On with the Show

Well, there you go, isn't that always the way? Being involved in a show that you would just LOVE to see! But I guess that's the weird price you have to pay when actually being in a kick-ass show like this. During rehearsals of shows, people will ask me,,,"So, how's the show going?" And to me it's always hard to tell. I'm in on it, ya know? I don't get the element of surprsie, or any element for that matter that anyone sitting in the audience for the first time gets. So it's always hard to judge, how well things are going. Ya kinda only really know by the end of a particular night. Or in this case after a particular opening weekend. Which, for my Aunt Adele, (the only one who will read this) opening weekend went AMAZINGLY well!

CONGRATULATIONS to the cast, crew and band for three ROCKIN' Shows!

LOVED LOVED LOVED finally getting out there and performing. It's why we do it right? It's why we search through audition listings, why we prepare a song and in my case at least TRY to make a good first impression, why we go through mini bouts of anxiety, "will I get a callback? did I sound too New York? Did my two left feet really show that bad?", why, when we DO get a call back with a role attatched to the end of it, the wheels automatically start turning, and simply can't wait for rehearsals to start! And when they do, you know it's within the blink of an eye, opening night will be TONIGHT!

It got here pretty quick for me,,,and I bet for Jeff even quicker,,,and of course for Scott, it probably got here the quickest!
I LOVE being a part of our show. Which reminds me, I have yet to thank Scott for letting me be a part of it. Think I'll write a song for him to express my gratitude.

So far I have Top 3 All Time Favorite after show reactions: Margeau's Dad. Now, I don't know how he reacted to meeting everyone else in the cast after the show, but when I met him, his smile when I shook his hand made me feel like I had just won a Grammy, an Emmy AND an Oscar! Reiterating,,,THIS is why I do it!

Second reaction from Charles,,,, At dinner after the show, he asked, "Now, you've had to have done Bruce before right?" I thought he was puttin me on, cause well, remember, I have no idea what I look like up there,,,,90% of the time, my eyes are closed when I'm singing! But no, the only time I've performed as Bruce was in the shower or driving down Thunder Road,,,or okay, maybe "Santa Claus is comin to town" during karaoke during the office Christmas party. But, that'd be it before now.

The third reaction came out of no where! Well, actually it came out of Megan. A beautiful and very talented woman whom I had the pleasure of working with in a production of "Footloose". Hadn't seen her in a few years, and she popped up after the Saturday show to tell me, if anyone could pull it off it was me! She's a Jersey girl and when she said to me, "I've been to a few Springsteen concerts, and THAT's what one looks like!" Oh, let me tell you, it was MUSIC to my ears!!

I told Scott during the first run of "Goodbye and Goodluck" with Jeff that, I don't half-ass anything. That he's gonna get 100% from me everytime. He had a nice chuckle, but I wasn't sure if it was the expression, half-ass, or just the way I tawked. I think either way, it didn't take long for him to know I meant what I said.

I remember telling Jeff in the beginning, "Now, I'm probably gonna laugh a lot talking like Bruce, but I'll get over it" Which I have, but it's still pretty damn funny!

Andrew and I are the only ones in the show actually playing Rock Legends, so for me it took a little more than just becoming someone else for a role. I had to become someone else that EVERYONE in the WORLD knows for a role! So I did the research, watched the videos, and in the process have become a very BIG Springsteen fan!

So big infact, that after our number on stage, instead of counting off the playoff for the band, I wanna start introducing Clarence and Steven and Max, I wanna pull Courtney Cox up on the stage, then start telling a story about what the next song is about and explode right into "Born to Run"!

The quickest and absolute most fun 6 minutes I have EVER had on stage!

Thanks for calling me back Scott!

