Fake it 'til you Make It: the Tokyo edition

Let's Make This Snappy

2011-02-22T23:53:00.001-05:00

It is 10:30pm on Tuesday evening, and I'm on my couch watching Conan and wishing I was already asleep, but of course, I did promise to keep up with this blog this time, so here we go!

Yesterday was the travel day I've been dreading ever since I started touring. Nothing, just nothing was going our way. I finally headed to bed about 4am with Father of the Bride Part II in the background. I laid down just as it was starting, and it was a daunting thought that by the end of the movie, I would need to be at the airport! After about an hour of sleep, I woke up, showered, grabbed my bags, and headed outside to catch a cab. You know what I found out there? SNOW. WTF New York. Ugh, I'm so over it.

The airport was packed, which was super annoying see how it was 6:15am. Where are these people going? By the hoards of ski bags that were blocking everyone's way to the ticket counter, it appeared to be a very big ski weekend. In any case, after finally checking my bags and getting through security, I hopped on my plane that was scheduled to leave right on time.

I settled into my super squished in window seat on our packed plane, and the pilot said it would just be a quick 10-15 min while they de-iced the plane. Great. Well, flash forward to a quick 1.5 hours later, and we are still. at. the. gate. Miserable. But, finally, we took off and arrived uneventfully in Chicago.

I ran to my connecting gate to watch my plane pull away. Awesome. Thankfully, I had thought this might happen, so I had booked another seat on a later flight while we were lining up to get off the first plane. Just for fun, I walked over to the flight between the one I missed and the one I was booked on, only to be told there were 88 people ahead of me. Apparently, most people would like to travel to Minneapolis in a gigantic blizzard.

No matter, there was a Chili's right in the terminal, and you know I love my chain restaurants, so I had some lunch and spent some quality time with my brand new amazing Kindle.

Finally, it was time to board my second flight, which also, was leaving right on time. After a quick de-icing. SERIOUSLY??? A "quick" 2 hours later, we were a full plane of hot, miserable, overly-tired passengers (or at least I was. Also the baby in the back row of the plane). About this time, I started receiving emails and phone calls from 4 other company members who had all been stranded in Chicago upon their arrivals as well.

What happened next? Did we arrive in Minneapolis? Am I still stranded in Chicago? Stay tuned!

Stage Manager Update

2011-02-21T00:58:00.000-05:00

My stage manager has now landed in Minneapolis, shockingly, right on time. I mean on time for her flight we had to rebook last night when Expedia switched her itinerary from New York > Milwaukee > Minneapolis to Milwaukee > Minneapolis > next day > New York > Milwaukee. I mean, seriously, how did that happen? It took three of us almost an hour and a half of being on the phone with various entities involved in this flight booking to correct that situation.

I love being back on the road!!

On the other hand, here on Crescent Street - complete chaos!!

I promise it's all CLEAN laundry. Note: how yellow does my room look here? Insanity.

I'm currently remedying this situation with the help of my friends Pandora and Merlot. Thanks good buddies. My flight is at 7am tomorrow. Wish me luck that I don't miss my 4 alarms + car pickup at 5:30. Whew. It's going to be a long night.

Konnichiwa Tokyo

2011-02-20T17:01:00.003-05:00

Hey Blog Fans - anyone? anyone? Doubtful, since it's been, oh, I don't know, a YEAR since I updated this blog. No matter, I'm back and ready to blog my latest adventure which has me and a traveling company of 54 headed to Tokyo next Sunday. Then, once we arrive, or company will take on a Japanese children's chorus of 42, making this almost 100 person company about 4 times larger than any company I've ever managed before. Rock on! Thankfully, I have my trusty ACM Katie to make sure I don't screw up too much.

My quick 2011 recap has Rock of Ages closing on January 9th. Rest assured rock fans, it will reopen at the Helen Hayes in March, but Tracy and I are both off to new company management adventures. She has moved over to the very fancy, very Broadway company of the Addams Family, and I am heading to the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul tomorrow morning where my gigantic company of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will be starting rehearsal on Tuesday.

Oh, if we can all get through this mess...

thanks weather.com for the image - and the logistical nightmare

Um, yes, that bright purple spot on the map is directly where nine of my company members are headed at various times over the next 24 hours. Including me, with all their contracts and passports. So, say a travel prayer for all of us. It looks like it could get a little messy. Also is making packing a nightmare. Thanks nature.

In any case, our advance choreographer is already gearing up for the first children's rehearsal tomorrow, and my stage manager, is at least at the start of her trip. She's been delayed for about 2 hours, and I'm just praying that's as bad as it gets.

So, stay tuned, where I promise, at least for the next 3 weeks to stay current with my blog, including many pictures of how I will be the tallest person in Tokyo.

Lady Antebellum

2010-02-19T17:04:00.002-05:00

Lady Antebellum debuted their new video for "American Honey" on Oprah.com this morning. I ADORE this song, and this video makes me want to hop on the next plane out of NYC bound for the sunny South. Which, of course, is the point of the video. Well played Lady Antebellum.

Anyway, check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Lady Antebellum - "American Honey"

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-17T09:41:00.000-05:00

My favorite picture of my grandparents Mary and Dick Evans. So classy.

Joyeuse saint Valentin (un peu en retard)

2010-02-16T08:46:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know it's a little past Valentine's Day, but I just simply cannot resist. Please enjoy this video of the adorable Capucine. My favorite French girl in the world. Note the eyes around :14.

My Valentine from Capucha on Vimeo.

Capucine's Valentine has blond hair, is cute and has a nice name. They met in a train in the courtyard. But some girls attack him just because they want to kiss him. Whatever. Happy Valentine's Day! :)

I have a soft spot in my heart for France and Valentine's Day, as it was on that day 10 years ago that I arrived first at Charles de Gaulle Airport, then at the Gare de Dijon for my 6 month long French adventure. I really need to dig up some of those photos and scan them in. I can't believe it's been that long!!

Grace has Bob's dead wife's heart!

2010-02-15T12:36:00.009-05:00

That's right folks, two days in a row. It's a miracle! Anyway, I'm lounging around enjoying this beautiful President's Day morning. I have to go into the theatre tonight, but having two days in a row off when you work in theatre seems like an eternity!! I've been doing the theatrical schedule for so long now, that I really don't mind having just one day off. Though, I must admit that now that there are two of us CMs, the fact that we can switch off so we each get a weekend day AND Wednesdays off, I feel like I'm living the company manager glamour life.

Anyway, this morning found me enjoying the last of my almond coffee (thanks Mom!) and watching the end of Cheaper by the Dozen. A movie, that without fail, I cry at the end of every. single. time. I mean, come on! Steve Martin - a family favorite. And Bonnie Hunt. I fully believe that if you turned any woman in my family into a movie star, that movie star would be Bonnie Hunt. I've never seen a movie of hers that I didn't enjoy. Ok, maybe Jumanji. But seriously, love. her. Anyway, that reminded me of one of those wonderful days off that I happened upon her talk show. She had some random dr. life your best life guy on, but before she introduced him, she shared this story:

I'll give you a moment to compose yourself! Is that not the GREATEST story ever? I wanted to call Bonnie Hunt and tell her that I literally could not stop myself from crying OR from wanting to be her best friend. After my dad passed away (also suddenly. also from a heart attack.) Mom, Em, and I watched Return to Me approximately 30,000 times. It's such a sweet movie, with the funny Chicago/Midwest/Irish humor that helped us get through the difficult times. We loved the quote that she mentioned in the video "It's the character that's the strongest that God gives the most challenges to. Now you can take that as a compliment." Genius. We watched it again this Christmas with Nick's family, post-second robbery. And almost 10 years later, it STILL helps cheer us up!

Anyway, just felt like I should share that with the masses. I have found myself telling people similar stories about a greater power pulling the strings of my life, especially around that time. Sometimes, it's just a good reminder.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T14:10:00.005-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day readers! We'll just ignore the previous three holidays I missed and settle right into what inspired this post.

Let's talk about music for just a second. A reoccurring theme, I know, but just go with me here. So, I'm spending the morning cleaning the house, watching the Olympics, catching up on some reading. I have my iTunes doing one of those fancy "Genius Mixes" to Taylor Swift's "Fearless." I didn't really pay attention to the songs it brought up, I just set it and started the dishes in the sink. And then, "Cowboy Take Me Away" by The Dixie Chicks came on, and I was instantly transported back to College Station, TX and the beginning of my junior year at Texas A&M. If I remember correctly (and Amazon confirms) that cd was released right around Labor Day that year, just a few short weeks after my dad passed away.

I poured my life into school and spent the majority of my days in the West Campus library trying my best to wrap my head around Finance 341. I had my trusty cd player and would bury myself in a study carrel for hours on end with this cd on repeat. It's amazing how you can just hear the first few notes of a song, and the resulting images that pop up in your head. So, though the only thing I remember from that class is that if I ever win the lottery, I should take the lump sum payment that they offer at the beginning, not the payment plan, I am thankful to The Dixie Chicks for getting me through that semester, which was obviously about so much more than learning how to use a finance calculator.

Anger Management

2009-11-10T13:42:00.008-05:00

Last night, my brother-in-law brought this into my house:

It contains this game:

And I know understand how this happens:

I honestly cannot remember the last time a game made me so angry!! I was like a person possessed last night. I finally came to my senses and was like I HAVE to turn this off right now! Then I was so tense that it took me forever to calm down. Maybe it's a sign that I can be a little too competitive... though, I like to think of it as a sign that if I was ever forced to swordfight my way into a castle, I would be well-prepared!

In any case, I'm now suffering from a pretty horrific case of Wii-arm. And I still can't pass level 9 of the swordfighting. Good thing that I have a birthday party following ROA today, or I fear it would have been a repeat of last night.

Thank you so much dear brother-in-law for inspiring such rage in me... I'm only glad that the worst part of it happened after you and Em went home last night!!

Oh, Greg Berlanti. You know me so well...

2009-11-08T22:57:00.006-05:00

I mean, I know I'm a crier and all, but seriously Greg Berlanti... how much longer are you going to tug at my heartstrings. I used to sit in my apartment on the Upper East Side sobbing my hear out to Everwood and I'm now repeating that episode here in Astoria watching Brothers and Sisters.

Note: I wrote this a million years ago, but it's still pertinent today. Greg Berlanti owns my heart. End of story. And. I heart him.

Growing Family!

2009-11-06T19:48:00.003-05:00

Best wishes and lots of love to my cousin Richard and his wife Jamie who gave birth to a healthy baby boy this morning in Chicago. I'm anxious to see pictures of this sure-to-be-adorable addition to the Evans Family Crew. Congratulations to you both!

Ah ha! I found you!

2009-11-02T23:01:00.004-05:00

What? Where have you been blog? I've been sitting here with all sorts of entertaining and hilarious stories, and you are nowhere to be found!

Anyway, all is forgiven blog of mine, since we are reunited at last.

What all has happened since we last checked in?

I moved to my own apartment
My sister got married and I gained a brother-in-law
I celebrated one year on Rock of Ages (my does time fly)
Finally finished my 2008 taxes. (a good 36 hours before the extension deadline, thank you very much)
I learned how to cook four dinner meals that don't involve cereal or Domino's (related to this: discovering that 1 cup of rice is A LOT of rice)
I got fun NYC visits from my cousins David, Meredith, Pat, and my cute goddaughter Kate
Ran my 100th mile on Nike + (go me!)
bought a vacuum cleaner (v grown up)
Had many rooftop parties
Headed back to choir (yay singing)
Got my ATPAM apprenticeship and three months (+ a year and a half) later FINALLY got my insurance card
Drank an unmeasurable amount of wine
Found a love of running on the treadmill at the gym, Glee, apple cider, the Q66 bus that goes right to Starbucks, Michael's and Home Depot
And finally spent countless hours sharing stories, laughter, and wine with my wonderful friends and family.

So, that's what I've been up to in a nutshell. I'm posting this before my blog gets another wise idea of running away. (PS Speaking of running, I'm up to 3.5 miles!)

UPDATE

2009-06-11T01:04:00.004-04:00

Of course, my sister walked into the apartment, repaired the sink, vacuumed all our rugs, finished the dishes, did a load of laundry, and finished sending RSVP lists to my mom, all within 15 minutes of being at home. Just reason number 412 of why I have an appointment to view the apartment across the street from her tomorrow. If you can't beat them - join them!

So You Think You're Handy?

2009-06-10T22:14:00.004-04:00

Just a quick anecdote for you readers to entertain your Wednesday nights, and also give you some insight into my mother/daughter relationship with Mom.

When I spoke to Mom this evening, she was just returning from meeting my friend Amber's mom for dinner at Pappadeaux. Apparently, there is a large storm approaching Arlington, so Amber's mom received about 50 phone calls as to her safety during said storm. My mom received zero and a brief, "Oh, I think someone mentioned that on Facebook" from me as I poured my second glass of wine. Needless to say, she will be taking cover at Mo's from now on if any threat of nature should dare to take over our beloved suburb again.

Anyway, as I was talking to her, I was trying to quick clean my apartment for the arrival of my cousin Susan. Thank god her flight is like three hours late, so I was able to have time to finish watching "So You Think You Can Dance" in between dishes and folding laundry. Anyway, as I was attempting to clean the sink while on the phone, the top of the sink plunger-thing spun off. In my attempt to "repair it" by spinning it back on, the entire plunger thing DISAPPEARED! I said to my mom, "Oh no, I broke my sink! How do I fix this?!" And I kid you not readers, she said to me, "Well, look under your sink for the... you know what, you should just wait for Emily to fix it." I paused for a second super offended that my mom would totally breeze over my ability to be handy,then took one look under my sink, poured my third glass of wine and texted Em to come home ASAP to fix the broken sink.

Seriously, if the shoe fits...

In case you were worried

2009-06-02T01:05:00.002-04:00

Sims 3 is now loading on to my beloved MacBook. Sometimes, you just can't beat living in New York!

While I am waiting, there is a commercial on about free root beer float night at Sonic on June 3 from 8pm to midnight. There are also times where you can't beat living in the South! All my Texas friends, take advantage, and have one for me too please!!

Midnight at the Mac Store

2009-06-01T23:02:00.004-04:00

Good evening everyone! It's about 11:04pm, and I'm on my way home from a fun night at the Brooks Atkinson hosting none other than Paris Hilton. True Story! See photo at left! It started out as just another random day on the Broadway, but obviously, fancy people can't stay away! I have to admit, I was definitely on the naysayer side of "will she or won't she" come to the show, but she definitely arrived in style and stayed fro the whole show. No cutting out at intermission for this classy lady enjoying her first Broadway musical (what!!).

