Driving Queen

How long does a ride in the car have to be to qualify as a road trip?  For me and Scott, I believe the answer is the distance between Orlando and Tampa.  Including the stop & go traffic at 'malfunction junction,' (if you've been there, you know where I mean) we're in the car for well over an hour.  That's plenty of time to sing along with the radio, drive fast, and get silly.  On a recent trip to Tampa we learned the following:

* I still know every word to Debbie Gibson's "Only in my Dreams," yet can't remember what I wore three days ago.
* "The Music and the Mirror" from A Chorus Line is a car-dance-a-palooza!  I was driving down I-4 when the song came on, and during the lyric-less portions of the song I launched into some crazy one-handed dancing (the other hand on the wheel of course).  There were jazz hands, Vogue poses, and all sorts of ridiculousness.  Scott says the guy in front of us probably thought I was waving at him.  I think I looked more like I was having a rhythmic seizure!
* Scott knows most of the words to "The Humpty Dance."  I know two lines, besides the chorus: "my name is Humpty, pronounced with an umpty," and "my nose is big, big like a pickle."
* Thanks to my free trial of XM radio, we had plenty of commercial-free radio to choose from.  Since I made Scott my "music navigator," I also let him program the last 12 pre-set buttons.  I can almost completely skip the second page of pre-sets, since they include Bollywood, Greatful Dead, and Margaritaville (where, by the way, I have yet to hear a Buffett song).

We were down in Tampa to see Shrek the Musical at the Straz Center.  It was pretty good.  The caliber of the performers was top-notch, as were the staging and sets/effects.  The show was amusing, and didn't rely on the jokes from the movie as much as I'd expected (but still included the "Welcome to Duloc" song, which cracked me up).  It got long-winded in Act Two though, and I found myself wondering how much longer it would be.  And of course, I should mention that children who are too young to sit through the 90-minute movie without talking probably shouldn't be going to the two-hour live show.  Especially when tickets in the cheap seats are $50 or more.  I had a small child directly behind me, and two - including one who couldn't have been 3 - to my left.  The whining and talking was almost too much to bear.

Antici...

...pation

Anyone want to know what I'll be doing starting in 10 minutes? Watching all of these songs performed at the White House by such fabulous performers as Idina Menzel, Nathan Lane, and Audra McDonald.

Can't wait!

Announcements for Family and Friends

please stick around to the end (or just skip to the end) if you are just here for the tickets

For Sale: Two fabulous tickets to see Irving Berlin's White Christmas at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa. The show is on Thursday, December 2 at 7:30 pm. Face value of the tickets is over $60 each, but our price is very negotiable. This was part of our season ticket package, and we aren't going to be able to go. E-mail me if you're interested.

If you are planning on coming to see the Candlelight Processional this year, please let me know when. Show preferencing and sign-ups start soon, and I have no idea what to sign up for! The show description and narrator list can be found here. I won't be available for shows until December 7, but after that can do the 2nd/3rd shows Mon-Thurs or the 1st show on Sunday. Friday/Saturday I'm only available if Scott wants to go. (my decision, not his, we're working opposite shifts right now and his days off are the only time we see each other) If you're coming, I strongly recommend the dinner package. That way you have guaranteed seating and won't have to wait in line for an hour or more just to get a crappy seat in the back. I'm planning on trying to sing when Jodi Benson, Thomas Gibson, and Marlee Matlin are narrating, but can certainly be available on another date. Please let me know ASAP if you might be coming.

What about park admission? Thank you for asking!

For anyone planning on inquiring about free or discounted theme park tickets in 2010 or 2011, please keep the following in mind: I am given a limited number of free admits every year, and I have to physically go to the park with you in order to use them. For discounted tickets, I need to have your money in advance and have to go buy them during my time off. While I am more than happy to go out of my way for my friends and family who treat me like friends or family (especially the ones who come to see me performing in Encore or Candlelight), I am disinclined to do so for anyone who never calls, e-mails, or even contacts me on Facebook until they need something.

I'm not saying I need my ego stroked or hand held, but a Christmas card or the occasional "hello, how are you?" is a great gesture.

And if this has somehow offended you, I apologize. Setting boundaries is an important part of life, and this is my boundary.

Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you for Candlelight or in 2011!

How Much is Too Much?

Is $24 too much for a ticket to a community theater show?

What if the show in question is Noises Off?

