Broadway baby

I think I forgot to fill you all in on this one. I have recently enrolled in a musical theater class here in the city. On Wednesday nights, I head down to 24th Street for my Performance Techniques Workshop to sing my little heart out. So far, I have gone three times and I'm really enjoying it. Any outlet to sing is welcomed with open arms by this girl, of course.

Deciding to enroll kind of happened on a whim -- my friend was trying to convince me to take acting classes with her, but I thought that if I was going to take any classes, I wanted them to be specific to vocal performance. So, I found this class instead. It's basically set up like a master class setting; we bring in songs and perform, then get feedback from our classmates and the instructor, and work through moments.

It's a small class - the most we've had in attendance was 7, and we get a lot of opportunities to perform and work on our songs. What I really enjoy is how performance focused it is. Pretty much all of the classes I have taken in my life have been focused on the vocal technique. Now, I'm not denying the importance of that, nor am I claiming to need no instruction in that area. But it feels good to flex a bit of a different muscle, you know?

Along with flexing different muscles in terms of acting/singing, I am also trying to branch out of my musical style box. I choose a lot of contemporary musical theater stuff - specifically, a ton of Jason Robert Brown songs. And it turns out that I should probably have some variety in my book. Who would have thought, right? So that's what I'm doing.

It's fun to get involved in the theater in this small way, to feel like I'm doing rather than just observing. Of course, it's simply a small step. I don't know what direction I'm headed in, exactly, though. Does this mean I'm looking for auditions? This class is about preparing songs for performance and audition, so I suppose perhaps I should.

When leaving the class one evening, I was walking in the same direction as my teacher, John. He asked me about my background, and was surprised when I told him I was PR major, not musical theater. He said, "So, you moved to New York to do the singer/actor thing..." And, really, the answer is no. That's not the reason why I moved to New York. But John wasn't convinced when I told him so. "Don't be afraid to say it," he said. My response: "Well, it really wasn't my plan to come here and try to do this. But, I suppose this could be a step in that direction."

Then he asked me if I had gotten an agent yet. Now, that's a funny thought, and definitely a step I'm not quite ready to take. Though you never know what's going to happen...

To end on a less vague statement, how about a quick anecdote from the class:
After each song is over, we go around and say something positive about that person's performance. My favorite comment that I have gotten? "Well, you sure can sing the shit out of anything. And this week, I made people cry. In a good way. I sang Still Hurting from The Last Five Years.

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Apologies for the sub-par level of writing in this post. It's 6:30 on a Friday and I'm sitting in the office waiting for everyone's conference calls to end so we can go to happy hour at Blockheads. Viva la weekend!

Whispering, hear the ghosts in the moonlight.

Maybe it's because I'm a super fan of his.
Maybe it's because I blogged about the same thing just a day before.
Maybe it's because I went to the Duncan Sheik concert tonight.

But Matt Doyle's blog post definitely made me tear up a little.

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On a related note, the Duncan Sheik concert was what he called a "record release extravaganza party". He's been working on a new musical called Whisper House, and the new album is basically a polished demo version of the songs he has for it thus far. I'd never seen him in concert before and I must say, I love hearing him sing live. He also has something unexpectedly timid seeming about him when he's onstage, though not as a musician. Just something about the playful way he interacts with the audience, and ends songs with a simple, nearly whispered "Thank You." Oh, and the show is about ghosts. How poetic, that it all ties back in to the lyrics that make up this title. (They're from an SA song, if you didn't know.)

I met him afterwards, which was great because I missed out on that chance last Sunday after the final performance of Spring Awakening. He signed my copy of Whisper House and the Spring Awakening playbill I brought along.

I hope we get the chance to see more amazing things come from both of these very different, but also very talented men.

We did have some remarkable times.

A week ago today, I was sitting at the final performance of Spring Awakening. The entire experience was exhilarating and uplifting while also being very touching and bittersweet.

