Janet McTeer, the goddess of my theatrical idolatry, is coming back to Bway in GOD OF CARNAGE (she was in the original London company). It will be DELICIOUS to see her in something contemporary and hilarious. I'm so obsessed with her that I will probably cry like a baby anyway (I didn't wait to talk to her after MARY STUART the first time I saw it because I was crying too hard to have been able to say anything). So excited. AND Jeff Daniels is coming back, but taking the other role. I am in nerd actor Heaven!!!
The class with Sigourney and Andre De Shields was fabulous. Got some interesting feedback and an amazing hug from each of them. Sometimes I feel so fancy.
In other news, my apartment remains untidied. This is getting ridiculous.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Words, words, words...
The Agee workshop finished yesterday, and we went through all the material we've been working on. Oh, it's such a cool piece. I still have all the music looping through my head - my life is being accompanied by the low hum of an upright bass! I think if I could choose one instrument to provide the soundtrack for my life, it might be a bass, though for exuberant occasions, a trumpet would do nicely.
I got the script for DASH DEXTER, the reading I'm doing at MTC next week, and I love it. So funny, so silly, so smart. And I have a great supporting role! I can't wait to get cracking on it! I'll be working with a few people I haven't met, and a few dear friends, which is a grand combination indeed!
And TONIGHT - I'm doing the masterclass with Sigourney Weaver! Woohooooooo! Full speed ahead to fun town! The people that Jim shortlisted all got together yesterday and worked through our pieces. So much fun. I know so many talented people! HA! At The Flea, we usually get to see one another do readings and plays and such, but not often pieces of our own choosing, so this was lovely. I always find it interesting to see what speeches people pick for themselves. It was great to get the opportunity to see everyone do something classical as well, since we're always doing world premieres of very contemporary plays down there.
Well, I must be getting on with my day! The weather I'm witnessing outside my window looks horrifying. I usually have a very clear view of New Jersey (I live waaaaaay West), but through the fog and rain, they're looming, gray shapes with no real definition. I think I'll keep the errand running to a minimum this afternoon.
I got the script for DASH DEXTER, the reading I'm doing at MTC next week, and I love it. So funny, so silly, so smart. And I have a great supporting role! I can't wait to get cracking on it! I'll be working with a few people I haven't met, and a few dear friends, which is a grand combination indeed!
And TONIGHT - I'm doing the masterclass with Sigourney Weaver! Woohooooooo! Full speed ahead to fun town! The people that Jim shortlisted all got together yesterday and worked through our pieces. So much fun. I know so many talented people! HA! At The Flea, we usually get to see one another do readings and plays and such, but not often pieces of our own choosing, so this was lovely. I always find it interesting to see what speeches people pick for themselves. It was great to get the opportunity to see everyone do something classical as well, since we're always doing world premieres of very contemporary plays down there.
Well, I must be getting on with my day! The weather I'm witnessing outside my window looks horrifying. I usually have a very clear view of New Jersey (I live waaaaaay West), but through the fog and rain, they're looming, gray shapes with no real definition. I think I'll keep the errand running to a minimum this afternoon.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The Queen of the Workshops!
So many things to discuss here.
First of all, I am watching Conan's final Tonight Show appearance. I've been following the whole NBC saga with great interest. Poor Conan. It's really not his fault that his core audience gets the bulk of their media from their computers. Anyway, Tom Hanks and CoCo were a hilarious duo.
I have to get to bed soon, as I have rehearsal in the morning for the Agee workshop I mentioned in a previous post. It's winding up - just tomorrow and Sunday before they go away to gestate and develop the material. The music is SO much fun to sing, and really eerily gorgeous. Stephanie Johnstone is the name of the composer, and she is one sharp cookie. We put some more stuff together with the actors last night, and that's pretty much what we'll be doing tomorrow and Sunday as well. Woo!
So, today I found out about two things that'll be keeping me busy the first week of February! On the 2nd (a Tuesday), I'll be making my DON'T TELL MAMA'S debut, singing two songs in a set with three or four other singers. I have to pick my pieces by next week, and I'm very jazzed! I'll post more info next week. If you can't come, fret not, for in this digital age, I shall shortly thereafter be posting it to Ye Olde You Tube. Woo!
The other project is a reading of a new musical called DASH DEXTER that'll be done at MTC on the 4th. My marvelously talented friend Kris Kukul wrote the music (he was my music director on KASPAR HAUSER last year), and asked me if I'd be involved. Gordon Cox is the playwright. I don't know much else about it yet, other than that it's a comedy (hurrah!). I'm excited! Anything with Kris Kukul is a guaranteed good time.
