Thursday, August 9, 2012

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!!

Oy!  I haven't had a chance to blog for AWHILE...the approach and performances of "A Cappella Love", the Minnesota Fringe Festival show of which I'm a part, are in full swing!  We've had three performances, have another one tonight (at 10:00 p.m....ack!), and close on Sunday with an afternoon matinee!  I'M TIRED!!!

a scene from "Meet Cute"! photo courtesy of the Minnesota Fringe Festival website

It's been crazy, and hectic, but also really, really fun.  This past weekend I had TAG TEAM houseguests who came from Milwaukee (my friend LaDawn), and Fairfield (my friend Tena).  It was so great to have them here!

LaDawn arrived Friday night, after a three hour delay with the Megabus that she took to get here.  $29.00 from Milwaukee to Minneapolis SOUNDS good, but you give up A LOT of comfort and "ontime-ed-ness" in the process.  She was supposed to arrive around 7:00, but it ended up being 10:15, and the "bus stop" at the Milwaukee end was an underpass on the interstate.  Eeek!!

We drove downtown to pick her up, since it was night time AND downtown, in a somewhat "questionable" area.  When we got home, we, pretty much, went straight to bed!  Saturday we got up, headed to Colossal Cafe for flappers and other breakfast goodies, made a stop at The Baker's Wife Pastry Shop, spent a little time at Robin and Dave's, then headed downtown for the show. 






We got there REAALLLLY early, so LaDawn and Duane hung out in the "Seven Corners" area near campus, and I went to Ferguson Hall to start getting ready for the WORLD PREMIERE of the show.

I was SOOOOO nervous!  I've never been involved in Fringe before, nor have I ever been part of an original work...it's a little scary!  The show, however, went well, and I only made a few SMALL choreographic blunders.  The audience was very enthusiastic and supportive!

Here's the audio track for our overture, to give you an idea of how we sound... A Cappella Love Overture.

A feature of the Fringe Festival is a really good website with information on all of the shows, AND a "Review This Show" option (something ELSE I've not experienced before).  It's a little scary to think that ANYONE can say ANYTHING about the production, but, so far, our reviews have been pretty good.  You can check it out at: Reviews.

After the performance, we packed everything up, and headed to Edina for the cast party. 

There MUST be a cake!!!

Mark, Nelson, Jennifer, me, Nic, Gina, Crystal, and Michael

with Duane

with LaDawn

with Nic and Crystal

with Jennifer

It was a BLAST!  I love hanging out with theater people...such an eclectic blend!  My FAVORITE part was when we all headed inside and Nelson sat down at the piano.  Nelson wrote the music for the show, and lives in L.A.  He's worked with Hugh Jackman, Beyonce, Zach Efron, Ben Vereen, Jodi Benson (the voice of Disney's Little Mermaid), and many others. 

He can play ANYTHING on the piano...he's unbelievable.  Each of the cast members did an impromptu solo.  It was an AMAZINGLY eclectic concert...everything from Jennifer's "Part of Your World" from THE LITTLE MERMAID...to my "Weekend in New England' by Barry Mannilow...to Gina's "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" from PAL JOEY...!  Super fun!

After the cast party we headed home.  Part of the show is a song called "Meet Cute".  The phrase "meet cute" refers to..."the structural convention of romantic comedies in which “the Boy” and “the Girl” make each other’s acquaintance in amusing and/or clever fashions".  Each cast member had a different "meet cute" at the end of their bio in the program.  Mine was from EVER AFTER...one of my favorite movies.  Specifically, the part where Dougray Scott, as the prince, steals a horse from the family of Drew Barrymore.  She beams him with an apple...they fall in love...the end. 

As a gift for each cast member, the lyricist gave each of us the movie from which our "meet cute" was taken, so Duane, LaDawn and I watched it when we got home, then went to bed...it was a LOOONG day!!!

Sunday, we got up late, LaDawn packed, I gathered everything for the Sunday show, and then we headed back downtown.  I dropped LaDawn at the Megabus (WAAAY classier here...it's in the middle of an abandoned parking lot near the river...!).  I then headed to the U of M campus to meet my friend Kris (who is also stage managing the show) so that we could take our turn "pimping the show". 

with Kris (and yes, I DID forget the suncreen!)

Pimping the show basically means walking the lines waiting to get into other Fringe shows and handing out postcards while "talking up" YOUR Fringe show.  This is SOOOOO outside my comfort zone that it's NOT even funny.  In addition, OUR pimping including singing a snippet from one of the songs.  I can honestly say that I COMPLETELY sucked at this.  In fact, at the first venue, we didn't even get there in time to pimp...we just made it in time to see the show that was playing there (since we were too far away to get to another venue). 

UNFORTUNATELY, it was a show called "Battle Ax Galactica"...involving a drag queen making a comeback in movies, a weak sci-fi plot about blowing something up (I never really figured out exactly what), and a big green triangular alien (with an appendage that kept poking out), to which the drag queen was married.  Not my particular "cup of tea" shall we say...

We then moved to another venue, did some more pimping and saw a show called "Happy Hour", which involved various dances based on alcoholic drinks.  It was, again, not my usual "cup of tea" (or WINE in this case), but it was interesting, and the performance was very well done.

After one more shot at pimping, we went to get ready for our second show.  It went better than the first because, I think, we were a little less scared, and I had a lot of friends in the audience.

with Peggy after the show!

with Tena after the show!!

After the show, I hooked up with Tena, and she and I headed back to my place to catch up, and unwind.  We didn't do much, which was fine, because I was COMPLETELY exhausted.

Monday we got up, headed to Wise Acre Eatery in South Minneapolis for breakfast.  Duane took the morning off, so he was able to join us too. 







luckily Tena likes to mug for the camera as much as I do!!!!

Tena then headed south to Iowa, Duane went to work, and I headed to school to help with job interviews for a couple of positions in our elementary schools.

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, but so much fun, and I'm SOOOO glad LaDawn and Tena (and Duane, and Peggy, and POW, and Joel, and Jeff M., and Dean, and Nancy, and Madge, and Deb, and Jacki, and everyone else who saw it this weekend!!!!) were able to come to the show.  It makes it SO MUCH BETTER when you have friends in the audience!!!!!

Here's hoping you are "busy in a good way" these days too!!!!

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