I don't have a lot to say about it, because the whole day was just beyond words, really. There are some details that I have to mention, though. Walking into the theater, you could feel the energy. It was obvious that there were no (or at least very few and far between) first-time viewers there. Everyone was already a big fan, and they all treated one another like a sort of family, or at least recognized the communal love for the show.

I had a pretty great seat, in the Orchestra in row F. Actually, I would say that it was an amazing seat, because I was on the same row as the Original Broadway Cast members who had come to see the final performance. As if seeing the last show wasn't awesome enough, I could simply look to the left and see their reactions to everything throughout the night.

I won't review the performances, because the whole show was simply great. Every song was greeted with a standing ovation from at least part of the audience - ranging from the typical length of applause expected after a number to what was probably 5 minutes after "Totally Fucked." Oh yeah, and then they did a reprise and sang the last verse/chorus again. Along with the entire audience. That means that I was rocking along to the song with the current cast, the original cast, and the creators of Spring Awakening. It was hands down an amazing experience.

And then afterwards, of course there were a lot of tears from the cast, crew and creative team as they took their final bows and said their thanks. Duncan Sheik even pointed out something I had noticed when going into the theater - how lovely it was that the snow decided to fall and bells were tolling from somewhere as the evening began.

I feel so lucky to have gotten to be a fan of the musical and live in New York during its run so I could see it multiple times. This time was definitely quite memorable. (It could only have been made better if Matt Doyle had been on as Melchior. Right, Meg?)

I don't have much commentary - there's plenty out there if you want a play by play, and there are videos of the curtain call speeches on YouTube, if you're interested. I did want to share some of my favorite pictures from the night, though.

There is Duncan Sheik (music), Steven Sater (book) and Tom Hulce (producer). Also, Alexandra Socha is really excited for some reason.

Hunter Parrish is a really nice guy. You could tell that his voice was really strained by the end of his run, but he is an impressive actor. All in all, I saw him as Melchior 3 times, so I figured I should at least get one picture with him.

Gabe Violett is the reason I had a ticket to the performance! I was talking to him after a different performance and some of us were saying that we were sad we wouldn't be at the final show. He then informed us that they had released more tickets that day, so I went online and found one! He plays Otto, by the way.

Gerard Canonico is one of my favorite cast members. When I first saw him as Moritz, I was a little skeptical, mostly because he looks and plays things differently than John Gallager or Blake Bashoff, but he really grew on me. Not to mention that he comes across as a very genuine person.

Blake Daniel has a beautiful voice, and he always seems so happy. He was the only performer I saw in the same role at every single performance I went to, and I can proudly report that he never once disappointed.

If you don't know how much of a fan I am of this guy, then where the heck have you been? He seriously has the best voice I have ever heard. I sincerely hope that at least one of his projects he is working on goes well for him, because the world (Broadway especially) needs to see more of Matt Doyle.

Across the boroughs

I have had the most utterly random day. Let me explain:

I woke up in Queens, where I had stayed the night before at my friend Jericho's place, along with another of our friends, Christa. This was my first outing to Queens, as a matter of fact.

Then we decided, after a lazy morning of Facebooking and Googling ourselves, that we should go to Ikea in Red Hook, Brooklyn. (That's where the Real World cast was for the current season, just as an aside.) I am proud to say that I only purchased one thing, a really adorable pillow for the couch. We also had the perfect cheap lunch at Ikea - $2.25 for a hot dog, chips and a drink. Not too shabby.

We had been discussing the fact that there are multiple Urban Outfitters in Manhattan, yet none in Brooklyn, which we thought was strange. In fact, that is false. I used trusty Google Maps on my phone to find out that there is an Urban on Atlantic. So we drove there, too. (Jericho has a car in the city - crazy, I know.) After that rendezvous turned out to be unfruitful because we couldn't find a parking spot, we decided to continue our adventure elsewhere.

