Yay! Audition paid off!

I'm so excited! I just found out I was cast as Shy in the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas with the Actor's Theatre Center. And the icing on the cake? Two of my very good friends were also cast, one of which I haven't done a show with since midway through my career at the Gaslighter.  The auditions were fun because my two friends came with me, "Mom" Reynolds was on the piano and Nancy Kwong was our choreographer.  "Mom" is always a reliable player, and the fact that she gives you a hug before you sing really helps calm the nerves (yes, one of the many reasons we all just call her "Mom").  Nancy teaches by calling out names of steps, which makes it so much easier for me to follow & learn.

Anyways, I'd better cancel my appointment at the Dragon Theatre, since these two shows conflict with each other.

Audition fun!

It must be that time of year, because I've been auditioning like crazy.  Last week, I had my auditions for Fame at SCP and the TheatreWorks general auditions.  The Fame auditions started out well, but for some reason, the pianist did not play the last line of my song (my first time using Stormy Weather). The piano playing stopped a bit unexpectedly, but she played very well, so I can't possibly blame her for my lack of callbacks.  Perhaps it was my bad dancing. *sigh* I'm actually not a bad dancer, but I'm not a true dancer, so I take longer to learn the steps.  I've actually done some very complicated dancing in many of the shows I've been in (and friends say they've been impressed), but I did not do so well in the Fame audition. For me, the instruction was a bit too quick, and only the count was called out when we were on our own (as opposed to "what step is next").  The other two women I danced with seemed to pick up the steps much faster, so it must've just been me.

My TheaterWorks general audition went better, starting with the familiar face of long time Stanford Savoyard Jonathan Erman behind the piano.  I did my "standard" audition piece of Turn Back O' Man from Godspell (for which I got to practice a lot when I played the role of Sonia with STOC's production a couple years back), and performed my first monologue since I was in high school.

Tonight I'm auditioning for ATC's Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. I'll do my standard piece again, and try to really focus on the dance portion of the audition. I really can dance - I'm just need practice, practice, practice!

Saturday, I'll be auditioning for Dragon Production Theatre Company's The Country Club in Palo Alto & Saratoga Drama Group for their fall production of Ragtime (which I'm not even sure I can do, with all the events I already have planned for the fall).  I have to learn another monologue for the Dragon audition, since the souther accent one I used for TheatreWorks will not be at all appropriate.

In more interesting news, I filmed my first Sun Headlines segment last week. It was so cool working with a crew - even a makeup guy to powder my nose!  The teleprompter was fascinating!  Look for my web TV debut on sun.com on February 1 as I tell you all about Project Blackbox!

Northstar skiing!

Finally made it skiing this weekend, up to Northstar, and it was AMAZING! Okay, my legs were not in the best shape, but on Saturday the sun was shining, the lift lines were short to non-existent, and the snow was perfect!  Nice and soft. Northstar left some of their runs partially ungroomed, which was a lot of fun - I could ski in the deep, cut up snow for awhile, and as I got tired - bail out to the nice, even groomed bits.  We decided to drive straight home on Sunday, after getting a look at the wind & snow starting to fall - which seems like a good decision, since the resorts got between 18" and 36" yesterday! It would've been fun to ski in, but not for long, and the drive home would've been a nightmare. I just hope we get more good snow like this - both for the skiing and to help stave off the drought!

Melodrama returns to the Bay Area!

It was with great excitement a large group of us trekked down to Scotts Valley two weeks ago - Daniel Dye has brought back melodrama to the Bay Area with the premier of his Merry Christmas Brent Spudley -or- Yuletide Hijinks. As you might guess, it is a holiday themed story, about the kind hearted Ms Cuddly who gives out toys to disadvantaged children every Christmas - and, well, any other day they need them. Her generosity has greatly impacted her "bottom line", and she finds on the eve of the Christmas holiday that the bank is going to foreclose on her mortgage. The dastardly Victor Von Sprout is found waiting in the wings (okay, behind a Christmas tree!) to take over the mortgage and turn the toy factory into a brussel sprout processing factory, with the help of his dastardly assistant, Diamond Visage. Will the kind hearted Spudley family be able to save the day, and help Ms Cuddly save her toy factory? You'll just have to watch the show and find out!

The Golden Crow Theater has done an excellent job of putting together this production, with a beautiful set and fun sound effects. They even have all the popcorn you can eat or throw! It was so much fun getting to boo the villian, hiss at the villianess and cheer the hero (who, like always, is just a little thick headed, but as sweet as apple pie).

