So you can teach an old dog new tricks, apparently

Happy New Year everyone!

I discovered three really great entertainment/food venues in Baltimore over the past week that I feel the need to shout from the rooftops. You're probably cooler than me and might already know about these places, but in the event that you don't, I feel it best to share.

1. Tusk Lounge -- I went to celebrate a friend's birthday last Friday, and she started with a cocktail party at this plush hangout atop Baltimore fine dining go-to Brass Elephant. This ornate and opulent lounge is decked out with a marble bar and plenty of comfortable high wing-backs. The music was trendy but not overpowering, and it's within walking distance to The Belvedere and Brewer's Art, so it's the perfect addition to a yuppie Mount Vernon bar crawl. And with my $7 Ketel One and tonics, the price was definitely right, too.

2. Juno at the Landmark Theatre -- This is by far my new favorite movie theatre. It's got the movies that you used to only be able to go to The Charles and Rotunda theatres to see with all of the amenities (and more) of a huge megaplex like Muvico. Centrally located in HarborEast, this theatre boasts cushy seats with adjustable arm rests so that you can snuggle with your honey. There are two nearby garages which Landmark happily validates, so parking is only $3 for up to five hours (a steal anywhere along the harbor). The snacks are gourmet (a la Pellegrino and Phillips' crab pretzels), and there's even a fully stocked bar which we certainly would've partaken of had we not still been hurting from the Tusk Lounge the night before. It was definitely a great place to see Juno, my absolute favorite film of 2007 (not that I see that many).

3. New Years Eve Dinner at the Woodberry Kitchen -- My wonderful boyfriend offered me the choice between going to one of our standby favorite restaurants for NYE or trying out something new. Being the creature of habit that I am, I figured I would push myself out of my comfort zone and ask to go someplace new. My only stipulation was that it had to be in the City. He surprised me with this super hip, borderline tree-hugging space in Clipper Mill. He later shared that he picked this place not only because he had heard great things about it from friends, but also because it was far enough from downtown that we wouldn't get caught in the inevitable chaos that is the Inner Harbor New Years scene. Nestled in amongst the green condos that they've built at the mill, this big open space features a functioning wood-burning oven and waitstaff that wears jeans and down-home-on-the-prairie aprons. They subscribe to a "farm-to-table" philosophy, partnering with local suppliers to ensure that your food is super-fresh and that they are helping to supporting and sustaining the Chesapeake agricultural economy. Not up for dinner but still want to try this place out? The menu also boasts some delicious snacks ranging in price from $1 to $4 and small plates that range in price from $5 to $12 that would perfectly compliment one of their organic microbrews at the bar.

Well that's it for my past week. Can't wait to see the new stuff in store for this weekend!

The Kennedy Center has clearly lowered their standards

I'm in Florida for a few days visiting my madre for Christmas, so I feel a little out of touch with anything mid-Eastern related. Imagine my absolute ELATION when I switched the TV onto the last 25 minutes of the Kennedy Center Honors. I immediately felt a little closer to home. And then to make it even better, they were in the middle of honoring Leon Fleischer by performing Beethoven's Choral Fantasy. I felt all learned and artistic because 1. I knew who Leon Fleischer was and had seen him perform live in the last 5 years, and 2. had actually sung the Choral Fantasy (though totally during a traumatic time in my college career). It was still quite enjoyable until they panned around the audience and I saw Vanessa Williams and Kristen Chenowith in the crowd. Who let these ninnies in to the flippin' Kennedy Center?! Honestly... what have either of them done that requires talent? What am I saying? I LOVE Ugly Betty. Okay... let Vanessa in... kick Kristen out.

At any rate, then I saw the most insulting thing ever as they panned across the other recipients of the award: Diana. Ross. Really. Clearly a whole bunch of other people were on the short-list for the award this year and all must've turned it down or had previous engagements or something because... Diana? The only person that she's "inspired" is Beyonce... and all she really taught her is how to take over a pop group for yourself and make your fellow group members back up singers. I lost my gourd. They've gone from flippin Sydney Poitier to her ridiculousness. I got over myself, though. I mean, she is famous... she did have Barry Gordy wrapped around her wiry little finger.

So I had just recovered from Kristen and Diana, and then they started honoring Brian Wilson. Art Garfunkel called him the "Mozart of Rock 'n' Roll" which threw me for the loop, but I love that "God Only Knows" song that they play at the end of Love Actually, so I sucked it up. That is until the Kennedy Center decided to "honor" Brian Wilson by asking LYLE flippin' Lovett to sing it for him and a hall full of people. And then Hootie and the Blowfish sang two random songs followed by some scary English choirboys in white cult-like-looking robes. They apparently failed to tell Hootie and his Blowboys that people stopped wearing fashionable flannel around 1996. Poor Brian Wilson. I would've thrown myself over the balcony the second Lyle Lovett's croony voice started singing a song I wrote. And I know for sure that he's not nearly as mentally stable as I am.

