The gig at Don't Tell Mama's ended up being really fun! I was getting over a cold, but my voice decided to hang in there, and I was able to belt enough of my face off to make it through both songs unscathed. We each also had to do a bit of patter in between, and I was pretty pleased with how mine came off, considering I'd never really done patter before. Performing on the bill with four other people (I went last, shaZAM!) really made me realize how much I wanted to put together my own cabaret show. I've been talking about doing one for seriously like three years. I had several ideas - all Beatles songs, all Regina Spektor songs, all female pop & folk singers, all old broad showtunes (that was was going to be entitled, "Life Begins at Forty, But I'm Only 23!")...I still like the idea of the Regina Spektor cabaret. One friend also suggested I do a cabaret show in character as "Lady Jo," which is, of course, the title of this blog! Lady Jo is really just a slightly more outlandish version of myself. She's me with my hostess hat on! She calls everyone "Cherub" and "Honeypot." I think it'd be grand to bring her out in full force onstage. We shall see. That's gonna take some serious work.
Had rehearsal for DASH DEXTER all day today. I'm pooped! It was great to see a lot of friends I've worked with in past, and get to sing with them again!
Miss Jo is off to put on A BIT OF FRY & LAURIE while she tidies her room before crashing, face first, into the 854 pillows she has on her bed. That sounds like hyperbole, I know. Maybe it is...but I still got me a lotta pillows!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Fantabulous February
I promised myself that I'd be in bed by 11:30 tonight, and seeing as how it's 11:12, that means I have to make this SHORT and sa-weeeeet.
DASH DEXTER had its first music rehearsal earlier this evening, which was fun and delicious. My stuff is pretty easy musically, as most of the role is text-based. Can't wait! Rehearsal all day Wed/Thurs, with the reading Thursday night!
I got the first draft of my website in from my designer yesterday, and a mini-draft today. I'm so excited! It's getting so close! I also realized how fascinating it is that little tiny things can really affect how I feel about the site, and about how it conveys who I am. I've had some great back and forth with the designer, and I'm really excited to see how it all turns out. Shouldn't be much longer. I shall then be a highly snazzy individual, let me tell you.
Tomorrow night I'm singing at DON'T TELL MAMA'S, which, now that my cold seems to be letting go of my voice, should actually be fun! We'll see if I can belt all the way through both of these songs tomorrow afternoon. Regardless, it's abated enough that I won't be croaking, which, of course, is all to the good. For the curious, I'll be singing "Sweet Liberty" from JANE EYRE, and an old chestnut I haven't pulled out in public in nearly five years - "It's Oh So Quiet," as sung by Bjork. Very excited about it. I've missed it so!
Also, I'm going to Colorado on the 11th. I. Am. So. Excited. Gonna hang out with the fam, maybe SKI, definitely watch a lot of movies and do some serious frivolous reading (meaning, not plays...though, let's face it, I'll probably bring some plays with me anyway), all while holed up in a beautiful cabin in Breckenridge. Sometimes life is just gorgeous.
DASH DEXTER had its first music rehearsal earlier this evening, which was fun and delicious. My stuff is pretty easy musically, as most of the role is text-based. Can't wait! Rehearsal all day Wed/Thurs, with the reading Thursday night!
I got the first draft of my website in from my designer yesterday, and a mini-draft today. I'm so excited! It's getting so close! I also realized how fascinating it is that little tiny things can really affect how I feel about the site, and about how it conveys who I am. I've had some great back and forth with the designer, and I'm really excited to see how it all turns out. Shouldn't be much longer. I shall then be a highly snazzy individual, let me tell you.
Tomorrow night I'm singing at DON'T TELL MAMA'S, which, now that my cold seems to be letting go of my voice, should actually be fun! We'll see if I can belt all the way through both of these songs tomorrow afternoon. Regardless, it's abated enough that I won't be croaking, which, of course, is all to the good. For the curious, I'll be singing "Sweet Liberty" from JANE EYRE, and an old chestnut I haven't pulled out in public in nearly five years - "It's Oh So Quiet," as sung by Bjork. Very excited about it. I've missed it so!
Also, I'm going to Colorado on the 11th. I. Am. So. Excited. Gonna hang out with the fam, maybe SKI, definitely watch a lot of movies and do some serious frivolous reading (meaning, not plays...though, let's face it, I'll probably bring some plays with me anyway), all while holed up in a beautiful cabin in Breckenridge. Sometimes life is just gorgeous.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Geeking Out, And Not Over The iPad
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.
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.
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.
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