Back in O

Thanks to my procrastination in packing I didn't get to bed until 1am. Then I had to turn around and get up at 3:30am or so to get ready and out the door for car service to the airport and my EARLY morning flight! (Leaving early always pays off once you arrive @ the destination but there is a moment of "why so early?!" when first starting out! ;) )

While I was waiting on the 2nd half of my flight in MN (and chugging a mocha steamer from Dunn Bros.) I complimented an older lady on her turquoise necklace. She flashed the turquoise jewelry that also covered her fingers and wrist and said - "My son owns a pawn shop and he's generous." Later she told me that the necklace actually came from QVC or HSN if I wanted one for myself - she couldn't quite remember which but admitted she spends a lot of time sitting in front of both!

Landed in Omaha to a mix of rain/sleet/snow - ahhh, Nebraska!

A friend picked me up, I dropped off my luggage w/ another friend who works downtown and then treated my driver friend to lunch @ Upstream! :) Mmmmmmmmmm.....dill havarti mashed potatoes!

Then I was dropped off @ 13th Street Coffee to meet another friend. And later Delice to meet another lovely friend and then...it was time for dinner w/ my bro @ Famous Daves! Ugh. I enjoy all those places but not so much when I don't get time to digest in between! ;)

My bro and I headed out to meet a friend @ the MAC in CB to see the FOO FIGHTERS IN CONCERT!!! Yes, I was seeing them in concert again while I could! :)

My friend managed to get inside w/ a camera and took some great pics! And I have to say the audience in CB seemed to be a lot more into the concert than @ MSG. The Foos seemed like they were enjoying themselves a bit more too (maybe the fact that they were being taped @ MSG had something to do w/ that though) - Dave seemed to talk a lot more in CB, and they didn't play less either!

But I'm getting ahead of myself - actually made it there in time for part of the opening act show of Against Me! and my bro got to enjoy Serj - it was nice to have friends there to comment on his antics w/! ;) At times his little dances w/ the combination of the top hat he wore reminded me of Michigan J Frog.

When the Foos hit the stage, Dave apologized that they hadn't been there for 10 years - it was actually 5, but still he knew it had been entirely too long...maybe it felt like 10 years!;) The concert was sold out!

Other moments of note -

Dave dedicating "Big Me" to his "love" - Taylor.

Dave telling the audience to call in sick tomorrow "cause Dave said so."

Dave giving crap to a random audience member that was flipping him off (why would you pay money for concert tickets to flip the band off?!) Needless to say, Dave was using a lot of innuendo dealing w/ calling the audience member - cocksucker - and then apologized to young ears in the audience. Oops.

Afterwards I headed back to O w/ my friend and we stayed up late(r) catching up and checking out the concert pics.

I just realized I've been up since 3:30am and it's pushing 1am the next day! Whoa...sleep would probably be good. Gotta get up @ 6:30am....later this morning. ;)

Wicked

Thanks to a friend of mine I was able to get a ticket (at a discount even!) to see Wicked tonight.

Having stood in lottery lines for friends when they visited to try and get a ticket I knew if I even kinda/sorta wanted to see it now was the time - so I joined the group as we watched what happened in the Land of Oz pre-Dorothy...and post.

I sat between 1 guy that had read the book and 1 guy that was just a fan of the "Wizard of Oz" movie so it was interesting to hear what they liked and what they didn't. The "book reader" said that the musical took out a lot of the underlying politics in the book but other than that he was pleased.

Myself? Having not read the book I liked seeing how all the connections were made and I did not see the "twist" ending coming! It is understandable how this show has become a favorite as it is a good one for fams w/ tweens to see (not entirely a kiddie show - but really, neither was The Wizard of Oz!) Had I been a tourist, I probably would have bought one of their clever shirts but since I'm not, I thought I'd leave the shirt buying to others. ;)

Now to home and packing! I've got an EARLY flight tomorrow to NE!

Elevator Small Talk

Random convo on work elevator this morning (keep in mind that normally the only people you talk to on the elevator is someone from your floor) -

A man I don't know saw my latte in hand and said - First cup of the day?