I picked up a shift at my restaurant today, and one of the managers came over to me to tell me that we were "shopped" (meaning secret shoppers who fill out reports to turn in to corporate) on Tuesday. "Apparently," he told me, "they thought you were the manager on duty. They said a Caucasian woman with short blonde hair, about 5'8" was running the floor very efficiently and with authority," (or something like that - I've yet to read the report, and I can't remember his exact words), "and you got 100%! That's amazing. I don't think I've ever gotten 100% on a shopper's report,and I'm actually a manager!" I asked if they noticed that there didn't seem to be a host, and I guess they said that "she was also answering the phones and stayed primarily at the host stand." We both had a good laugh over that, seeing as how I am THE HOST, and was therefore doing MY HOSTESSING DUTIES, which include answering the phone and staying primarily at the host stand. Hilarious. We also thought it was funny that they calculated my height at 5'8", since I'm just under six feet. With the boots I was wearing that day, I was at least 6'1". Anyway, how delightful to know that someone took me for the Boss Lady! It's all of the Mary Stuart and other Queenly Roles that I've been working on for the past year. :) That and the fact that I always look like I know what I'm doing (I get asked for directions on the street in almost every major city I visit). Ich weiss nicht!
To bed! I must be awake to sing on the morrow! More anon!
First of all, I am watching Conan's final Tonight Show appearance. I've been following the whole NBC saga with great interest. Poor Conan. It's really not his fault that his core audience gets the bulk of their media from their computers. Anyway, Tom Hanks and CoCo were a hilarious duo.
I have to get to bed soon, as I have rehearsal in the morning for the Agee workshop I mentioned in a previous post. It's winding up - just tomorrow and Sunday before they go away to gestate and develop the material. The music is SO much fun to sing, and really eerily gorgeous. Stephanie Johnstone is the name of the composer, and she is one sharp cookie. We put some more stuff together with the actors last night, and that's pretty much what we'll be doing tomorrow and Sunday as well. Woo!
So, today I found out about two things that'll be keeping me busy the first week of February! On the 2nd (a Tuesday), I'll be making my DON'T TELL MAMA'S debut, singing two songs in a set with three or four other singers. I have to pick my pieces by next week, and I'm very jazzed! I'll post more info next week. If you can't come, fret not, for in this digital age, I shall shortly thereafter be posting it to Ye Olde You Tube. Woo!
The other project is a reading of a new musical called DASH DEXTER that'll be done at MTC on the 4th. My marvelously talented friend Kris Kukul wrote the music (he was my music director on KASPAR HAUSER last year), and asked me if I'd be involved. Gordon Cox is the playwright. I don't know much else about it yet, other than that it's a comedy (hurrah!). I'm excited! Anything with Kris Kukul is a guaranteed good time.
I picked up a shift at my restaurant today, and one of the managers came over to me to tell me that we were "shopped" (meaning secret shoppers who fill out reports to turn in to corporate) on Tuesday. "Apparently," he told me, "they thought you were the manager on duty. They said a Caucasian woman with short blonde hair, about 5'8" was running the floor very efficiently and with authority," (or something like that - I've yet to read the report, and I can't remember his exact words), "and you got 100%! That's amazing. I don't think I've ever gotten 100% on a shopper's report,and I'm actually a manager!" I asked if they noticed that there didn't seem to be a host, and I guess they said that "she was also answering the phones and stayed primarily at the host stand." We both had a good laugh over that, seeing as how I am THE HOST, and was therefore doing MY HOSTESSING DUTIES, which include answering the phone and staying primarily at the host stand. Hilarious. We also thought it was funny that they calculated my height at 5'8", since I'm just under six feet. With the boots I was wearing that day, I was at least 6'1". Anyway, how delightful to know that someone took me for the Boss Lady! It's all of the Mary Stuart and other Queenly Roles that I've been working on for the past year. :) That and the fact that I always look like I know what I'm doing (I get asked for directions on the street in almost every major city I visit). Ich weiss nicht!
To bed! I must be awake to sing on the morrow! More anon!
Monday, January 18, 2010
What Keeps Me Up Till 2am, You Ask?
A Glimpse Into the Life of an Internet Junkie
(I'm not THAT bad...)
