what a week (or two)

It has been quite exciting and eventful around here for the past couple of weeks, which hasn't left a lot of time for keeping in touch, or blogging. Here's what's kept me busy.

Tuesday, 10/21:
I saw 13 for a second time, for two reasons. I wanted to see what changes they had made since previews, and the real reason -- Jason Robert Brown was having a talk-back with the audience afterward. I got to see/hear one of my idols sing and play the piano! Fabulous. Also, my friend Jessica came in from Norman.

Wednesday, 10/22:
Jessica and I got to spend some time together, when I wasn't working. We walked my favorite route through Central Park and did some typical touristy stops. I also got some beautiful shoes from Bloomingdales.

Thursday, 10/23:
Besides the fact that it was my half-birthday, I went with some friends to the midnight premiere of High School Musical 3. But I've already blogged about all that.

Friday, 10/24:
On a whim, I got a student rush ticket to Tale of Two Cities. Twenty five bucks for front-row center? Yes, please. It was fun sitting right behind the conductor, and I love being right up close for the curtain call. I honestly didn't expect much from this show, but I happened to love it. Sure, there are plenty of things wrong with it, but I really enjoyed it. And now I'm re-reading the Dicken's book it's based on.

Saturday, 10/25:
Jes and I did a lot more running around on Saturday. We started with brunch at my favorite spot, Sarabeth's (on the Upper West Side, though the one on Central Park South is equally adorable). That afternoon, we saw Altar Boyz. The best part was when they busted out Lambchop. We ended the day with more shopping in the magical corner of 5th Avenue - Bendel's, Tiffany's, Bergdorf's, etc. And we made friends with Whitney, a doorman at Tiffany's. Finally, we headed to Junior's for some amazing cheesecake.

Sunday, 10/26:
I got to sleep in, which is a rare occurance, even on my days off. Then, I spent the afternoon browsing piano music at The Colony, where I found the CAMP piano book. And then I got yet another great seat at a cheap price to Chicago. I was sad I didn't get to see the OU production, so I figured the Broadway show was a worthy substitute.

Monday, 10/27:
As I posted about below, I went to the Wicked 5th anniversary special, The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken. Might I mention that Rufus from Gossip Girl, Justin from Ugly Betty, and the one and only Mario Cantone were there? I had a blast and really enjoyed the performance, which was an early draft of the first act. I must say, it is a good thing they made the changes they did, however. And, it kind of rekindled my love for the music, because I was kind of way over Wicked prior to Monday night.

Tuesday, 10/28:
Sarah, Rena and I went to see The Phantom of the Opera after work. It was Sarah's 5th time seeing it, my first time seeing it live (surprising, I know), and Rena's first Broadway show ever! And of course, it's Phantom, so it was beautiful. Also worth mentioning is that I ate Thai food and actually liked it. That's a big deal. Ha!

Wednesday, 10/29:
Wednesday was jam-packed, in preparation for next week's deadline and this weekend's trip. I did have time, however, to see the amazing Chanel Mobile Art exhibit with Flavia and Kayleigh. It was the single most incredible exhibition I've participated in. I loved the way you were immersed in the experience, rather than being a passive observer. I could go on and on about it, but this post is already getting long, so I'll leave it at that for now.

Thursday, 10/30:
I got on the Super Shuttle to the airport at 3:00 a.m., because this weekend I got to take a trip to Tennessee to visit my family! Though traveling on 2 hours of sleep and working for hours after landing was not particularly fun or exciting, the evening was great. Mom and I baked cookies, I got to play the piano for a couple of hours, I watched Grey's Anatomy for the first time all season, and I went to bed with Bridget, our Scottie, curled up at my feet. Life is good.

That brings us up to today. I have lots to do, so I'm going to end this post now, but I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about my visit to my mom's house. I hope you have a very happy Halloween, and don't let the crazies get you!

Samantha will be proud.

I'm going to this tonight. It benefits Bette Midler's NY Restoration Project, so I hope she's there. That would be ah-mazing. I think it's going to be pretty great anyway. Now, I've railed and ranted about how I refuse to go to Wicked on Broadway. That's because the tickets are way too expensive and are never available on my discount site or at tkts, I've been listening to the music for 5 years and I think I wore it out, and I saw the touring company and was slightly disappointed (not with their performances so much as the show itself). I still feel this way, and I will not pay my own money to go sit through a regular performance alongside every crazy 14-year-old fangirl who thinks she can sing "Defying Gravity" well enough to get her big Broadway break and will argue about which Elphaba is better, and who is rude to fans at the stage door. (Those crazies do exist, sadly.) However, I am so excited about this event, because it's all about the music. And let's face it, that's what I love the most anyway. I am very excited to hear the popular songs in their early incarnations, and to be privy to music that got cut from the show. I'll report back on it (as well as the rest of my recent Broadway outings) soon.

