Finster Finds

My car is running again. Thankfully Tuesday is one of the days we have another Pharmacist at the store so Mark had some errands to run and he detoured to come home and get my car started. I am experiencing a lot of relief at that! Oliver has been home sick for the second day in a row. he is fairly lethargic so it doesn't add to my stress except I am home bound and I do have some running around to do...

My car won't start. It tries to catch but won't turn over. Mark is on his way home to help. Cross your fingers because otherwise I have no idea how I am getting to the show tonight.

Tonight, after a long day of brunch and Q 2 Q at Walterdale, I went to The Dream King (ELOPE). Hmmmm. I am still thinking about it. It is a new, unfinished musical written by Randy Mueller. It was performed in concert (for the most part) and narrated by Colin McLean. Those are the facts. There was some wonderful music, but... but... but... I don't know. It is hard to comment. Without a book it is tough to say if it would work. The music was well written and beautiful and some had tension and movement, but... but... but... There was no conflict pushing the story. The first act was a recitation of the "facts". It was almost entirely exposition and the whole first act could have been done in one song. Cut to the chase. Ludwig II was so removed from other people all the conflict happened when he was out of the room so you really didn't care about him. He built castles and people were upset about the money and forced him to give up the crown and then he ki...

Went to Sweeney Todd last night. Quite liked it. Would love to play Mrs. Lovett (?) some day. My kind of role! Had to cover my mouth with my scarf because I kept laughing whenever the blood sprayed. I still think I was supposed to... Afterwards we went to karaoke and my bad-luck with karaoke held out and the song I picked had something wrong with the disc and all the text layered on top of itself so it was hard to read the lyrics. Figures...

We had the read-through for Baby the other night. It was hard to get a total picture because 2 of the 6 leads were missing, but I think it shall be quite good. I was a little concerned because I was told I was singing in one number and then it looked like I wasn't but immediately after we read through the song Randy indicated that the parts would be shuffled because I was supposed to be singing in that number. I was relieved. There isn't much for the ensemble to sing as it is written, but Randy also indicated that he might be adding voices and people to some of the numbers. That relieved me as well. It is a big time committment and I want to make sure I will be getting enough out of it. It was great to see the people there. It will be a really strong cast, probably a stronger ensemble than most. It was also good to see Magnolia and my Shelby. That will make it all worth it. On another note - Magnolia is to be congratulated. She placed 2nd in the 3-Day Novel Writing ...

Tonight was my one night off this week. WAS. Now I have the first read-through for Baby . We will get our scripts and read and sing through the play. I should've napped this afternoon. Tuesday is "crazy day" with both boys having swimming and Gibson doing Preschool and I also have child-check at the school. There isn't time for much. Plus I am tired from last night. Both boys were up and down all night long.

We had a Board Meeting for the theatre last night. I was in a good mood when I got there, but halfway through the meeting that was gone. I wanted to slam my computer shut and leave. I felt that my input was not valued and that I was being condescended to. If this keeps up I will not be back next year. My time is too valuable to feel the way I did. I wrote the Board about my specific issues and I have received a message back from the President asking me to call when I feel I can talk about it, but I know I am not ready right now. This is the second meeting this year (out of three) that I have written to the Board the next day because I felt I was prevented from saying something at the actual meeting. Both times I felt dismissed. What is the point of me being on the Board if I can't express my opinion?

One of the actors was telling a story. Apparently a friend of hers is in a theatre company in Germany and his mother went over to see the production and while there the company paid for all of the mother's meals. She felt that this was a reflection of how arts was valued in Germany as opposed to Canada. I'm not sure that's exactly what it means. Hmmmm. I'm thinking on this. I am torn about the whole thing. I personally think there is a lot of accessible art in my life. There is a range of cost for this from FREE (my APN play reading) to EXPENSIVE (The Citadel, Justin Timberlake) but there is always something to do. I find Edmonton to be an Arts Mecca. If I didn't have other conflicts I could probably go to 3-4 arts related events a week. I know. I do not live the life of the "artist". I am lucky to do the work I do and not have to worry about it being my source of income. I can't imagine living contract to contract and auditioning and hopi...

This is what I was told. Pretty cool idea. I wonder who the media are?

I know that. Why do I do it? I am not sure myself. At least I do it less now than I used to...