A Broadway Weekend at Home!

Since the snow came, I have taken the chicken's approach to the world and have stayed inside.  I figured out exactly when I HAD to leave the house and it doesn't happen until today at 2:45 p.m. when I go get the boys from school and take Gibson to swimming. It has been a good week for laundry and it is a good thing that Tuesday was Cheap Tuesday at Safeway so I didn't need to go out for anything. Please don't hate me...

Anyhow, tonight I venture out for the first of my two Broadway shows! I am revisiting Next to Normal at The Citadel tonight with a bunch of friends.  After seeing it two weeks ago it has haunted me.  I downloaded the soundtrack from iTunes and listened a lot to it.  I am looking forward to seeing it live again and sharing it with my friends.

Tomorrow night I will be seeing the Broadway Across Canada show Rock of Ages at the Jubilee Auditorium.  I am expecting a fun rock based show with many recognizable tunes and a lot of big eighties hair. I didn't see the movie, so this will be totally new for me in terms of story. It looks like it will be a noisy, rock concert of a show! I also get to see the friends that we go with (we buy the season's tickets and it makes for 3-4 nights out in the season with a couple we like to hang with!).

Anyhow, tonight kicks off a weekend full of musical theatre and great company - can't beat that!

AUDITION! I'm Directing for ELOPE - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

AUDITION NOTICE - ELOPE

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Music and Lyrics by William Finn; Book by Rachel Sheinkin

Conceived by Rebecca Feldman

Production* dates: May 12 – June 1, 2013

Director: Kristen M. Finlay

Music Director: Sally Hunt;

Choreographer: Jake Hastey

Auditions:
Sunday, January 6th – 1 to 6 p.m.
Wed, January 9th – 7 – 10 p.m.

Callbacks:
Sunday, January 13th – 1 – 6 p.m.

Location: La Cite Francophonel; Suzanne Lamy Thibaudeau Room; 8627 - 91 Street

Description of the Show: The show centers on a fictional spelling bee set in a geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley Middle School. Six quirky adolescents compete in the Bee, run by three equally-quirky grown-ups.

Casting Requirements: Please note: because adults play the kids in this show, no ages are posted because it just doesn’t matter! All characters are played by adults (16+).

Chip Tolentino - C3 - B4 (Tenor).Former champion, going through puberty.
Logainne Schwartandgrubenniere - C4 - D5 (Soprano).Youngest, awkward.
Leaf Coneybear - A2 - G4 (Baritenor).A second alternate, ADD, happy to be there!
William Barfee - Eb3 - Bb4 (Tenor). Health issues, combative, spells with his foot.
Marcy Park - B3 - E5 (Soprano/Mezzo). Over-Achiever, talks to God.
Olive Ostrovsky - Vocal Range: B3 - F#5(Soprano). Shy and lovely, misses her parents.
Rona Lisa Perretti - C#4 - Ab5 (Soprano). Spelling bee hostess, former champion.
Vice Principal Douglas Panch - Stuck in his life, obsessed with Rona.

Mitch Mahoney – E3 - A4 (B4) (Tenor). Looks like a bouncer, Comfort Counselor.

Ensemble/Cameos:

Schwarzy’s Dads – Carl Dad and Dan Dad; Leaf’s Mom, Dad and Siblings; Olive’s Mom - C#4 - Ab5 (Soprano), Olive’s Dad, Jesus

Audition Requirements:

• Vocal – 20 - 40 bars of a musical theatre piece. Please select a comic piece which shows off your voice and demonstrates your ability to show character and tell a story while singing. You will be asked to indicate what song you will be singing prior to audition. Please bring sheet music with piano accompaniment OR Karaoke (without vocal) track on a CD. We will have a skilled accompanist there to play for you. NO ACCAPELLA.

• Acting - Reading from the Script/Improvisation exercise

• Dance - Movement will be handled at Callbacks.

• Performers will be booked in groups of 4-5 to accommodate acting requirements

To book an audition time, please email Kristen M. Finlay at smeep22003@yahoo.ca

or phone 780-406-1256. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

ELOPE is Ensemble for Lyrical Operetta Productions Edmonton - http://www.elopemusicaltheatre.ca/

Elope is a Community (Amateur) Theatre Company

Fabulous Weekend in Jasper - Christmas in November at the JPL to celebrate AM's Significant Birthday!