Anyway, in between settling the box office and overseeing photo shoots (ok, I didn't oversee, but Tracy did, and since we're Team Management, it's almost the same), the kick ass team from ROA gathered next door at our usual Trecolori haunt to catch up. This meeting of the all-star team included choerographers Kelly and Robert (looking totally AWESOME having just rolled in from the Astaire Awards), press agents extraordiaire Leslie and Matt, and let's face it, the most awesome co mgmt team on Broadway (Tracy, Caitlin, and Me). Can I just say, maybe other Broadway shows have the same thing going on, but I just have so much FUN when this group of people gets a chance to hang out. Anyway, much laughing, story-telling, and wine occured, then we all headed back to the theatre to catch the end of "Don't Stop" where we all proceeded to do the choerography in the back of the house. What can I say, I mean it when I say we're the coolest management and creative team around!

So, after watching the paparazi totally swarm the exit of our theatre waiting for Paris to make an appearance, I went were any other kick-ass company manager heads - my favorite place on earth, open 24 hours/day so people like me always have a place to feel at home - yes, that's right, the Apple Store! The same store that brought this ridiculous story to life! There are many things I enjoy about the Apple store. Mostly I love that it's 11:41pm and this store is totally crowded. I like feeling that I'm not the only one who likes to aimlessly wander the aisles and think, "Hm, maybe I do need another case for my iPod..." I mean, for real, I love that there is a place for people who are like, "Um, I need to buy a printer NOW!" Also, I love their free wi-fi and copious amounts of workspace for people who may or may not be waiting for midnight for a release of a certain upgrade of a time-addictive computer game. Don't judge. However, it is indeed 12 minutes before midnight, and I'm seeing no movement on any of the shelves around here. I mean, the Sims had an entire billboard up in Times Square for a month announcing its arrival. I would think it would warrant a little shelf space opening up.

In any case, it's giving me a little time to rock out here at my desk listening to the KICK ASS Original Cast Recording of Rock of Ages (available TODAY on iTunes). It's awesome. I'm on "High Enough" right now, and it's taking a lot for me not to burst out into song. (Wait, that's ALWAYS true).

Oh, I see ladders/shelf looking things coming out. What could this mean? Sims 3 coming out of storage!!! I thought I saw the grenish tint of my beloved Sims box shining at me from the closet behing the register.

WHAT! These guys are just changing light bulbs. UGH! There are SO MANY lights on in here. I think you can spare a few more people to give the thousands (ok, 2) people here that are hoping you are about to spend the next 6 minutes stocking the shelves with addictive time wasters.

Where was I? Oh yes, cast recording. How cool is that!! For a girl whose music collection is about 98% original cast recordings, to finally have my name attached to one (those W-4s didn't fill themselves out). Pretty much, it's amazing!!!

*More people going into the back room here. COME ON!*

Oh wait! What is happening! In the thirty seconds since I just typed that, people from all random corners of the store have begun forming a LINE! There's a line now! Is this for the game! I love this! It's like all these closet Sim fans coming out of their shells! Far be it from me not to get involved. I'll see you on the other side!!!

Good Evening, Mr. President

2009-05-29T03:55:00.001-04:00

Seriously, is there a show I love more than this? Thank God for repeated reruns on Bravo.

My favorite episode is on right now. "Game on boyfriend!"

Taking it to the Streets

2009-05-17T12:07:00.005-04:00

Alright blogfans. Are you in NYC today? If so, take time after your brunches, laundry loads, spring cleaning, TiVo catching up to stop by what is sure to be an amazing event today at 6th Ave and 45th Street at 5pm. This is a unique opportunity to gather with your fellow New Yorkers and rally in support of the Marriage Equality Act which will be going before the New York State Senate during this current session which ends at the end of June. Both Governor Patterson and Mayor Bloomberg will be attending the rally, as well as many wonderful people from the Broadway community. Look for me and my Rock of Ages peeps!

It's important to keep in mind that though this act has many supporters in the Senate, it will eventually end up in the hands of 4-6 Senators who are still undecided about the issue. Check out Broadway Impact for the simple ways you can make sure your voice is heard. Literally, 5 minutes of your time can make the difference. Doesn't that make you feel powerful!!

See you all at the rally! xo

Sing. Sing a Song.

2009-05-01T00:30:00.004-04:00

Yes, yes, yes, I have a million things to write about and I'm behind in pretty much every facet of my life, but this isn't what this entry is about. This entry is about a discovery I've made on the interweb that I cannot believe I haven't discovered before.

Now, it will come as no surprise to any of you that I love music. I mean, I packed up my suitcase and moved to NYC basically because I fell in love with my cd of Kiss Me Kate. And though I always loved music, my love came via a very long history with playing in concert bands, full orchestras, marching bands, and basically hours of my father teaching me all about Tchaikovsky while en route to see the Houston Symphony and Ballet perform The Nutcracker.

And though I loved every second of being in band, once I left college, there wasn't much of a place that an oboist (yes, I know, I played the oboe, get over it.) could escape to her musical oasis.

So, one day, in seeking out the need to be surrounded by music of some sort, I stumbled upon my choir at St. Ignatius, and my love affair with choral music began. I know I'm a late bloomer, so I have to rely on things such as the NY Chorale's Summer Sing series- where they gather a bunch of music nerds like myself and sing through the scores of the more famous literature for choirs. For me, it is an excellent education in what I should be familiar with, and also with "kill or be killed" sightsinging, because shockingly, most of this genre of music was never familiar to me. Yes, I was fully aware of "Capriccio Espagnol" and "The Great Gate of Kiev" and "Incantation and Dance" (who's with me there?), but most choral pieces slipped right past my consciousness.

Anyway, so, I'm still in my baby steps of discovery, and the other morning, on an episode of my beloved West Wing, I heard in the background a beautiful piece, and thanks to the fact that there are bigger nerds out there in the world than I am, I was able to Google a few quick words and learned it was Vivaldi's "Gloria," which is now one of my very favorite music pieces ever. Seriously, it was going to take a lot to kick Next to Normal off the rotation on the iPod, but this piece has kicked out "Superboy and the Invisible Girl" for my top played song this week.

However, that's not even the best discovery! While I was searching for more information on the piece (namely, the sheet music so I can follow along), I found YouTube video that plays the recording in the background while showing the SATB music two lines at a time! What! It's like a sheet music teleprompter. I know Mr. Cote, my 7th grade band director would cringe at the fact that you can't read ahead in the music to know what's coming, but for just a cursory look at the parts, it was a pretty brilliant discovery. Don't worry, I've posted it below in case anyone is curious:

And for those of you who are harboring a secret love of choral music as well, this piece is indeed part of the NY Chorale's Summer Sings on July 22 along with Faure's Requiem.

So, now that I may have just proven that I am nerdier than you ever expected. I'm off to bed, for I have a conference call for my Tony nominated show at 10am tomorrow. Brutal for this Broadway baby.

Finally, A Part of It All

2009-03-17T00:42:00.004-04:00

Exhausted, hungry, stressed, maybe a little cranky.

Happy, exhilarated, excited, nervous, overemotional, proud.

Today, I land on Broadway.

Where Have I Been?

2009-03-12T20:52:00.003-04:00

Now that I've finally achieved my Broadway goals, I should rename this blog the "I'll Update It When I Get Around To It" blog. Sorry all 3 of you faithful readers, but turns out putting on a Broadway musical takes up a lot of my time. Time I would normally be drinking wine and blogging, and obviously, neither of these things are happening enough.

I'm sitting here in the back row of the Brooks Atkinson watching the company tech "The Final Countdown." I hope ya'll have bought your tickets already. It's looking amazingly fierce. And speaking as someone who has sent THREE shows to Broadway, I obviously have really great taste in what looks great on the Great White Way!

Seriously though, every night that I sit here, I'm completely amazed that this entire thing is happening. For my non-theatrical readers, I wish I could explain just how many people it takes to open a show. There are a good 30 people in the theatre now, with 15 on stage, and countless others backstage. Or upstairs in the mezz, where our amazing makeup designer has set up her shop. Incredible. Let's pause for strobe lights, shall we. Amazing!

Let me take you on a journey of who's rockin' out at the Brooks tonight. To my right is one of our kick-ass producers Jen (see that beer in your hand...she helped arrange it!), to my left is our fearless leader, Leslie, go ahead, try to see that she had a baby SEVEN WEEKS ago. It's her Broadway debut as well. Big dreams people, big dreams. Next to her is our amazing press agent Leslie. She just sent us a possible opening night invite list with Bob Saget on it. Insane. Next to her is our Assoc Director/SM Adam. Try that double duty sometime!

In front of me are Phil, Mike, and Mike some of our production crew (sound, props, elex). And a house guy I don't know. (I should go introduce myself!)

In front of them Gregory, Karl, Julia our fearless (and sleep deprived costume designers - check out the lycra they had to find from all over the place), in the center section of the orch are Claudia and Justin - stage mgmt team extraordinaire. Kristin, Kelly, and Robert. Director, choreographer, and associate choreographer. They spend a lot of time up to the stage, down stage, in the house, in the mezz, oh, and also putting together this amazing show!! Behind them, Jason, Dricoll, and Barbara our 100% kickass lighting team are making magic happen. It's all pretty amazing.

*It should be mentioned I wrote this a million years ago. I'm posting it now because, well, because I need to get back into posting SOMETHING!

A Pattern

2009-02-18T22:41:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-18T17:21:00.000-05:00

Here it is everyone!

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

Exciting Day!!!

2009-02-18T01:19:00.005-05:00

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

2009-02-12T08:00:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-11T00:37:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-07T13:40:00.004-05:00

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...

2009-02-06T00:35:00.006-05:00

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.

Negletctful

2009-01-26T00:32:00.006-05:00

It's true, it's true. I've been neglecting you dear blog. I have no reason, but here I am, back to tell the masses what I've been up to lately. This wonder cough/cold that I've been suffering through since Thanksgiving seems to FINALLY be running itself out. Thanks to Dr. Mendoza for the drugs. I have no idea what it was, but for the love, it's about time it's over. I'm still taking the meds lest the virus think it still has time to win out. Suck it virus!!

In better news, I am indeed on my way to the Great White Way!! I've officially been hired by Rock of Ages to bring my house seat/travel planning/debit credit skills to the Broadway. I still don't think this has set in yet. I've been working in New York for almost 7 years to make it to this very goal, and now that it's here, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. I will say that everytime I've walked through the stage door of the Brooks Atkinson, I've gone a little insane on the inside. They have all the show posters up on the wall, and I see all these amazing shows (She Loves Me, anyone?) When the marquis goes up, it will make it finally real, I think. We have a marketing meeting on Tuesday afternoon, where we'll get our first glimpses at the new art. Also, keep your eyes posted on Times Square. Rumor has it, Rock of Ages will be gracing it's own billboard. Can you handle it? It's all pretty exciting!!

Apart from that, life continues on as normal, I suppose. I attempted to start my running again this morning. My aforementioned cough almost got me to quit early, but I persevered. Yay for me. I mean, I do have to be in a strapless bridesmaid dress this summer. Not to mention my impeding 30th birthday and first Broadway opening night. I've got to kick it into gear.

I do have one heartbreaking loss to post. My beloved TiVo has indeed died on me. It tried to hang on for me, but after a few days, it is apparent that it is indeed dead. Thankfully, I start on the Broadway contract tomorrow, so in addition to health insurance (thank the LORD), I will hopefully be making a slightly fancier Broadway ACM salary and will be able to replace it soon. I honestly don't know how I've gone so long without it. I suppose I've just been planning to be home on the nights my favorite shows are on. SO lame. I can't handle it. TiVo 2.0 and I will soon be introduced. I'm looking forward to the day.

Ok, I'm off to bed. The upside of my TiVo being dead is that I actually just go to sleep at night instead of trying to watch all the shows I've recorded. I seriously can't continue on like that. Night all.

Oh Wait, I have to Unpack this Pecan Pie from my Suitcase First

2008-12-23T00:41:00.002-05:00

Oh la readers. It's my first Christmas to be celebrated with my family in two years, and I am so excited. This evening found me returning from work to my mom waiting in my apartment with apple cider, wine, cheese, and cookies. Is there anything better?

Oh yes: you may have heard about this. Keep your fingers crossed that your favorite ACM on the great Off-Broadway scene will soon be making a leap to the Brooks Atkinson theatre with her favorite 80s musical. It's worth saying that ALL THREE of my Off-Broadway CM jobs will be eligible for Tony Awards this year. I'm requiring a golden pony on my new Broadway deal.

I finally headed to the doctor this morning for this ridiculous cough that has been plaguing me for the last umpteen weeks. What promted this visit to the insanly lovely Hirschfeld Clinic (aka beautiful, wonderful doctors that treat my broke, uninsured self for free)? I finally had a coughing fit so awful the other morning that I pulled all of the muscles in my lower back. Ugh. Thankfully, the doctor said that would start feeling better once I stopped coughing. Thanks doc. I'm now on a cocktail of Sudafed, Claritin, Benedryl, and Advil. Oh, and wine. All seem to be helping. Let's hope that insane dose of antihistimines knocks this thing out for once and for all.

Did I mention I can't believe it's already 2 days before Christmas? I apologize to all family and friends for the fact that I haven't realized that. Especially to my 6 year-old goddaughter Kate, who's gift will be late. Thankfully, I haven't set the bar on timeliness very high, so I doubt she's expecting any less.

I think the Benedryl is kicking in, so I'm going to wrap up this entry. Stay warm everyone. It's chilly out there!

Lazy Saturdays

2008-12-13T12:37:00.002-05:00

Word. I love Saturday mornings. Being of the theatrical variety, my weekends are full of house seats and box office statements, but Saturday mornings can be spent lazily wandering about the apartment aimlessly cleaning, flipping through J Crew catalogs, paying attention to my beloved (but often pushed aside) TiVo, thinking about what my new apartment design theme will be (this is usually caused by my channel surfing landing on HGTV). It's such a peaceful time, and gives me a nice break to recharge and get ready to face the long weekends.

Advice?

2008-12-12T00:30:00.003-05:00

Hi readers. I'm writing tonight to ask a little. I'm facing a problem in my life. Let's call it the theatrical red tape. I don't know how to get through it. Or around it. Or to cut it. Or to find another path not blocked from it. You are all super successful, smart, wonderful people. Any words of wisdom?

Though, I think I've unwound myself from this particular piece of red tape, I'm sure it won't be the last time I face it in my theatrically marvelous career. I'd still love all of your brilliant advice!

Blogging for the sake of a new entry

2008-12-06T17:32:00.002-05:00

Oh, I don't really have much to chat about today, but I thought writing beats doing house seat orders. I'm sitting here in the office with Jason, and the Young Frankenstein CM and the Hairspray ACM (soon to be rockin' it over on the Rock of Ages!). We're all just busy doing our things. I'm trying to beat a level of this insane balloon game I found via Stumble. (Aside: I'm addicted to Stumble).

I still have it open on my computer from like 5 weeks ago when I started this entry. My New Year's Resolution is to write more, so I'm going back through my blog entries that I've started, but not finished and sending them out into the world. Hit me up in the comments if you found this one, since I post-dated them! Sneaky!