Yep.

Still tastes good though, huh?

Yep.

(Which made me wonder...do the 2nd & 3rd cups taste better?!)

More Memorizing!

I got called into an audition for a regional theatre in which I (once again) had to memorize monologues in advance. This time it was for characters from The Glass Menagerie and Almost, Maine.

When I got to the location it was a suite they had rented out! Very nice! And since I had an appt - there was no line of actors to wait on and they actually recognized me from my headshot! Woot! :)

So I performed the 2 monologues plus 1 more monologue of anything as long as it wasn't like the characters I read for (fortunately I already had a monologue memorized that fit that description!)

When I was done I couldn't tell from the 3 faces looking at me if I had done good or bad. I asked about callbacks and they said there wouldn't be any as they were going to a regional cattlecall event (my words, not there's - there are conferences actors can go to where lots of theatres show up and potentially find their casts for the season) and then make their decision after that.

I left and a panic washed over me as it sunk in that I really should have followed advice that has been given to me on more than one occasion - read the script your monologue came from. I began to wonder if the way I performed the monologues were even appropriate for that character in that moment in the play. (Yes, that's right...I have not read The Glass Menagerie.) Honestly, I didn't have time to read thru them though - I need to look into SparkNotes for Plays! ;)

Tonight I had an audition at a Children's Theatre in town in which, once again, I had to memorize a monologue. I got there and started to look over their rehearsal schedule and saw that it was going to conflict w/ the show I'm in. Do I still audition?! I was told I could...if I wanted...so at least they would have seen me....I opted to just try it another time and not stick around. Save everyone time and I wasn't wholly confident I had my monologue down anyway. It would have been a possible in-road to a paid gig but as I was looking at the pics of previous casts on the walls, I'm not sure I would have fit the "type" they'd cast before. Perhaps another time, I will find out for sure...

Cat On a Hot Tin Roof

I saw "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in previews tonight and what a treat it was to see the cast work their magic on stage.

I had never seen the show before (beyond once scene I remember watching Harley Jane Kozak act out for NE Rep when I was @ Theatre Camp @ UNL - random? Yes.) so really didn't have any preconceived notions about the show.

I was blown away by the amount of lines Anika Noni Rose (Maggie) had to memorize for that first Act. It's basically a long monologue with small breaks in between. And she was undressing and redressing and futzing the whole time. Terrence Howard (Brick) didn't really have a lot of lines at first so I felt his character really didn't "click" until his scene w/ James Earl Jones (Big Daddy). JEJ - Amazing!!!! That is HIS role. And Phylicia Rashad (Big Mama) must be having fun w/ her role - no trace of Claire Huxtable here. I was seated in the Orchestra section and saw the director, Debbie Allen, sitting in the side seats above (wonder if she was taking and giving notes still?). As well as the actor that will replace Terrance when he goes on vacation.

The audience I sat w/ was probably the most vocal audience I've been around and it was kind of fun. Howard comes out in a robe for the first scene so when he would shift on the bed to get himself comfy he would occasionally flash some skin to the audience in which hollers went up for those that saw. ;) They also rumbled at some of the back-biting words used.

Howard's daughter is in the show and she is definitely a child on stage w/ her daddy as opposed to an up and coming child actor. It was refreshing but since the other 2 kids on stage w/ her were child actors it didn't quite work.

Another thing that didn't work was the gal that played the maid. She didn't have many lines or stage time but when she did, she tried to work it as best she could which to me, was distracting and took the production quality down a notch. Another friend that went to the show pointed out that she was the understudy to Rose so I guess that explained her behavior a little but still...lame.

The set is fairly simple for the show as it all takes place in in Brick & Maggie's bedroom but the one thing that fascinated me most about the set was the invisible ceiling fan. You can see the shadow of a ceiling fan spinning on the bed but there is not one above. Quite the lighting trick!

The final touch for the show was the music - live saxophone music played during transitions.

Overall it was a show I'm glad I spent my money on.