This was a legendary weekend! I spent it in beautiful Jasper at the Jasper Park Lodge during Christmas in November.  I was there with 7 other wonderful women and we were all there to celebrate a significant birthday of my friend AM. I am still in recovery.  So much good food and drink, dancing, cooking and baking tips, mixology and make-up, shopping, silliness and great conversation.  Here are some highlights:

First, the women I was with were great people to be around! Here is a picture of some of them and one of the bears we had a lot of fun with.  I am going to scan our fancy photo with Santa, but I don't have it yet.

Second, the food was amazing!

Third, great sessions! My favorite was mixology with Micah Dew as he was very entertaining and we got samples of all the drinks he made and I found a few new favorites!

Fourth, JASPER - the Lodge itself is all about luxury, and the views are spectacular.  There is something in the air that revives you even after a late night of eating, drinking and dancing!

Fifth, Gangnam Style - our theme song of the weekend.  We were captured on film and it was tweeted by presenter Julie Van Rosendaal who was great fun and hung out with us following the dance at the after party.

This is a weekend of luxury and it isn't something that I can afford to do all the time, but if you have a special occasion, or want to have a fun weekend with some of your friends and want to enjoy the food and environment of the Jasper Park Lodge, I recommend.  You feel special all the time and if anything, you have to tell yourself to restrain yourself.  The Lodge does Christmas in November every year and there are three packages of varying length and it is so worth it!

Endings and Beginnings and Judy! Just another weekend...

Another jam packed weekend for me and I didn't even get to a Halloween Party!  On Friday, I took Janine to see Typhoon Judy at Theatre Network.  It was a Guys in Disguise production and a ton of fun.  I learned how to sing by listening and singing along to Judy Garland as a child. I also read several of her biographies and next to Marilyn Monroe, she is celebrity I know the most about due to some strange fan fixations I had in my teens so it was great fun to take the ride through Judy's life in this show.  The script is not complex but it is certainly delivered with a great sense of tribute and homage to Judy!  I was impressed with the vocals (live) and the quality, particularly in the big belt notes where you could hear the work that Christopher Peterson had put in to create the sound of the icon. The only thing I wished was that we were sitting at little round tables with candles in red glass holders and a nice glass of wine.  It seemed to be far more suitable a show for a cabaret setting than a theatre.  But, we had a great time and it was a super way to end the week.

On Saturday The Weir closed.  I worked as FOH Manager and was pleased to see a nice big house show up.  There was something really cool about sitting in the lobby listening to the laughter and the applause from the house. After the show we struck the set, which took awhile since we were a small cast and team and the set was pretty extensive, and then we enjoyed a wee closing party.  It was low key but nice.  This was a great show to be a part of.  I felt challenged by my work and was pleased with the result.  That's the best.

On Sunday (today) The Misanthrope moved into Walterdale.  Just call it a revolving door for me!  Production Meeting, Building Tour and then rehearsal today.  I feel good about a few things in terms of my work in the show, but if anything, today showed me how much more work I have to do!  Good thing we have over a month.  I know I will be fine, I am just a bit of a perfectionist and I am sooooo far from perfect right now. It will come and it is so great to be in the space.  It's always nice when we move into the theatre and get a sense of exactly how big the set actually is.

Next to Normal at The Citadel: More Extraordinary Than Normal

Last night, after a lot of anticipation, I went to Next to Normal at The Citadel.  It was their final night of previews (they open tonight - Thursday, October 25) and it was all I hoped it would be and maybe a bit more.  I am going to avoid giving too many details about the actual plot because I do not want to give away spoilers.  I think the show is good even if you know about it, but I imagine it is even more spectacular when you don't know all the details.

This is a ground-breaking Pulitzer Prize winning musical.  It is in no way traditional, being that it is about 95-99% sung and the music itself is rock influenced and incredibly challenging.  All six performers onstage handle the challenge of the vocals well.  None of them have an easy job, but they all seem to make it look that way. Robert Markus as the son, Gabe, is a stand-out vocally hitting unbelievable high note after high note with an ease that suggests he finds singing as easy as breathing. Kathryn Akin is also brilliant as the bi-polar mother, Diana, as she balances the vocals with an intense emotional journey filled with manic highs and darkest lows. If I had one issue with the music, it is only that on occasion the band is a little too loud and with the rapid fire lyrics that most of the audience is unfamiliar with, you have to really work hard to catch every word.  However, it was the last preview and they are likely still working on get that balance perfect.