Oh well. Better luck next year, Kennedy Center. Time for me to go. The news is on now, and in Florida, most people lack teeth. My stomach is starting to turn.

It's the holiday season....

...and I've been feeling more like a musician and less like a theatre artist lately. I'm sure all of that will change as soon as January comes around. I'm actually not sure which is better.

In the past week or two, I've been to two concerts (one at the Kennedy Center to see Paul Goodwin conduct Messiah), A Christmas Carol at Chesapeake Arts Center to see friends MW, CJ & JK, and finally to see Sweeney Todd on Saturday night.



I should start off by saying how glad I am that musical film adaptations are making a comeback. It brings a love of the genre to whole new generation of audience members, which makes me glad... I'll still have a job 30 years from now. I should then disclose that regardless of my zeal for musical film adaptations, I'm awful at going to see them. I saw Chicago in the theatre opening weekend. I didn't see The Producers at all. I saw RENT, but was highly disappointed. It took me 3 months to finally see Dreamgirls in the theatre. I still haven't seen Hairspray. So imagine my surprise when I overlooked my disdain for Sondheim in favor of my blind lust for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp to see Sweeney Todd at the Charles Theatre on Saturday night. I really enjoyed it... which quite surprised me seeing as you couldn't PAY me to see Sweeney Todd on stage (especially not the most recent revival with flip-top Patti LuPone the Avenue Q puppet).

The film was probably my favorite musical film adaptation since Chicago because it was actually a good film and not just a show put on stage. There was a lot of blood, but the cinematography was beautiful. Tim Burton clearly cast actors and not singers since he has to cast that blasted wife or life partner or whatever of his in every movie. She acted the crap out of the role... probably more than Johnny Depp, but she sounded like she was highed up on the crack everytime she opened her mouth to sing. The most memorable moment was probably By The Sea. I almost killed myself during Green Finch and Linnet Bird, and every time that Gerber Daisy playing Anthony Hope started singing Johanna (which is definitely like once every 25 minutes), but the comedic genius that is Sasha Baron Cohen made up for it. And that's my stream-of-consciousness review in a nutshell.

My favorite thing about going to The Charles is that it's attached to Tapas Teatro, one of my favorite affordable restaurants in Baltimore. I go to the restaurant way more often than I do to the theatre, but whenever see a movie there, it's a built-in excuse to eat before or afterwards. It's beautifully decorated for Christmas now, so if you have a chance to go before New Years, I definitely suggest it.

I hope everyone has a safe and celebratory Christmas holiday!

The ACL revival

I know this isn't about Baltimore, but I was in NYC this weekend. We didn't plan in advance to go and see a show... the strike just ended a week or two ago, so it wasn't like we could've made reservations ahead of time. At any rate, as soon as we got off the bus around 11 am in front of the Winter Garden Theatre (Mamma Mia), we headed over to the TKTS booth to see what was going on. The bus driver told us that because of the strike, he had heard that they weren't offering tickets 50% off, and we'd be lucky to get 10 or 20% discounts. Much to our surprise, however, we found a list 3 screens long of tickets to matinees all 50% off. Stephen said I could pick whatever I wanted to see. I started to make my list(for which I'm sure I'll be judged): Spring Awakening, Avenue Q, A Chorus Line... and then I saw it at the very end of the last screen... XANADU! I started jumping up and down and screaming like that announcer dude on The Price is Right had just called my name and said "COME ON DOOOOOOWN!" Stephen even agreed that the tongue-in-cheek roller disco romp was a good choice since it was something like 70 minutes with no intermission, so we could get in and out and still cram lots of stuff in our short day in the city.

We stood in the long but quickly-moving line and got to the window within 45 minutes. When we got there, we were informed (by the super rude woman behind the window) that there were three tickets to Xanadu, but we couldn't sit together. We went to the second choice of A Chorus Line and got mezzanine seats for $45 + tax. Despite the fact that I'm a singer before anything else and the original Bway cast recording is horrendous because they're all dancers before anything else, I've been obsessed with ACL for awhile, so I was super stoked.

We ate at Playwright's Tavern and got out just in time to run the few blocks back to the theatre to get seated. In keeping tradition with his totally charmed life, 6'5" Stephen complained to an usher that he couldn't sit in the [way-more-cramped-than-the-Hippodrome] seats and asked if he could move to an unoccupied end seat in an adjacent row. She told him no, but then let him sit in an unoccupied box by himself so he could lounge to his heart's content (can you imagine... paying $45 for a $200+ seat?!). The show was everything I expected and more. There were three understudies on. I can't remember which ones were. Everyone was amazing, though. And the singing was so TOTALLY on point. And I got to see Deidre Goodwin ("And then he ran into my knife: he ran into my knife TEN times" from the film adaptation of Chicago) as Sheila, on whom I have a small woman-to-woman crush.

Overall, the Broadway experience this go-around was quite enjoyable. If only the Chinatown experience that night had the same outcome....

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.