Still Being Thankful

2008-11-30T10:02:00.004-05:00

Hello dear readers. I hope this finds you all returning back to your normal lives from a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving weekend. I have been pondering Thankgiving a lot as I sit here in my empty apartment on this cold rainy morning surrounded by umpteen empty tea cups, 2 boxes of Kleenex, and Noname the Giraffe that Emily left behind to keep me company while she was in San Francisco this weekend. So, I decided to pop my favorite Christmas movie, The Muppets Christmas Carol into the VCR (that's right, it's old school) and do a little blogging for the things I am thankful for in my life.

*An aside before I start my list. I began to ready myself for blogging, you know, tea making, toast buttering, video cassette searching. And I found The Muppet's Christmas Carol right where I left it, at the bottom of the massive Ikea bag I dragged over to Kelly's for Thanksgiving dinner. I arranged everything in my room, popped open another box of Kleenex and some more Tylenol SEVERE Cold and stood up to push play (alas, my tv remote is broken). And imagine my surprise to find Return to Me. Seriosuly, who still owns TWO movies on VHS? Anyone? Now, I love Return to Me more than anything, but that isn't the holiday Muppets musical I was looking for, so I went on a quest for the missing tape. I headed over to the drawer on the tv stand that holds all our DVDs and dug through until I found it. Inside the case for When Harry Met Sally. Now, where When Harry Met Sally is, I have no idea, but I have that on DVD now, so I don't care. Anyway-- now that you know that my movie viewing habits obviously revolve around only three movies, let's get on with the list, shall we?

I can order a Dominos pizza through my TiVo. Do you know how awesome that is? I don't know why I would ever need to do this, but the fact that I CAN makes me so happy. Thankfully, though my tv remote is broken, my TiVo remote is my best friend, and now that it can order Domino's while keping me chock full of 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother and random episodes of Dawson's Creek that it thinks I might like, well, I don't know what more to say than, I love you TiVo.
I am thankful for online shopping. I didn't brave the tourist crowds here in NYC this weekend, but I did order some serious gifts online. Why doesn't everyone do this! I love it.
Just a little shoutout for one of the stores I did some shopping at: The Container Store. I bought all my holiday wrapping supplies in one place and they are super cute! Plus, I saved shipping costs by telling them I'll pick it all up in the store on Thursday. No doubt part of their ploy to get me in the door to spend another $100, which I will do, and gladly, but it's all a brilliant thing anyway.
I am very thankful to be employed. Let's face it, in this sucky time of shows posting closing notices seemingly everyday, I am beyond thankful to be working on a show with a steady paycheck. But more than that, I am so thankful for the opportunity to be working on THIS show. Rock of Ages has been such a great job. It has introduced me to to all sorts of wonderful people. Everyone involved in this show from our production crew to the box office staff to the 95 person marketing machine behind the show to the billions of actors to our kick ass producers (kick ass because they send us emails that say things like, "Thanks for being so kick ass.") has been so much fun and have really made this a great experience to me.
But most importantly (worthy of their own bullet point) has been working with my management partners in crime. It has been so great working with this team. Nay, a team in general. It's amazing how much less stressful life can be when you have people to bounce stress off of. It's been a lot of fun, and now that 2/3 of my killer team are leaving, it's made me feel even more bittersweetly for how great it has been.
Friends and family in general. Old friends, new friends, theatre friends, church friends, elementary school friends, husbands and wives of those friends, friends I don't talk to as much as I should but think about all the time, cousins that listen to me laugh and cry as I wander down this insane career path, a sister who brings me Cocas when I'm feeling down, a soon-to-be brother-in-law who knows just the right time to stop by with beer and Wii Tennis, a mom that knows that all I need in life to be happy are wine and cheese. I'm seriosuly thankful every day that I am lucky enough to be surrounded by an army of support.
And, least I get too sentimental, I'm thankful for my Blackberry and it's happy little red light of communication. I love being attached to the world through it's little tiny screen.
Finally, just a list in general of small things I'm thankful for: chai lattes, iTunes 1-touch purchasing, BlackBerry Messenger, new striped socks, binder clips, calendars that sync to each other, Facebook status updates, Apples to Apples, my MacBook Pro, Harry Connick, Jr., singing the harmony to anything, singing in general, good subway kharma, walking into craft stores thinking "I CAN DO THAT!", chips and salsa, air conditioners with remotes, and Skype.

And, I think that's all for this blog entry, as I'm now sitting at my office trying to wrap this up for my readers that harass me that I don't write enough. It's not that I don't want to, but I often feel that my entries need to be perfect, and I stress out over them for way longer than necessary. So, out to the void with this belated entry of thanks. I'd love to hear what your thankful lists are this year. Leave them in the comments!

Are You Watching This Show Yet?

2008-11-11T02:02:00.004-05:00

Seriously, y'all. I loves my tv. But, since going on tour, I've learned to reduce my ocd tendencies down to manageable few shows that I could download on iTunes from the company management office in whatever city I happen to be in. As a result of that, I now have a top three list of tv shows that I can't miss. Period. It's hard to get into the list these days, but every now and then, a gem slips in there. I'm not ranking these because I love them all equally for many different reasons:

The Office - I've blogged here before about my love of Jim from this show. Plus moments like this:

30 Rock - You all know that Tina Fey is my total hero. I used to have her Amex print ad as the desktop on my computer, and fully love the fact that we both keep notes on random post-it notes all over the place.

How I Met Your Mother - Neil Patrick Harris is enough reason to turn on this show, but the clever writing and quick with will keep you tuned in. Don't believe me? Check out what you could be missing:

Is that not the most amazing thing you've ever seen? I can watch it a million times and never grow tired of it. What shows do you think I should try out readers? I obviously value shows that are quick witted and smart (Arrested Development was once on this list). If they have that kind of writing and can throw in a tall, dorky, lovable guy into the mix, all the better. Add in characters that have the possibility of breaking out into showtunes, and I'm won over for life. (I really feel that is possible on any and all of the above shows.)

An aside for my readers. Want to know how this blog got posted? I'm currently awake at 2:44am watching reruns of Will and Grace while NOT packing for Texas. My flight does leave at 11:05am, so I still feel I have plenty of time, but why is it that I, a seasoned traveler, feel it necessary to put off packing for so long. I know it will just end up stressing me into another sleepless night. I blame my father for this ritual. Mr. Last Minute Post Office himself. If I think about it that way, then it isn't so bad. So, I'll let the dryer finish up on the clothes I am trying to pack for tomorrow, and get a few minutes of sleep dreaming of the 79 degree weather I'm about to enjoy!

Catching up on the Blog

2008-11-09T12:21:00.015-05:00

Well, well, well blogfans. I've been called out by at least 4 people (my entire readership?) for not updating this blog in three weeks, so here I am, back online to share what's going on in the world since ROA opened and [tos] closed. Currently, I'm sitting on the couch with my sister watching Smallville and helping pick out china patterns. I'm planning on just having Em register for two of everything, so she can share any duplicates with me. Or, do they have a maid of honor registry? Things I need to look in on for sure. What would I register for? Maybe a speaker system for tv. He needs some friends out here in the living room. I think that the Wii is still keeping him company, but everyone loves shiny new electronics!!

Anyway, last week, the Cafferty clan visited NYC because Pat was running in the marathon. The trip came complete with supernanny cousin Susan along for the flight. It was a great way to spend my first weekend off since ROA opened. What's that you say? You'd like to see some pictures. Of course! I'm always happy to oblige! Sus and I took our standard "Susan sandwich" picture skills to a new level by involving the Empire State Building into the mix. We then met up with another one of Sus' cousins for a night out on the town. The next morning, Kristin, Jack, and Bridget stopped by Astoria for a look at the new apartment, wedding planning, real Astoria diner experience, and then to Manhattan to catch Pat's finish in the marathon. We then hit a bar up on the UWS with a million other marathon runners (trust me, the only way I would celebrate running a marathon). We then bid farewell to the fam (in too short of a visit to be sure!)

What else? Did y'all hear the news about our new president?! How exciting is that? I decided to catch the results at Rockefeller Center. You know anywhere that they are painting an ice skating rink as returns come in is where I want to be. It was a great decision, as it was electric to be surrounded by so many people! You could feel the current of energy for hours, and I was glad I decided to fight the crowds to be there for the momentous event.

Coming up next on my social agenda - a week long visit to Texas for my best friend Amber's wedding next Saturday, a visit by my company to Late Night with Conan O'Brien (watch it Friday, Nov. 14!!), bridesmaid dress shopping with Em, and today - covering the matinee, then off to see Aaron and Amy and the US Naval Academy's Men's Glee Club Concert. Fun times!!

I'm totally famous!

2008-10-18T17:54:00.000-04:00

Did you really think I wouldn't be blogging about this?

2008-10-13T01:37:00.005-04:00

Sigh. You knew this was coming blogfans. October 12th, the day my beloved [title of show] posted its closing notice and took its final bow on the Great White Way at the Lyceum Theatre.

Though I am indeed sad to see my little show-that-could close, and I'm sure my kids over at the Lyceum had a bittersweet day, I think they can end this chapter of [tos] feeling incredibly proud of the journey they have taken, and the passengers they've picked up along the way.

So tonight, I just wanted to shout one final shout-out to Hunter, Jeff, Susan, Heidi, Larry, Michael and company for leaving their footprint on Broadway. I'm sure by now, you've learned you're far more than nine people's favorite thing.

Am I Still Awake?

2008-10-03T00:43:00.005-04:00

sooooo tired. It's hard to rock as hard as I rocked at the show last night and keep that energy going through a 3 hour marketing meeting the next day. I am SO tired. Thankfully, though I was suffering the second performance blues, ROA did NOT. It continued to rock in its new and improved 2 hour 24 min run time. Of course, starting on time and not having a 30 min intermission for producers and marketing people to schmooze helps.

I skipped out on most of the performance today, but made it back in time for the finale and the production meeting that followed. It was nice to get a little break. Now, I'm off to bed for real; looonnnngg day tomorrow.

PS Much love to Dennis who let me bail on him for dinner for the second week in a row. I hope this blog shout out shows that I still love you. :)

Rock-tober

2008-10-02T00:51:00.003-04:00

Y'all, I'm not joking. Tonight was an awesome night. By some miracle of the theatrical gods, and with a little help from my friends (I like to call them, the theatre industry) we had a full house for our very first preview, and it was AWESOME. Yes, the show ran an 2 hours and 45 min long, but it's still a work in progress folks, that's why they are called previews!! It'll get cut and trimmed and the pacing will pick up and all will be totally ever MORE awesome.

To finally see this show take shape was really fun. I feel like it's important for me to get behind whatever project I'm working on; otherwise, what's the point, right? But, it's great when it's so much fun.

Seriously, y'all. Get a ticket, get your group of friends together, grab a few drinks (it helps you sing along better) and get down to New World. You'll find me in the back behind the light board dancing along to "Here I Am Again on my Own."

You want to know what else made my night tonight? I completely felt like the part of the team. I was able to talk to marketing teams, ad people, box office treasurers, theatre managers, potential investors, and a slew of producers without batting an eyelash. I was able to joke around and laugh and dance around like the sleep deprived girl I am, and it all just fit together. Any of you who are faithful readers of this blog (are you out there?) will know that I am always looking to to be "part of it all" as my dear [tos]sers have so well described it, and every experience I have that gives me the feelings I had tonight, make me feel so happy and fortunate to have a career that allow me to experience it over and over again.

I'm heading to bed now, for I'm home before 1 am for the first time in a week, and we've got a long week ahead of us. Keep posted to the blog for more updates. I've added a bonus pic of the set for you. Trust me. It rocks so much harder than this picture from tech can show! Good night Astoria!!

Live Action Blogging

2008-09-29T23:20:00.002-04:00

What's up world? I'm coming at you live from the back row of New World Stages, Theatre #1, aka my home from the past week. We're an hour and 15 min short of wrapping day #4 of tech. We added wardrobe and wigs today, and I must say, the show looks fantastic! Don't you want to come on down to NWS and rock out this week?!

Em and I went on a cleaning whirl this weekend. In under 3 hours, we had our living room, kitchen, bathroom, and my bedroom closet sparkling clean! Who knew. My room has been rocking the "I've been on tour" motif for about 6 months too long. Slowly but surely it's starting to take some sort of shape. It's about time, right? Not much else going on outside of that. It's been sleep, eat, breathe theatre, and naturally, I love all of that. We're currently teching "I Hate Myself for Loving You." It's amazing, sans doute.

PS Bernadette Peters signed the petition to get [title of show] on ELLEN. Have you?!

Teching

2008-09-25T09:26:00.003-04:00

So, my rocking show fully moves into the theatre today as we enter what is lovingly known in the industry as "hell week." My next 6 days will consist of paperwork in the office during the day, then to the theatre until 1am for hours of "is this light too blue? Shouldn't he be holding a beer, not a mixed drink? Are the sounds on the 4th beat of every word of the intro sharp enough?" All decisions which I couldn't make if you held a gun to my head (unless one of the questions happens to be, "for the love of God, can't SOMEONE get a marketing code around here!"), but I am finding this process amazing. It's helping me very much to see the collabrative nature of this field, and is another reminder of why I do what I do and love it so much.

Moving on from my dorky techy blogging, I sent out an email begging everyone on the planet to sign the petition to get [tos] on Ellen (you know, this petition), and I'm amazed at the response. Way to go friends and family. Extra bonus points if you actually clicked on the link to my blog. Welcome.

I'm off to shower and drag myself to work. Much love from Astoria!

Look! I'm a Handyman! Wait, no I'm not!

2008-09-23T09:21:00.003-04:00

What is it about being in a Home Depot that makes me think I could completely redesign my entire (rented) apartment? Seriously, I was in there today and thought, "You know. I could put a dimmer on my light switch." What?! No I can't! We have to bring Nick in to hang things in here, and I turn into a hateful person when putting Ikea furniture together. The last thing I need is to add electricity to the mix. SO I bought my "rope that could be used as horse reins or a lasso" that I needed for the video shoot today and got the heck out of there before I did something extreme like buy a new faucet for my kitchen sink just because it was pretty (this thought crossed my mind more times than I'd like to admit).

Random video shoot shopping aside, all's well on the ROA front. We head into tech on Thursday, so that is going to be ~~too much work to finish in 5 days~~ fun. This weekend I covered STOMP and finally had the mani/pedi that's been on my to-do list since June. My feet are happy.

Did you see the premiere of How I Met Your Mother? You need to watch this show. It's hilarious. Neil Patrick Harris alone is a reason to jump on board this train. And what else are you watching Monday night? Heroes? Please. So get to catching up on that.

Closing?

2008-09-21T10:36:00.003-04:00

So I headed to the Lyceum last night with Em, Nick, and Nick's brother and mom. This show never ceases to amaze me in the way that people relate to it. Last night, they posted a blog entry on their wickedly funny blog (way funnier than mine!). Please take a few seconds to read it and keep posted for updates.

http://www.titleofshow.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1393

A Part of Dreading the Day They Post the Closing Notice

2008-09-20T01:16:00.005-04:00

Just a note to say my beloved [title of show] posted their closing notice tonight. So, please, do yourselves a favor and get out to the Lyceum Theatre before October 12 and see the show before they close. You will love every second of those crazy kids.

sigh.