Yellow Brick Road Not Taken Will Celebrate Wicked's Fifth Anniversary

By Andrew Gans
August 21, 2008

The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken, a selection of scenes and songs cut from early drafts of the hit musical Wicked, will be presented Oct. 27 at the Gershwin Theatre, the home of the Stephen Schwartz-Winnie Holzman musical.

A portion of the proceeds from the 7:30 PM concert, which celebrates the fifth Broadway anniversary of Wicked, will benefit the New York Restoration Project. An all-star cast will be announced shortly; Matt Lenz will direct.

In the upcoming concert, press notes state, "Wicked composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz and book writer Winnie Holzman will share some of the scenes and songs from early drafts of the musical blockbuster. . . .Featuring never-before-seen material performed publicly for the first time, as well as songs cut during the show's development and pre-Broadway engagement, this one-night-only event will tell the story of Wicked the way it's never been told before and will illuminate the various paths the writers took in creating what has become one of the most popular Broadway musicals."

Buy this Limited Collector's Edition

Tickets will go on sale to the general public Sept. 5 by calling (212) 307-4100 or by visiting www.ticketmaster.com.

Based on Gregory Maguire's novel, which turned every Oz myth inside out, Wicked explores the early life of the witches of Oz: Glinda and Elphaba. The two main characters meet at Shiz, a school where both hope to take up sorcery. Glinda is madly popular and Elphaba is, well, green. By a misunderstanding, they wind up roommates and, after an initial period of mutual loathing, begin to learn something about each other. Their life paths continue to intersect through a shared love, entry into the Emerald City and interaction with the Wizard himself. Eventually, their choices and convictions take them on widely different paths.

Wicked features a score by Stephen Schwartz, a book by Winnie Holzman, direction by Joe Mantello and musical staging by Wayne Cilento. The creative team also includes scenic design by Eugene Lee, costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Kenneth Posner, sound design by Tony Meola, projections by Elaine J. McCarthy, wig and hair design by Tom Watson, music supervision and arrangements by Stephen Oremus, orchestrations by William David Brohn and dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott.

For more information visit www.wickedthemusical.com.

Why I love living in New York

This is amazing:
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/122709.html.

On the Town is one of my favorite musicals ever. I have watched the DVD dozens of times. And I'm going to see it performed live as part of the Bernstein festival.

I've gone a little post crazy, with two in one day. But this is big news, y'all!

Edited to add:
In other news, we got cable/high-speed internet today. I'm utterly overwhelmed by the number of channels. Also, I scored front row center seats to Tale of Two Cities tonight for cheap! Yay!

The Boys Are Back

I realize that it's nearly 4 a.m. and I have to be up before 8 tomorrow and I should be sleeping. But I had to write this post while I'm still excited about it. Tonight, as I mentioned, some friends and I saw the midnight premiere of High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

Well, to be honest, it turned into a 1 a.m. screening, because they had problems with the film. We were sitting there for an hour and a half (at least) with a ton of impatient AMDA youngsters and Jonas-Brothers-psycho high schoolers who were more than ready to get their fill of Zac Efron. And the complaints let loose. We were afraid that it wasn't going to happen, which would've been highly disappointing. Rooms nearly left when we were informed that the new showtime was 1:00 a.m.

However, we were convinced to stay by an enticing offer. (Okay, being real, Kieley and Ashley were convinced to stay; Rena and I weren't going anywhere without seeing HSM3 first. I mean, we were already there way past my normal hour to be out and about during the week, so we might as well hang around and see the movie we'd made plans to see.) We got free movie passes, that can be used at any time for any movie, because of the inconvenience of waiting. And they gave us all a free drink and a free bag of popcorn. Not too shabby. Plus, we got to enjoy the amazing movie. I think I liked it more than the first one, even!

So, it looks like I'll be viewing Twilight from the cushy seats at the AMC on 84th. For free. And it seems to me that I'll be using some iTunes gift cards I've gotten in the mail to purchase a certain movie soundtrack tomorrow.

P.S. I predict that at least a couple of the songs and a ton of the choreography that I saw tonight (er, this morning) will show up in a Scandals show or two at OU this spring. Right?

