Seriously...?

Reinforcing my belief that there is very little commercially viable new theatre being produced these days, it has just been announced that foghorn... erm... I mean Patti LuPone will be reprising her role as Mama Rose in Gypsy on Broadway. May God have mercy on our souls.

Supporting Local Theatre

I tend to get a little worked up when I compare the amount of live theatre I see in this and surrounding areas with the number of members of the local theatre community who generally come out and see the stuff that I've worked on. I'm resigning myself to calm the hoo-haa down, however, and hopefully lead by example.

Last night, I went to see The Great American Trailer Park Musical at SPOTLIGHTERS. It was by far the hardest I have laughed in a long time. It was a borderline slapstick, very tongue-in-cheek look at a mobile home community in Florida. The production refuses to take itself seriously, which is refreshing in the lofty world of theatre, and I encourage anyone who has the chance over the next few days (it closes on Sunday) to make it out to see it. Buy tickets ahead of time as some houses have been selling out.

Another friend of mine recently opened up Last Five Years at The Vagabond Theatre (known to true Jason Robert Brown obsessives as L5Y for short). I haven't had the chance to see it yet, but don't doubt that it's amazing. Even if the production weren't stellar, however, the story is genuine and hits close to home. Wikipedia it. It will make you laugh, cry, and break your heart all in an hour and fifteen minutes. This runs through Thanksgiving, so you have time... but Jason Robert Brown brings people out of the woodwork (Troy and I drove to New Jersey to see L5Y performed last year) and the house is definitely not large, so purchasing advanced tickets is also recommended.

And if you feel like getting out of Charm City for a night and seeing some AEA actors perform, another friend is the first black woman to ever portray Susan in tick, tick... BOOM! at MetroStage. Also running through Thanksgiving weekend, this show is a must-see if you can. And if you're like me and not raking in the big bucks, Thursday and Sunday night shows are cheaper than Friday and Saturday nights.

Green grass on both sides

With High School Musical having been closed for over a week, I’ve had a remarkable amount of down time. I usually go from one to the next seamlessly: starting production on my next piece once I’ve opened the last… or worse—working on two productions simultaneously and staggering the openings by three or four weeks. For the first time in a year, I’m actually getting a huge break between productions. We don’t start rehearsals for Carmen Jones until January, so I essentially have the entire months of November and December (minus a few leftover promotional performances for HSM at UMBC and the Kennedy Krieger Festival of the Trees) to be theatre-free.

I was elated to finally be able to take a break. I haven’t taken a vacation in two years, so the thought of being able to hole up in my condo and sleep for days was looking pretty appetizing towards the end of production. Now that I’ve caught up on sleep (a little too much. In the past two weeks, I’ve slept through a standing weekly bar outing with friends, a few nights I could’ve been working on the next show, and even an evening with the beau) and have actually started pretending that I have a commitment to the company that writes my bigger paycheck, I’ve reached a point of complacency. With the complacence comes self-reflection and pensive moments. My thoughts of late (or today at least)? Why is it that the grass is greener on the other side?

I must preface this slightly-too-deep musing with a brief corollary: I’m not depressed. I’m quite happy with where my life is right now. So, if anyone happens to actually read this silliness that I write, please don’t be alarmed or feel the need to contact the local mental hygiene authorities.

Moving on… I think it curious that my life was filled with so much drama 7 or 8 years ago. As far I was concerned, I was fat (20 pounds lighter). I was SO talented (with loads less education and experience). I had so much longing, however, to just be anywhere but where I was then. When I was in high school, I couldn’t wait to be in college. I thought that would cure all of my gripes with life. Once I was in college, I couldn’t wait to be graduated and in the real world. Now that I’m 23, have a mortgage payment and two jobs—one completely artistic and enlightened and one completely… not… I split my time between longing to be back in my “innocent youth” (when I didn’t have to worry about bills or life or grown-up stuff) and longing to be 30 and more financially stable and married with children and a single-family home and a back yard and a dog.

Despite my vacillating life desires, however, there is one thing that stays constant, and that is my consistent inability to be pleased and crazy grateful for how fantastic my life is in this moment. So I am avowed to spend the next few days thinking about what it is about my life right now that I’ll long to have back 10 years from now when the moment has passed. Will it be quiet time or personal space or my 23-year-old body? Will it be my sense of humor or my ability to run out of the house at 10 pm to BEGIN to hang out? Whatever it is, I will remind myself to savor every moment that God has me this week… this month… this year. I will thumb my nose at my ego and be thankful for my independence from the viewpoint of both a woman who used to be 16 and a woman who will sooner or later be 30.