When I open a new tab, Google Chrome kindly provides links to my most visited sites. From most visited on down, they are:
1. Google (Hey, stuff doesn't look itself up)
2. Twitter (...yep, true story)
3. Weather.com (Every blessed morning)
4. Facebook (I'm surprised Twitter beat this,actually)
5. YouTube (I like to call a lot of what I watch "research")
6. IMDB (This legitimately is research)
7. The Flea (Ye Olde Bat Cave)
8. Playbill (Keepin' up with the B'way)
Chrome automatically opens to my Gmail, which is why that one doesn't feature. That tab is always open.
There you have it. I'm a slave to social networking.
(I'm not THAT bad...)
When I open a new tab, Google Chrome kindly provides links to my most visited sites. From most visited on down, they are:
1. Google (Hey, stuff doesn't look itself up)
2. Twitter (...yep, true story)
3. Weather.com (Every blessed morning)
4. Facebook (I'm surprised Twitter beat this,actually)
5. YouTube (I like to call a lot of what I watch "research")
6. IMDB (This legitimately is research)
7. The Flea (Ye Olde Bat Cave)
8. Playbill (Keepin' up with the B'way)
Chrome automatically opens to my Gmail, which is why that one doesn't feature. That tab is always open.
There you have it. I'm a slave to social networking.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
A Haunting Offer
I am on every blessed discount ticket email list, and that's lovely! I like knowing what's happening around town. It does also mean, though, that I get email blasts for some of the creakiest things around. Newsflash, Theatermania - I don't care how deep the discount is, I only want to go see CHICAGO these days if I have a friend in it. I just don't see how something that's been running since '96/'97 or so can still have any relevance. Not the show, mind you! Just the specific production. It was directed with an audience of nearly fifteen years ago in mind. We're a very different New York than we were then. Just sayin.
Anyway, along those lines, I got an email this morning, offering me discount tickets to PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. I wanted to share the tagline, because it is too good to keep to myself:
Can't resist THAT! The savings belong to ME? Woo! Hilarious.
Anyway, along those lines, I got an email this morning, offering me discount tickets to PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. I wanted to share the tagline, because it is too good to keep to myself:
Can't resist THAT! The savings belong to ME? Woo! Hilarious.
Friday, January 15, 2010
New Things A-Cookin'
I began a new project this evening! Hurrah! I was contacted by a composer who'd been given my name by a friend and colleague (of KASPAR HAUSER and another Liz Swados project, WOMEN OF VALOR). She approached me about participating in this exploratory workshop, and the project sounded interesting (plus, I'd heard good things about the theatre company already). The subject matter is taken from James Agee's LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN. He and a photographer, Walker Evans, went down to the rural South during the late 1930s, and stayed with families of sharecroppers. The images are somehow both brutal and beautiful. They're certainly compelling, at any rate.
Anyway, I'm one of eight singers in it (holding down the Alto fort, loud and proud as ever), and tonight was our first rehearsal.
I love first rehearsals. I love walking into a room full of strangers, or with semi-strangers, and digging in immediately. The first music rehearsals. Plowing ahead, creating sound and shaping space where there was only silence and stillness before. When you get to know people through their work first, I find it's a more profound way of knowing a person than you get to experience much of the time in everyday life. Then you also get to know people backstage, and on breaks, and see their ridiculous, hilarious, performing-monkey sides. I dunno. I love creative types.
So, this is really an exploratory workshop for the playwright, composer, and director to see what it is they've got, and help them assemble it a bit. Then they'll hopefully do another workshop a bit later. The music is stunning. Well, we've only learned one piece thus far, but it manages to have a down-home, folksy feel, as well as an overall unsettling eerie quality. Well. A cello scratching as a bass line for us to sing on top of will do that. We're singing this song in a round, which goes through three times in slightly different styles, and THEN, the fourth time around, each person re-entering goes up a half step. There are four parts on this song, so you are singing as loudly as you can, plugging your ears against the person next to you who is a half-step up or down, and praying you're still in (or out of) tune. It's quite disconcerting. So. Much. Fun. I LOVE this kind of thing! The darkness of it really appeals to my sensibilities, but also just changing as we go, based on what happens when you get a bunch of people who all have crazy, imaginative brains together in the same room! Perhaps it comes of having spent so many years doing THE MUSIC MAN and CHARLEY'S AUNT (and those are wonderful, don't get me wrong, and I LOVE them...), but I find it exhilarating to be in this close to the ground floor with a piece of material. It's one of the things I've taken away from working at The Flea this past year. New work is WAY fun.
