Good morning!
-Well, it's technically morning here on the East Coast, so...
Since it was Saturday, it was a two show day. Good shows. And we had a cookout between shows - good hotdogs, hamburgers and corn on the cob(!). Oh, and someone brought in those new Tostitos with a "hint of jalapeno". Very good! Or should I say, "muy bien"!
The highlight of the cookout was a MASSIVE silly string battle. One of the stage hands brought two CASES of the stuff - about 40 bottles. There were some pretty good scrimmages, and the young girl in the show kept asking to get "stringed", so by the time all was said and done, she looked like a bad piece of 70's art - in neon!! -And it took her forever to brush all the stuff out her hair for the evening show!
And then I ended doing an impromptu coaching with one of the actors who has a few auditions coming up in the city on his day off next week. It was great playing some other music for a little while. And it was a nice variety of stuff too. Oh... If I may ask you DRs....
-If you had to pick two or three adjectives - or a key phrase - to describe/capsulize the character of Vidal in
Sweet Charity, what would they be? I had my ideas, but I think I missed something.... -The last time I did the show, the director did some MAJOR cutting in that whole sequence, so my memory has been edited accordingly too.
As for the topic of shows that got me hooked... Well, my parents always had music in the house. And I was always playing records from their collection in our console. They had lots of boxed sets from Reader's Digets, Time-Life, etc. Thinking back to some of the titles they owned, I wish I still had some of them in vinyl form for sentimental reasons. So, when it came time for school plays and shows, I had no issues with wanting to be in them, to be a part of them. And I still remember being dressed in a homemade sheep costume when I was in sixth grade for a "really cool" Christmas musical/cantata...."Messiah is coming, and it's gonna be a bri-ighter day..." :-)
The one show I know I got truly hooked on was Sweeny Todd. I saw a wonderful dinner theatre production my freshman year in high school - hmm, I might have been a sophomore. Well... I remember going to the Sam Goody's in Seven Corners Mall and going into "sticker shock" when I realized it was a two-record set - that was a LOT of money back then!!!! So, after much begging and begging and begging, my mom gave me enough money to buy it. I opened the record right there in the mall, and began showing my mom the photos inside... and reading key parts of the show from the booklet. "See.. this happens.. and then this happens...".... -Oh, and to see the word "shit" in print was also quite the guilty pleasure for this Catholic school boy. -OH!!! And then hearing - and trying to visualize - the Judge's Johanna.. WHOA!!! I listened to those records many, many times over. -And then since I didn't want a second generation cassette dub, I saved up enough money to buy the cassette version - great packaging/box. -And when the CDs became available, I remember giving the cassettes to someone else so they could enjoy the show.
I was in shows throughout high school, and our drama teacher would have plenty of field trips throughout the year to see various shows. And then came
Sunday in the Park with George. I only knew it from the OCR. -I just started buying anything by this guy named Sondheim.
I read all the reviews and articles... And when it came time for our senior trip to New York... We voted to see
Brighton Beach Memoirs as our play... And then the
The Tap Dance Kid as our musical...
Sunday was on the ballot, and did receive a few votes, but most of my classmates wanted to see something flashy, so... Ah, well...
"First prize: One week in Philadelphia!"
"Second prize: Two weeks in Philadelphia!"
"Yuck-Yuck-Yuck!"
-But at least I got to see Hinton Battle... Alfonso Ribiero had literally left the show that day!!! But the new "kid" was very good. And since it was in the Minskoff... the show was HUGE!!! -And had that "sky cab"(?) going across the stage. And I still remember that one number being held in the dance class, where the dancers were dancing "fast", but the singer was singing "slow" - inner monolgue thingy. -Oh, and the shadow dancing sequence too.
-Oh, and then there was Matthew Broderick in Biloxi Blues - SRO at a Wednesday matinee...
I'm glad I was able to work that into the schedule.
Where was I???
Well...
Hmmm...
It's late... And I don't really think I bring this to a neat close.. so...
Hmm...
Goodnight.