I Won, I Won!

2008-09-18T00:18:00.003-04:00

Oh my gosh, y'all. I'm so tired. But I had to pause for a moment to say, I just ran 2.32 miles and I am now super tired with really sore legs, but that's my farthest run ever so I'm psyched.

Also, today, when I bought a Coke in the Coke machine, 2 Cokes came out. Thus proving that there is a God, and he loves me the best.

How Much is That Doggie in the Window? Will he mind that I won't be debt free until 2014?

2008-09-17T03:07:00.007-04:00

What's up blogfans? Do you think of yourselves as blogfans? I'm glad you do. And I like that this is an interactive experience for all, for example, last week, I got this advice about my blog:

You should take your blog and turn it into a book. Then you should turn that book into a musical. Then you should take that musical and make it a movie. Then that movie should have Lauren Graham starring as you.

This came to me by way of a really smart relative of mine (thanks Sus!) who thinks Lauren Graham and I share the gift of speedy talking and quick witted humor. This is what I mean, people. The blog is about all of you creating ideas. Great ideas. About me.

Anyway, today was a fairly good day. Rock of Ages continued to provide us with good material in the office. Never a dull moment. After work, I headed down to Stomp where I'm filling in a bit this weekend. Why would I agree to take on CM duties at another show? Well, first of all, I love the Stomp people. Those are some good people. And second of all...who doesn't need the money?

This leads me to what I have just spent the last 2 hours doing. And that is trying to find a way to pull myself out of debt. With the aggressive new budget I just made for myself...it could happen by May 2010. Ugh! Who needs that?! But, it must happen. I'm glad that the first cc will be paid in full in January, followed by number two in August. Then it's just that stubborn Amex card that remains. Of course, after spending two hours sorting my expenses into categories on my bank's website so I could better create a reasonable/livable budget, I thought it would be funny to throw my grad school loans into my net worth calculator. Bad news folks. If you were planning to put a hit out on me and take all my worldly assets. I'm afraid you'd be left with Tivo, the Wii, my pretty blue Ikea dresser, my best friend - tv, and an oceanful of payments expected by the Brazos County Branch of US National Bank until August 2014.

Of course, it goes without saying that after 2014, I will totally be worth taking a hit out on.

Also noted in spinning through 12+ months of receipts. I've been to Starbucks in no fewer than 19 states, Canada, and 5 cities in England. Is that a problem? Or just an addicition? In any case, that's a lot of lattes (latta lattes?)

Alright, it's beyond past my bedtime, and I have a big day tomorrow. 30 minute run (well, 20 min walk/10 min run), then I'm catching up with my super successful grad school classmates (a lot of the reason the debt is worth it!) Sleep well out there everyone. Get to casting my romantic lead in the movie. Reference the entry below for the description. :)

PS Forgot to add a super shout-out to my [tos]sers who conquered all sorts of vampires and rocked it out at Broadway on Broadway this past Sunday. It was well worth sweltering in the middle of 7th Avenue to hear my cute show fully orchestrated. Have I mentioned I love those guys?

Why isn't this MY reality tv?

2008-09-11T23:04:00.009-04:00

Okay, I know that tv isn't real, but seriously, where is this man in my life? Can we discuss? I mean, I may have just watched four back-to-back episodes of The Office, every one in which I said outloud at least one, "Ahhh, I love him!!" Who's with me here?

In other, more realistic news (yawn), today I saw the Act 1 run through of ROCK OF AGES, and I can't lie, I loved it. It's gonna be a fun show people, have you bought your tickets yet? Starting Oct. 1, I'm always up for pre-show margaritas...

Also, I made a friend connection happen for my cousin Susan and my former co-worker Mary in Chicago. Sus lives just around the corner from the Briar Street Theatre, where Mary is serving as Business Manager for Blue Man Group-Chicago. I'm happy they are meeting, but so wish I could be there!! My social life of late has been reduced to hermitude. It is a choice I have concisously made, and I can't lie, I love it. I know that in three weeks, I head back to the late-night theatre world I've grown so accustomed to, but I have to say for now, I'm glad to have my evenings to myself. Have you been keeping an eye on the Nike meter on the right side of my page?! I've been keeping up with my running program, and although my farthest distance is only 2.15 miles, I'm feeling pretty good just getting out there and doing SOMETHING every night. It helps me unwind from the day, and I think I sleep better too. All good things.

I'm off to do some more organizing of my room. I mean, I've lived here over a year and nothing has really happened. Next year when I'm faced with living on my own, I'm very excited, but I'm also very nervous about putting everything together. Anyone have any ideas? Mostly, I'm planning on counting on my two interior designer cousins (that means you Sus and Maura). They both have amazing senses of style and I can't wait to see what they do to the place. :) Night all.

Have you Ever Thought About...

2008-09-11T01:03:00.005-04:00

Readers. Have you ever thought about how many people it takes to make a musical? Oh. My. Lord. Today I was at a production meeting, and the following were in attendance:

Director/Assistant Director
Choreographer/Assistant Choreographer
Production Stage Manager/Stage Manager/Production Assistant
Scenic Designer/Assistant Scenic Designer
Lighting Designer/Assistant Lighting Designer
Props Master
Wardrobe Assistant
Assistant Sound Designer
Production Manager/Assistant Production Manager
Video Projectionist Designer
Music Contractor/Orchestrator/Director
General Manager (2)/Company Manager/Assistant Company Manager/Management Intern
and finally two producers

Y'all, that's a lot of people. That's not taking in count the 17 actors that were on lunch break during our meeting or the people that were assembling the deck at New World Stages while we were in our meeting or my box office staff that were frantically processing codes for me. Tomorrow we meet with no fewer than 3 marketing firms, a press agent, a pr person, more producers and any other random people that I've missed off this list.

I can't even say how amazed I am at all that goes into getting a show to its opening night. I know, I know, I've been part of plenty show openings and what have you, but as I've mentioned before, this is the first time I've seen all of this "production" craziness, and it completely blows my mind. But as it's blowing my mind, its also sending chills up my spine. Every single one of those people will work their tails off come hell or high water to make the best production possible be on that stage come October 16, and they will fight for what they need to make that happen. Who says theatre is dead? It's an incredible thing to be in a room full of people so passionate about their jobs. I'm loving every crazy, ridiculous second of it.

In news outside my job (yes, I have a life). Wii Fit admonished my sister for telling it that she didn't think I looked in any better shape this week. It was amazing. That's news right? I'm not a total loser, am I? Whatever, I love that Wii Fit. TiVo is adjusting well to the newest addition. Also, I keep them in separate rooms, so that helps. Can you tell I've cut back on the social agenda lately? It seems that my bank account finally figured out that I spent many weeks this summer unemployed. It's finally recovering, but gave me quite a scare towards the end of August. Ugh. Can't I just win the lottery already? At least the health insurance lottery? Anyone? No one?

Last thought before I head to bed, I love the new iTunes. I love that Apple keeps making me want to upgrade my iPod even though I have absolutely NO reason to do it. I love that if I want to find twenty-five songs on my iPod that sound like Miley Cyrus' "7 Things" that I can do it, and my iPod won't judge me like all my friends do. Life is good. I'm out. Good night.

Oh - and Happy Birthday shout-outs to my cousin Mary, my college roommate Erica (who both turned 30 on Tuesday), my Pajama Gaming touring Thomas and my sole remaining swim team friend Eric. The first week of September is huge for me birthday wise! I hope all of you celebrated fully and will be blessed with the best year yet!

I've got a headache T-H-I-S big...

2008-09-06T20:24:00.004-04:00

I know there are people out there that don't suffer from headaches, and for those of you, just know that I hate you all a little bit.

I got knocked OUT today by the worst headache I've had in quite sometime. Like, can't sit up, turn on lights, listen to any sound headache. Completely incapacitating. Thankfully, we also had torrential downpour here in NYC (thanks Hurricane Hanna), so at least I had a peaceful background to my misery.

Thankfully, it finally seems to be subsiding, and has allowed me to turn on the tv at least. I'm currently watching a show on The Food Network about kitchen gadgets of the future. It's like my tv knew I was feeling awful and put my favorite kind of tv show on just for me. Lord knows I don't cook, but I'm sure those that know me well know that if it's gadget-y, I want it. Right now, they're showing me an oven that you just push a button, put your meat/fish/pizza in, and hit go. It autmatically adjusts temperature and time for you. I love it.

Work is going really well. The show went into rehearsals on Tuesday and is actually pretty funny. Sitting in on production meetings and read-throughs are still pretty new to me, so I'm really enjoying watching just how much freakin' work it is to put a show up. We even have a team just for internet marketing (I don't think they ever sleep!). All in all, I'm very happy to be back in production mode. We start moving the set into the theatre on Tuesday. Whoooo!

Ok, I feel like I'm pressing my luck on the headache front, so I'm going to end it here. Good night from rainy, headachy Astoria.

Sad the Summer is Over

2008-09-02T01:08:00.000-04:00

Hope y'all had a happy Labor Day Weekend! I sure did! I headed back to beautiful, relaxing Sag Harbor thanks to my pal Gail (holla!) It was a wonderful way to wind up Summer '08. My sister was able to ditch the city as well and come out East for some poolside time, so that was fun!

Things I learned:

I don't make enough money to even look at houses in the Hamptons.
I want these Coach sunglasses (in burgandy)! But I didn't buy them, because I have to pay rent.
Along those lines, being responsible is overrated.
There are a lot of good places to sit and watch college football in East Hampton on a Saturday.
There is no limit to how many fried shrimp I will eat.
If given the opportunity, I can spend 3 days straight in my swimsuit cover-up.
Fancy drinks taste fancier the farther east you travel! In Montauk, they even put cucumbers in the water. Amazing!

In other news. our Rock of Ages Meet and Greet is tomorrow morning! I love meet and greets! It's so fun to look around the room and see so many different types of people all working to get the show up. Cool. Last week, I walked through Stage 1 at New World with Jason, our SM, our Asst PM, and two of the NWS ops people for my first sightline conversation. It never ceases to amaze me how many things need to be thought about before opening! Of course we have to cut those three seats in the balcony, otherwise, someone will be sharing their lap with our spot op.

Ok, I'm off to bed now I think. Big day tomorrow, as our Rader Family Fantasy Football draft is in the morning. I love football season!

Sing, Sing a Song

2008-08-28T01:07:00.004-04:00

Tonight found me up on the UWS singing my little heart out to the score of Carmina Burana. It was a lot of fun, even though I went in knowing only this part:

But really, for me, the fun is seeing how that many voices can blend together to create such an amazing sound. I know I'm late on jumping on the choral bandwagon, but seriously, there isn't much more that makes me happier.

Added bonus of hanging out with a good friend. Thanks for helping me scalp tickets outside Symphony Space this morning and for "Secreting" good ideas! It was such a good time! If only we didn't have to wait until next summer for more singing!

Life back at the office is a lot of fun. It's great being part of a team. Much more laughing and a lot less stressful nights make for a fun place to be. I know as we get closer to opening, it will be more stressful, of course, but I'm glad these past few days have helped build a great working relationship to get through that part.

I probably have more to say, but my browser is doing a weird lag thing and it's driving me crazy, so I'll close with an aside to my friend on the Pajama Game tour: Seriously, you've been gone since Sunday and there's been no blogging from you. I'm calling you out. Time to get writing, or my blog will totally win hands down in our cage match of blogs.

It's a nice thing!

2008-08-23T01:50:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure how it happened, but somewhere down the line, I found the greatest friends here in NYC. I mean, I do have [title of show] to thank mostly, but seriously, I am a lucky girl.

Nessa, Nessa, I have something to confess - a reason why...

2008-08-19T17:39:00.001-04:00

Alright kids. The meeting went well. Many props to my former employer at MCC who gave me a nice recommendation, it would seem. That makes me happy. The wheels may finally be starting to turn, for which I am eternally grateful. I'll be heading back in September to meet with the other GMs, and we'll see what what the theatre ghosts have in store for me.

I would like to mention, that the "gravity" of this meeting did not go unnoticed. As I walked down the hall toward the door marked Wicked , I was like, holy hell. I AM a part of it all.

Wish Me Luck...

2008-08-19T09:26:00.005-04:00

I have a meeting with fancy Broadway people this morning. Think good thoughts!

I'm not the only funny one in the family...

2008-08-18T13:15:00.001-04:00

I recently asked my mom who she thought the vice-presidential candidates would end up being, as she's a Fox News junkie and is usually way more up-to-date on those sort of things than I am. She just looked at me and said,

"I think it will be Rhianna."

AMAZING!

How my mom managed to remember the name of Paris Hilton's choice for VP, I have no idea. But, it provided about 10 minutes of solid laughter from me. The video response from Paris Hilton to John McCain was pretty hilarious. I know I'm about 2 weeks behind on this, but well, with all the Olympic swimming I've had to watch I've been slow in my viral video watching. Enjoy!!

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

UNBELIEVABLE!

2008-08-11T15:48:00.002-04:00

Every 4 years, swimming gets to be the center of attention, and this is why! Please watch the Men's 4 x 100 free relay for one of the most exciting races I've EVER seen!

Exclusive Summer Olympics news & widgets at NBC Olympics.com!

Cozy Saturdays

2008-08-02T13:21:00.006-04:00

What is it about rainy Saturdays that reminds me of all the things I need to accomplish, but only gives me enough energy to curl up on the couch and watch Smallville? I'm going to put some laundry in before I forget how the washing machine works.

----------------
Now playing: Various Artists - Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18: Unspecified excerpt(s)
via FoxyTunes

Gratuitious Picture of my Adorable Cousins

2008-07-30T15:32:00.001-04:00

Just humor me here and let me post some pics of my adorable cousins. You won't be able to handle it, just a warning:

Bridget Ellen -

And so my wonderful goddaughter Kate doesn't feel neglected, some pics of her too. Please note in these pics, she's making her summer musical theatre camp debut. I could die of happiness! I know she's a little far away here, but in the pic on the bottom, she's doing her solo!!

Kathryn Mary -

And just in case you want to see how cute she is up close...

Many thanks to my cousin Susan who is playing Supernanny to these children this week for documenting her day via her fancy new iPhone. I hope you all realize how technically saavy I'm forcing my family to become.

I have more cute pics to develop from my trip to Green Bay as soon as I find my camera cable. Get excited!

All Shook Up

2008-07-29T15:21:00.004-04:00

Wow! My sister just texted me from LA where she was just in an earthquake. According to CNN, it was a 5.8! She said it felt like being on a floating dock. That's the daughter of sailors for you. All is fine, I just thought it was exciting.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quake30-2008jul30,0,5345096.story

Much more exciting that the biggest earthquake to hit the UK in 25 years, which I slept through when I was on tour in Dartford this past February. Lame.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7266136.stm

Did I mention the Olympics start in 11 days?

2008-07-28T19:32:00.003-04:00

Ok, this needs to be posted, because Athens was a LONG time ago, and we need to start seeing some Olympic swimming here on the blog.

