week! D. came into town to see Ricardo debut at the MBar in the ANMT Performers Workshop Cabaret... I worked the door before the show, and then had a terrific time inside. You done good, Rick -- I'm so proud and excited to see marching through to your dreams! And you're getting quite good!
The night before I'd just seen Wicked for third time -- always a lot of fun. (Ran into Matt C, who was there with his mom... that was cool -- so sorry to hear later he'd broken up with my girlfriend:( I'd planned to watch it this time from a writing point of view -- but that lasted about 3 minutes until I got into the story again. New Elphaba for me, but quite an experienced Galinda... (M.H.) who, IMHO really has milked it -- in a good way, got the funniest laughs ever, but in a bad way, taken so much liberty that you can't hear her whispers and gasps if you've never seen the show before... it really got annoying after awhile. Whatever happened to KEEP IT SIMPLE? I don't want to "see" the performing in shows... I want to see CHARACTERS. Last night D. and Jeffrey and Alan came to see the show at my theatre, where the director was brought in to "tame" an out-of-control actress... yeah, people do take pacing and professionalism seriously!
I've practically slept all day and now it's off to the theatre again -- they've increased my hours now to stay into intermission, and I'm happy to do it -- it's good to feel wanted and needed.
And as always great to be around my "high school" gang again... I get so much strength and support and laughs... the next time we're all together I'll be on the hot seat for my recital! :)
What a big old crazy weekend... second day, eh, not so thrilling. Mostly because it comes right during the time I'm thinking about having a real meal (5 pm) and by the end of it I could eat... just about anything. Thank god I had a little maple syrup hard candy directly from Vermont (thanks Jeffrey :) in my purse... my, I'm turning into my mother with all her emergency foods, etc.
New news: we may be consolidating all our chamber orchestras on ONE concert for logistical reasons. Three of us have a massive group of instrumentalists to try to gather together and rehearse, so... why kill ourselves?
Although I'm not thrilled with splitting up my recital, I did put in for the concert to still be on my original date, Sunday, April 20, especially convenient since my classmate's recital is later on that evening. And I'm also thrilled at the idea of getting LOADS AND LOADS of people on a big huge stage (Thorne?) so I can hear "Pilya" played the way in all it's whacked out glory ;)
In the meantime... this whole thing is a logistics mess... and I have lots of scores to re-enter since I lost all my music when my PC crashed last November.
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But the good news: After a disastrous disappointment of not getting an online ticket to the ANMT 80-seat salon starring the visionary MUSICAL THEATRE ICON and my hero :)
Stephen Sondheim
... I got a ticket from a classmate, who had an extra -- SHOUT OUT TO YOU AND THANKS, MAUREEN! Then today, after many upset emails between members and staff -- ANMT fixed it all and moved the salon to a larger venue to accomodate all the members plus some. YAY!!! Now my colleagues can go too... whew... and guess where they moved it to? Yes, the Colony... the theatre I now work at! Life's so weird, isn't it?
Here's the man teaching students how to do Sweeney Todd's "My Friends" -- wonderful, eery... incredible. The man thinks character and motivation before a lick of music or lyric... witty as all hell and though it may not seem like it -- big-hearted.
Darn, I can't stop grinning!
Taken a few years ago at Huntington Gardens, San Marino, by my dear friend, D, who's coming to tomorrow night to stay and get her "art fill" in L.A. -- yahooey and YAY!