My life in vinyl

Well, to tell you the truth, it's more like my life in vinyl AND cassettes. Early,,, very early life in 8-tracks. I still smile whenever I see one, which is ultrarare these days. And of course, this past weekend at the Record Exchange, there were a few nestled among Elvis figurines, Kiss lunch boxes. And sure enough, in the past 30 years, the only 8-track that's been there every DAMN time, FOREIGNER. Right next to a KISS 8-track that I actually owned at one time.
I must have said "Oh my God." around 25-30 times while we were there. It was just absolutely overwhelming to me to be in one place with so much history. Music history that is. Sure, in this day and age, a click of a mouse, and you can hear virtually anything ever recorded. Yi-peee.
For the guy always on the go, I guess that suits him just fine. He doesn't have the time anyway, or maybe it's the lack of appreciation that keeps him from browsing through the dusty bins of long forgotten folkies and punks.
I didn't know where to start when we first walked in! It even had that smell just like the inside of an album cover...and I loved it! Until the smelly dude came in to drop off some records, and apparently drop a load of shit in his pants too. That's when I went upstairs,,,,,the MOTHER LOAD!
Crept up these stairs, that actually felt like I was one scmho closer to goin through one of them, and through a door I came across just this amazing black and white ocean of 45's, that at first glance seemed to go on for the length of a football field. It didn't. And right away,,,same dilema as before, Where do I start?
I've heard these songs. Not all of them like Rob, and certainly not twice like Dick, but all my life I've heard them. And in this tiny room they were all there at one time. Here was my chance to be with all of them, where they first came to be, at least to you and me, on vinyl. Tiny vinyl too. (Remember, had to have that damn adapter to play any of them.) Two songs. That's it.
Mr. Rock and Roll was first on my list. The Chuck Berry section wasn't as big as I thought it would be. But after I thought about it for half a second, there'd be something wrong if it was right? Just to go through them, see them, touch them, was amazing to me. I thought about the song on the A-side, and it filled inside my head where I couldn't help but sing it out, and flipped to the B-side where a song title flashed that I'd never heard of,,,,,so I just kept smiling and singin' out the A-side. And another, and another,,, made my way through, in a way, at first, as if I was there by myself and had all day to spend. But as with all field trips, even one as so F'n cool as this one, there's a time limit. So I just started movin along the bins a little quicker, a few dozen, "Wow's!",,,and "Oh my Gods" and headed back downstairs. Did see a $300 Sgt Pepper Album up there, that got my attention. Really, just to ask why? But between upstairs and downstairs and catching the Springsteen section, I forgot to ask.
Or it could have been Zak being really enthusiastic about Muppet Albums that he found that distracted me. Either way, everything in that place was an incredible, nostalgic distraction that I can't wait to return and experience again.
You simply can't click a mouse to get a feeling like that,,,

Dance to the music

"All we need is a drummer, for people who only need a beat!"
"I'm gonna add a little gui-tar, to make it eaa-say to move your feet"
"I'm gonna add some bottom, so there's a dancer who just won't hide"
"You might like to hear my organ, I said, RIIIDE, SALLY RIIIDE!"

Just always really really loved those lyrics! And the tune itself?! It just friggin ROCKS!! It's that one of a kind energy that Sly & The Family Stone had that just always got me with this one.

school days/So ya think ya can dance?

Ahhh, school days from the late 60's,,,(Just love Mom's "curl the hair over the one ear move" and her double hand wave is just adorable!) Keep watchin' and you'll get to see where I got all those snazzy dance moves I'm rockin',,,
Thanks to my Mom and Uncle Ed,,,it just must be in the blood... I don't know what's funnier, the moves they had, or Unlce Ed (little Ricky) and his pantaloones! The clip finishes up with a ritual our family had. This footage is the only actual footage of it, but everyone at one point had to have the "wig" picture taken. Nan was famous for her wigs,,and I guess everyone else had to be too. All the boys would cry when she'd put it on them. But all the girls (and me) never minded a bit!

Who'll stop the rain?

Well, I thought I'd take a break from building that ark and come inside where it's a little dryer. I wonder if people who live where it rains all the time get mad if the sun just started coming out three and four days at a time, with no rain at all. Kinda that, people with curly hair want straight hair, and people with straight hair want curly hair, typea thing, I suppose.
But ahhhh, the bright side on a dark day?,,, I don't have to be walking around in it for 8 hours,,(perfect timing for a day off),,and HI-FI Rehearsal tonight!
Blocking for Act II is scheduled for tonight,,,of course not nearly as exciting as a night of Millerography, but any night of hangin with the "freaks who can't survive without their Zappa 45's", is still a cool night to me.
I've always dug the process it takes to put on a great show. (or a not so great show) doesn't matter to me. From day one to strike. Diving into a script, a score, the characters, the story we're telling, everything! And it always helps when a director knows what they want, and know exactly how to tell you what they want.
No guess work when it comes to Scott. Which is just awesome!
As far as blocking, "Conflict Resolution" tonight? I mean, come on!,,,who else hasn't been anxious to see what he has in store for this three part scene? Should be pretty interesting,,,, SO, shall we leave it at that then?

"How bout we leave it at THIS?!"

