The Streak is Broken

My high school's spring One Act Play my freshman year had been the last time I had auditioned for a play or musical and failed to get cast. My string of thirty-three straight successful auditions finally came to an end. The Director for Garland Summer Musicals, Buff Shurr, had called me a few weeks ago and asked me to come read for him for the role of Max Detweiler in Sound of Music. He called me Friday to let me know he had cast another actor.

Hope to Catch

I really am hoping I make it up to WaterTower Theatre's production of The Glass Menagerie. One of my favorite actresses, Jessica Wiggers is playing Laura.

Upcoming Show

I will be opening Barefoot in the Park at Kaufman County Civic Theatre on April 17th. I play Harry Pepper, or as I call him, Phone Dude. I hope you can make it.

The Joy of Community Theatre

I got a phone call at 6pm from the guy who plays one of the Wickersham Brothers in our production of Seussical. He said he had been throwing up all day and wouldn't be able to make tonight's show.

Well, we don't actually have a Stage Manager (whose problem it should have been), so I had to handle it. For those not familiar with the show, there are supposed to be three Wickersham Brothers, so it shouldn't be that big of a problem. You just shift a little placement. Maybe make sure some lines in songs are covered.

BUT, we only had 2 Wickersham Brothers.

It's really tough to make many things work with only one of them.

The only solution (because we are teen/adult male deficient in the chorus as well) was for me to step in. This is on top of already portraying General Schmitz and Yertle the Turtle.

So, I had to learn the dances to 2 songs (thankfully VERY easy steps) and the music on one of them.

Normally, this wouldn't have been a big issue, but I've been fighting a cold for about a week and a half. I nearly lost my voice completely during my big solo as General Schmitz, but I soldiered through and managed to get everything out all the way to the end of the show.

A show you should see

Tonight begins the final weekend for Rover Dramawerks' production of Veronica's Room. If you can get up to Plano to see it, you really should. The members of the small cast (Terrie Justus, Taylor Granlund, Joe Porter, and Abel Flores) all turn in excellent performances

The show carries a warning for language and adult themes. Please take that warning seriously.

Curtain is at 8:00 p.m. tonight, Friday, & Saturday.

Avenue Q

I trekked over to Bass Hall in Fort Worth with my good friend, Lonny, to see Avenue Q last night. We sat in the Upper Gallery Center section, and although I did have to hold onto the railing to prevent a mild case of vertigo, I must say that those "nosebleed" seats are far superior to the third balcony at the Music Hall in Dallas.

There were a few sound problems in the first few minutes (either the mics weren't set at the right level, or the actors weren't loud enough), but other than that, the acoustics were great. I know the cast recording frontward and back, so I couldn't judge based on the songs alone, but I was able to understand all of the dialog. I would have liked to have been closer to see some of the actors' facial expressions, but overall, the seats were fine.

We got a couple of the understudies (Kate Monster, Christmas Eve, & Gary Coleman), but other than one obvious flubbed line, that didn't seem to be an issue. The cast worked very well together. Being so familiar with the original cast recording, I found Nicky's voice to be a little off, but that's not to say the actor did a poor job. He just didn't sound that much like the original character. The Bad Idea Bears were also a little tough to understand at times, but that may just be the nature of the high, squeaking voice that is used. The guy who did both Nicky and Trekkie started to lose his voice late in the show. I can imagine that Trekkie Monster's voice takes it toll over time.

Two songs had been shortened, "Schadenfreude" and "The Money Song," but unless one is familiar with the cast recording, there's nothing about the changes that would stand out.

The "George Bush" line (those who know the music or have seen the show know what I'm talking about) got much bigger applause and laughs from the $24 seats around me than it did from the more expensive seats on the floor.

I wondered how the material would play around here, but there was no noticeable exodus at intermission, so people must not have been too offended. The light applause at the end of "My Girlfriend Who Lives in Canada" was the biggest indication of any audience discomfort.

My friend, Lonny, did not know anything about the show going into it. He told me at intermission that when I mentioned that the show included puppets as we walked into the building, he thought "Oh crap!" But, he ended up thoroughly enjoying the show as well.

Now that I've seen the show, it is much more understandable how it beat out Wicked for the Tony. Wicked is probably the better show, but Avenue Q is hilariously entertaining.

Running and Upcoming Shows

There are several shows currently running or coming soon that I really want to catch. I probably won't be able to see them all because of time and money.

Have Seen:

Avenue Q (National Tour) at Bass Hall

Definitely Going:

A Year With Frog & Toad at Dallas Children's Theatre *Going July 11th

Will Rogers Follies at Garland Summer Musicals

Singin' in the Rain at Rockwall Community Playhouse

The Wish List:

The Oldest Living Graduate at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas

Facts of Life: The Lost Episode at Uptown Players

Zanna, Don't at Uptown Players

A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at WaterTower Theatre

Tommy at Dallas Theater Center

All My Sons at Mesquite Community Theatre

A couple of more Reviews

Elaine Liner gives a mixed review in The Dallas Observer. The only mention of my performance gets this line, "The men's voices blend nicely on the miles and miles and miles of 'Heart.'"

We also got reviewed in EDGE Dallas, a GLBT publication. It only talks about the performances of the leads, but it's an overall positive.