A Pattern

I'm noticing my blogging comes much more frequently when wine is involved? I wonder why that is? I am so exhausted from today. No day can be good when it starts with me heading out the door at 8:15am. I know, I know, to those "normal" 9-to-5ers of my blog readers, this is late, and you - like my sister - are probably cursing my name right now, but hear me out... I worked last night until about 9pm (I know this because 9pm is the latest FedEx pickup near my office is at 9pm, and I distinctly remember running down 50th Street to make it in time). Today, I worked until 7pm. I'm not sure what the point was that I was trying to make, but most important, nothing good happens before 11am. Ugh, I didn't even have time for my Starbucks addiction until almost 12:30pm BRUTAL!

Anyway, lots happened today. We announced our fancy ROA Broadway cast today. I'm hoping upon hopes that tomorrow when I walk into rehearsal and meet Amy Spanger, I'm able to refrain myself from sharing the story that my short-lived acting career (count 4 shows before slinking into management) all begin with an audition onstage at the Theatre Company of Bryan/College Station singing along to the cd of her singing "Why Can't You Behave?" That's right, we could sing along to the cds. It's community theatre, y'all, and let's face it, without it, I highly douby I would have made it to this Broadway adventure. So, thanks Amy Spanger! You're awesome, and I haven't even met you yet!

The most excting/stressful/ridiculous part of putting this show up on Broadway are the number of "crises" I deal with on a daily basis. (*Disclaimer, when I say "I" I mean, our management team of 5, but since this isn't their blog, let's just use I to mean the collective I...). Here's a short list of what we dealt with today:

• the already lamented 9am production meeting (attended by at least 20 people, including 5 via conference call)
• assembling, signing, sending out 18 AEA contracts
• rental agreements, furniture distrbution, insurance certificate getting
• royalty correction from the OFF-Broadway show (isn't this over yet?)
• pay the rehearsal studio
• pay the dry cleaners
• set up new Amex cards
• set up new accounts for the wardrobe department
• add actors, crew, musicians, agents, lighting shops, sound shops, designers, marketing teams, lawyers, stage managers, PAs, production supervisiors, creative team per diems, and a partridge in a pear tree to the payroll
• prepare SSDC statements to finish our paperwork to get the return of our Off-Broadway bond
• update the contact sheet, update the contact sheet, update the contact sheet
• get W-4 and I-9s ready for rehearsal tomorrow
• put off making the house seat book AGAIN
• update wrap reports and step charts
• attempt to prepare a group package for 500 friends of my producer
• solve Quickbooks mysteries (once again, in the Off-Broadway books)
• plan our rehearsal game plan
  
• answer 7 million emails
• ignore 15 million emails
• flag 40 million emails for follow up

Well, you get the idea, the ROA corner of the Frankel Green office is hopping. I'm coping by coming home to my aforementioned wine and Wii Fit. Yes, i understand that inherently those do not go togther, but we all deal with stress in our own ways. Plus, Em, Nick, AND I have agreed to give up drinking for Lent. I'm already excepting my birthday, St. Patrick's Day/ROA 1st performance day, and any day where we ahve avoided a near disaster on this show. It's brutal. Ash Wednesday is a week from today. I'm not sure I can survive what I have committed to, but it will probably make my evening on the Wi fit a little easier to handle.

On that note, I'm off to watch Whoose Line is It Anyway and paint my toenails, which have been brutally neglected since I opened Rock of Ages 1.0. Hope y'all had a wonderful Wednesday night.

ROA Cast Announcement

Here it is everyone!

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/126430.html

Exciting Day!!!

How about this blogfans!! The marquis for ROCK OF AGES went up today at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. It somehow made this crazy journey so very real for me. I'm actually here!! On Broadway! Can you handle it? And that truck you see in the front of the theatre is loading in our FOH rigging. That's right, the lighting and sound packages are on the way!! Exciting!!

We have an excruciatingly early production meeting tomorrow and then Thursday is our first day of rehearsal for the new cast members. (Stay tuned for the announcement soon!!). This crazy Broadway machine is getting underway. Have you bought your tickets yet!!! What are you waiting for?!


if you'd like to see 900 more picture of this marquis, take a look here.

Theatrical Inspiration

I mentioned recently that I headed over to the Richard Rodgers Theatre the other day in search of some theatrical inspiration. I surely found it in 2008 Tony Award winner for Best Musical In the Heights. The unfortunate part about finally working in the theatre here in New York City is that you're working in the theatre in New York City, meaning that your evenings and weekends are spent at work and doesn't leave much opportunity to check out what your collegues are doing.

*I would like to mention when I just typed that members of the Broadway community have now become my colleagues, I teared up a little. Wow.

Anyway, this brief hiatus while we ready the Broadway version of Rock of Ages has given me a chance to catch up on some of the amazing things that are happening here in New York theatre, and I must say, that In the Heights is one of the best productions I have seen in a long time. So, next time you readers find yourselves with a night free in Midtown, go check it out. You will not be disappointed.

And as proof of that, check out these two YouTube videos. The first one is awesome to me for a lot of reasons. It shows that the face of theatre is changing, that the voice of theatre is changing, and pretty much is amazing all on its own.

And here is the response from the amazing people at In the Heights. I dare you to watch it without being completely blown away at how amazing the theatre community is.



I'm going to make this happen on Rock of Ages. Not the stripper scenes though.

Timberrrr

I think those of you who know me will may known I am slightly prone to falling. I'm not quite sure what it is exactly, but it happens much more than it should now that I am older than say- 4. But when I do fall, it's seldom gracefully, sadly, my 5'10" frame can't come crashing down to the ground in a nice, ballerina-esque fashion. What would lead to me posting this particular entry today? While walking home from the subway, I suddenly found myself face down on the sidewalk of 31st Street. I honestly have no idea what happened. I was walking home from the grocery store and had the following thoughts on my mind:

• I wonder what my new shampoo smells like.
• My purse is so heavy, what in the world is in there?
• I have to remember to FedEx the ROA Amex payment tomorrow.
• Are there 4 prepays I have to remember to get to payroll or 5?
• How long will it take to get our Off-Broadway bonds back?
  