P.P.S. The song title that is the title of this post was my favorite scene from the movie. So cute.

Ooooh, we're halfway there!

In case you didn't know, I enjoy birthdays probably more than anyone I know. I think they are a huge deal, whether they are mine or someone else's, and I enjoy celebrating them.

In fact, I love them so much that once a year is just not enough. I also celebrate my half-birthday, which just so happens to be today. Honestly, I don't expect anyone else to celebrate (or even be aware of) my half-birthday, but I make a point to celebrate it myself.

This one is especially exciting, because it marks the 6-month countdown to my GOLDEN BIRTHDAY! So what am I doing to celebrate today?

First, I gave myself an extra 30 minutes of sleep this morning. Who wouldn't love that? This afternoon, I'm going to let myself drink a Dr. Pepper. I very rarely drink caffeine anymore, and I haven't had a DP since May! I'm going to take a cab home from work, especially since I need to carry home the box full of winter clothes my mom shipped me. Later tonight, some friends and I are going to the midnight premier of High School Musical 3. Technically, that happens the day after my birthday (showtime is 12:01), but if we were being serious and technical, I wouldn't be making a fuss over a half-birthday in the first place. Maybe I should incorporate a trip to Crumbs in there somehow, too. I mean, since it is my half-birthday and all.

Goodness, now there's only six months to plan my Golden Birthday events. AND to make my wish list, which all know is ever important. Right now, I'm leaning toward this. Just like Blair's. ;)

On that same note...

You can easily tell what interests a person. Just look at how she spends her money, and how she fills her free time.

So, if a particular person's disposable income for the past few weeks went toward:

• Tickets to Legally Blonde on closing weekend
• Tickets to Wicked: The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken
  
• Multiple Theater Development Fund purchases
• Music from The Colony
• Drinks at Don't Tell Mama
• Shoes from Steve Madden
• Computer repairs/accessories at the Apple store

And if, in a span of 16 days, she'll have seen at least 8 theatrical performances...

What would that say about her?
-----------------

On a related note, I have decided that I'm going to get up the nerve (and the songs) to sing at open-mic at a certain piano bar I love. Suggestions?

The Great White Way

Shows I've Seen In the Past 3 Months:
Spring Awakening (x2)
[title of show] (x2)
Hairspray
13
College: The Musical
Aliens With Extraordinary Skills
The 39 Steps
Avenue Q
Boeing-Boeing

Shows I Want to See in the Next 3 Months:
Altar Boyz (going next week)
Gypsy (going over Thanksgiving)
Legally Blonde (which closes on Sunday. UPDATE: I'm going on Saturday)
Tale of Two Cities
August: Osage County
Spamalot
All My Sons
Pal Joey
Billy Elliot
Equus
Phantom of the Opera (Sarah and I are going in a couple of weeks. Would you believe I've never actually seen a production of this one?)

Totally do-able.

P.S. Worth mentioning, because I think it's funny, and well, it's my blog. I'm going to have to teach my friend Flava-flav how to spot a 'mo. Seriously, she debated with me from 45th and Broadway all the way to 57th and Fifth about the lead actor in Avenue Q being straight. I crossed my heart and hoped to die if that one wasn't gay.

Case in point: A photo from his official website. Also, this article. Fruit fly for the win! Also worth mentioning (even moreso than his sexuality) was his fantastic performance. Color me impressed.

Joyeux anniversaire, mon ami!

"You say it's your birthday It's my birthday too, yeah They say it's your birthday We're gonna have a good time I'm glad it's your birthday Happy birthday to you." -- Beatles, "Birthday"

Today marks the birthday of one of my most favorite people in the whole entire world. Just a couple of years ago, we became friends because we liked the sound of each other's voice (no kidding, we met in choir). And then we discovered more things we like about each other (and a few weird things too). It's a good thing we take cute pictures together too, because there certainly are a lot of them.

From date parties dressed as kids on Christmas to decked out in our semi-formal finest, rooting for the Sooners in Norman or in the West End, being in Scandals or just being scandalous, and all the random times in between, Kely is one of my most beloved friends. And today, I'm celebrating him!

Happy birthday, little K. Love ya!

I'm fading in and out...

"Red", by Sara Bareilles, from the album "Careful Confessions"

I’ve been down, I’ve been out. I did it all on my own.
Seems growing up didn’t take long.
Feel strange, I feel good. I feel better with you.
You’ve changed, you should. Cause I think I did too.