All of a sudden, $24 doesn't sound like too much...especially since Scott and I are both huge fans of the movie. And really, $50 isn't that much more than we spend in an average week eating out. It'll just be a different kind of date night - an actual dating event.

Yeah, I think we'll go.

To the Theater!

The show got two negative-ish local reviews, but I'm still so excited to see it. Love the music, loved the movie, have no idea what to expect live. Of course, I think Scott just wants to see this one song...

8 Days, 1 Month

There were no birds out this morning, so we're taking a brief pause from bird watching. Today we're going to discuss two big things I'm looking forward to!

Eight days from now, we've got a date night in Tampa... for WICKED! I cannot wait to see this show again, especially from our super kick-ass seats! Note to self: bring tissues.

One month from now... any takers? IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! Thank goodness I won't be 30 anymore! We don't actually have any concrete plans. I don't even know for sure whether I'm going to take my actual birthday off from work (leaning towards yes). But I've got plans that weekend including a show in Tampa (with Katie, because Scott just doesn't want to see the Little House on the Prairie musical), dinner with friends (sorry Matt - it's dinner at a place without mac n cheese on the menu - I didn't think you'd mind the lack of invitation), and Oscar night 2010.

I'll leave you today with a picture taken at Gatorland last February. Their breeding marsh is a great place to see native birds. Snowy egret? I'm thinking so...

Puddin'

Our second trip to Tampa for our season tickets to the theater (which I like to say because it sounds so gosh darn pretentious!) was yesterday. We saw a new show called Wonderland, which was good and bad, wrapped into one. Fabulous performances by the male and female leads knocked me on my butt, and I loved about half the music. I had trouble with the story not being flushed out enough, and the costuming seemed sort of half-assed for the magnitude of the story, but hey - it was a fun night out.

Instead of talking about the show, I'd like to tell you about the old lady sitting next to me. This woman was also next to me when we went to see In the Heights in October, so I'm guessing she's also a season ticket-holder, and will therefore be at every show we see. Before the show, Scott and I both noticed that she was holding her purse on her lap, and was eating something out of her purse with a plastic spoon. I think it was one of those pudding cups from the grocery store. And I think I smelled butterscotch. Of course, we're now calling her Puddin'. It totally fits!

Well halfway through act 2, Puddin' decided to spoon with me. Either her hemorrhoids were flaring up, or she was really cold... or maybe she just needed a nap. All of a sudden, she shifts her weight to her left hip (she's sitting to my left, in case you needed the visual), and presses her butt square against the side of my leg. I tried moving closer to Scott, but her butt filled in the empty space. I tried nudging her with my leg - a sort of "sorry to bother you, but you seem to be inappropriately molesting my leg in a way that's really creeping me out and BAD TOUCH BAD TOUCH BAD TOUCH" message, but she wasn't taking the hint.

So I went to my happy place and levitated outside my body for the rest of the show. What else could I have done?

Thankfully, Scott has generously offered to trade seats with me for the next show. Actually, he flat-out refused to trade seats when I asked, but I'm thinking he was kidding and will happily take turns cuddling the stranger. It's only fair, right?

Theater Outing

Scott and my Encore buddy Katie and I went out to Winter Park last night to see Jekyll & Hyde at G.O.A.T. Two of my other Encore friends were in the show, plus it's one that I love the music and had never seen performed.

The performers were great. They were better than any community theater show I'd ever been a part of. They reminded me of beautiful exotic animals trapped in a zoo though. Professional-caliber performances (for the most part) trapped in a splatter-painted plywood cage. The venue is really small - maybe 50 seats - and really relies on the audience wanting to believe and being willing to absolutely suspend disbelief. Oh yeah - and canned music! That was a surprise.

We also had a great time people-watching before the show. Katie ended up next to a girl whose friends were in the row in front of us. Wearing sky-high heels and a pink dress that made her look like Club Hop Barbie, she leaned over to her friends and whispered - not quietly enough - "I'm not wearing any panties! tee hee" Katie told me in the car on the way home that she had a conversation with Barbie, who told her she never gets a chance to dress up, and what better time to do so than when going to the theater? I wonder what she wears to church.

It was a great night. Today before work (like now-ish) I'm off to the apartment to get a load of clothes into my trunk. Mom is coming up tomorrow morning and taking them and the giant ice cream maker off my hands.

Excitement? It's in the Mail!

Great day at the mailbox today!

The 2010 IKEA catalog has arrived, but I haven't even looked at it yet.