Christa and Jericho wanted to go to Home Goods to find stuff they didn't get at Ikea, so off we went. This time our trek took us to Long Island - Port Washington to be exact. At Home Goods, I really wanted to buy a lot of random crap - including a wooden duck painted purple, with a little wooden tag hanging from its neck stating, "My name is Alice." It was so ugly it was cute, but not $14 worth of cute. So Alice the duck is still at Home Goods in Port Washington.

Then we were super classy and had dinner at Taco Bell, because we realized that there aren't many fast food places in the City, and that was an experience we felt was appropriate for our very random day. Then we returned to the various boroughs we call home (Queens for Jericho, Brooklyn for Christa, and Manhattan for me).

We decided that we need to have a Five Borough Weekend soon. I mean, we hit up three of them today, but could not come up with a good reason to venture into Staten Island (is there really ever a reason?) or the Bronx. I have a feeling an outing will be planned to accomplish this feat soon, however. We are good at themed outings.

For the rest of the evening, I am crashing on my couch. I think you might giggle if you saw what I was surrounded by. It's all very Emily. I'm wearing my Spring Awakening shirt with my PJs, and I just got through practicing a couple of songs from The Last Five Years for my vocal performance class. I've been flipping through my Broadway history book, and I'm about to watch the HBO recording of Angels in America.

Random and assorted, indeed. But I think it makes for a pretty solid Saturday.

Laugh.

Somedays I feel as though my life is like a movie scene, or perhaps from a TV Show. Today, it's like I'm in an episode of The Office. Especially after the wacky lunch conversation that just went down.

100

I've been putting off posting because I didn't know what to do to make my 100th post awesome. It's a lot of pressure, you know? I had several ideas, all of which involved me coming up with 100 of something. And try as I might, I didn't have the patience or the interest in writing 100 facts, blah blah blah... and you wouldn't have wanted to read that either.

So, instead I decided to share with you some of my favorite time wasters - since you're already reading blogs online anyway. With no further ado, in honor of all that is my 100th post of awesomeness, here are my current favorite YouTube videos. Some are really old favorites, and others are newer loves. (And ok, so a few of them are Spring Awakening related...)



(This one might not make sense to you if you haven't actually seen Spring Awakening. In fact, it doesn't really make any sense even if you have.)



(Kyle Riabko is currently on tour with SA as Melchior. He's a strange kid, but funny! And a great singer.)



(Oh, come one. You really haven't seen this?)



(Blake played Ernst in SA. He also has a beautiful voice. This song is great, too bad the band isn't together anymore.)



(This is one of those classics. It reminds me of sitting on the couch with Ross at Phi Delt and watching YouTube videos for hours. Actually, this whole post reminds me of that.)



(Kayleigh introduced me to this video. "It's like she thinks she's the dictionary..." That part is my favorite. You should watch the sequel, too.)



(Combining the comedy of Leave Britney Alone and I Just Wanted To Make It Snow. Brilliant.)



(Erin and I fell in love with this little precious.)



(I wish there was someone who looked like Tedward working in my office.)



(Another really old one, but it never gets old. Though the song kind of has by now.)


There were many other classics that didn't get posted on here, but that's for another day. Maybe in another 100 posts?

Anyway, you're welcome. Now get back to work.

God Bless America

I apologize for going a week without posting. It's just that the past week was filled with so many exciting things that I didn't have time to fully document them.

I promise to fill you in with details on:

• Restaurant week
• My vocal performance class
• Saturday on the town
• Spring Awakening's final performance

However, for now, I'm going to leave you in suspense. I must say, though, that I have goosebumps after watching the Inauguration. I don't have words to express the feeling adequately, but I am hopeful about the implications of what just happened.

God bless America is right.

(Oh, and this is my 99th post! Get excited for the next one!)

FYI:

I sincerely hope you're watching Gossip Girl right now. The triumphant return of Jonathan elicited a cheer at my household.

Best. Weekend. Ever.

