Getting Back to My "Old Self" Again...!!!

I LOVE the "chameleon" effect of being in a play.  You get to change your physical appearance to fit the character that you are portraying.  For "Amahl" I went for OLD FAT GUY.  For "Birdie"....CLEAN CUT 50'S BUSINESS GUY.  Now that both shows are over, I can get back to being...ME!

Here are a couple of shots of the transformations during the last several months....

Looking a little "round", and bearded for AMAHL...but it worked for the character...

Clean cut, "long-ish" hair, and looking REALLY tired for BIRDIE...!!!

Looking more my "usual" self (even though I have a TERRIBLE cold) today...!!!

REALLY glad to have my evenings free for awhile, but already starting to miss the "theatrical" life! 

Here's hoping YOU are enjoying lazy evenings on the sofa with the one YOU love too!!!!

What a Difference a Day Makes...!!!

I think I can TRULY say that I AM SICK OF WINTER!!!!  In the last 24+ hours, we've been "blessed" with another 17 inches of snow.  HOW LONG TILL SPRING???!!!!

9:38 a.m. Sunday, February 20th

5:01 p.m. Monday, February 21st

Here's hoping YOU live someplace warm, and SNOWLESS....!!!!

Closing Weekend of BYE BYE BIRDIE! and Nailed by the Flu...

Okay...today is the first day of actually being "coherent" since the show closed last Sunday.  I was EXHAUSTED by the time Monday rolled around, and Tuesday my throat started to hurt.  By Wednesday, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.  Spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at home on the sofa, moaning and sweating, and having chills, and coughing up lots of...well...you get the idea.

ANYHOO...the final weekend of the play went very well!  Friday night my parents were able to come up for the show.  My nieces were there (for the second time), and Duane (for the fourth time).  Dianne, and Paulette and Russell were there from school, and my media assistant Nancy was there with her daughters Stefanie and Allison.  It was a ROUGH run, having been away for four nights, but we managed to get through it.

Mom and me and mama!!!

The family!

Me (looking REALLY "blimpy") with Russell, Paulette, and Dianne

Saturday night went much better, and a bunch of the Ashland crew was there.  Janet and Mallory were there (more Kaposia peeps) as well.

Sunday's final performance was a good one.  Duane came (for the fifth time!).  Ro and Janelle were there.  Emilie and Abigail (for the third time) and Monica were there.  My friend Linda and her nieces came, as did Catherine, Penelope, and Cecelia (Kaposia friends).  It was AWESOME to have so many friends support me by coming to see this show, which I still TRULY think is one of the BEST I've ever been involved in...! 

Linda and me!

Me with Paul, Maddie and Ro

After the show, we had our final cast party at the Barks house, and said our goodbyes.  Final cast parties are always interesting...people are PUMPED from having had a great run, but everyone also realizes that this is the last time that the group will be together in this "mix".  Many of us will cross paths in other shows, but we'll never have "this" again. 

I didn't stay long, as I was REALLY looking forward to an evening lying on the sofa (ooohhh...foreshadowing of the week...!), and the longest "part" of the party was trying to say goodbye to everyone!  It was a very large cast!!!

I DEFINITELY suffered the dreaded "PPD" (post-production depression), but not as badly as usual (perhaps the flu "over ran" the depression, because the last few days have REALLY been about trying to get through the day...).

It was a GREAT time, and I REALLY liked being in a lead role again (as opposed to "chorus"), but I'm SO not going to miss driving to Maplewood every night, or the traffic, or worrying about the roads/weather, or putting on makeup, or trying to get the "man girdle" on for another performance (...don't ask...).

I'm looking forward to some evenings at home that DON'T involved lying on the sofa...or at least not lying on the sofa feeling like CRAP!  I also look forward to the next "acting adventure"...whenever that might be!

Here's hoping YOU are healthy, and enjoying "down time" as well!!!!

BYE BYE BIRDIE! Weekend TWO

I survived weekend number TWO of the show!  It was DELIGHTFUL to have four nights off last week to relax!  I think the only thing I managed to do each evening was lie on the sofa, read a magazine or two, and drink a glass of wine! 

The DOWN SIDE to having nights off, however, is that coming back to do Friday night's show was a little "tense".  I don't think I was completely ON that night, but I DID manage to run lines with Duane three of the four evenings that week (okay...I guess I did a LITTLE more than just lie on the sofa!), so it wasn't COMPLETELY a "cold run" on Friday.

I had a TON of family and friends come to the show this weekend....POW and Joel, Kate, Roger, and Josh, Pat B., Nan, John, and Doug were there from Kaposia on Friday night, as was Jerry from the Woodbury theater.  My friend Amy flew in Friday evening for the weekend to see the show.  I don't think she's missed one of my shows yet...she ROCKS!!! 

We were able to have lunch at Christos in the depot in downtown St. Paul on Saturday:

Saturday night, I had about 25 people in the house...Amy, Robin, Dave, Emilie, and Abigail...the crew from Lincoln Center (Connie, Nancy, Jen, Karla, Lynn and her husband)...Sarah and Amanda from Science House...my former Kaposia peeps, Jill, Tim, Julie, Erika, and Bob, Marcie and John from the Woodbury theater, and (I'm sure) a bunch of others that I'm not remembering right now!  We were "sold out" both nights, which is ALWAYS cool!