I'm sure even those of you who didn't spend your formative years in a pool can appreciate this ridiculously amazing photo of Micheal Phelps. What sort of crazy upper body strength do you need to position yourself in the water like this? omg. I love the Olympics!

Fancy Times

2008-07-26T18:54:00.000-04:00

Um, I hope you guys checked out my comments on my last post. That's right, there are fancy, fancy people reading this blog. In my last entry, I talked about my new favorite theatre blog columnist (blogumnist?) Ken Davenport and how he posted about a comment I made. Then, Friday night, he posted a comment and that entry!! It pretty much made my week! Thanks Ken Davenport for giving me something to brag about in this entry!

Anyway, I'll plug his blog again, just because. Go. Read. It.

In other news, had a pretty low-key weekend. Which was nice and much needed. It won't be long until I lose my 2 day weekend again, so I'm trying to live them up while I can! Saturday, I had dinner with Mikey, my box office treasurer from the Lortel. We walked around the UES, hit Bed Bath and Beyond, and generally had a lovely time. Sunday, Gail and I headed to Long Beach in an attempt to beat the rain. We made it for an hour in the sun/cloudy mix before the lightening decided to make an apperance. No worries, we headed to brunch and Starbucks before calling it a day on the beach. Then, I watched The Incredibles and called it a night. That's right, my life is super glamourous. Don't be too jealous.

I should get back to this giant pile of bills. Nothing has really changed here at the Blue Man. Still can't get ahead of the game, but of course, the difference being that now I have a blog to distract me! Wahoo! All I can say, is that Bank of America will be super happy when Thursday rolls around. It knows I've got some bills to pay and that stimulus check can't even cover my rent. Ugh.

Tonight I'm headed with Thomas and Rachel out to Splash for what is sure to be a randomly hilarious time. [tos] is making an apperance there tonight, and you know I'll do just about anything to support my peeps there. If you're lucky, I'll remember to take some photos.

PS Just as I was finishing this entry, my cousins called me on the phone. I won't bore you with details of the converstaion, but I love talking on the phone to them. Max (4) and Molly (6). So adorable!

I know, I know

2008-07-24T00:23:00.000-04:00

I'm way behind on my blogging. Between closing reasons to be pretty and spending 11 days in Green Bay, Wisconsin loving how adorable my goddaughter has become, I just had to but the blog on the back burner. But, never fear! I'm back!

And what better way to start off my return than by directing you to ANOTHER blog that posted a message about a comment I left. Those of you who haven't heard me rambling on about how much I love Ken Daveneport's blog haven't been paying me much attention, for I find myself quoting from it all the time and constantly asking people if they've been reading it.

For those of you who DON'T know (or who have been tuning me out), he's the producer of Altar Boyz, and Awesome 80s Prom, and the new Jason Robert Brown musical Thirteen (or is it 13? I can't remember). Anyway, here's his complete bio. You should really all go and read his blog (the link is also on my sidebar) and embrace all the fun and interesting entries. Seriously, I'll be trying to engage you in conversation about it soon. Seriously.

Anyway, if you read today's entry, you'll see a shoutout to me (though anonymous) as his favorite suggestion about what to write about. That's right! That was MY comment! I feel famous and smart. And nerdy.

Ok, I hope this finds all of you well. For those of you following the Susan job path: I finished my last day of training at MCC today and headed down to Blue Man Group to recapture the feeling of being 23. More on this later, but I'm temping down there until my new job starts next month. But, I'm temping doing a/p, which was my very first job out of college. It is super strange to be back there, but they're good people, so it's been fun. Finally, I was just hired as the Assistant Company Manager on the new Off-Broadway show Rock of Ages that opens at New World Stages in September. I heart being employed, and although my work path has taken me through Blue Man, [title of show], Rat Pack, The Fantasticks and reasons to be pretty, this will be my very first show to be involved with from production. Yay!

I'm off to bed now, being mentioned all over the blogosphere can wear a girl out.

PS omg you guys, did y'all watch Legally Blonde? How wrong is it that I now want to head to the Palace Theatre and check her out? I have to say, I really loved the finale, and actually found myself nervous for those girls!

Happy Opening Y'all

2008-07-17T11:01:00.008-04:00

Just a moment to send a shout-out to the show that forever changed my path in theatre (and thereby, though it sounds dramatic, my life) and taught me what happens when you dream big!

Happy opening night [title of show]!!!! It's time!

A Manhattan McGyver

2008-06-21T22:00:00.006-04:00

Y'all. I'm a genius. I hate to brag about this, but it must be said. Today, I was doing some shopping in the Apple Store on 5th Ave, and some random non-English speaking tourist stepped on my left foot and broke my sandal. Like completly pulled the flip out of my flop (I just made that up, see? Brilliant.) Anyway, as much as I would have enjoyed stopping by Bergdorff Goodman just across the street, you may notice this blog is titled the "Non-Profit Edition." As in, I have no profit from my job, so that was going to be out of the question.

If I could just make it down to the J Crew at Rockefeller Center, I could grab a new pair of flip flops. But that's about 10 blocks away! How am I going to get there? I honestly could not keep my shoe on my foot. So, I dig through my purse and find: dental floss! So, I tied my shoe to my left foot with about 3 feet of minty dental floss, and slowly, but surely walked my way down to 47th Street. I was very proud of myself and my resourceful New York thinking.

My new flip flops are super cute pink with white polka dots. They set me back a small fortune (as things at J Crew tend to do), but I just thought about it as a reward to myself for being just on my game.

PS Susan Sarandon was at my show last night. When she came to my window to pick up her tickets, I was beside myself. Holy cow! Then, when I came home, Dead Man Walking was on tv. Crazy coincidence. People named Susan are amazing. That is the conclusion of this entry. (Hi cousin Susan, I mean you too!)

Night from Astoria, I'm exhausted from being so awesome.

What? Oh, yes, I am fancy!

2008-06-18T01:24:00.002-04:00

Big news blog fan(s?). My ridiculously amazing Off-Broadway show is off to the Great White Way! Read these fancy articles from Variety and The New York Times. Impressive isn't it? What does this hold for your favorite company manager? Oh nothing, really. Just another successful Off-Broadway show managed so amazingly that it's heading off to Broadway. :) Ok, so maybe the writing, directing, and acting has something to do with it, but I like to think that I helped...a little. I mean, I am the house seat gatekeeper!

In any case, many congrats to all involved in our little MCC show. Exciting!

I pray that Jesus Christ will help you get to Broadway

2008-06-17T03:27:00.002-04:00

Seriously, y'all. Look how cute my [tos]sers are with their fancy Broadway internet ads. I just love them. I can't believe it's been two years since I was a baby company manager in charge of these kids. Awww. I'm so proud of them and can't wait to see the big show at the Lyceum. Who's in with me!

PS You may be wondering why I'm posting this at 3:25 in the morning, but a random flu-like bug knocked me right out Sunday night, and I slept for a good 16 hours yesterday. So, of course, now I'm completely awake. LAME. Here's hoping I can get some sleep soon!

I'm told that on my sunniest of days, I'm not that fun to be around.

2008-06-13T02:07:00.006-04:00

Y'all. I'm only going to say this once, but there was television royalty in my theatre tonight. Anyone keeping tabs on that, already knows that we've been visited by:

Ashley Olsen

Joan Allen

Julianna Margulies (bonus shot here, as she's standing with our director Terry Kinney!)

Kieran Culkin

Okay, so of this entire picture, only Timothy Busfield has visited (so far) but I think we all know how much I LOVED this show!

But tonight, tonight, Mikey (my wonderful box office treasurer) and I looked up through our tiny box office windows at the Lortel and saw THIS MAN standing in line!!!

TOBY ZIEGLER!!

Oh my goodness! I thought we might both pass out! As two of the dorkiest West Wing fans alive, we franctically tried to push our waiting customers out of our way to race for the opportunity to help him first! I lost, sadly, and was forced to suffer through another 8 random non-West Wing people while Mikey spent hours and hours of quality time with him trying to find his tickets in the STAR system. Oh, we were both so very happy. I can only hope that our pure joy broke through the bulletproof glass to the wonderful Richard Schiff for making the evening of two random box office New Yorkers who love him!

I'm up too late. I hate that Conan O'Brien comes on at 12:35 here on the East Coast. Back in Texas, it starts at 11:35, and is so much easier to handle. reasons to be pretty's own Piper Perabo was visiting my favorite late night talk show host to brag about our amazing show. Fun times! Okay, for real, time for bed! Good night from Astoria.

So many thoughts!

2008-06-09T01:29:00.003-04:00

I have had the wonderful fortune of having the best weekend ever. Leaving out that it has been a stiffling 95+ here in NYC this weekend, I couldn't ask for more.

To start with, my sister Emily, and her boyfriend Nick got engaged last night at the Empire State Building. Amazing. I have pretty much been crying since I knew it was happening. Tears of happiness of course. We all know I'm a crier, happy/sad, it doesn't matter. Just thinking about it makes me tear up. I'm so very, very, very happy for them!!! Em was completely surprised, and it was totally amazing! It's still a little surreal to me, so I can't imagine what the two of them must be thinking, but wow! I'm getting a brother-in-law. And a tenor, no less. At least I'll never be in need of someone to harmonize with, and let's face it, harmony is v important in my life.

Secondly this weekend, I was surrounded by a zillion great friends. It's just so nice to spend time with people who know you and love you for who you are. I know it sounds a little lame, but seriously, is there anything better in the world than just laughing for hours on end of ridiculous things? I love that despite my random theatrical schedule, that my life still contains such fun times at Blockheads or at the social after Mass. (Go ahead and knock it, but they serve wine and mini-hotdogs, and it's a FANTASTIC way for me to catch up with my choral friends. :) )

Ok, I'm heading to bed now before a well-deserved day-off. We're opening the balcony at reasons to be pretty this weekend because we're doing so well! Holla! It's amazing news for a well-deserved play, but I've been doing house seat orders in my sleep, so I'm looking forward to a day off.

Peace out y'all!

We Do Not Belong Together!

2008-06-06T12:01:00.002-04:00

Please take some time today to enjoy this video. It's from this year's Easter Bonnet Competition, and it's so funny, that it actually brought me to tears. Having some basic idea of what Sunday in the Park with George is about helpful, but I think the hilarity is still there even if you aren't familiar with it.

Enjoy!

Another Opening, Another Show

2008-06-03T01:34:00.002-04:00

I'm not going to lie, I adore opening nights! Sure, it's completely crazy leading up to it, getting all the press reservations in, keeping everyone calm about how many people are in the theatre, making sure your cast has no idea when the Times is going to be there, but at the end of it all, when you're watching the curtain call. That's one of my favorite moments in theatre.

reasons to be pretty had a pretty fantastic opening night, and a great review in the Times to top it all off. Em and Nick joined me for the show and the party, which made for wonderful company and a great time.

It's time for me to head to bed now, but I just had to post that. Tomorrow's my day off, which I am so looking forward to! I'm still trying to shake this ridiculous cough, and I have lots of TiVo to catch up on!

Where God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window...

2008-05-27T23:59:00.003-04:00

Well, not even the pinkest, sparkliest, most magical wish can trump the unfairness that is the "office loyalty" card. Person #2 is walking away with my so coveted ACM position on the Legally Blonde tour. I can't really fault anyone here, except the stupid theatrical hierarchy, but someday it will work in my favor, so I'm finding it hard to even fault that. The CM called today, and was very lovely and diplomatic about the whole thing, saying that we were really neck-and-neck, and the only thing stopping them from choosing me is my lack of experience in that particular office. He said that everything about me was great and perfect, and I needn't change anything, and that he would send my resume around with his highest recommendation. So, see, I can't even pinpoint my sadness on him. He was really very nice. In my theatrically-inclined mind, I've decided that he wanted to hire me, and that the powers-that-be chose otherwise. It'll help me get through it anyway.

Anyway, so thankfully, I was surrounded by wonderfully supportive people to get me through, so to those people, I say thank you for the drink invitations, for telling me I was too good for that tour anyway, for promising me that not getting that job meant Broadway was waiting for me, and for just being there to say it sucks, but that I will no doubt come out on top, thank you. For your favorite Pisces girl, this day has been ridiculously tear-free. Amazing.

The Waiting Game

2008-05-24T08:37:00.003-04:00

Oh la la. I'm not a particularly patient person. In fact, instant gratification is something I have a very close relationship to. So, these past few weeks since my big interview with the Legally Blonde crew have been SO crazy. Thankfully, I have the great people down at MCC and the Lortel to help me pass the time, and I was actually content with knowing the Legally Blonde decision would be made "sometime around June 1." Fooling myself into putting something out of my mind is a concept I'm getting a little better at.

Of course, the problem with that is that usually life has other plans for your mind. This kink in my plan came in the way of a voicemail I was checking while waiting for my latte to be brewed at the Starbucks on 43rd and 8th. It was the CM from the LB tour telling me that they haven't decided yet, but will have a final decision by Tuesday. Oh, and it's down to me and one other person. My insides flipped upside down with sudden nervousness. Why did that happen? I was just fine living in my little oblivious world, and now suddenly, I have a constant countdown running in my head. Yikes. So anyway, I have told myself that if they don't choose me, it will be from some random external thing that is so far out of my control, but let's face it...can anyone else imagine this other person being better suited for the job? Me and all my pink, sparkly clothing say no.

It is weird thinking that somewhere out in the NYC void, there is someone else going through their Memorial Day weekend waiting for the same decision to come through on Tuesday. Life is random.

Anyway, besides that, life is going just fine. I'm still trying to kick this obnoxious cold. I may have pushed it a little too far this week, what with the midnight showing of Indy, followed by a late night on Friday with my boys, but what can I say? I'm not turning down those great times out with my friends just because of a stupid cold.

Alright, it's time for me to get ready for work, then choir. Peace out from Astoria on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Don't Call me Junior!

2008-05-22T03:01:00.003-04:00

Just home from Indy 4! I loved it! I loved watching it in a crazy crowd at the Ziegfeld when every time the theme came on people applauded! And I loved that Harrison Ford completely embodies this character. Very fun night. More coherent thoughts after some sleep!

How to Make me Laugh for at least 10 minutes.

2008-05-20T01:09:00.005-04:00

Ok folks, I made it back safely from the MTC Gala. The only thing that was horrifying was watching 4 people usurp my taxis on the corner of 6th Ave and 55th Street. Come on! You can't just run across the street and into a cab when someone is waiting there. I finally gave up and walked my cold, tired, and sick self down to 5th Ave, where people were a lot less rude. (I did look awesome though, thanks to my sister trying to make me look a little bit less like the walking dead.) Also, many thanks to her for insisting I take 2 wraps with me. She's a smart little cookie that Emily.

And onto my most hilarious moment of the day. I say this much, it all started with this little bottle of Afrin. Around 1:00 this morning, as I was opening up my third box of Kleenex, my nose said to me, "Please, please, please...no more sneezing!" I have to say, I agreed, and as I looked at my face in the mirror, the poor thing was all red. So, I opened my medicine cabinet for my last weapon against my stupid cold. Afrin. Now, I bought this to use a good six months ago, but was so scared of it, I never opened the box. Today was the day I was going to conquer my fear. Or so I thought.