• I'm getting my haircut at 5 and seeing Billy Elliot at 8 tomorrow, is that enough time?
• I should send my goddaughter something fun for Valentine's Day. My grandmother used to write us limericks and poems. I should be doing fun things like that for her.
• I miss my TiVo, when am I going to be able to *CRASH*

The nice thing about falling flat on your face on the pavement, is that many people rush over to help you. One guy even chased my peanut butter as it rolled down the street. In case any of you are worried, I'm ok. Two pretty banged up palms and knees that will surely be bruised in the morning, three broken nails. Oh, and my pride. My pride will take the longest to heal.

The first thoughts that come through my head post-fall usually follow the same pattern: OMG, are my teeth ok? Wait, am I ok?! I don't have insurance!! Why do I keep tripping and falling. And finally, holy hell, how did I end up on the ground?!

So, there's my latest embarrassing story. All I can say is that I'm happy such ridiculous things happen to me. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have stories like these to share at parties. I would be so boring!

I'm off to nurse my wounds and my pride. Good night from Astoria, and watch out for that uneven pavement!

It Doesn't Take Much

Some things that have made me smile this week:

• My running socks have a left and a right. I don't know why this makes me laugh so much, but it does. I think it's because I like to have order in my world.
• Domino's Pizza has named me a MVP. I got a free medium pizza out of it and a letter from the Astoria branch manager thanking me for my valued patronage. Is this something I should be worried about? I choose to be honored.
• My In the Heights cd. My Spanish now includes phrases like "no me diga" and "piragua." I'm ready for my vacation in Cancun now. It's also the perfect cd to accompany my run. I'm encouraged to get in good enough shape that I can sing along with the entire first track as I jog through Astoria. It's 7 minutes and 39 seconds long. It's not messing around. I'm also looking forward to changing my running music to the Rock of Ages cast recording. Wait. What have you heard?
• HDTV - much like TiVo, I'm not sure how I lived before it. Now if I can just get the sound to keep up with it.
  
• My sassy Wii Fit.
• The fact that I can synch my runs on the computer. Nike - it's like the best thing that's ever happened to me!

And on that note, I'm off for a run in this beautiful weather. I'm also thankful that it's no longer 16 degrees outside. Enjoy your Saturdays everyone!

Your Wii Fit Age is...

True or false. Drinking two large glasses of wine negates my hour spent on Wii Fit tonight? I'd like to think the French way in that it's helping my heart. Score. That's right though, I did spend an entire hour on Wii Fit tonight. Because it's so f'ing cold here in NYC. My trusty computer tells me it's currently 18 degrees, and because I am a poor company manager, I can't afford a gym membership, so I have to rely on the weather being kind to me outside. But, I just can't do even a tiny run in this freezing cold weather. Whatever semblance of cough I've gotten over comes back as full force cold-exercise induced asthma (self diagnosed, bien sur.) It's brutal. That's okay, after a few sassy remarks about how long it's been since I've worked out from the Wii Fit, I was owning those yoga poses. Note to self: must remember I am totally going to own the "plank" exercise by the end of February.

Speaking of the end of February, my 30th birthday is looming in the not-so-distant future. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'm certain that my 30s are going to kick-ass. For starters, I'm opening a Broadway show. Lifetime goal of making it on Broadway by age 30: check! Next plan: total theatrical domination. I'm looking forward to it.

Did y'all notice my new blog title? That's right, the Broadway edition. Just one short year after starting this blog, I've made it to Broadway. Pretty sweet. Speaking of which, did you buy your tickets today? We are totally, officially on sale!! Go out and get a ticket. Previews are only $45, you can't beat that for an evening of rockin' 80s music. Please! Complete recession pricing. I love. Go here and enter code PROCK. Genius. (PS In going to TM to get the ticket link, I saw a flash ad for Taylor Swift's concert. I totally want to go to this. Anyone with me? I know you NYC country music fans are out there. Don't deny your love for that twangy sound.)

Also, did you see the new artwork logo yet? I'm posting it here because I can! It's AWESOME!

What else is going in my life? We had a Superbowl party here, where we had 15 people in our apartment. I was worried that people would be sad we only had 4 chairs, but thankfully, we had about 40 cases of beer, so I think one negated the worry of the other. Brilliant.

I saw IN THE HEIGHTS last week because I found myself in need of a little theatrical inspiration. Have you seen this show? GO RIGHT NOW! It was incredible! I've been listening to the cd nonstop for about 3 months, and now I can't turn it off. I am absolutely in love with it. Totally original and heartfelt. Even all the way in the back row of the orchestra, I was totally moved. And get this, completely sold out performance. Theatre isn't as dead as people may want to lament that it is. I love that I work in an industry that will support a Washington Heights/Latin-inspired musical AND a kick-ass musical based on all 80s music. Rock on Broadway, rock on.

I've moved desks in the office to my very own little cubicle. I feel very important and grown up. I only wish that I was able to move without 900 piles of paperwork, because I don't feel very settled in. I was just like, "Oh, I had piles over there, and now I have piles over here." Eventually, I will become a company manager who keeps everything in clear plastic folders so I know where it is a moment's notice. (I'm looking at you Jason.)

Does anyone have any fun plans for the 3 day weekend coming up? I'm getting my haircut and covering STOMP. Awesome.

I suppose that's all for now. I'm going to go back to my wine and Whose Line is It Anyway? Genius.