Call Me When You Need Your Mirrors Smashed

I've been in Colorado for the last few weeks, belting my face at 10,000 feet as Mrs. Walker in TOMMY. We opened last night, and will dive into GODSPELL music rehearsals this afternoon before another evening with our friends The Who. I love working in rep (meaning playing in multiple shows at the same time), which I did a couple of summers ago with Festival 56, when we played the Shakespeare throughout the entire contract. I think it's going to be incredibly beneficial to me this summer especially, because Mrs. Walker spends most of the show guilt-ridden, grief-stricken, and deeply troubled. There is a good deal of power-belting, alternated with crying and silent acting. Joanne, who I'm playing in GODSPELL (she sings BLESS THE LORD), is all joy and silliness, which will be a wonderful contrast.

I'm gonna take an obligatory sentimental moment and say how much I love this company. In the last few years, I have lucked out enormously with the caliber of human beings I've had the good fortune to get to know. There is an incredibly large number of wonderful people in this crazy business, and having that fact constantly reinforced always makes my heart happy. Everyone working out here is a delight, and pretty hilarious. I must also say that the actors I have the pleasure of playing with are generous, kind, and ridiculously talented. I'm gonna link their websites at the end of this post so that you can stalk them and listen to their glorious voices.

Now, news flash - I have a car on this gig. I hadn't driven in probably four or five years, but now I drive half an hour to the theatre every day. In doing this, I have discovered the necessity and the beauty of a playlist, of which I now have several. Some are more mellow, some are really nerdy (I shall spare you my musical theatre-only lists), but mainly, they're designed to wake me up (singing at 9am, helloooooooooooo) and make me happy. Here's the one I play the most often:

F' You - Cee Lo Green
I Want Harry Potter Back - Lily & James (my friend Grace's AWESOME wrock band - they are FAB)
I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness
Material Girl - Nick Adams; PRISCILLA OBC Album (lovelovelove)
Helter Skelter - The Beatles
Rehab - Amy Winehouse
Bille Jean - Michael Jackson
Rumour Has It - Adele
I Was Made to Love Her - Stevie Wonder
The Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga
Everybody's Talkin' - Nilsson (this always reminds me of MIDNIGHT COWBOY)
Cry Baby - Janis Joplin
Rocky Raccoon - The Beatles
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
Oh, By Jingo! - Danny Kaye
Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel

Here are my castmates' websites:

Garret Bruce on YouTube
Jacque Clydesdale
Erin Edelle
Rhianna Pfannenstiel on YouTube
David Piazza
Michael Walker on Twitter
Brett Michael Wilson on YouTube

You'll have to see Melanie Beck and Josh T. Smith live, I suppose, for they are on fb, but not the wider webs.

The Normal Heart

People, go see THE NORMAL HEART. It's beautifully acted, it's moving, and it's important. Plus, when's the next time you'll have an opportunity to see the incredible Joe Mantello on stage? Go. Bring tissues. Not kidding. I was sobbing in the street afterwards. Go.

Tired and Inspired

I've been in Larry Moss' workshop all week. One more day to go. I'm up at 9am tomorrow, and I've got to be ready to scream the house down and eat my partner alive on stage. It's very exciting to be given permission to go nuts like that, but also takes a LOT of vocal and emotional stamina. Whew! As I said in a previous post, I'm working on Neil LaBute's REASONS TO BE PRETTY...I'd been having difficulties with how contemporary the language is (I do very well with Shakespeare, O'Neill, and Shaw...really heightened, complicated stuff). Larry was having me yell at top volume, and then shouted to me at one point, "Do it like Medea!" All of a sudden, I understood what I needed to do, dropped in, unleashed classical actor Amy, and felt MUCH better! It got a huge laugh from the class, because (aside from the absurdity of Medea screaming about flushing goldfish down the toilet), many people much prefer contemporary language to huge Greek and Shakespearian texts, but my comfort zone is a mite old-fashioned. It was a lovely moment.