I stood in my kitchen making my 4th cup of tea, and thought, I'll just "ready, go" as I wait for the water to boil. What followed was a good 10 minutes of me trying to get up the courage to spray this stuff up my nose. Eeeek! So creepy. Seriously, I would try to spray, and my nose would just be working in complete opposition to me the entire time. This was making me laugh so much, which in turn, made it harder to do. Every time I would barely spray, I'd end up pulling at least 90% of the bottle away from my face, and Afrin would drip all over my kitchen counter. I'm proud to say that after 10 minutes of chasing myself around the kitchen, I think I managed to get at least .25mL into my actual sinuses. I'm hoping it's enough to completely cure me, since Lord knows I can't do it again.

Any tips or tricks of the trade to help with this? I was reminded of that Friends episode when Rachel has to put those eye drops in. We would be good friends in real life.

Now that I've finished typing this, it occurs to me that this story is probably much funnier to me than it will be to my reading audience. But seriously, if you're ever having a bad day, you should ask me to do this with the Afrin. It will make you laugh.

Can someone pick me up some Kleenex?

2008-05-19T17:20:00.000-04:00

Well, it was bound to happen, I suppose. After spending my weekend in the teeny, tiny box office down at the Lortel with my box office treasurer, who I love, but who was also sporting a fever all weekend, I'm spending my treasured day off in bed with a stupid cold. I'm supposed to be volunteering at the MTC Gala tonight, so I'm hoping I can pull it together by then.

I'm mostly blaming this insane weather NYC has been having lately. 60 on Monday, 45 on Tuesday, 80 on Wednesday, sun, rain, snow. (ok, no snow, but I needed a third weather element to balance out my list). I am so over walking around in the freezing rain though. Gross. Good think I bought cute new pink rainboots. They do make it a little easier to cope.

All is well down at the theatre. The show seems to be in great shape. I haven't stayed to watch the whole thing yet, and they are still making cuts and adjustments and things, but what I have seen looks tres good. It's a fun group down at the Lortel, which makes all the difference. I've been lucky to have really fantastic FOH (front of house) staffs in all my theatres here in New York. It can be really boring spending your entire weekend inside a theatre, so a great camaraderie is a wonderful thing.

I'm going to see if I can pull myself together for the show tonight. An update to follow later on whether or not I pass out into my chicken dinner.

"Don't talk of love lasting through time, make me no undying vow. Show me now!"

2008-05-13T20:00:00.003-04:00

I just finished reading Julie Andrews' memoir, Home. Seriously, as if I haven't been enamored with her my entire life, now upon reading the story of how she became what she became is truly amazing. When I think of the short list of people who have influenced my life beyond words, I'm fairly certain that Julie Andrews is at the top of it. I can remember sitting in front of our tv for hours and hours a day watching The Sound of Music over and over and over again. I would spin around my living room pretending to be whichever particular VonTrapp family member I felt like at the moment. When I reached college, I actually broke the tape on the VCR tape copy of that movie from watching it over and over again as I was getting over that freshman homesickness that inevitably comes from leaving home and needing something familiar to comfort you.

My neighbors across the street from me growing up were named Banks, and Mr. Banks was actually from England, and for a good five years of my life, I fully believed they were related to the Banks family from Mary Poppins. They would travel to England and send me postcards from her. (and you wonder why I live in such a fantasy world now...)

Anyway, reading this book did nothing but reinforce my belief that the influence Julie Andrews had over me as a child, silently and without my knowing, pushed me into the person I am in the career I'm in. Without a doubt, every time "Edelweiss" or "Feed the Birds" pops up on my iTunes, my eyes start to tear up at the sheer beauty of her voice and the complete love that I have always had for her.

Does anyone else out there in the void feel that someone you've never met helped you become the person you are today? Feel free to post in the comments. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Julie Andrews as the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio

2008-05-12T23:48:00.000-04:00

Julie Andrews as the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio
Originally uploaded by Travel Weekly Gallery

I mean, seriously, doesn't everyone's heart completely melt upon seeing this picture? I just love her. I just finished reading her memoir this evening, so expect a long reflection post on how much I heart Julie Andrews tomorrow.

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work we go!

2008-05-12T22:07:00.001-04:00

Wow, what a difference a few weeks makes. After way to many Top Chef marathons, I am now back among the employed people of the New York theatre scene. I received a few emails from some of my theatre friends (how nice is it to know there are people looking out for you!) leading me to my new position as the company manager for Neil LaBute's play reasons to be pretty.

I just watched the first run though on Friday, and it's great. They are teching done at the Lortel now, and we get underway on Wednesday night.

I love starting a new job. Knowing that when I pack up for the day, knowing that everything on my list is accomplished. How rare a feeling is that? I can honestly say that I don't remember the last time I felt that way. So, that's cool. The new people at my office are great, and I ended up having a million connections to the theatre that I never knew about. I love becoming a part of this world! I finally feel that I've been working long enough to be like, "oh right, I know them!" Seriously, a giant shoutout to my people at the Vineyard and MTC for being those connections that brought me to this job! I am so grateful to have such amazing people watching my back. It's moments like this when I realize just how cool of an industry I work in.

Oh Universe. Your constant need to be in balance is so obnoxious sometimes.

2008-04-28T00:29:00.005-04:00

You know that feeling you get when everything is going freaking amazingly and all your friends are happy and life is good and birds are singing and the sky is blue etc, but then God and the universe are like, "Um, nope, not that happy" and slams you with an slap back to reality? That happened to me today.

For the sake of not sharing all my friend's lives for the world to see, I shall change their names to characters from Thoroughly Modern Millie. That way if my friends aren't ready to share their stories, they don't have to, and I get to hum songs from Millie throughout my typing this part of the blog. Win-win.

So anyway, last night, I got a call from "Millie" that she was engaged! Words can't describe how excited I am!! Her finance "Jimmy" was very nice to spare her for the 30 minutes it took for us to adequately squeal and laugh and cry and reminisce. Needless to say, I was completely floored, and my friend is happier than I've ever seen her, and for that I am overwhelmingly excited for the two of them. Once the story is told, and her Facebook profile is updated, I shall share that story because it's awesome.

Then, another friend of mine this morning "Trevor Graydon" informs me that he has been cast in a kick-ass musical in a starring role. Totally amazing! I am so happy for him! He deserves all the success that is coming his way, for he is truly one of the most talented people I've had the pleasure of meeting since starting my New York adventures. More to come on this later as well.

Anyway, I had brunch with Em and Nick this morning (no need to hide those names, right?), and afterwards I was on Cloud 9. Seriously, walking on air. Completely thinking that the universe had some amazing positive fancy energy out there, I was looking forward to becoming a part of that. I was humming along just thinking about my good friends' great fortunes. And just being happy. I know I've said that a lot, but I really was.

Anyway, I called my mom to talk about a great meeting I had on Saturday afternoon (another reason I was happy!) and she interrupted my gushing to tell me, "I'm really sorry to have to bring you down from this, but Katherine's father passed away unexpectedly this morning." (Katherine is my cousin Mark's fiancée, and they are getting married in August.) I know a lot of people would read the paragraphs above this and say, "well, naturally something bad was bound to happen!" but that's not really how I roll. I'm not a person who holds back very much emotionally speaking, so when my spirits are high, I'm literally flying; and therefore, when the bottom drops out, I'm completely crushed. I was literally walking up 2nd Avenue practically skipping at the start of the phone call with my mom, and within seconds of hearing the news, I was crying and heartbroken. For the next few hours, every time I would think of Katherine having to prepare for her wedding without her dad, I would dissolve into a crying mess. At Barnes and Noble, at Starbucks, at work. I'm sure on a deeper level it's because when my wedding comes, I won't have my dad around, and that sucks and all that jazz, but on the surface, I think that I just find myself Quantum Leaping* into people's emotions. I suppose life would be a lot easier if I could distance myself even a little bit, but then I guess I wouldn't be the person I am now. So, I guess I'll just try to keep my personal emotional roller coaster on the track and realize that without the high highs and the low lows, life would just be a series of that really flat part of the roller coaster when the ride is over and you're just coasting back to the start. Look at me and my metaphor skills.

I suppose I'll end this somber post for the night. In the end, I suppose I don't really mind the intense feelings my little Pisces mind conjures up. I am genuinely thrilled to be able to share in my friends' exciting adventures and accomplishments when they are overjoyed. And, though usually, it's not an easy thing to do, sharing the tears and disappointments matters just as much. Maybe more? I guess it's just my way of trying to reach my own equilibrium with the universe.

*Disclaimer: I never actually watched Quantum Leap because it came on at the same time as Lois and Clark. And I think we all know which show won my loyalty...

Ok, you caught me

2008-04-17T14:10:00.002-04:00

Yes, that's right, I didn't just type that last entry today. I wrote it about 2 weeks ago, and just never posted it. I get a little bit of blog entry posting anxiety thinking it won't be good enough. Time to slay those vampires and get back into the groove, as many things have happened since my last (real) posting from Houston.

#1 Yes, the rumors are true. I totally quit my job last week. After many agonizing hours of conversations (not for me, but the people who had to listen to me), it became clear to me that touring in the UK just wasn't a great fit for me. Additionally, it was causing me to stray pretty far from the flashy, sparkly, song and dance musicals I want to be working on. So, that's that story. I'm amazed at all the time I have now. Not just during the day, but evenings and weekends free? It's like a dream! So many, many, many thanks to the people who helped me through that entire process and for putting up with my need to talk through every single scenario that might play out.

#2 I bought a new computer! omg. It's so cute. I'm completely in love with it. And...it's a Mac. Yes, I surely went into the Apple store, and was like, "um, I want one because all my friends have one!" Thankfully, my sister was with me, so she had many more intelligent questions, while I was like, "ooooh! pretty!" So anyway, "Mac" my new MacBook Pro has been keeping me very happy with all my new found free time. And, yes, it's very shiny and new!

#3 [title of show] is going to Broadway! Though this doesn't really have much to do with me, I am so very happy for them, and I can't wait to see the gang again on the big Broadway stage. Not that I'd mind being their assistant company manager. Anyone??

That might be enough for the list of things going on with me. I'm currently meeting with any company manager who will see me in the hopes of getting something going soon. So, think good thoughts about that.

Besides that, I'm just loving relaxing a little bit and getting reacquainted with TiVo. I saw Sunday in the Park with George and Cry-Baby since I've been back. I'm still hoping to see Curtains before it closes, and am I the only person on the planet who hasn't seen Spring Awakening yet? It might be true, and after watching the B-roll on loop for two weeks while I would walk through the lobby of the Hobby Center, I must say I'm intrigued.

Must go get my laundry, then I have to run into the office for a few minutes to print the Amex check and make a phone call or two. Hope you're all enjoying this lovely weather we're having today!

Right to the very heart of it!

2008-03-29T10:00:00.003-04:00

I have been chastised by at LEAST three people for not updating my blog more than once since I arrived back the the US of A. So, to you three people...seriously, get a life. No just kidding, you know nothing gives me more pleasure than to have people paying attention to me!

I'm back in New York for a blissful three weeks before conquering the United Kingdom again. Life at the office has been nice. I love my desk, and I love my coworkers, so that has been a welcome relief! We even escapd our NYS Department of Labor audit virtually unscathed. Not too bad! Next week is just more time cleaning up the books, and then, just maybe, I will have a week off!! I can't even imagine what I will do with that, but I'm sure it will include spending time pouring through the Theatrical Index for employment opportunites for when I return in July.

Also this week for the first time, I hired an accountant and now feel officially old. It's not that I think I can't do them myself still, but for the love, there's like 13 states in there, and I just can't be bothered with all that work myself. I keep telling myself it will be an excellent investment for NEXT year, when my taxes will be a total mess.

For now, I'm off to the outlet mall. With the UK not taking any taxes out of my paycheck, I feel like I have money to burn! I know, I know, the will surely take their tax money when I file next year, but as for right now...I need new shoes! Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday morning.

Home Sweet Home

2008-03-13T11:06:00.004-04:00

Oh for the love of all that is holy, it is wonderful to be back in Texas! I can't say it enough. Every morning I've woken up here at some horrifically early hour has brought a smile to my face just to remember that my comfy hotel bed is right here in Houston. It seriously makes me a happy person.

On Tuesday during the load in, I got up with the crew at 5:30, helped Jenna lug over the 7 wardrobe suitcases, made my last airport pickup of the week, then headed back to the theatre. It rained here all day on Monday, and was overcast Tuesday, so when I was finally ready to go outside after arriving here and getting all set up, I paused at the stage door, and asked Bryan, "Do you think the sun is shining outside?" Then we opened the door, and it was like I was in heaven! The sun was shining BRILLIANTLY and there was an amazing blue sky. It was the perfect Texas spring day. I can't tell you the last time I saw the sun like that, but it's been about forever!.

Life on the Pack continues to throw it's challenges at me. We had some sort of crazy sound thing on opening night that led to WAY too many hours of talking about EQ levels and compressors and the like. I mean, what? I was a marketing major for the love, remember that, pretty pictures, catchy slogans? I'm pretty sure the science of sound has something to do with physics, which I only passed because one of the guys in my class had a crush on my lab partner. He was brilliant, and we were hopeless, and I ended up with a B. I can tell you, it wasn't from my vast knowledge of sound design, that's for sure. In any case, last night's performance was about 14,000 times better, so here's hoping that my sound technician days are over.

I tried unsuccessfully to do my payroll up on the roof of the hotel this morning. It seems to be such a shame that I have all this sun and no time to spend in it. Unfortunately, it was windy as heck, so that last about 15 seconds before I was afraid my checks would go blowing off the edge of the 23 floor building!

Someone noticed my Aggie ring today. Whoop!

I started this entry a week ago, so I'm finally posting it and will start a new one momentarily.

Where does he get those wonderful toys?

2008-03-04T19:35:00.006-05:00

Also, I'd like to mention that the other day one of my friends mentioned THIS contraption, and now I am completely obsessed with owning one. Is there anyone out there that is more tech-dorky than I am (um, it is possible). The thought of sitting in my hotel room while being able to watch a million episodes of 30 Rock and Psych makes me happier than anyone in the world. I mean, it was just fine when the writers' strike was going, and I was like, "Peace Out America! There will be NO tv made while I'm here in the UK!" But of course, just to spite me, the strike totes ended and Tina Fey is back at work making tv that makes me hate being overseas. And you know how you can go online to nbc.com or abc.com and catch up on everything you missed for free! Yeah, you can't do that here. Stupid copyright law. I mean, thanks to Em and Nick's super awesome iTunes gift, I'll be able to keep up on my 30 Rock and Office episode, but if I had this Slingbox thing, my life would be totally complete. Those of you who understand my relationship with TiVo know that it's a very special thing. Now, Emily has been taking care of TiVo assuring him that I didn't leave him for someone younger or HDTV-compatible, but if I could sling all my TiVo shows to my pc here in Random City, England. I think he might forgive me for the neglect. Anyway, I just needed that to be said. Back to your lives, and I'm going back to Scrubs. See, I love that I can watch that down here in the lobby, but with this fancy new addition to my life, I can watch it instead of doing petty cash receipts. Amazing!