All of the performers did a really good job, but I was especially impressed with the energy of Geneva Holloman, who played Molly Spudley. My only disappointment was that we didn't get to see more of Daniel, who only popped in at the begining and end as the narrator. I'm sure not being on stage gave him better flexibility to direct, and the resultant product was so good that I couldn't possibly hold this against him. I was really impressed with the Golden Crow and the overall production of the show. There is one weekend left, and I can't recommend enough that you try to catch this show before it closes.

libsoftcrypto gate building again!

I'm so excited - I'm finally back on the libsoftcrypto/removal of SUNWcry/SUNWcryr project, after being mired in other tasks for the most recent past, and the best news is I have the gate building again.  Some of my recent code review comments I accepted caused build failures when a full clobber nightly was done (gotta love makefile magic ;-) and I also hit a flag day with librcyptoutil and its new version string.  Good news, last night's full clobber build on sparc completed successfully.  Now to see if it still passes tests, while I work on integrating the rest of my code review comments.

Kari's entry for the Little Mermaid contest

I am so excited that they are making a Little Mermaid musical! I can't wait to see the Disney magic come alive on stage - so many ocean creatures (not to mention water!)  Anyways, my friend Kari is trying to win a contest so she can go see the Little Mermaid on Broadway and also attend the recording session of the show's original cast recording.  That would be so cool - an excellent experience for her, since acting is what she wants to do for a living.  I was really impressed with her dynamics. She has such a beautiful voice, which comes off fantastically considering this isn't anywhere near a professional recording!  It's too bad she couldn't get a real piano player, but her voice more than makes up for the tinny backup music. give her a listen - if you like her, vote for her. Thanks!

A Day in Hollywood/A Night in The Ukraine

A big group of us made it to Sunnyvale Community Player's outstanding production this Friday - and we were all so glad to be there! The entire thing was very "Gaslighter" like, making me very envious of the folks having such a fantastic time on stage

The show starts out with ushers at the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, introducing us to the life of an usher and big hits from the 1930s, winding up with an introduction to the the second act, a Marx Brothers Comedy, A Night in The Ukraine.

We were greeted by the entire cast in the opening number, full of energy and great spirits. I thought their usher costumers were very cute, but found myself a bit perplexed by the subtle differences as Act I progressed. Why did Mike Rhone have a gold strap hanging over his shoulder? Head usher, I guessed, but they all had a different number of bands between their brass buttons on their chest, which I couldn't figure out. Personally, I would've loved to have seen actual costume changes during Act I to better fit the song each person was singing. Yes, it would've meant quick changes - but my years at the Gaslighter say it would've been possible. I suppose remaining in their usher costumes is probably how the show is typically done.

The sets were really neat, with rotating doors and a clever "ankle stage" (thanks to John Whenger for explaining this all to me during intermission!)

We were all very impressed by the amazingly talented cast, as they all spread their wings during Act I. In particular, we were very impressed with Aaron Weisberg on the saxophone! Wow! Bariton, Alto and Tenor saxes! Teri Weitze was a wonderful hoot when she sang "Nelson", and Molly Gazay was mesmerizing with her rendition of "The Best in the World". Keith Pennings never ceased to amaze us with his piano playing *and* ukelale playing! Kristin Brownstone did a delightful job with "Too Marvelous for Words", as well.

Geri Carlson Sauls did it again, with a fantastically choreographed "Famous Feet", and a bringing down the house "Doin' The Production Code".

One of my favorite numbers was "Japanese Sandman" featuring Mike, Anna & Molly.

If musical reviews are not your thing, you are sure to enjoy the second act, A Night in the Ukraine! This is where Teri Weitze really comes alive as Mrs Pavlenko, a wealthy widow. She did a masterful job of being thoroughly disgusted with her staff and visitors, putting on a wonderful sour puss whenever it was needed. Keith Pennings, as Carlo, played wonderfully off of Kristin Brownstone, as Gino (the silent Marx brother). These two lit up the stage with their constant joviality and horsing around. "Gino's Harp Solo" was incredibly funny!

Mike Rhone did a wonderfully sappy "hero" as Constantine, who falls in love with Nina Pavlenko, played by Anna Traina. They were both perfectly syrupy sweet as they fell in love over some dropped papers. Of course, foibles led to heartbreak, which brought us to the delightfully silly "Again" sung by Mike & Anna.

Aaron Weisberg did steal the show as Samovar (Groucho Marx), with clever appropriate come backs to the audiences occasional groans, bouncing around with unbounded energy and an excellent sense of comic timing.

This was such a fun show - everyone in our group had a wonderful time. We found ourselves singing songs from the show when many of us got together again on Saturday night. We had a blast! There's just one more weekend for this show - and I can't recommend enough to get out there and see it!