Oh, speaking of The Flea, cool news - I've been shortlisted for a masterclass a few weeks from now that is being taught by Andre DeShields and Sigourney Weaver! There are about 15 or 16 of us that were chosen from the pool of Bats (the resident acting company at The Flea is called The Bats), and we have to go in and do our pieces for Jim (Simpson, Artistic Dir). He'll pick about 4-6 people to then work in the class. Obviously, I'm hoping like CRAZY to be chosen, but I do think it's way cool to be on the shortlist! It's prime grad school audition time, so my monologues are ready to GO! Sigourney ftw!
This has been long and rambly. I hope it makes sense, and that it doesn't sound too pretentious. I'm just excitable. I'm also sleepy. Let's hope this accounts for some of it.
Anyway, I'm one of eight singers in it (holding down the Alto fort, loud and proud as ever), and tonight was our first rehearsal.
I love first rehearsals. I love walking into a room full of strangers, or with semi-strangers, and digging in immediately. The first music rehearsals. Plowing ahead, creating sound and shaping space where there was only silence and stillness before. When you get to know people through their work first, I find it's a more profound way of knowing a person than you get to experience much of the time in everyday life. Then you also get to know people backstage, and on breaks, and see their ridiculous, hilarious, performing-monkey sides. I dunno. I love creative types.
So, this is really an exploratory workshop for the playwright, composer, and director to see what it is they've got, and help them assemble it a bit. Then they'll hopefully do another workshop a bit later. The music is stunning. Well, we've only learned one piece thus far, but it manages to have a down-home, folksy feel, as well as an overall unsettling eerie quality. Well. A cello scratching as a bass line for us to sing on top of will do that. We're singing this song in a round, which goes through three times in slightly different styles, and THEN, the fourth time around, each person re-entering goes up a half step. There are four parts on this song, so you are singing as loudly as you can, plugging your ears against the person next to you who is a half-step up or down, and praying you're still in (or out of) tune. It's quite disconcerting. So. Much. Fun. I LOVE this kind of thing! The darkness of it really appeals to my sensibilities, but also just changing as we go, based on what happens when you get a bunch of people who all have crazy, imaginative brains together in the same room! Perhaps it comes of having spent so many years doing THE MUSIC MAN and CHARLEY'S AUNT (and those are wonderful, don't get me wrong, and I LOVE them...), but I find it exhilarating to be in this close to the ground floor with a piece of material. It's one of the things I've taken away from working at The Flea this past year. New work is WAY fun.
Oh, speaking of The Flea, cool news - I've been shortlisted for a masterclass a few weeks from now that is being taught by Andre DeShields and Sigourney Weaver! There are about 15 or 16 of us that were chosen from the pool of Bats (the resident acting company at The Flea is called The Bats), and we have to go in and do our pieces for Jim (Simpson, Artistic Dir). He'll pick about 4-6 people to then work in the class. Obviously, I'm hoping like CRAZY to be chosen, but I do think it's way cool to be on the shortlist! It's prime grad school audition time, so my monologues are ready to GO! Sigourney ftw!
This has been long and rambly. I hope it makes sense, and that it doesn't sound too pretentious. I'm just excitable. I'm also sleepy. Let's hope this accounts for some of it.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
My Friends are Talented!
Had such an amazing evening. I went to a concert tonight, all of music composed by my friend (and fellow BoCo '05 alum) Jon Gealt. He had a lineup of a bunch of our amazingly talented friends from school, as well as various amaaaazing singers he's come into contact with over the years. Let's just put it out there - it was very BROADWAAAAAAY! (For those of you who don't know many musical theatre people, I'm sorry, because there is such a specific voice I'm using in my head to say that, along with a ridiculously over-the-top sensibility that isn't quite as stupid as it sounds when I type it. Trust that you'd know it if you saw it. You'd have to. It makes itself known.) Anyway, listened to the concert, then hung around for an hour or so and chatted with so many wonderful old friends from college. What really struck me, too, while watching it, was the incredible support and sense of community that was in the room. Of family. Actors are a very clannish, loving bunch, and it was just so evident that everyone in the room was obsessed with how great everyone else in the room was. We were all there to cheer on Jon and our singing friends...and everyone sounded incredible. Quentin Earl Darrington? FORGET IT! He had this lyric at one point that went, "Will you marry me?" You could feel virtually everyone in the room silently mouth, "Yes, PLEASE!" I know RAGTIME just closed yesterday, but get that man back on Broadway STAT, okay? Ridiculous. So good.