America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship.

2008-03-04T18:22:00.008-05:00

This morning saw my day begin at the ungodly hour of 5:15am. Now, for normal people, that is a horrid time of day. (Well, except for Emily, because she keeps it really at that time of day to get up to the Bronx), but for theatre people, it's hard to believe that that time of day even exists. But alas, it does. I headed up to London this morning to ensure that my final three girls got their visas for our trip to Houston (IN 4 DAYS!). I got into town about 7:45am, but they had totes already entered our hallowed halls of the the US Embassy. So I headed to the OTHER US staple of Starbucks to wait for them to be finished with my latte and my 100 pages I have left of The Other Boleyn Girl. I mean, I obviously know how the books ends, but since it's been a while since 9th grade World History, I'm looking forward to the end of it. After making sure the girls passed their interviews with passing colors, I headed to Regents Street for some shopping, but alas, my bag carrying all my accouterments for work surely weighed in around 20 pounds totally impeded my progress. Also my determination not to buy a shirt from the Gap for like $75. What is wrong with this country?! It's just the Gap for the love. I stopped by the world famous Topshop. Is that only famous because I love Bridget Jones so much? Perhaps. Anyway. They had really cute pjs, which we all know I love to buy, but for real, $70?! Are you kidding me? Yikes. So, needless to say, I headed out of London not having bought anything and settled back in Tonbridge for a petite nap and frantic two hours of emailing.

I'd like to mention two things that are v. important.

*I walked almost 6 miles today! That's impressive! How do I know that? My new pink cell phone counts my miles walked! What! It's amazing. I love it! It makes me feel very athletic.

*I saw "Sam" from Love Actually at the Embassy this morning. This is mainly for my cousin Susan, who might die at this revelation. For those of you who don't spend your lifetimes pining away for British romantic comedies, here's a photo:Seriously, it might be one of my favorite celebrity sightings ever. Everyone needs an American visa to work! I wanted to go up to him and ask him to recreated the "All I Need For Christmas is You" bit from the film, but being the totally cool New Yorker that I am, I just walked by and barely acknowledged his existence. London is fancy!

Royal Tunbridge Wells is a very lovely town, and if it wasn't the fact that everything here costs about 3 times as much as it does back home, I would have spent a lot of money. The exchange rate is serving as my daily budget reminder. What fun is that? All I can say is that I will be spending copious amounts of money in Houston to make up for it. Of course, my luggage already weighs about 900 pounds, so maybe I just should wait until I'm home. For all you New Yorkers reading this (are there any of you out there?), I'll be home from March 24 to April 13. That's a lot of time for you to hang out with me. I'm just saying, adjust your calendars now. Why am I always in the mood to buy new things? I think it's my friends who influence that behavior. I'm just saying...

For those of you wondering, my bday passed without much todo (todo? ado?). I'm waiting until Houston to celebrate properly (read American style). Are you noticing a trend? I've obviously made Houston out to be the end all of touring dates. It will be. I totally know it. Thanks for all your facebook messages and emails. They made me quite happy out here in Tonbridge. I finally booked my flight today, so I can't wait to see my Northwest WorldPerks miles grow. Those of you who understand this obsession (ahem, Bryan) know that moving up to the next level in hotel or air points is about the best thing ever!

There's not much more to type I suppose. Bryan and I are hanging out in the hotel pub which is wonderfully open ever so late. We like to alternate between Family Guy and random British sitcoms. It's a brilliant existence. As long as I have trashy American tv and beer, it looks like I can adjust to British life. Oh wait, as long as I have those things, and the hope of leaving for America in four days, it looks like I can adjust to anything.

Peace out from Tonbridge, Kent, UK. I hope you are all enjoying this first week of March.

Ease on down, ease on down the road

2008-03-01T22:44:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine is dealing with the difficult illness of a parent as I type this. If she’s reading this, I’m pretty sure she’d want me to be my normal hysterical self, and to that I say, no worries, because I’m nothing but irreverent when necessary, but oh, my friend, you do have a rough road ahead of you. I know you will resurface on the other side stronger and having discovered things about yourself and your spirit that you didn’t know lived within you. And if nothing else, a collection of shot glasses, should you heed my mother’s advice. I love you a lot, and I sincerely wish I could be there to help you through, but until then, this blog shout out will have to suffice.

I suppose that has me thinking about when I lost my dad. It’s still a pretty surreal experience, losing a parent. I know there are a lot of things in my life I probably wouldn’t have tried if I hadn’t adopted a sort of “Rent”-esque “No day but today” attitude following that event in my life. So, though, I don’t define myself by the fact that I lost my dad at age 20, it surely shaped the person I’ve become. It’s in those sort of moments that you have to believe there’s a greater power than yourself making sure you’re guided to your place in the world. I mean, seriously, without the journey I’ve taken, who’d be sitting here with the Rat Pack? Surely not someone as fantastic(k) as me.

Thus ends the serious, thought provoking part of my entry. I now return to my aimless ramblings that you all know and love. Do you like how I address my “audience” in my blog? I like to think that as you read that last line, you’re all sitting there nodding your head thinking, “Ah, yes. I do know and love that about Susan.” And I gather a lot of comfort thinking of you, dear reader, sitting in Arlington or Astoria or San Diego or Chicago (look at my nationwide appeal!) drinking your Starbucks (which also happens to remind you of me) and being thoroughly entertained. It’s a brilliant thought to me here on this chilly Coventry night, when I should be packing, but am instead writing a truly self-serving blog. Good thing I wrote all that serious stuff above, so that you all don’t think my blog reading audience of about 7 has made my head too big. But then again, it’s 3:28am on the morning of my 29th birthday, so I think I can write just about whatever I want. Also, because you know I still have about 40 pounds of luggage to pack and then figure out how logistically possible it will be to get on two trains, two taxis, one subway, and I’m sure at least 8 flights of narrow stairs to my next destination in Tonbridge without throwing out my back or being deported for cursing the British too loudly. This life is ridic.

I like the fact that BBC thinks after The Wiz, which I did enjoy, they can just show screenshots of “Next Week’s Highlights” to disco music. I mean, and I really supposed to sit here and read through all of this stuff on tv? If I wanted to read, I would pick up one of the 47 books on my bedside table (see the 40 pounds of luggage comment above). I mean, that is some lazy programming Brits! I mean, would it kill you to put on a marathon of The Office? Or maybe The Wedding Planner or that movie with Matthew Perry and Selma Hayek that’s always playing on TBS? Seriously.

The countdown to Houston has commenced in full swing. I posted everyone’s flight details (well, everyone but me since I’m still totes undecided about my return date to the UK). And I keep reminding people about the weather there. And the rodeo. Ye-haw! I remember the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from back in the 80s, when for some reason, Dad would drag us all there to look at cows and whatever. Then we would head over to the Astrodome to watch whatever act was playing. I remember seeing Patti LaBelle and Alabama. Both of which my dad hated for being too loud. I’m not sure what would have made him happy, but I imagine the canon blasts at the end of the 1812 Overture would have been just about right, volume wise that is.

This entry doesn’t really have a lot to do with my trip, so I suppose I should write something down about it. Coventry was a city destroyed during WWII, and I don’t think it’s ever quite recovered. I did mange to get out on Tuesday and see Warwick Castle, which escaped the bombing, and the dragons, apparently, and is one of the best kept castles in the UK. As well it should be by the like $35 I paid to get in. Yikes. It was very pretty though. I took some lovely photos, which naturally you can find here... Besides that, I didn’t get out much, as I spent the better part of my week chasing down 2 weeks worth of petty cash. Oh platinum Amex card how I miss you and your magical problem-solving ways. We had a sold-out show tonight, which was nice, and then an uneventful load-out, which ended in the normal way of me racing to finish all my reports, and my crew leaving me behind to be nearly locked in the theatre for the third week in a row. Ugh. Whatever. It’s almost time to go to Houston. I love it.

Okay, I suppose I should quit writing this and go to bed/finish packing. Hope this finds all of you ready to celebrate my birthday. I’m sure it does.

Travel days wear me out!

2008-02-24T16:30:00.002-05:00

Happy Sunday from Coventry, England! A big shout-out to my Fantasticks peeps on a great run. It is closing night over at the Snapple Theatre on 50th and Broadway.

Today Michael and I packed up our lives in Wimbledon and carted it across two trains here to Coventry. Let me tell you, it is highly unfair to take the two Americans who are here for 6 months with no opportunity to go home and swap out clothes, and then make them take public transportation to the train station. Oh. My. God. I thought we might die. At one point, I turned around on one of the London Underground’ famous 4 mile long escalators and saw one of his suitcases tumbling down the escalator steps, while Michael tried to run the reverse way after it. Thankfully, it just kept rolling of the stairs in place, so he was able to catch up to it. Ugh! This part of my world travels will get old very fast. When we get to Houston, I’m going to be SO HAPPY! Touring US style still has it’s dramas, but at least I have someone to load my f’ing luggage onto the bus! Word. Anyway, apart from that, the journey was uneventful. The office booked us a 1st Class train ticket. Fancy! That meant free Coca for me, which I think you all know is the way to my heart. I arrived at my “digs” around 3pm. It’s a lot like being in France I’ve decided. Just staying at random people’s houses. What am I doing? Anyway, thankfully Lucy gets in tomorrow, and then I won’t feel so awkward! I went out for a walk today and found a movie theatre (and an Ikea!), so I saw “Definitely, Maybe.” It was cute I suppose. A nice distraction from being on my own in England’s very own bombing site during WWII. The movie ends with a shot from Brooklyn looking over Manhattan, and it was the first time that I actually teared up thinking., “oh! That’s home!” Interesting. Other than that, I am now a FreeCell world champion. I seriously dare any of you to challenge me. I will totally beat you. So much time without Internet connections in this country has honed my FreeCell skills quite nicely. I’m also reading “The Other Boleyn Girl,” which has been interesting so far. I’m debating whether or not to put in a few episodes of “Arrested Development.” I should probably just go to bed.

I’m also offering 1 shiny British pound for anyone who will hop on a plane and work the horrid kink out of my left shoulder caused by trying to drag my 65 pound suitcase through London’s Euston Station. Ugh. Seriously, by the time you get here, that could be worth like $.45! A great deal I think.

Um, let’s see, what else. For those of you following my sound crew hiring drama, it finally come to a resolution, and I have done my very first hiring! Can I just say that after the hours I spent running 14 million scenarios and breakdowns by schedule and dollars and pounds and whatever, at the end of the day, Rod was like, “well, ok, let’s go with what you suggest, I trust your opinion.” Which, though nice to hear, would have been much NICER to hear 3 weeks ago when I started this project. Never mind though, in the end, I got my way, and that’s the most important part, right? Right.

Alright, time to turn out the lights here in Coventry. Load-in days stress me out so much now because I'm in charge of a lot of random things I don't have to do in the States, and we all know how much I like change...

"But there's no place like London..."

2008-02-20T06:30:00.007-05:00

Well, not quite as up-to-date as I was hoping to be, so let's remedy that, shall we? When I last left left you, I was Rat Packing it in Dartford. Not quite the bustling theatrical centre of the UK world, but the people were nice and I suppose it was a good place to get started. It's hard for me to get used to a Saturday load-out, as I've been programed with a Tues-Sun playing schedule and a Monday traveling day, but here, it's all moved up a day, so we play Mon-Sat and travel on Sunday.

Saturday night found me at the venue fighting over the merch statement for hours. Nice to see somethings never change! A simple mathematical error on the venue's behalf was at fault. And being the dorky accountant I tend to be at times, I felt so triumphant for finding it! Of course, it did cause me almost to be locked in the theatre. My office was quite a way down the hallway from the stage, and unbeknownst to me, the load-out had finished and they were locking all the doors, when I ran out in the hallway and was like, "Wait! I'm still here!" Whoops. It was a miracle that I managed to get everything crammed into my computer bag and get out the door without forgetting something! I ran into my head electrician on my way out, and he had two of the crew guys walk me to a cab place so I got home safely. Well done.

Sunday morning, Michael and I (we're Americans, so we travel together) got the train to London. And the two of us and our luggage managed to make it through 3 train/tube stations with all our crap and found a taxi to take us from the Wimbledon Park station to our hotel here in Colliers Wood. As we got out of the cab and began walking to the front of the hotel, we both exclaimed "WHAT!" as we had both seen the tube stop DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET from the hotel. When we asked at the check in which line it was, it was of course the Northern Line which was the first of our three transfers. Ugh! Oh well, live and learn! I unpacked and sorted my 1150 pounds of laundry while watching Smallville (yay!) I didn't unpack in the last two places, but I feel very dishelved when I don't so, as much as I hate packing up on the last night, it makes it worth it to feel a little more at home with my suitcases out of my sight! Around 3:30, I headed into London proper for some sightseeing with Becky (my stage manager for my last 7 weeks of US Rat Packing) I met her at the Embankment tube station, where there was, much to me pleasure, a Starbucks! While I was sitting in there waiting for her, I was thinking, "oh my God! I'm in LONDON!" Very cool! We walked all over the West End and shopping districts. I bought a pair of socks because I'm the most boring person in the world. Also, because the ones I had on kept slipping off my heel, and my lovely Uggs were attacking my left ankle. We crossed the Thames by Royal Albert Hall and the National Theatre for dinner, then headed up the Oxo tower for a drink. It was lame, so then we walked over to a proper pub to enjoy the rest of the night. It was great fun! Very nice to be in some familiar company and see beaucoup de fancy theatre places. I headed home and settled in for the night.

Monday we loaded in at the Wimbledon New Theatre. It was quite uneventful, which was loverly. The show went off without a hitch, and we gathered at the pub across the street to bid farewell to Maria who has been so graciously training me this past 2 weeks. Unlike Dartford, and much to my happiness, this pub doesn't close at 11, but a blissful 12, so I can finish up all my reporting and still make it out to have a drink with the crew and band.

Yesterday was my first day on my own, and I think it went alright. Company management is such a weird little career. You have a certain set of things that must get done, but everyone who does it has their own way of getting there. I always think it's difficult when you get too many cm's together as we tend to be quite an group of bossy, independent people who all think their way is the best! And though I don't really consider my way to be the best, and SURELY know that I have a lot more to learn about implementing policies and such, I like my space to be my own, so once I walked into the office yesterday, I felt much better. Also helping this was the voice of my favorite Scottish wig mistress Morag who was in to help sort out the wigs for the girls I was so happy to see her I almost cried! Morag toured with us for all but 3 weeks in the US and she's really one of the most fantastic people I've met on this show. We chatted and hung out while she dressed all the wigs, and then I went out and finally bought my own UK cell phone. So, now I have 3 phones on me. I'm a total nerd for real now. But this phone is pretty and pink, and if any of you reading this walked into a cell phone store and had to pick out a cell phone for me, I seriously believe you would all chose this one. It's just perfect for me. I suppose I spent way too many pounds on it, but whatever. I did more Houston planning last night getting the visa applications ready for the girls and correcting the new program and getting all my flights to Houston sorted. I think we're finally working with a full crew, which is fantastic! We still have 2.5 weeks, so we're totes ahead of the game. I met up with Mitch (our director) and Jo (our resident director) and the cast, crew, and band at the pub last night. It was fun when everyone was out!! When we head out of London next week, there will probably be more nights like that since everyone won't be rushing to catch a train. Then I headed home, and was blindsided by the worst headache I've had in quite sometime. I tried to sleep, but couldn't, so just worked on box office statements and random Excel spreadsheets. Say what you will, Excel makes me a happier person.

