The end of a loverly week.

For those familiar with the Music Theatre of Wichita schedule, you'll understand the relief and the resolve that comes on this particular evening. We've rather successfully completed the dreaded designer run through which is where – after a five and a half days of rehearsal – all the disparate pieces of the show come together for the first time and we run the show for the staff and see what we've got. Overall, it went just swimmingly. Personally, I still have moments of tripping over words and harmonies, but I know what I need to tackle. I've got to give a shout out to Damon Kirsche (Higgins) and Kim Huber (Eliza) for a-ma-zing work on their roles in this schedule. They are absolutely fantastic. And the work that the directorial team has done is astounding and clever – Wayne Bryan (director), Sharon Halley (choreographer), and Thomas Wesley Douglas (music). This behemoth of a show is being guided with such heart and smarts, and it makes me want even more to excel at my piece of it. (Photo above courtesy of Jerry Fritchman.)

Tomorrow is our day off and will also include a lovely soiree to watch the Tonys at producer/director Wayne Bryan's house (aka Wayne Manor). And now I'm off to dinner with Wayne and the other members of the creative and leading player teams. I feel so blessed to be a part of another amazing MTWichita show if for no other reason that in multiple ways it reminds me why I love the theatre so much. Take care, all! Peace and love.

With a little bit of luck you'll run amuck...

Rehearsals are well under way for My Fair Lady at Music Theatre of Wichita. (Photo above: Kim Huber as Eliza Doolittle, me as Alfie Doolittle, and Damon Kirsche as Henry Higgins. Photo © Netappz Creative Solutions.) And while I'm having a blast, I feel a bit like I've been hit by a Mack truck. Down side: I'm exhausted. Up side: Most of my show is staged and choreographed in just three days... and it's a good kind of "exhausted". I get a nice chill day tomorrow to regroup and practice my stuff and prepare for cast shenanigans. I'm so thankful for this experience and am not taking a minute for granted. So onward we go! Peace and love, y'all!

Nod to Forum and looking to Lady.

As expected, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum closed last night, and the run ended on a high note. It was a great day of two performances, a dinner hosted by the Guild, and a closing party that went into the wee hours. I'll miss the show and the experience so much. Over there on the right is the sketch I did for the Forum family. Thanks, all, for a lovely time!

So now we're on to My Fair Lady rehearsals. In my first day, I had music rehearsal, recorded a snippet for the commercial we're shooting tomorrow, and took part in the staging rehearsal for "Get Me To the Church On Time." I must admit that probably due to less than optimal sleep last night, I'm pooped. I will be getting at least a full eight hours of sleep tonight to be at full strength tomorrow as we finish "Church" and work on "With A Little Bit of Luck" and scenes. I've just practiced my makeup plot for tomorrow's shoot and now I'm popping a Tylenol PM and hopping in the shower before heading off to Dreamland. Let's hope I dream of lyrics and choreography so it all sinks in faster.

Take care, all! Peace and love.

A celebration and a hesitant goodbye.

Forum closes today. It has been an immensely enjoyable journey and I'm so happy to have been a part of it. I am so fortunate to have the chance to work with a great portion of the cast for another couple of weeks as we head into My Fair Lady, but I bid a very reluctant yet fond goodbye to a few folks who leave us. I have new friends and for that I'm thankful.

Goodbyes are tough though and so today I choose to celebrate the work, the fun, the friendships, the journey. These two shows today are gonna rock! Take care, all! Peace and love.

We're a hit!

Forum is now open and the crowds are loving it. And I'm having SO much fun! The show gang continues to get tighter on and off stage. I'm going to enjoy the heck out of the next few days. (Left to right in the photo of "Everybody Ought to Have A Maid": me, Kilty Reidy, James Brennan, Charles Parker. Photo by Mark Reeves.)

We had a tornado warning yesterday. Ironically I had just spoken with Mom earlier in the day and she told me that if I were in my room I should get in the bathtub and cover myself with a mattress. I also thought I might chain myself to a pipe like Bill Paxton in Twister. Instead we moseyed over to the theatre early and chilled in the bunker. I hear that Century II is one of the safest spots in all of Wichita during a twister. Anyway, the storm fizzled out and we only lost a couple hundred hesitant audience members for the evening show. The only other setback was losing internet connection until just a few minutes ago when the cable dude dropped by to reset the router. Now we're good to go!

So I'm sitting here working on my closing project for Forum and watching some MadTV. Can't wait to get to the theatre for another trip to ancient Rome. Take care, all! Peace and love.

A funny thing happened on the way to Wichita.

Opening night! Last night's invited dress found us facing our first audience and they seemed to really enjoy themselves. It will be even better tonight with a full house and a bit of fine tuning under our belts. Well, I'm off to Wichita's own Forum... Century II. Take care, all! Peace and love! (Oh yeah... and go Obama!)

Eunuchs... A BUYER!

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum opens on Wednesday night here in Wichita and I can't wait. Thanks to the unit set and minimal costume changes (and hard work from everybody involved) we are in such good shape going into final dress rehearsal day and will even have some time to do some fine tuning tomorrow before we don the duds and do the 'dos. What a pleasure this production has been – such talented folk across the board. I'm having a great time and learning a lot too. This is definitely a show that will be over way too quickly, so I'm planning on enjoying the rest of the ride to the fullest. If you want to read a little about the show, click here.

Take care, all! Peace and love.