Anyway, after the socializing, a bunch of us went to SPLASH, an infamous gay bar that I had somehow never made it to. Monday evenings are "Musical Mondays," where they play video clips of old musical numbers, stitched together by a DJ the way club music would be played in...oh, I dunno. A club? Anyway, as I walked in, it was Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur singing "Bosom Buddies." My friend Saum and I determined that Mame would be a good show to win a second Tony with. Then we danced over to a table. Oh, it was as gay as I'd anticipated. They played Liza, they played Dreamgirls. They played Liza, they played Dreamgirls. Then the live performances started, I listened for a bit, and then finally had to head home, happy as a clam. Such good people.
So, I have to post a few fun photos from my photo session at The Met with RL Procter. He and I shot a bunch in Central Park this past September, a few of which you'll be able to see on my website, when that goes live. The Met was a fun challenge - a lot more people wandering around than in some areas of the park. Anyway, we had a ball, and I'm sharing a few of my favorites! Hopefully you enjoy them as well!
I'm feeling happy and inspired. We love both of those things. I have a lot of friends with amazing things happening for them in 2010, and I think amazing things are going to happen for me as well. Which is exciting, exciting, exciting. Good things in 2010: The Year of Living Dangerously.
By the way, amusing side note - I realized that was a movie when I named my year after it, but, in a big ironic twist, did NOT realize at the time that it was a movie starring Sigourney Weaver. Those of you who know why this is funny know why this is funny. Let's just say that I love her, and I am encouraged, by her example, to live in a brave, bold, powerful fashion. Dangerously.
Lady Jo is off to bed now. The hair is going to get the re-platinum treatment tomorrow!
Anyway, after the socializing, a bunch of us went to SPLASH, an infamous gay bar that I had somehow never made it to. Monday evenings are "Musical Mondays," where they play video clips of old musical numbers, stitched together by a DJ the way club music would be played in...oh, I dunno. A club? Anyway, as I walked in, it was Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur singing "Bosom Buddies." My friend Saum and I determined that Mame would be a good show to win a second Tony with. Then we danced over to a table. Oh, it was as gay as I'd anticipated. They played Liza, they played Dreamgirls. They played Liza, they played Dreamgirls. Then the live performances started, I listened for a bit, and then finally had to head home, happy as a clam. Such good people.
So, I have to post a few fun photos from my photo session at The Met with RL Procter. He and I shot a bunch in Central Park this past September, a few of which you'll be able to see on my website, when that goes live. The Met was a fun challenge - a lot more people wandering around than in some areas of the park. Anyway, we had a ball, and I'm sharing a few of my favorites! Hopefully you enjoy them as well!
I'm feeling happy and inspired. We love both of those things. I have a lot of friends with amazing things happening for them in 2010, and I think amazing things are going to happen for me as well. Which is exciting, exciting, exciting. Good things in 2010: The Year of Living Dangerously.
By the way, amusing side note - I realized that was a movie when I named my year after it, but, in a big ironic twist, did NOT realize at the time that it was a movie starring Sigourney Weaver. Those of you who know why this is funny know why this is funny. Let's just say that I love her, and I am encouraged, by her example, to live in a brave, bold, powerful fashion. Dangerously.
Lady Jo is off to bed now. The hair is going to get the re-platinum treatment tomorrow!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Dreaming of the Emerald Isle
Chilly night + Old-fashioned hot water bottle = Bliss!
When I went to Ireland a couple of years ago, I stayed in this great hostel on Inis Mor (one of the islands off the coast of Galway). It was chilly in late September, so they had a bunch of hot water bottles for us to use if we wanted. I spent most of my evenings curled up in the lobby, reading mystery novels and looking out over the ocean, cuddling a "hottie" as my Kiwi friends called them. I just got one of my own this past month, and it brings back such glorious memories! The hostel I stayed in was called Manister House, incidentally, and I recommend it unreservedly. SUCH friendly staff, delicious breakfast, and a chance to really socialize with the other guests. I was going to stay two days, and got talked into staying five!