The show is ground-breaking in other ways as it's topics of grief and mental-illness are not your typical fare for a musical.  However, once you see it, the linking makes perfect sense.  How better to demonstrate the challenges of having or living with someone with a mental illness than by using the heightened emotionality of music to support those roller-coaster emotions.  This cast is totally committed in both song and emotion.  Director Ron Jenkins has carefully balanced the character arcs with fast pacing and shifts in colour and light and position so that we ride the roller coaster with each of them.  Despite being warned to bring tissues, I was caught off-guard when I found myself crying during  Maybe (Next to Normal) sung beautifully and heart-breakingly by Diana and daughter Natalie (Sarah Farb).  The tears returned in a waterfall when this was followed by the reprise of I Am The One sung by dad Dan (Réjean Cournoyer) and Gabe. I don't often cry at musicals, but these moments were so emotionally connected and real that I couldn't help it.

This is the kind of show that The Citadel should be doing more of.  I understand the need for traditional shows that everyone can sing along to, but this kind of piece - the kind that challenges audiences both emotionally and artistically - is definitely the kind of risk the theatre should be taking. I am so glad they did and that they rose so brilliantly to the challenge. It's not easy, but if it was, it wouldn't be worth doing. This is the show to see in Edmonton this season.  I have already bought tickets to see it again in two weeks.  

Relaxed... for now...

This weekend was wonderful!  Mom and I drove down to Calgary, picked up Annemarie at the airport, and then headed to Banff for our Spa Weekend to celebrate Mom's 70th Birthday!  While in Calgary, Mom called Steven and it turned out Sara was down for family week or something and since it was on the way, we swung by his apartment for a quick visit.  Then on to Banff!

It's nice to have a weekend with very little on the agenda.  The Banff Springs Hotel is wonderful and we explored a little bit that first night and had a yummy bite to eat.  Saturday was the big spa day and we all had a relaxation massage, a facial and a manicure and pedicure.  I feel so good right now. I had never had a massage before and I can tell you they are now my favorite thing in the whole world! That evening we went for dinner, went in search of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce for the birthday girl and then did a little shopping. It was a great night of eating and drinking and talking with two of my favorite people in the whole world. The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast (2 hours - a lot of talking!) and then hit the road for Calgary and home. On Friday night and Saturday it had snowed so it looked gorgeous!

The relaxation was great.  The location sublime.  The company ideal.  It was wonderful!

I now progress into a very busy couple of weeks - out every night and sometimes two events each night.  I am glad I got this relaxation vibe going...

An Evening of Atmosphere - The Weir

Opening Night for The Weir was a wonderful success.  The house was very full, especially for such a small cast show, but perhaps the play helped as it seemed to be the perfect piece for this time of year.  It's a little spooky but cozy as well and by the end of the play you really get to know the five characters on stage.  My mother commented on how wonderfully defined each of them was and how they seemed to move around the space so naturally, as though they really were in their favorite pub. The weather in Edmonton this week seems to echo the weather in the play and it really felt like we were all gathered in the comforting space of this neighborhood pub, keeping warm from the biting wind outside.

I was very impressed with the performances onstage.  Cody Porter, always a favorite, was at his tip-top best.  He's the kind of actor who can convey so much with a single raise of his eye brow or expression.  He doesn't need to talk but when he does, like in his final story, he can mesmerize the audience.  It was captivating how real all five of the actors were onstage.  Kieran O'Callaghan was delightful and I imagine him driving home to his 'mammy' after the show and Justin Deveau pulled off the awkward single barman so well I wanted to give him a hug and pat his head. I also enjoyed the energies of newcomers to Walterdale, Gavin O'Toole and Gwyneth Kellii.  Gavin embraced the confidence and swagger of the well-to-do Finbar and Gwyneth's Valerie had an undertone of vulnerability that was heart-breaking. All in all, five strong performances combining to create a real world onstage.  I was also surprised to discover how much I was laughing.  When I saw it in rehearsal a week and a half earlier I wasn't focused on the show - more checking to make sure the paint looked right, but on Opening Night I was really struck by the layered humour of the piece.

Speaking of stage, I was so thrilled to receive numerous compliments on the set.  A labour of love and a test of my skills - so it was nice to hear that it all worked. To me it felt warm and inviting and that was what I was going for.

* Photo Credit: Douglas Dollars Stewart
* The Weir marks #47 in my 2011 Theatre Goal