Gettin' in Tune

So I check my messages one day. (Which is usually a process, since I kinda let them build up to about 10 or 12, before actually checking them. It's just always easier to call someone back when you missed their call) But this odd number that came through, left a message this time so maybe it's that leggy blonde from the bar I slipped my number to on the "Dick's Half-way INN" book of matches I just happened to have on me. Well, it wasn't her,,,but even better, infact, WAAAAY cooler, it was Scott Miller, director and brains behind the upcoming SMASH hit, that is "High Fidelity"

First off, in no way did I expect a callback. I mean, I musta broke every rule of auditions there is. From showing up late,,,(Only over an hour late! But oh my GOD, the process it took just to find the place was something out of Neil Simon's "The Out of Towners" ANything that could go wrong in getting to auditions was going wrong. Even the friggin' 20 car train going 1 mile an hour backwards I had to wait for, seemed right out of a movie) After an hour, I didn't even care if I got to audition. That damn Ivory Theater now had become the Holy Grail to me!
But, when I arrived, it was as if I was right on time,,,,Lori, I believe, said, don't worry about it, you're fine.

Ok, now back to the message from Scott.
He wanted to know if I'd like to be a part of the show, and be cast as The Most Pathetic Man In The World and Bruce Springsteen. Of course, my first reaction was,,,"Damn!, so it's not the leggy blonde,,,but my second reaction was that of,,,"Did I really hear what I think I heard?"
I put the phone down and rounded up the boys,,,

Told Josh, my oldest, and asked him what he thought. Which, funny, I always talk to them first and get their thoughts on a role before accepting. Their thoughts and input is usually what seals it for me. So I told Josh, and he just beamed,,,kinda like I did, with the thought of actually getting to portray a Rock Legend! He said, "Oh, you gotta do it! Being TMPMITW will be great too, cause they're like total opposites!" I had his vote.
Brando's reaction was a little different. We had grabbed a copy of the movie and watched it together about a week earlier. Josh dug it,,,(He's 15 and has always been a fan of the power of music in our lives) Brando just wanted to see more Jack Black and gave it 1 and a half stars.
So I ask him what he thought, and he's like, "Bruce Springsteen? But he's only in it for like ah minute." Which, God bless him, I knew what he was getting at. But I told him, that I'd get to do other stuff too. Even sing with Barry in the big finale! So after that,,,I had 3 votes yes, 0 votes no. Called Scott back and told him I'm in.
Which, again,,,can't reiterate enough, that I'm still surprised. I didn't even have a song to sing for him with PIANO music. Here I am, some schmo off the street with a selection from The Who's: TOMMY, in guitar Tablature no less! Was I really to be taken seriously? Thankfully, I had given "The Last Real Record Store" a few or dozen listens, so we ran a few measures of that. I guess you could say it was less shitty, with whole chunks of not so bad.
The dancing? Now I just knew that wasn't gonna win anybody over. When I first learn a move, or say about a dozen in one minute, I wind up thinking too much. About this move, or the next one, or this or that. SO I know it's just gotta look awful. Dancing, for me, is best done, when not thinking. Sure, there's rehearsing the hell out of it to get to that point. But right off the bat?,,, I'd make Fred Astaire cry....
Cold read: In my head, all I kept saying was, "Don't sound like you're from Brooklyn,,,don't sound like you're from brooklyn..." Not only did I sound like I was from Brooklyn, but I sounded like I still live there, hang out at the pizza shop on the corner till it closes and my Top five break-ups of all time all shared the name Maria!
Never sought out a lead role, but just thought after an awful go at it that night, any role was gonna be tough to land.
Shows how much I know,,,,or don't know...

We're well under way with rehearsals and I'm absolutely loving being a part of it. For me, before auditioning, or even thinking about a show, I ask myself,,"Will it be fun?"
Well, it is, and it's only getting funner.

The name "blog" was the best they could come up with?

Well, since EVERYBODY'S doing it,,,
That's always the best excuse isn't it? Ok, maybe not the best,,,but in this case, I'm using it.
But if EVERYBODY starts getting full face tattoos, of other people's faces, on their faces,,, well, hey, I'm just saying,,,gotta draw the line somewhere,,,
(Although, I've been working on that full body tattoo of me, only taller idea, for years,,,)

This is really great, I've spent hours trying to set this thing up, and in a week, I'll forget about it. Plus, who the hell's gonna see it anyway? Certainly not my 6th grade English teacher, so why the hell am I actually concerning myself with punctuation, spelling,,indenting for Chrissake?!!,,,,(I'd say well structured sentencing too, but I've never been any good at that anyway)