When I went to Ireland a couple of years ago, I stayed in this great hostel on Inis Mor (one of the islands off the coast of Galway). It was chilly in late September, so they had a bunch of hot water bottles for us to use if we wanted. I spent most of my evenings curled up in the lobby, reading mystery novels and looking out over the ocean, cuddling a "hottie" as my Kiwi friends called them. I just got one of my own this past month, and it brings back such glorious memories! The hostel I stayed in was called Manister House, incidentally, and I recommend it unreservedly. SUCH friendly staff, delicious breakfast, and a chance to really socialize with the other guests. I was going to stay two days, and got talked into staying five!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Strangers
Last night, my brother Aaron, his boyfriend Michael and I were riding the A home from the restaurant that they work at near South Street Seaport. We got on at Broadway Nassau, and were sitting on one of the shorter benches that only has room for three people. Mikey had just returned from his Christmas/New Year's sojourn in Northern Cali the evening before, and I hadn't seen Aaron since Christmas, so the three of us were chatting and laughing up a storm. Not about anything too special - some exciting news here and there, but mainly just our usual excited jabber. Around Canal or Spring Street, a young man who had been sitting across the aisle and a little bit over from us stood up as if to leave, and then turned to us.
"I'm so sorry," he said, "I don't want to interrupt, but I just have to say that the three of you have such beautiful spirit!"
We were a little taken aback, but said thanks.
He continued, "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, it's just that I couldn't help but be drawn in by you all. Your energy is so great. I'm working on this album, you see, and I've been doing everything I can to avoid it. And I'm sitting here on the train, trying not to think about it, and then I see the three of you...and you've really inspired me. You're like...it's like the three of you are the same person! It's really beautiful! It's like you're the same person, somehow."
"Well," I said, "They've been together for about four years, and he's my brother."
"Oh!" he said. "Well, that explains - the smile, yeah, you've got the same smile! Yeah, well, if you happen to ever see my face on an album called 'STRANGERS,' y'all will know it was you. Your spirit shines bright!"
At this point the doors opened to the West 4th St station, and he disembarked, wishing us a good night, which we wished him back.
It's strange to explain the incident like that, but especially difficult to convey just how touching it really was. I was quite moved. Those boys are two of the closest people in the world to me, and for someone else to pick up on how much we all care for one another and love being together was really special. I don't ever want to forget that.
I needed a lovely thought to end the day on, so I'm putting that out into the world.
"I'm so sorry," he said, "I don't want to interrupt, but I just have to say that the three of you have such beautiful spirit!"
We were a little taken aback, but said thanks.
He continued, "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, it's just that I couldn't help but be drawn in by you all. Your energy is so great. I'm working on this album, you see, and I've been doing everything I can to avoid it. And I'm sitting here on the train, trying not to think about it, and then I see the three of you...and you've really inspired me. You're like...it's like the three of you are the same person! It's really beautiful! It's like you're the same person, somehow."
"Well," I said, "They've been together for about four years, and he's my brother."
"Oh!" he said. "Well, that explains - the smile, yeah, you've got the same smile! Yeah, well, if you happen to ever see my face on an album called 'STRANGERS,' y'all will know it was you. Your spirit shines bright!"
At this point the doors opened to the West 4th St station, and he disembarked, wishing us a good night, which we wished him back.
It's strange to explain the incident like that, but especially difficult to convey just how touching it really was. I was quite moved. Those boys are two of the closest people in the world to me, and for someone else to pick up on how much we all care for one another and love being together was really special. I don't ever want to forget that.
I needed a lovely thought to end the day on, so I'm putting that out into the world.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Byronic Daydreams
So, I've had a few conversations with people (mainly women) recently with regards to a certain topic I feel very strongly about. This issue goes waaaaay back with me, to the age of about twelve or thirteen, and perhaps other people's differences of opinions on this matter can be traced to their more recent familiarization with it. I just want to get the word about about something that seems to me to be absurdly obvious in every particular.
I am talking, of course, about Edward Fairfax Rochester, of Bronte's JANE EYRE, and his obvious dominance as the most perfect male character in all of literature.
Forgive me if I get girly for this post. It must be done.
Many women will go the easy route and vote for Darcy, of Austen's PRIDE & PREJUDICE. A fine choice, I suppose, but seeing as how everyone has jumped on that bandwagon, it makes me all the more inclined to say, "Rochester for me, please." Naturally, there are scads of delightfully attractive fictional characters (Gatsby? Newland Archer? Dean Moriarty?), but I'm talking primarily about 19th Century British Lit, because that seems to be the most hotly contested area. Plus, I picked Rochester years ago, so it makes sense to compare him to his contemporaries.
I've loved JANE EYRE ever since I was recommended it in middle school by my seventh grade English teacher, and it has become more alive and different for me with every reading. Perhaps Lizzie Bennett is easier to identify with, but I love how incredibly quiet and smart our little Jane is. Lizzie is outspoken - for those of us who are actually quite shy, it's refreshing to find someone in literature who thinks more than she speaks.