I'm running to bed, but just felt like sharing...This has been a fantastic week. I love sitting and watching my fellow classmates (many of whom I take Karl Bury's weekly scene study class with, and have known, admired, and watched grow for years) ROCK IT OUT, and just take huge leaps forward in their work. So exciting. SO exciting. I can feel that I'm taking strides, too, and learning a lot about myself...I love acting so much. I love being involved in this community. I love artists. I love other passionate people. People who bring themselves and give of themselves. It's gorgeous, and makes me want to be a better actor and human being. It's also a blessing to work on a difficult scene like this with my dear friend and colleague Denis Lambert, who is brilliant, and the greatest scene partner a person could ask for. I'm so grateful for him.

Right, I have to go to sleep so that I can go full tilt boogie first thing in the a.m.

Summer Stock - Off the Clock

Very tired. Just got back to New York City Monday in the late afternoon, and I'm still adjusting to civilian life. I'm posting some pics for your perusal pleasure, and then going to BED! It's been a good day - rehearsed with Denis, my friend and scene partner for the Larry Moss workshop I'm taking in a couple of weeks, then made pancakes and unpacked my bags while my friend Melissa was over. We told each other a lot of stories and used an obscene amount of character voices. Eventually, Nikka came over for silly fun time. Hoorah for friends and hanging out in my lovely apartment that I've missed so much!

Anywhoo, I'm posting many of my favorite photos from the past few weeks. I'd attempt to explain them all, but I think they're either self-explanatory or pretty funny, anyway, so I'm leaving them be. I do enjoy scrolling through fb photos of actors out on other gigs, just being idiotic and having a good time. We had some pretty rough circumstances with WOODS, and yet we still managed to find time to entertain and be entertained by one another. Such lovely, hilarious, talented, generous, and kind people. I have been very fortunate in the last year and a half to two years. Such wonderful colleagues and collaborators.

What if her coach is second class? She at least gets to travel...

Well, I'm back.

Right. SO much to write about that I'm a little overwhelmed and don't know where to begin. And, as is the way, I have to head to work in a bit, so I don't have long to type.

Let's finish up London before I do Krakow. I got back from Poland on Wed afternoon, and ran off to meet some friends for dinner and a play. We saw Mark Rylance in JERUSALEM, and I have to say that it is one of the best things I've ever seen. Excellent writing, fabulous ensemble cast, glorious production values, and a tour-de-force performance by Rylance. He was unreal. The girls I was with went to drama school with one of the cast members, and she told us that apparently, he was incredibly ill with a throat infection. This is a three hour play, in which he's on essentially the entire time, throwing himself about the stage, roaring, dancing, and then getting the crap kicked out of him. You want to be in top form for that. Well, I wouldn't have had any idea that he was at all poorly. What a champ. Incredible. Mackenzie Crook was also in it, and he was flipping brilliant. I had no idea he was pushing forty till I looked him up on imdb later that night. SO funny. Oh, it's seeing plays like that which remind me how much I love being an actor!!!

The next night, I met up with my dear friend Hannah (the one I stayed with) at The National, where she's in rehearsals. While waiting for her, I saw Amelia Bullmore wandering about the cafe, and I stopped her to tell her I'd just seen her play last week, and THE NORMAN CONQUESTS while it was on Broadway. "Oh, that was SUCH a happy time!" she said. We had a lovely little chat, and then I ran into her again when Hannah came to lead me through the labyrinth that is the backstage area of The National. She's very charming and funny, and apparently married to one of the men in Hannah's play THE WHITE GUARD. So, I went to hang out in the green room of The National with Hannah and about a third of her cast. The Green Room in this instance is a canteen and bar. Jolly Olde Englande. Anyway, I had definitely seen a few of the men in shows at The National before, which was cool, and THEN, Conleth Hill strolled in to hang out. I LOVE CONLETH HILL!!! I saw him in THE SEAFARER when it was on Broadway, and could not even begin to get over how fabulous I thought he was. Very exciting to be able to sit across the circle from him while everyone's having a casual chat. I love actors. And I love feeling fancy, as I did on Thursday.

Right. I really do have to run to get ready for work. I'll post the Krakow goodies later. I will say this - it was gorgeous, and I had a fabulous time. In only going for two days, I robbed myself completely. Can't wait to go back!