Made my mistakes, and did a few things right
But it will take what it will take, baby that’s life
You cannot change what you do not own, everybody knows.
But if you live deep and love strong you get pretty damn close.

It moves fast and it scares me. I close my eyes, oh but I still see…

I’m fading in and out. What are you supposed to do save me now
From all of this danger? You don’t know how and I’ll find my way out.
When I’m in the red listening to strangers inside my head
The darkening angels beneath the bed, I still see everything you said,
Painted in red.

I shake and I smile, cause you said
Baby girl it may take a while, but take the good from the bad
And never minds are never sure so never leave them wanting more
What are you waiting for?
How you love is who you are.

I dive in and I sink in. And I find new colors to think in…

I’m fading in and out. What are you supposed to do save me now
From all of this danger? You don’t know how and I’ll find my way out.
When I’m in the red listening to strangers inside my head
The darkening angels beneath the bed, I still see everything you said,
Painted in red.

In the distance is a line defining where I’ve been the state I’m in
And ever since it began to slip from my two hands I’ve been
Taunting fires, touching wires, been believing liars, everything they said
Painted in red

I’m fading in and out. What are you supposed to do save me now
From all of this danger? You don’t know how and I’ll find my way out.
When I’m in the red listening to strangers inside my head
The darkening angels beneath the bed, I still see everything you said,
Painted in red.

What are you gonna do? No way for you to save me.
What are you gonna do? Everything that you gave me is painted in red.

BEAT SAXET.

You know what time it is, right? It's time for OU students to make the Southbound 35 trip to Dallas to see the Sooners "beat the hell outta" texas. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to get there from NYC, so I'll be rooting from here. I'm just a little sad to miss out on the the shopping, the West End craziness, a first-hand view of the game, and all of the "What happens at OU/tx..." moments, but I'll survive.

However, I do need to throw my 2 cents into the trash-talking, so here are some jokes for you Sooner fans:

A guy in a bar leans over to the guy next to him and says, "Wanna hear a good Texas joke?"

The guy next to him replies, "Well before you tell that joke, you should know something. I'm 6' tall, 200 lbs., and I am a Texas grad. The guy sitting next to me is 6' 2" tall, weighs 225, and he's a Texas grad. And the fella next to him is 6' 5" tall, weighs 250, and he's a Texas grad. Now, you still wanna tell that joke?"

The first guy says, "No, not if I'm gonna have to explain it three times."

Q: What do you call a good looking girl on the University of Texas campus?

A: A visitor.

Q: How many Texas fans does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: One, but he gets 3 credits.

It was reported that Texas head football coach Mack Brown will only be dressing twenty players for the Oklahoma game. The rest of the players will have to get dressed by themselves.

Four college alumni were climbing a mountain one day: a Texas, an Oklahoma grad, a Florida grad, and a Notre Dame grad. Each proclaimed to be the most loyal of all fans at their alma mater.

As they climbed higher, they argued as to which one of them was the most loyal of all. They argued all the way up the mountain, and when they reached the top, the Notre Dame grad hurled himself off the mountain, shouting "This is for the Fighting Irish!" as he fell to his doom.

Not wanting to be out done, the Florida grad threw himself off the mountain proclaiming, "This is for the Gators!"

Seeing this, the Oklahoma grad walked over and shouted "This is for the Sooners!" and pushed the Longhorns fan off the side of the mountain.

Q: What's the only sign of intelligent life in Austin?

A: Norman: 370 Miles

One day in an elementary school in Austin, TX, a teacher asks her class if the Texas Longhorns are their favorite football team. The whole class says yes, except for Little Jimmy.

The teacher asks, "What's your favorite football team, Jimmy?" Little Jimmy says, "The Oklahoma Sooners."

The teacher asks, "Well, why is that?" Little Jimmy says, "Well, my dad is a Sooner fan, my mom is a Sooner fan, I guess that makes me a Sooner fan."

The teacher angered by his reply says, "If your dad was a moron and your mom was an idiot what would that make you?" Little Jimmy says, "Well, I guess that would make me a Texas fan."

All the city streets a wondrous chorus singing...

The green autumnal parks conducting
All the city streets a wondrous chorus singing
All these poses oh how can you blame me
Life is a game and true love is a trophy
-- Rufus Wainwright, Poses

Yesterday, as I was walking home, a beautifully brown leaf drifted its way down from the branch of a small tree lining 86th street and onto the fringe of my jauntily-draped tartan scarf. For me, that means Autumn is officially here in NYC. As if the quickly declining temperatures, mannequins decked in layer upon layer, and Pumpkin Spice lattes at Starbucks didn't give you the clue already.

