grown-up chipmunks

Ever wondered what The Chipmunks really sounded like at normal speed? Check this out.

an evening at home

Ah, what a change of pace not to have to go anywhere this evening. But don't you get any grand ideas -- I have plenty of other things to fill my time, and some small gigs coming up, so I'm not exactly kicking back.

Well, tonight specifically I am, but that's because I have a cold and am in a sort of daze. I'm just taking it slow and playing the day by ear. I debated about calling in sick today, considering I barely got any sleep last night on account of having to blow my nose every five minutes, but remembered I needed to finish a few small projects at work for our production manager to print today. I decided to go into work 45 minutes early and finish those tasks, then see how I felt. Predictably, I was still dead tired, with my nose running like the East Falls, so I left around 10:00.

I noticed the first signs of this cold after our preview night Thursday, so I immediately started taking Zicam and Zucol. Indeed I was right, and it was worse Saturday and Sunday. Amazingly, I could still sing, although it wasn't the nicest tone and I had to approach it with a little different technique. Thankfully, I have a few nights off here to recover before Friday's show. I'm enjoying some Throat Coat tea right now, since the cold seems to have moved on from the sniff to the cough, so hopefully with the help of NyQuil I'll get a decent night's sleep.

So enough whining. The show has been going very well. Things really came together last week, solidified by a responsive Thursday night audience. Allison (my stage wife) and I have hit our stride, to the point where our scene goes so smoothly we're afraid we've missed lines. (We haven't.)

This has been a very different experience for me, since I normally am at the piano for shows, even when I'm on stage. Last summer's Joseph... was my first non-piano role in 10 years, but that was mostly singing and dancing. In Company, I have to act! The rehearsal process has been a lot of trial and error figuring out what works and how to implement the direction I'm given.

Admittedly it was very frustrating at times -- the nights I was given note after note, sometimes the same one I had been given the previous night -- but with the help of Rob (director), I was able to bring the character. Thinking of it as "reacting" rather than "acting" helped me think more about the way my character would move and speak. It was much more difficult than I expected going in.

It's remarkable how far I came in the last few weeks, and even in just the last few days of rehearsals. Rob has really helped me to stretch as an actor, and I'm grateful for that. In addition, Eric ("Bobby") -- a candidate for awesomeness -- encouraged me during those frustrating times, which also helped me get back on my feet.

This really has been a great cast to work with, too. Fostered by Rob from the beginning of the process, everyone has been motivated and dedicated, with almost zero wasted time at rehearsals. We all brought our A-game, and we have a great show to show for it.

I'm an uncle!!

My sister-in-law gave birth to Branson Bird at 12:42 this morning.

companyyyyy

The show I'm in, Company, opens next weekend! Rehearsals have been going well, and it has been a good experience (plus, I get to crank out a high G-flat at the end of my song, so that's fun). I've seen the show a few times before, but this is a little different framing and staging of it that I think is very strong.

Fri, Sep 19 ; Sat, Sep 20 ; Sun, Sep 21
Fri, Sep 26 ; Sat, Sep 27 ; Sun, Sep 28
Fri, Oct 3  ; Sat, Oct 4  ; Sun, Oct 5

Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Sundays at 3:00 p.m. See the website for more information.

If you want to see it for half price, you can come to preview night Thursday, September 18 for $10.

In addition, there is a fundraising event before the Saturday, September 27 show, featuring wine, hors d'oeuvres, and other fun stuff. Here's the Evite for more details. The theater is no longer supported by the City of Parma Heights, so they are hosting things like this to help raise money.

Hope to see you there!

fish

Until last year, 1993 was the last time I'd gone to the Elyria Apple Festival. I was in 8th grade, and won a goldfish at one of those games where you bounce a ping pong ball into a fishbowl. For many years, it had no name, and I simply referred to it as "Fish" (in my "fish voice"). I forget why, but when I was in college my mom decided Fish was female, and named it Francine.

Francine survived the arrival and death of another carnival prize goldfish, and even survived five days without food when I was in Disney World with my high school choir and mom forgot to feed her. Eventually she lost her color and grew to the maximum size allowed by the 10-gallon tank, about seven inches long from mouth to tail tip.

Last weekend, she was puffing up for some reason. It would go up and down, but by Monday she apparently was the size of a baseball. She was clearly hanging onto life by a thread, so my parents put her out of her misery. She didn't even really flop around when they removed her from the tank.

I didn't have a great emotional attachment to Francine, but it's still a little sad. It's remarkable that she even lived 15 years, considering she came to me in a plastic bag.

[fish voice]
Fiiish!
[/fish voice]

sam & janet evening update

I just realized I accidentally left off this weekend in my post about Some Enchanted Evening at Huntington Playhouse in Bay Village. We had a bought house tonight, but there are three more public performances this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Two weeks from tonight, Thursday, September 18, is a $10 preview night for Company at Cassidy Theatre in Parma Heights (normal show price is $20). We finished blocking the show this week, so now we have a solid two weeks to run it, tweak it, and polish it. Aaaand also bring up to speed the newest cast member who's replacing someone who had to drop out...

yeah, I'm still here

It's been half a month since I last wrote something, as I've been busy with shows and rehearsals. Today, however, was a holiday, which meant I could actually get some things done besides work and theatre. I enjoyed a cup of french press coffee at a reasonable hour of 10 a.m. while washing the first of two loads of laundry. I finished cleaning the kitchen and vacuumed the floors. I went to Target's [sic], a barbecue at my friend Kim's, then Giant Eagle. And in a moment I will be putting together a bathroom shelf. I'm pretty sure that's the most productive I've been in two months. Domestically, anyway.

But the past two weeks hasn't been all graphics and music. I helped Bre move into her first house, played organ (well, piano really) at Lorain Lighthouse Methodist, visited Becki and Matt after an ill-fated trip to the Legacy Village Apple Store, and helped Stu move stuff out of storage into his new house.

Speaking of which, Laurie has been on bedrest due to some pregnancy complications, so Stu has been taking care of her and the two-year-old, and hasn't generally been able to do much else, even working from home when necessary. Top that off with unpacking at the new house and still trying to sell the old one. This led to National Stu Deserves a Break Day, where we and a few friends took a vacation day last Monday to go to Cedar Point. Some schools were back in session, so the crowds weren't quite as bad, but still more than we expected. And just to ensure that he didn't get a complete break, he had to leave by 4:30 to get Chloe from daycare. Oh well, we still got quite a bit done.

This past Saturday I went to Cedar Point's Soak City for the first time, which was fun. Stu had been promising Chloe she could go 'swimming,' so this was our chance. The nice thing about a water park is that we could all have fun, whereas in an amusement park we'd mostly be limited to watching Chloe ride stuff. Now and then we'd trade off keeping her company so we could try some of the larger slides separately.

Unfortunately, my back earned a dark pink sunburn despite my use of Banana Boat Sport spray sunblock. I'm not clear why this happened -- if I applied it too early in the day, if it washed off too easily, if I didn't rub it in well enough, if the chemicals expired (I bought it last year), or what. Thankfully, I wasn't burned too badly, but it pisses me off that it happened at all. I threw the bottle away and bought some more Neutrogena Body Mist sunblock, which I've had good luck with before, even if its smelly aerosol cloud lingers in the air and ideally needs to be applied outdoors.

So that's where I'm at. Company rehearsals have been productive and going well. As usual I'm meeting people and making new friends, which is one of the things that keeps me doing theatre even though the schedule often drives me nuts. Try saying that to 1998 Bryan 1.0!