Now, as to Rochester - COME ON!!! Who couldn't find that man attractive? Allow me to post here a snippet from Ye Olde Wikipedia on THE BYRONIC HERO:
"The Byronic hero is an idealised but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron, characterised by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb as being "mad, bad, and dangerous to know".
Additionally:
The Byronic hero typically exhibits several of the following characteristics:
a strong sense of arrogance
high level of intelligence and perception
cunning and able to adapt
suffering from an unnamed crime
a troubled past
sophisticated and educated
self-critical and introspective
mysterious, magnetic and charismatic
struggling with integrity
power of seduction and sexual attraction
social and sexual dominance
emotional conflicts, bipolar tendencies, or moodiness[citation needed]
a distaste for social institutions and norms
being an exile, an outcast, or an outlaw
"dark" attributes not normally associated with a hero[citation needed]
disrespect of rank and privilege
has seen the world
jaded, world-weary
cynicism
self-destructive behaviour
a good heart in the end
This, as we know, describes Rochester completely. Allow me to digress for one moment to discuss Charlotte's sister Emily's creation, Heathcliff (of WUTHERING HEIGHTS), who is also considered a Byronic Hero. Umm...While I find him to be decidedly attractive and alluring in his own way, as he is meant to be, he ultimately does not have Rochester's generosity or heart, and while WH may be an overall better novel than JE (I can't believe I just typed those words. What sacrilege!), Rochester will always have my eternal devotion.
All I'm saying is, he's an ideal man. IDEAL! He's passionate, but not clingy, educated, but not snobby, has a past, but is trying to look forward, and manages to be both dashing and rugged simultaneously. I don't know what I would do with an actual Byronic Hero in real life - slap and then ignore him, probably - but on paper, he is what I want down to the letter. Darcy almost makes the grade, but Rochester is more take-charge, more knowing, and more powerful. Plus, let's face it, he makes a fabulous entrance in the novel. He has more than a note of mystery, of mysticism. How grand.
That's really all I want to say at the moment.
I am talking, of course, about Edward Fairfax Rochester, of Bronte's JANE EYRE, and his obvious dominance as the most perfect male character in all of literature.
Forgive me if I get girly for this post. It must be done.
Many women will go the easy route and vote for Darcy, of Austen's PRIDE & PREJUDICE. A fine choice, I suppose, but seeing as how everyone has jumped on that bandwagon, it makes me all the more inclined to say, "Rochester for me, please." Naturally, there are scads of delightfully attractive fictional characters (Gatsby? Newland Archer? Dean Moriarty?), but I'm talking primarily about 19th Century British Lit, because that seems to be the most hotly contested area. Plus, I picked Rochester years ago, so it makes sense to compare him to his contemporaries.
I've loved JANE EYRE ever since I was recommended it in middle school by my seventh grade English teacher, and it has become more alive and different for me with every reading. Perhaps Lizzie Bennett is easier to identify with, but I love how incredibly quiet and smart our little Jane is. Lizzie is outspoken - for those of us who are actually quite shy, it's refreshing to find someone in literature who thinks more than she speaks.
Now, as to Rochester - COME ON!!! Who couldn't find that man attractive? Allow me to post here a snippet from Ye Olde Wikipedia on THE BYRONIC HERO:
"The Byronic hero is an idealised but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron, characterised by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb as being "mad, bad, and dangerous to know".
Additionally:
The Byronic hero typically exhibits several of the following characteristics:
a strong sense of arrogance
high level of intelligence and perception
cunning and able to adapt
suffering from an unnamed crime
a troubled past
sophisticated and educated
self-critical and introspective
mysterious, magnetic and charismatic
struggling with integrity
power of seduction and sexual attraction
social and sexual dominance
emotional conflicts, bipolar tendencies, or moodiness[citation needed]
a distaste for social institutions and norms
being an exile, an outcast, or an outlaw
"dark" attributes not normally associated with a hero[citation needed]
disrespect of rank and privilege
has seen the world
jaded, world-weary
cynicism
self-destructive behaviour
a good heart in the end
This, as we know, describes Rochester completely. Allow me to digress for one moment to discuss Charlotte's sister Emily's creation, Heathcliff (of WUTHERING HEIGHTS), who is also considered a Byronic Hero. Umm...While I find him to be decidedly attractive and alluring in his own way, as he is meant to be, he ultimately does not have Rochester's generosity or heart, and while WH may be an overall better novel than JE (I can't believe I just typed those words. What sacrilege!), Rochester will always have my eternal devotion.