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. On the other hand, this not knowing has its charms."
-- Joe Fox, You've Got Mail

However, unlike Mr. Fox in You've Got Mail, school supplies are the last thing I want to think of in conjunction with this fabulous season. It makes me itch to leave the office, which is probably a good thing for my productivity. Pauses for blogging aside, I'm being ultra-efficient so I can get out of here as quickly as possible each day and go experience my favorite city in one of my favorite months. (There's a tie between October and April, if you must know.)

I know I'm about a week behind, but here's a few tidbits and anecdotes regarding the way my October has blown in:

• It seems that Christmas comes earlier and earlier each year. Of course, I'm never one to be left behind the times, so I've made my early yuletide contribution by starting my Christmas wish list. But more about that later.
• I will divulge one thing on that list - something I'm taunted with by the likes of Bloomie's and Bendel's. I love scarves. And hats. But mostly scarves. There are so many lovely ones my shopaholic heart is lusting after. (Mother, you'll be proud to know I gave in only in the form of a $5 scarf from a street fair, even though the $170 DVF ones were calling my name.) So, there's one item on my wish list: a fancy scarf (admittedly, I don't need one quite that expensive).
• The reason I'm even in the neighborhood to be tempted and teased so regularly by my favorite retail sandtraps is that I've basically been living at the Apple Store on 5th. Poor LaMaque (my MacBook) is feeling slightly under-the-weather - it is fall, after all - and I've had to make multiple trips to get him back on the up-and-up. He'll be good as new soon, though!
  
• Speaking of LaMaque, there's a funny story about how his name came to be. Let me know if you're interested. It reveals too much of my nerdiness to warrant posting here.
• The crazies come out in October, apparently. The other day, as I was walking down the block, a pack of teenage boys ran past me dressed in frog costumes and afro wigs. What?
• It's OU/tx week, y'all. Though I am a native Texan, I absolutely abhor the burnt orange travesty of a university that is home to the longhorns. Though I'm sad to miss out on the West End/Fair Park festivities this year, the rivalry is alive at the office. I decorated the desk of a UT-grad coworker today, and sent her a lovely little ditty.
• My friend Flavia and I went to Forbidden Broadway this weekend. I'm so glad I got to see the last reincarnation of this silly Off-Broadway show. I particularly loved the jab at In the Heights that reminded me of "Camp" and this diminutive diva's spoof of Kristen Chenoweth's "Glitter and Be Gay." Genius. And I got all the jokes - am I part of the theater cognoscenti now? Does that mean I should start spelling it "theatre"?
• I had a conversation on the Subway today with one of those wacky protester types. You know, the ones who stand around selling political buttons and toss out words like "jingoistic"?
• Why is it that everyone at work thinks I'm blonde? And I don't mean because of the way I act/talk. No blonde jokes in there at all. My hair is red, people. On the blonde spectrum, it's strawberry at the most. At least my handsome stranger complimented my RED hair the other day.
  
• Finally, in the everyday and mundane category, I'm a big-time media consumer lately.
  

Books: I'm rereading Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell, which I recommend highly. This is the 4th time I've read it. I'm also very into the Tales of the City series, by Armistead Maupin. I also read at least a chapter of the Book of Job each night. It's my favorite.

Music: It's old, but you have to listen to Corrine Bailey Rae. Especially "Choux Pastry Heart" and "Three Little Birds". Another song I can't get out of my head is "I'd Rather Be Sailing/Set Those Sails," a beautiful duet from "Make Me A Song." And of course, I'm still on my MGMT kick.

TV: As much as I didn't want to do it, I've once again joined the ranks of people who schedule their evenings based on what's on TV. I think it's part of being a "grown up" in the "real world". Ha. Anyway, I'm a regular viewer of Gossip Girl, Pushing Daisies, Ugly Betty and Private Practice. Sorry to say, but Grey's jumped the shark. I'm over it.

Movies: Like I can afford $12 for a ticket? Well, maybe I can, but I'd rather spend that money on live theatre. (See what I mean about the spelling. So much classier.)


Ok folks, that's all I have for now. Vast improvement over my last few posts, no? I'm balancing this whole city love/no love for my job thing. More updates to come.

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Sorry that I'm terrible about blogging lately. Work is sucking the life out of me. And kind of sucking in general.

I don't like to write about downer things, so I suppose that's why I haven't been writing. I kind of hate Mondays. (And I'm not the biggest fan of Tuesday through Friday either, right now.)