Danblog (Jan-Mar 2004)
Log Lady: My husband was a logging man... he met the devil. Fire is the
devil, hiding like a coward in the smoke.
-- "Twin Peaks"
31 Mar 2004
20 Mar 2004
I got the part of Alex in "Take Five". I must be well-suited for the
strait-laced husband character. At least, this makes three times
out of three. OK, Comicus, let the good times roll. "Ragtime", however,
has been canceled due to "lack of interest". Well, I tried. They
wanted 20-30 more people. Ah, so ambitious. They might do a musical
review they're calling "Lullaby of Broadway", which sounds like basically
a concert of show tunes. That doesn't really sound like me. So I'll
have to do it! Actually, it's more than likely that the rehearsal
schedule for "Take Five" will prove too much of a conflict and make
the decision for me.
14 Mar 2004
Now's the time for the chips to fall where they may. The
audition for "Take Five" was today. Half "The Mousetrap" cast
was there. But can I do comedy? I'm really more of a straight
man. Certainly not funny in a loud, farcical way. We shall see.
"Take Five" is a one act play, probably 45-60 minutes. Right there's
another reason to do two things. Combine that with a likely small
part in "Ragtime" (at least before yesterday) and you get one
full-sized tasty nougat.
13 Mar 2004
My plot to be in two shows at once -- perhaps to recapture
the amount of effort required back in "The Mousetrap"? or
do I just have too much time on my hands? -- may
have collapsed under its own scheduling weight. I went
to the auditions for "Ragtime" tonight. As usual I'd say
it's tough to gauge my singing from inside my head -- although
I felt a lot more comfortable with the audition song than the
one for "Cinderella". They wanted me for the callback
tomorrow, but it's at the same time as the audition for the
other show in my scheme. Not going to the callback isn't a
kiss of death -- after all, I'm still a dude and that gives
me a big advantage -- but it might lock me into the chorus. (Granted,
that could have been my spot anyway. Not that there's anything
wrong with that. You can't do a proper show without one.) Of
course, there are also
a couple other factors involved. There's the little matter of
the second part of this audition exacta working out. And
being in both was dependent on the "Ragtime" rehearsals being
limited to weekends, to avoid conflicts, which, contrary to
my previous understanding, is not the case 100%. Well, it wasn't easy
for Phil Collins to perform in both Live Aid venues. Um, perhaps
that's not the best comparison. After all, he did
play both stages. (Wouldn't it
be ironic -- wrong word -- wouldn't it be a trip if I end up
out of both? No prob, Bob. There are actually many other open
auditions this month.)
07 Mar 2004
Well, there goes another bittersweet conclusion to another show. I'd
say the best was saved for last. And we had the biggest crowd today
too. There are a lot of little girls out there and they love them some
Cinderella. I'd still like to see it for myself, though. And there were
probably 5-10 camcorders running at every show -- but no one
I know. I did get to meet a few new people that I could force my
Troubled Loners CDs on. If I'd known they'd be fighting over them,
I'd have certainly brought more. :)
28 Feb 2004
1. Night 2 and what did I tell you. Everyone was better
pleased with tonight's show. Well, at least I think so.
When you're backstage, you can't really follow what's going
on. It would be nice to see the whole show. But then, I
didn't exactly buy a ticket.
2. What's the deal with "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" anyway.
She's not one of the characters. And I'm pretty sure the
characters don't provide any clues. A few times they sing,
"Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf, Virginia Woolf," etc., but
that doesn't mean anything to me. Somebody get me an English
major, stat!
27 Feb 2004
Opening night. How did it go? Well, there's room for some
improvement. But I feel ok about it. And several people (strangers)
in the audience came up to me and seemed happy and satisfied with
their evening's entertainment. After all, we're not
appearing at a Times Square theater. And, realistically,
it could have been much worse. And consider this.