Sunday's matinee was a smaller crowd, due to it being SUPERBOWL SUNDAY (whatever that is...!!).  Nancy S. and Chris Z. were there from school, as was Duane (his THIRD TIME seeing the show), and my "number one fan" Korey from Robin and Dave's church (She's a HOOT!  She always positions herself in the row in front of me at the Christmas eve service, so that she can listen to me sing)!  Katy and Randy were there as well.  THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING TO THE SHOW!!!!!

Korey

Katy and Randy

Tori

Duane

I can't believe there's only one weekend left!  I've been rehearsing and performing since early October (first "Amahl", and then "Birdie"), and I'm not sure WHAT I'm going to do when next Monday rolls around and I'm not doing ANY shows.  I think Duane might want to take a trip for a few days, because I'm going to be REALLY MOPEY!!!!!

This has been one of the most amazing shows I've ever been a part of.  The cast and crew are UNBELIEVABLY talented, and I'm honored to have been a part of it all!  If you are anywhere NEAR Maplewood, Minnesota next weekend.  Get tickets for the show:  http://www.ashlandproductions.com/!!!

Here are some "back stage" photos from Sunday:

Me and Mrs. MacAfee

Gloria Rasputin before getting all "dolled up"!

Kim MacAfee and Albert

The scene shop!

Here's hoping YOU were able to support community theater where YOU live this week!!!!

Opening Weekend of BYE BYE BIRDIE!!!

“Bye Bye Birdie!” opened this past weekend in Maplewood, and what a GREAT opening weekend it was! We worked our BUTTS off…especially last week (tech week), and I think this could be one of the best shows I’ve been in, thus far!

Opening night, Duane, his cousin Phil, and a bunch of my friends from school came to see the show. It was a great crowd, and the energy and excitement was shared by the audience AND all of us on stage. I can’t state enough how AMAZING the teens are in this show! They are dedicated, and talented, and disciplined, and genuinely nice...fun to hang out with, and fun to talk to between scenes.

After the show, we all went to TGIFriday’s for food and beverages. We didn’t stay ultra late (11:30), because I needed to get home to welcome my dear friend, Tena, who came up for the weekend to see me perform. She arrived around 12:30, and we stayed up, drank wine, and caught up until about 1:30.

We slept in on Saturday, and putzed around during the morning, then headed to the Mall of America so Tena could buy a GREAT new eyebrow brush I discovered at Mac. It works like a mascara brush, and the COOL thing for me is that I don’t end up looking like a scarecrow when I use it (like I do with an eyebrow pencil!). After a brief run through Macy’s, we headed back to Eagan for lunch at Pardon My French. I had a DELIGHTFUL puff pastry crust filled with pork, spices, and mushrooms, and ended the meal with a chocolate pear tartlette…yum!

After lunch, we headed to Trader Joe’s to stock up on…everything, then came back home to rest and relax. Tena and Duane then went to Café Latte for dinner, and I got into costume and makeup (I do it at home, because there are too many loud, energetic teenagers in the dressing room at the theater, and they make me a little crazy…I’m old, what can I say??!!).

Saturday night’s show was AWESOME as well. We were a little “off”, but pulled it together in act II. In addition to Tena and Duane (second of three performances he "gets" to attend…what a guy!), my cousin Ashley and her boyfriend Ryan came up from Des Moines to see the show. Maureen, a coordinator friend from another PYP school in the cities. was there as well. Kelly, from Custom Education Solutions, who I’ve gotten to know through various workshops came with my friend Angie (from school), and I got to meet their respective “significant others”.

After the show, one of the cast members had a party at her house on Lake Phalen. Very gorgeous, and big, and the cast actually ALL fit inside! I took Tena and Duane, and it was a GREAT time, even though we had to leave early, since we’d made plans to meet Ashley and Ryan for breakfast at 8:00 the next morning (ack!).

Sunday, in addition to Duane and Tena, and Ashley and Ryan, Robin, Dave and the girls joined us for breakfast at Original Pancake House in Edina. It was EXCRUCIATINGLY early, and I was COMPLETELY wiped out, but it was fun to do some more catching up.

Tena left after breakfast (insert sad face here), and Ashley and Ryan went back to Des Moines. Duane and I spent a few mellow hours on the sofa, then I headed back to Maplewood for the matinee. Beth, an AWESOME Tupperware friend, was the only person I knew in the audience.

Up until the last song, this was probably my best performance yet. Unfortunately, the FABULOUSNESS didn’t pertain to my final number “Rosie”. Somehow “la la hmmm hmmm Rosie” just doesn’t pack the same flowing narrative as “now my life is Rosie”!

I’ve never “gone up” on the words to that song before, and actually messed it up TWICE…the first time because the words just weren’t there, and the second time because I was FREAKED OUT about not knowing the words the first time, and they escaped me again. Ugh!

Overall though, it was a GREAT weekend, and I’m looking forward to TWO more GREAT weekends of performances. Here are some photos Duane (and Lisa, a mom of one of the teens in the show) took on Friday and Saturday night. People are taking TONS of photos, so I should have a few more to post after the second and third weekends.

Here’s hoping YOU have been able to do something YOU love recently too (and that you aren’t COMPLETELY exhausted right now too!!!)!!!!