We're open!

Li'l Abner opened at Reprise! last night. It went rather well and folks seemed to really enjoy it. If you want to see a video feature on the show (including a little show footage) meander on over to BroadwayWorld.Com.

It's great to have the show open for a number of reasons, one being that my schedule opens up considerably. Weekdays are mostly mine again (although we do have an understudy put-in rehearsal tomorrow). I have a bit of illustration stacked up – another fun green education project, a sketch of the Abner show, and an endless stack of work on my own projects. I'm loving being able to dive back into the sketching while visiting Dogpatch in the evenings and on weekends.

That's all for now, folks. Take care! Peace and love.

Ahh... Showbiz & Art!

Quick post... I'd like to post links to a couple illustration jobs I've completed this week (even in the midst of a crazy rehearsal process). Fabulous Divas of Broadway is a one man show by Alan Palmer that features him as a bevy of famous leading ladies of the stage. Click here to see my logo. The Kid From Brooklyn, playing now in North Hollywood, tells the story of Danny Kaye. Click here to see my sketch of the talented cast. I'm really happy to have had the opportunity to work on these wonderful projects.

On the show front, Li'l Abner is well on its way. Dress rehearsal went great tonight, and I think at this point our "daylight day off" tomorrow will only help this amazingly talented yet fatigued cast. I myself will most likely meander through Topanga Canyon to grab a bite at a fave seafood diner at the beach. Then final dress rehearsal in the evening. Here we go!

I'm swamped.

Rehearsals are going very well, but the days are long. We have four days of what's referred to in theatre lingo as "10 of 12"s. That is, we are committed to the theatre for 12 hours each of these days, broken up by a two-hour dinner break... long rehearsal days that alternate in bursts of energetic performance and periods of standing and waiting while other parts of the collaborative process are focused, adjusted, spiked, etc. (sometimes the waiting times are the more draining parts of the day). In the little photo above is me and my cohorts, Ray Garcia and Lou Becker (photo by Larry Cedar). We have our "sitzprobe" tomorrow morning at 10. This is when we first sing with the orchestra so that will be fun. Then we gradually add costumes and makeup and all that craziness. Final dress rehearsal Monday. Preview Tuesday. Big opening night Wednesday.

And of course I've committed to a commissioned illustration in the midst of this crazy week. I can't divulge the details yet, but I've got to get it done by this weekend. So I'm trying my darndest to get the inking phase done tonight so I can get everything scanned into the ol' computer. I'll spend my down time at the theatre tomorrow to complete the layout and get it all set for printing. Tomorrow night will find me at Kinko's completing my project. It's a fun piece and I'm SO thankful to be doing it for a number of reasons, but I'm working my butt off.

Well, I'd best be prying myself off of Blogger and get back to inking. Take care, all!