I had seriously the best weekend ever. If I tried to sum it up in words, it would be all wrong for two reasons: 1) I would ramble on forever and you'd get bored, 2) It would still not accurately capture it. So, they say a picture is worth 1,000 words, so here's a more succinct version.

After work, some of the girls went out for dinner on the Upper West Side. This restaurant is great. Yummy Chinese food yes, but the best part is the free wine. Sure, it's just Franzia, but that makes it so much better.

During dinner, we decided to play the role of "douchey frat guys" and so what better place to go than "Bro-J's"? It's the land of boat shoes, croakies, pastel polos and '80s rock. Brings me back to South Greek days.

While wandering the UWS, we came to my favorite bakery, Crumbs. So Christa and I just had to have a cupcake. Those are some of my favorite NYC treats, and it had been way too long since I had eaten one!

Saturday, I slept in gloriously. I think I got 12 hours of sleep. Then I spent the day lounging about watching Season 2 of Dexter. Love that show SO much! Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention that it was snowing steadily all day, creating a beautiful backdrop to my lazy day from the window.

That night, Kayleigh and I braved the elements to go see a movie. While waiting in line at the 42nd St. theater, we saw the singer Adele. I was just saying how I felt like I was due for another celebrity sighting.

Though we initially intended to see Milk, we ended up going to Benjamin Button. I seriously loved this movie. The moment Brad Pitt comes on the screen on the motorcycle, I remembered exactly why he's always on the top sexiest men lists.

Sunday, I woke up relatively early and headed out for the day. At the suggestion of my mom, I paid a visit to Henri Bendel's, and I am beyond glad that I went out on that whim. They were having a massive sale - as in 80% off some things! I ended up getting several things that I would never have even considered buying before, at a total that would have been over $1,000 if I had payed original price. Luckily, I paid less for the grand total than one item would originally have cost. I have never experienced a sale that rewarding. Seriously.

And then, something that always makes a weekend great: I went to a Broadway show. And even better, when that show is Spring Awakening. I seriously cannot believe that it's closing next week, but it has been an amazing run.

Oh, and as if I was already having a phenomenal weekend, it just got better. Matt Doyle, who happens to be just my absolute favorite, was (to my pleasant surprise) playing the lead role this afternoon! I absolutely adore his voice and his portrayal of Melchior. I got a great discount ticket, which happened to be an amazing seat. The fifth row, on the left aisle! And of course, I stayed after at the stage door, and I got to chat with him for a couple of minutes. (This photo is from the last time I saw the show.)

And then I'm ending my weekend now, having just watched the Golden Globe awards. It reminded me of how many movies I still need to see from this year. Also, worth noting - the Old Hollywood look is back; everyone was so classy tonight!

And that's the way I like things: classy. I hope your weekend was even somewhat as amazing as mine, though I'm not sure if much else could compete with how great the weekend was for me.

I <3 Sam

At least my quarterback has class.


(And he doesn't look like a dinosaur.)

An updated look

I did this a few months ago and thought it might be fun to take a look at the list again.

Shows I've Seen In the Past 6(ish) Months:
Spring Awakening (x3)
[title of show] (x2)
Hairspray
13 (x2)
College: The Musical
Aliens With Extraordinary Skills
The 39 Steps
Avenue Q
Boeing-Boeing
Altar Boyz
Gypsy
Legally Blonde
Tale of Two Cities
August: Osage County
Spamalot
All My Sons
Equus
Phantom of the Opera
Chicago
In the Heights
Wicked (The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken)
Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab

--- I hope I’m not forgetting anything…

Shows I Want to See in the Next 6(ish) Months:
Pal Joey
Billy Elliot
Hedda Gabler
Shrek
Cripple of Inishmaan
Guys and Dolls
West Side Story
Hair
Blithe Spirit
9 to 5
Waiting for Godot

OMFGG.