All I'm saying is, he's an ideal man. IDEAL! He's passionate, but not clingy, educated, but not snobby, has a past, but is trying to look forward, and manages to be both dashing and rugged simultaneously. I don't know what I would do with an actual Byronic Hero in real life - slap and then ignore him, probably - but on paper, he is what I want down to the letter. Darcy almost makes the grade, but Rochester is more take-charge, more knowing, and more powerful. Plus, let's face it, he makes a fabulous entrance in the novel. He has more than a note of mystery, of mysticism. How grand.
That's really all I want to say at the moment.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Oy, but it's cold!
I don't have a lot to say today, so I'll put my feelings in the form of a poem:
Bitter winter winds
Whip in frenzy round my ears.
Frostbite, don't you DARE.
~Lady Jo
Bitter winter winds
Whip in frenzy round my ears.
Frostbite, don't you DARE.
~Lady Jo
Saturday, January 2, 2010
The Year in Shows
Since I worked all of New Year's Day, this glorious January 2nd is my first official day off in AGES. Well, there was Christmas, which was wonderful, but this is a day all to ME! I had a dialect coaching session, finished my statement of purpose for my final grad school application, and am about to work on some monologues before taking a long, cold walk. I might go see a show tonight. Alone time. I've missed it. I also slept an obscene amount last night, so I'm finally feeling more myself!
So, goodbye GREAT RECESSION, and hello, Great Unknown!
Many actors often identify particular times of their lives with whatever project they were working on at the time. This time a year ago, I was KASPAR HAUSER. Ahh, yes, ten years ago I had just been cast as Fiona in BRIGADOON. When I was dating so-and-so, I was working on such-and-such. When I broke my foot, I was doing this program. In the spirit of that, I'm giving you an idea of what my life was like this year based on what I was working on. As you can see, there was a lot of time spent in TriBeCa and in rural Illinois.
2009: A Year in Shows:
KASPAR HAUSER - The Flea
Began rehearsals Dec 2nd, 2008
Ran Feb 12 - March 30th, 2009
CLEANSED - The Flea
Workshop that rehearsed May 18 - 21st, 2009, with the performance on the 21st
HENRY IV, PARTS 1&2 - Festival 56, IL
June 09- Aug 09
THE WIZARD OF OZ - Festival 56, IL
June 09 - July 09
THE LARAMIE PROJECT - Festival 56, IL
July 09
THE SOUND OF MUSIC - Festival 56, IL
July 09 - Aug 09
THE GREAT RECESSION - The Flea
Rehearsed early October 09
Ran Nov 20th - Dec 30th, 2009
Not bad! Throw in two recordings (one of them is my first Original Cast Recording!), a bunch of private dialect coaching, one gig as a production dialect coach, two workshops with Larry Moss, my first mention in the New York Times, and I call it a pretty great year!
So, goodbye GREAT RECESSION, and hello, Great Unknown!
Many actors often identify particular times of their lives with whatever project they were working on at the time. This time a year ago, I was KASPAR HAUSER. Ahh, yes, ten years ago I had just been cast as Fiona in BRIGADOON. When I was dating so-and-so, I was working on such-and-such. When I broke my foot, I was doing this program. In the spirit of that, I'm giving you an idea of what my life was like this year based on what I was working on. As you can see, there was a lot of time spent in TriBeCa and in rural Illinois.
2009: A Year in Shows:
KASPAR HAUSER - The Flea
Began rehearsals Dec 2nd, 2008
Ran Feb 12 - March 30th, 2009
CLEANSED - The Flea
Workshop that rehearsed May 18 - 21st, 2009, with the performance on the 21st
HENRY IV, PARTS 1&2 - Festival 56, IL
June 09- Aug 09
THE WIZARD OF OZ - Festival 56, IL
June 09 - July 09
THE LARAMIE PROJECT - Festival 56, IL
July 09
THE SOUND OF MUSIC - Festival 56, IL
July 09 - Aug 09
THE GREAT RECESSION - The Flea
Rehearsed early October 09
Ran Nov 20th - Dec 30th, 2009
Not bad! Throw in two recordings (one of them is my first Original Cast Recording!), a bunch of private dialect coaching, one gig as a production dialect coach, two workshops with Larry Moss, my first mention in the New York Times, and I call it a pretty great year!
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