Today, I've been taking full advantage of the internet at the hotel that I sold my soul for. At the theatre I'm using DIAL UP! Do you guys even remember that? Every time I log on, I fully expect to hear Tom Hanks narrating on the wonders of New York in the fall. Anyone, anyone? It's been nice having the high speed, but it's probably about that time to head over to Wimbledon. Much love from London!

They want me to use a modem?!

2008-02-11T14:47:00.004-05:00

Oh thank the lord we are back in an English speaking country! We wrapped the show last night, celebrated with a few pints in our chosen pub for the week (located just around the corner from our stage door), then headed back to the hostel for the last time to pack up the suitcases. We met the coach this morning and started on our journey to Berlin Tegel airport. We managed to finally get all 14 of the wardrobe cases checked on-board (a new Rat Pack record we believe!) and hit the friendly skies for the United Kingdom! Upon landing in jolly ol' England, I could almost cry I was so happy to see all signage in words I understood. Maria got Michael and I sorted in our journey which included the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station, then a cab to Charring Cross Station, then a train to Dartford. Those places all sound British! Due to someone running around on the tracks, we were stuck at the Heathrow Express Station for about an hour, totally ruining Michael and my plans to see Billy Elliot at night. Bummer. Anyway, once we got to Dartford, we took a cab to our hotels, and then I spent hours and hours both online and watching lots of trashy American television! How much do we love that The Family Guy is on every night here? So much. No worries to any Brits that may be reading along, I also watched Eastenders...

The load in/opening night went very smoothly here. The venue is much smaller than I'm used to back home, but it works very well for this show. I'm happy to have my crew/band back. It's nice to have some familiar faces to get me through the crazy start of this tour. When all was said and done, I took my extra heavy suitcase outside, and could not even seen my hand in front of my face for all the crazy British fog. I just prayed I was going in the right direction, and managed to find a cab. Thank goodness.

Wednesday morning found Maria and me on a train to London to meet all the people behind the email addresses at Flying Music, my new direct employer. They have a very nice office in very posh West London (Robbie Williams used to live around the corner!) It was nice having faces to put with the names I email a million times a day. I didn't get to see much of London still, but had a nice sandwich for lunch. We drove back to Dartford from London (which Tony told me would take about 45 minutes), close to 2 hours later, we arrived at the theatre. No harm done though, Chris was ready to go even though we had his suit in the trunk of the car! What's that you say, Chris? YES! Chris Mann, my original Frank Sinatra joined us for the show Wednesday night! It was so nice to see and hear him! (He even asked how you guys were Mom and Emily!) I hope our paths will cross again so I will have more of a chance to catch up with him.

This morning, I slept FOREVER and then came in for the matinee (which I totally thought started at 2, but it was really 2:30. Oh yes, I'm in charge of this show...) So I had some extra time and spent that doing office supply shopping. My favorite company manager pastime. Dartford left much to be desired in that area though, so I'm hoping next week in Wimbledon will prove to be a little better. The shows went off without a hitch, and now here I am! I spent most of the day working on Houston travel and info (wheeeeee!) and fixing things in my US books. You all know I love to overlap jobs! Though I still feel I have so much work to do on them, I am hoping the end is in sight!

Well, the show has come down, so it's time for me to write the show report. How strange is that? This job is much more stage management than it is in the US.

My random British news of the day: Last night, I watched a tv show about a girl who would only eat burnt sausage, mashed potatoes, baked beans, and French fries. WHAT?

Love to you all from lovely Kent.

Ist dieses ein Ethernet Kabel?

2008-02-10T20:30:00.001-05:00

Well, I keep thinking I'm going to blog daily from here in lovely Berlin, but as my hotel (please read as hostel) charges more for the internet than it does for my room, so I'm only able to get online from the theatre. In any case, I've had quite a few things happen that I thought, "I can write about this!" so here is my attempt to recap my week in Berlin, also known as the on-the-job training I should have gotten a year-and-a-half ago!

I suppose I should begin my recap with our week in Birmingham, which went by in quite a blur. We played a bit of "are we going/aren't we going" for the 2 weeks prior, so getting everyone on plans and things was put on high speed for the entire week leading up. On the Sunday morning before I headed down to AL, my mom called to tell Em and I that our grandmother had passed away. This news, though not entirely unexpected, was still incredibly upsetting, especially as I was facing being out on the road throughout all the services in Green Bay. But thanks to a worldful of support by everyone in on or around my show, I was able to join my family in GB for a quick trip. Being surrounded by that much love and family (and whiskey) is always a wonderful comfort. I'm proud to say Sus and I made it through our readings without too many tears shed!

Needless to say, that sort of knocked me off my company manager game, so I thank my stage manager and wardrobe assistant for helping me through the rest of the week. Before I knew it, I was on a plane bound for Berlin!

I arrived in Berlin on Tuesday afternoon, exhausted, but no worse for the wear. Thankfully, Maria, the CM I am replacing, was there to meet me at the airport and take me to the hotel, where I promptly fell asleep on the couch watching "I Love New York" on MTV Europe. Listen, when your English choices are so limited, you'll watch anything!

I braved the U-Bahn to the theatre later that evening, and when I came up the steps at Ernst-Reuter-Platz, there was a shining beacon of that wonderful American commercialism that everyone loves to hate. Ah yes, a Starbucks, bringing the biggest smile to my face since I had left the US. Here's what I love about Starbucks, I'm pretty sure it's only there to appease the American tourists to Berlin. When you walk in, the entire menu looks the exact same as it does at home. That is to say, it's all in English! Amazing! I tried my very best German to order a venti latte, only to be told halfway through that, "it's okay, we all speak English here!" Oh yes, you are sorely mistaken if you don't think this guy is my new favorite person in all of Europe! The show here is not much different than the show I've grown to love in the US. A few different songs, but for the most part, the same. We don't have a feed here in the CM office, and I was too busy most of the week learning things that would have been REALLY handy back when I first took this job, but whatever.

I did find it quite amazing though for without the theatre part of this job, it quite bleak. I basically had quite limited interaction with the show itself until Saturday afternoon when I shadowed the SM just to get a take on things. Immediately, even with this silly show, I perked up and felt a million times better. I was able to stop feeling homesick and jet-lagged and isolated and was able to look from the wings and think, "I can't believe I'm standing backstage in a theatre in BERLIN working in theatre!" And as I've said before a million times, if that thought can't sustain you through the worst parts of this job, it's quite likely you're in the wrong career.

In any case, Friday I did venture out to Potsdamer Platz to see how it had changed since my last visit there 8 years ago. The most welcoming part of coming off the U-Bahn stop was a pair of familiar eyes:

Oh my Blue Man! I walked around a bit taking in a little of the Berlin Film Festival (sadly, no George Clooney) and bought a book to read. Then headed over to the theatre. Good times.

So now, it's time to pack up the show and end the European tour here. I officially take over as CM tomorrow when we arrive in the UK. Good times. Here's hoping my tv has more than CNN, or I might lose my mind. I will say this for the CNN International Edition. The other night, around 2:30am (stupid never-ending jet lag), the announcer person was like, “Up next on CNN, The Daily Show World Edition.” I said to myself, “Wouldn’t it be great if it really WAS The Daily Show and not some lame CNN world wrap-up?!” And the next thing I heard on my tv was the blissful sound of Jon Stewart speaking directly to me. It really WAS The Daily Show – World Edition! Oh Jon Stewart, you make my life so much better!

More reports from Jolly Old England soon!

Last year in review pt. 2

2008-02-07T12:21:00.001-05:00

Ah yes, where did I leave off? I believe it was the end of my 1st tour, so that would land us in June. Though it brought the end of the Rat Pack, it brought the beginning of my working with Sweeney Todd and The Fantasticks, which were both crazy, but fun. I felt fancy being involved with both. I mean, I kid about The Fantasticks a lot, but it really is a sweet show, and the people there were fun to work with. It was just amazing to be anywhere near involved with Sweeney Todd. Yes, booking travel and writing checks isn't the most glamorous part of the business, but I still got to see a final run through sitting two seats away from Stephen Sondheim. FANCY.

So, let's just assume I spent a majority of my hours at the office this past summer and leave it at that.

On to the FUN stuff! My sister moved to NYC in July, which meant new fancy apartment! I finally accepted that life off the island of Manhattan wouldn't be so bad and made the big leap over the East River into Astoria. No longer squished in my wonderful but teeny Upper East Side apartment, our new apartment in Astoria has 2 real bedrooms, CLOSETS, laundry in the basement, and a back porch that we'll eventually be able to use. Brilliant. Emily furnished all the important things like furniture, plates, towels, shower curtains, silverware, napkin rings, etc. and I bought new tv. That sounds about right, doesn't it? At first my mom was worries that with Em supplying all the homey things, I might not feel like I was at home. That is, until she came to visit for Christmas and saw the shiny toast, the fancy microwave, my beloved HDTV, and TiVo. Then was was quick to recant that thought, stating it was very evident that I indeed had made myself at home in the ways that are important to me! Pics of the new place are here...it's been a process while Emily arranges all our furniture, but it sure makes my world a wonderful place when I come back from tour. Maybe I'll have Em take some pics of how it looks now, just so my Aunt Tori isn't reading this worried that it still looks barren. To this I say, no worries, Tori, I live with Emily now!

August saw the first of two fantastic family weddings. My cousin David was married to Meredith at a lovely ceremony in Green Bay. Complete with fantastic band and a firework display, and mini hamburgers when we left the reception! We all love Meredith! It was so nice saying goodbye knowing that we would all be together again in a short month! It should also be noted that very shortly after this wedding, my cousin Kristin welcomed baby #4 to the Cafferty clan. Here's a pic of baby Bridget. Seriously, she's even cuter than this!

In September, we reconvened in beautiful Door County, WI to celebrate the marriage of David's brother, Richard to Jamie. We are all so happy to welcome another fantastic girl to the mix! Richard and Jamie's wedding was complete with a Packers groom's cake and wonderful outside dance floor. Not to mention all the great shopping we were able to do! Fantastic!

The show's coming down now, and so I will post this now and leave my Rat Pack Tour adventures for another post!

First, an Overview pt. 1

2008-02-06T22:46:00.001-05:00

Well, since I've gone ahead and gone through all the trouble of setting up a new blog, I feel I should give all you new readers (that is, those of you who aren't my mom) a little look into my 2007 before I begin this crazy journey.

A month-by-month recap should do the trick:

January

Places traveled: Chicago, IL; Green Bay, WI; DePere, WI; Racine, WI

2007 started off with an unbeatable deal on the newly routed NY/Chicago leg on Jet Blue, so I attempted to visit every relative I was able to. This included-1 grandmother, 2 aunts, 3 uncles, 8 cousins, 6 cousins-in law, and 9 second cousins. Not too bad for a 4 day trip. This also included my first lighthouse-free visit to downtown Chicago. Those of you not familiar with my father should know that EVERY time we were promised a trip to downtown Chicago and the Navy Pier, we would ultimately end up in Evanston, IL at the Grosse Point Lighthouse. SO not the same as Navy Pier. It was a busy, but wonderful trip. Should you be so curious, more pictures are posted here.

February

Places traveled: Nashville, TN; Minneapolis, MN

My Rat Packers reconvened for the second half of their first US Tour in lovely Nashville, TN. No one turned away from entry into the US, bars and live music on every corner, SONIC? All was right in the world of the Pack. The entire week we were in Nashville, the Minneapolis area was suffering through negative blizzard conditions. I wasn't too sure how my Brits would handle it, but in a unusual twist of fate, the sun came out just in time for our arrival bringing the temperature up to a balmy 16. With an aptly named "Brit's Pub" practically connected to our hotel, I knew we'd found a kindred spirit in Minneapolis. This city gave me a chance to escape as it is the hometown of my cousin Mark, who the day after I arrived, proposed to his adorable girlfriend Katherine! I had a great time spending the week celebrating with them and my aunt and uncle also joined us for a long weekend. Definitely two of the better weeks I had spent on tour. Look, more pics.

March

Places traveled: New Haven, CT; Newark, NJ

Yeah, not my favorite places on tour. It was hard explaining to my Brits that Newark really just has the airport, and that's all. I have random pics from New Haven here. I neglected to take any pictures of Newark, save for the one on the billboard en route to the theatre that said "Stop the Killings." Ridic. I of course feel the need to post that picture as my sole memory of Newark...

April

Places traveled: Grand Rapids, MI; Hershey, PA

These two week sort of went by in a blur. We were met with a late season blizzard in Grand Rapids. Some of my company decided to take a road trip out to Grand Haven, MI to check out Lake Michigan, which was very impressive to them. It was fun to see the other side of the "Lake Michigan Circle Tour" that I always see signs for when driving around Wisconsin. As always, photos here.

From lovely Michigan, we headed off to Hershey/Harrisburg, PA. For those of you who have never ventured out to the land of chocolate, the rumors are true. It smells like someone is making brownies every second of the day. Not to mention that our presenters at the Hershey Theatre greeted us with a gigantic bowl of all things chocolate when we arrived. Let's all be thankful for the fact that the company management office was on the 5th floor of the theatre and the elevator was so old and creepy, I ended up walking up most of the time. We took a side trip to Amish country (conveniently located next door to Target!) I was unimpressed. Or rather, I was horrified at the thought of life sans TiVo. And of course, no trip in April would have been complete without my making a Dad-like run to the Harrisburg Post Office to mail my taxes at 11:45pm on April 16th. Even the extra day couldn't give me enough time to finish before then. Insane. Pics here...

May

Place traveled: Cleveland, OH

The last stop on the Rat Pack 07-07 tour was Cleveland, OH. Our only 2 week stop of the trip, and was that a wonderful thing in and of itself! The company was able to do all sorts of fancy things camping, Cedar Point, and Indians game. And lots of shopping. Theatres (and therefore our hotels) are most often located in downtown areas, and can be rather hit of miss on the fun factor. Thankfully, Cleveland had just about everything we needed, so it was lovely. We had great crowds as well, which was very nice. All in all, it was a great way to wrap the tour up until the fall. Of course I have more photos!

So, there you have it, the second half of my first adventure as a touring company manager. More to come in my next installment. Please leave comments as I am posting this from Berlin and am tres homesick already.