"Just tell me G.G.
Three words, eight letters
Wanna be your rock, girl
Be your steps at the Metters"

This is entirely too funny. If you're as big a fan of The Greatest Show of Our Time as I am, you will love this. At least I hope. See how many references you can catch.



And you know that I most certainly do love this show entirely too much. I wanted to point a couple of things out. First, the Pinkberry that is a frequent setting for last night's episode is the very same one my friends and I frequent on 2nd Avenue in the 50s (55th, I think?). Also, I was bored on my way home from work yesterday and decided to watch an episode on my iPhone while en route. It was simply beautiful and poetic that as I passed the Met, the girls were gathering for their breakfast on the steps in GG world. Love it.

I'm back.

Just so you know, I'm back in New York, after a wonderful vacation in Kingsport and Paris. Since I am sure to have more time to procrastinate and faster internet access now, expect more thorough posts. Here's a preview of what might be to come:

1. Rena and I are going to start working on a project. I might need your input.
2. Should I start doing a regular posting day, ala RubyTurtleHippie?
3. A review of 2008's shining moments
4. More videos, links and utter nonsense
5. The quest for that elusive 100th post.

For now, I'm actually getting back to work. But I must also mention that I am overjoyed because tonight Gossip Girl returns! I have been going into Chuck/Blair withdrawals. The rest of the week should be great, too. Tomorrow a coworker has a comedy show, Wednesday I'm going to see "In the Heights" and Thursday is the BCS National Championship game!

I hope you're all having a great Monday.

Wednesday is "New Year's is actually on Thursday" Day

Okay, so first of all, you're probably wondering what the heck kind of title you're reading, unless of course you follow the Ruby Turtle Hippie Times. And that's because the author of said times is your guest blogger today!!!! My name is Samantha. Emily and I met while in college at OU. We're proud alumni of Sigma Phi Lambda, PLBD, connoisseurs of buckets of tea and lovers of broadway, shoes and most recently Edward. Oh yeah, and we happen to be great friends. I mean hello she was in my wedding people. That is commitment.

I first owe my apologies to Emily because I forgot to post yesterday. For some reason, at work yesterday I kept thinking it was Tuesday. So obviously, it wasn't time for my educational post.

Now for the newcomers, I write featured posts Wednesdays and Fridays. On Wednesday as I mentioned before, it is educational. And this is my first time ever to miss a Wednesday as well as my first time to guest blog. So imagine the bittersweetness of this moment. It really isn't quite as tragic as I make it sound. But I'm from the South and we love a good tragedy in the South. So let's just roll with it okay?

Okay so today in true educational form, I'll be educating you on what else?

NEW YEARS DAY

• New Year's Day is the first day of the new year. On the modern Gregorian calendar, it is celebrated on January 1,as it was also in ancient Rome (though other dates were also used in Rome).
  
• January 1 marks the end of a period of remembrance of a particular passing year, especially on radio, television, and in newspapers, which usually starts right after Christmas Day. Publications often have year-end articles that review the changes during the previous year. Common topics include politics, natural disasters, music and the arts, and the listing of significant individuals who died during the past year.
• This day is traditionally a religious feast, but since the 1900s has become an occasion for celebration the night of December 31, called New Year's Eve.
• It is considered to be a sign of good luck to be kissed at the stroke of midnight at the start of the new year.
• It is also customary to make New Year's resolutions, which individuals hope to fulfill in the coming year. The most popular resolutions in the western world include to quit smoking, stop excessive drinking of alcohol, lose weight, and get physically fit. I myself have resolved to lose weight and look smokin' for a particular wedding that is set for the summer.
• The Rose Bowl Parade can be viewed on New Years Day as well as multiple bowl games. I'll be watching both.
• New Year's is also the beginning of multiple bowl games, most notably the national championship, where our alma mater, The University of Oklahoma Sooners will face the University of Florida's Gators. GO BIG RED! Beat the Gators!!
  

Well kids that's education and that's my post. Happy New Year!!!