What's been monopolizing my attention? We got our season tickets to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center "Best of Broadway" series. And our seats are incredible! They are front row center of the balcony (3rd level, after orchestra and mezzanine). These are the seats we're going to have for Wicked in February, Mary Poppins in May, plus Cirque Dreams Illumination, South Pacific, In the Heights, and Little House on the Prairie (hey - every season has a weak link! plus Melissa Gilbert is in it... that makes it slightly less lame). The series also includes two other shows in the smaller theaters - Godspell and Wonderland.

Did I mention how INCREDIBLE the seats are going to be???

We saw Wicked from the back row of this section a few years back, and saw Spamalot from the very edge of the section in March. It's far away, but I'd rather be up high than in the back of the orchestra section underneath the overhang. A clear view of everything at once is better than watching the spit flying!

Now that we're getting the hang of Tampa, and have figured out which exit has the giant wine store, the Target with a parking garage and all the restaurants, making a day trip should be less painful than previous trips. Sure it means probably not getting home until 1 or 2 in the morning, but we opted for the Thursday series and we have Fridays off to recover.

Come on, October!!!

Off to the Theater!

A few months ago when the touring schedule for Mary Poppins was announced, Scott and I batted around the idea of making a weekend trip (similar to the Atlanta trip) to Chicago or St. Louis to see the show and do some touristy stuff. When I did some pricing online, I found that either of those trips probably would have cost around $1,000. For a weekend! I quickly put those plans away and we revisited the idea of flying up to NYC, camping out on Jenn's couch for a few nights, and going to see a show or two on Broadway. Ultimately though, Scott wants to DO New York when we go, not just run in and out. (never mind I've never spent more than 10 consecutive hours in the city! all we ever did in my youth was run in and out!)

Fast forward to two or three weeks ago. An e-mail appeared in my mailbox from the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (TBPAC) advertising their 2009-2010 Broadway Series. Two things caught my eye right away: Wicked and Mary Poppins. In fact, they are calling it a "high-flying season." Scott and I were both really excited, but season tickets are expensive! We talked about it, put it off, talked about it some more, and finally decided to just go for it. We got tickets in the balcony, which will probably be better than the seats we've had for any previous show at that theater. And, though expensive, it's still less money than that trip to see MaPo would have cost.

Strangely enough, I now have plans more than a year from now, though I'm not sure of specific dates. Beginning in October, we'll be seeing In the Heights, Wonderland, South Pacific, Wicked, Godspell, Little House on the Prairie (the only one Scott has NO desire to see), Cirque Dreams Illumination, and Mary Poppins.

I can't wait! We've both seen Wicked before, and I saw a high school production of Godspell, but the rest are totally new to us. Hopefully a year from now we'll be renewing and not lamenting the waste of money!

(and a bonus came yesterday when I saw the line-up for Bob Carr's '09-'10 series. Phantom of the Opera is the only one I might go see...and in a venue that small it'll probably suck! They also have Xanadu, The Color Purple, and some other shows I can't remember off the top of my head)

My Life On Stage?

I read a theater review tonight that spoke to me. Why? Because the play is about my life! I encourage you to click through and read the whole thing, but here's some key tidbits:

Fully Committed is for that guy — in this case, an underemployed New York actor named Sam, who works booking tables for the kind of restaurant where Gourmet magazine has been waiting all morning to take pictures and the Zagats have just dropped in for lunch...

In Becky Mode’s 1999 comedy, Sam is hidden away in a basement office-hovel, where he scurries between calls from Bunny Vandevere, a socialite who just flew
in from Tibet; from Bryce, Naomi Campbell’s assistant, who needs a table for 15
with an all-vegan tasting menu; and from the peevish tyrant known only as Chef.

Nothing is going well. Sam can’t seem to get a callback. A co-worker is mysteriously absent. And Chef won’t let him off for Christmas.

Yep, that sounds eerily familiar. I'm going to do my best to get out to see it. If employee fun hadn't already been cut from the budget at the beginning of the fiscal year, I would be begging my bosses to take us as team building. I'm sure Scott is thrilled at the prospect of being dragged along to another show... but at least this one promises to be funnier than Our Town!

Road Trip

Scott and I are home from our little over-nighter in Tampa. What's in Tampa? Why, Spamalot, of course! Wondering what you missed? No time for a review now, but I twittered while I was gone. Random thoughts, mostly pointless, mostly in traffic, but it'll tide you over for now.

(by the way, the show was awesome. I was quite pleasantly surprised... thought it would be stupid-silly, but it was amazing-silly)