Melancholy.

I'm back home in North Hollywood after a really fantastic month in Wichita. The travel day yesterday was arduous due to a canceled flight and lost luggage, but I had good company in my daughter Kim and the luggage has now made its way home, so all is well.

I keep thinking about My Fair Lady and Forum and the friends I had the good fortune to play with. And I'm sad. I'll miss the gang. We really accomplished some great things. Best wishes to those who forge on at MTWichita. Big River is next, then All Shook Up and Les Miserables.

Now, since the luggage has arrived, I think I'll head to the laundromat and do some laundry before grabbing a bite with Sammy. Although I miss Wichita, it's really great to be home. Take care, all! Peace and love!

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.

Bagpipes and thunderstorms.

This is my first post from Wichita. The day before I flew out, I drove up from Vista (where I had been taking a couple day breather) and met friends at the Costa Mesa Highland Games. In the opening ceremonies, the major pipe and drum bands enter the arena en masse and the sound is astounding. Whether it's because of my Scottish heritage or just because of the primal power of the sound of the pipes and drums, I'm always moved. I wouldn't necessarily want to listen to pipes for hours on end, but when I get the chance, it does the heart good.

After the Scots' fest, I stopped by a birthday party and had a great visit with fellow Oregonian Aubrey, and then I headed home to finish packing and get some last minute drawing done. Unfortunately for me that meant I was up until 3am and the cab came to pick me up at 4:30 for the 7am flight. Ugh. But I got to sleep on the plane.

Now I'm in Wichita in rehearsals for A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum and I'm already having a fantastic time. The cast is amazing and it's going to be such a great show. But the weather right now is rather hit or miss. Some of us braved quite the thunderstorm last night after rehearsal to head to Old Town to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Our clothes were soaked but we really enjoyed the movie.

Now I'm having the coffee and prepping for the day's rehearsal. Scene one, the Maid song, and a photo shoot are on the docket. Here we go!

Preparation.

I received a great big package in the mail today that included the scripts and scores for Forum and My Fair Lady as well as some research resources for the latter. So exciting! It's funny how as an adult I actually look forward to homework. Forum is relatively simple for me – parts of a few songs and some sections of fast-paced dialog (which I do realize are substantial) – but I have a bit of freedom in my approach. My Fair Lady is going to take a bit more work. Alfie Doolittle is a renowned key character in literature. There's that specific dialect, those two big songs, and thanks to Shaw, the lengthy and lovely rants on morality. Add to this the delicious challenge of portraying a character quite a bit older than myself, and I've got my work cut out for me. I'm SO thrilled to have been given the opportunity to tackle all of this, and I look forward to the work. Here we go!

In other show biz news, I had a callback today for a show that would begin rehearsals the day after Fair Lady closes. I think it went rather well, but you never know how things will go for whatever reason. Still, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

On the drawing board, I'm plugging away at numerous projects. I've just finished up a bookmark and two t-shirt designs for the green education project out in Riverside. I'm currently working diligently on the 2008/2009 season artwork for theatre companies in Seattle and Southern California. The work load has been abundant and enjoyable.

Finally – and I'm realizing this has been quite the post – I'm headed to Chicago next week to visit friends Justin, Michelle, and Mindy. Can't wait! Things have been busy and it will feel great to get away for a few days and see these folks. Take care, all. Peace and love!