It was kind of like our dress rehearsal. Last night's scheduled
dress rehearsal didn't happen because a middle school concert
band kicked us out of the theater. Now that we've finally had
a real run-through of the show with lights and props and everything,
I expect the remaining shows to be top notch. That would be my
message to a few of the cast who seemed upset when it was over.
And I'm a pretty gloomy, negative guy. That must say something.
About something.
You should go and see for yourself. I hear that the king is great!
19 Feb 2004
One week till opening night. Now we'll have 4 rehearsals in the
actual theater. I sure would like some more. But maybe I'm
just a perfectionist at heart. Everyone with more experience
seems not to be concerned, so on with the lights, this is it.
Here's the poster. It looks as if I have no scanning skills.
Perhaps I just need to clean the glass, or something.
13 Feb 2004
Wow, only two weeks till "Cinderella"!
Last weekend we had a party for the parent's 40th anniversary. There
was a little talent show segment, which -- even with all the kids and
grandkids we've got -- only promised to have participation from 3 of us.
Turned out there were a couple more with plans to participate that
I wasn't aware of. But that's still a pretty small subset.
After weeks of preparation on my
part, with daily practices, I still screwed it up. Not, like, royally
or anything. But still. I did my accordion songs. And I did my guitar
song with my sister on flute. And some more totally unrehearsed guitar
songs with my brother singing. Was there alcohol involved? You bet!
And finally, my sister-in-law was going to do this one-act Dorothy
Parker play with my brother about a newlywed couple having a little
argument on the train to their honeymoon. They had practiced but were
still planning to read from scripts; which worked out well because my
brother didn't really
want to do it, making it easy for me to jump right in and read from the
script in his place. And that was more fun -- basically
acting out a conversation with my sister-in-law with no practice -- than
all the preceding stuff for which I'd prepared for weeks. And it got
more of a reaction from the close family (and hard-core partyers; two
kegs? why not!) who
were still there a couple hours after the dinner when we did this.
That must say something. About something.
21 Jan 2004
Hey, it's
Snooks Eaglin's
birthday. Happy 68!
Here's a little quote from a Snooks Eaglin original, "Fly Right Back Baby",
recorded around 1960 in New Orleans.
- Some day, baby, I ain't gonna bother with you no more.
- Well, some day, baby, I ain't gonna bother with you no more.
- Well, I'm a change my way of living.
- Down the road I go.
- She's a no good woman, but she like to drink all the time.
- She's a no good woman, and she like to drinks all the time.
- Well, I'm tired of the way she doing.
- She just keeps me in a worried mind.
06 Jan 2004
The "Cinderella" rehearsals started tonight. It's slightly disturbing
how enjoyable I find this. And all that we worked on was a couple whole-cast
songs. Looking around the room -- I tell you what -- it's how I imagined
community theater before I ever had anything to do with community theater,
other than using it for some self-deprecating jokes about my lifelong
performance
goals. (For example, my lifelong goal to play Danny Zuko in a community
theater production of "Grease". Or maybe substitute "Rizzo" for "Danny
Zuko" to be mega-self-deprecating.) What was it that I saw when I
looked around the room? Why, rows and rows of chicks, of course!
03 Jan 2004
How about that. I actually read some
books in the last year.
01 Jan 2004
Whoa, somebody keep me away from the shrimp. I don't know how
someone can suddenly become intolerant of some food. I used to eat
all the shrimp I could stuff in my mouth. I never had a problem with
shellfish or any kind of seafood. Then on Christmas Eve I had a bunch
of shrimp and got seriously nauseated. No one else was affected, so
maybe it wasn't bad shrimp; maybe it was just a freak thing. That
was my theory, anyway. Then I had one (one!) shrimp last night. And
the same thing happened -- only worse. I was puking my guts out in
a couple hours. From one little shrimp? How can that be? But it's
the only link I can think of between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
Of course, that sorry condition didn't prevent me from cruising to
the center of the Trivial Pursuit game we had going on. :) Yes, happy
shrimp-free 2004.
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