This is more for my reference than anything... While most people put up a list of movies that they've seen, I haven't seen a movie in a theater for years... live theatre, however, is a particular passion of mine. So, the following is a complete list of shows that I've seen so far (and the number of times I've seen each show...) (Last updated: June 13, 2009)

( COMPLETE LIST OF SHOWS I'VE EVER SEEN )

This post will stay at the top of my journal and get updated whenever I see a new show. It's also here as glaring proof that I really have NO LIFE. ;)

Please scroll past this to see my recent entries. :)

Couple of things... LA theatre related, until I can get the courage to post my RL entry that has been on my mind for a while...

YAY for Daniel!!

http://losangeles.broadwayworld.com/article/Daniel_Tatars_First_Cabaret_a_Smash_20090701

"Tatar has personality plus and an infectious sense of humor which invaded his entire 75-minute set in his cabaret debut..."

Couldn't agree MORE with them!! Wish I could've seen this!!! :(

And YAY for the first look at the Crooning Crabcakes!!

http://www.lifecouldbeadream.net/

I can't wait to see this show!!

Can I just say how much I adore Russell? He has to be the sweetest, warmest person... :) His emails just make me smile and melt my heart. :) He's in a new movie... called "Gerald" - it's an ASL Film - which means there is no voice track or subtitles and he should be spectacular in it!! I can't wait to see this!!



Please help me if you can to support him! He's incredibly talented!!

I need to go back and re-watch him in "There Will Be Blood" now... :)

"If you won't take the time to update LJ,... I will!" ;P

On the upside, he's probably MUCH more interesting than I am! :D

Sorry, no LJ cut...

Hope everyone has a lovely 4th! Traditionally Mark & I take the fuzzy baby and head to Magic Island to watch the BIG fireworks show, but I think this year we're going to avoid the crowd and stay home, watch my favorite musical (which prompted my strange spelling in the title above...) for the ten billionth time on DVD and have a quiet night in. :)

Sorry I've been a bit absent from LJ lately... lots of things going on at work and none of them any fun to talk about. :P But, looking at the extremely bright side of things - I have a great job, I love the folks I work with (what would I do without them?) and if there's any time that I feel thankful for those two facts, it's definitely now!

On a non-depressing note,... my life has been taken over by ebooks!! :P The fact that I can load and carry everything I want to read around on my phone is VERY addicting! It has also caused some extreme jealousy of a certain fuzzy dog who insists on nosing my screen while I read and turning the pages before I'm done! ;) I swear he's too funny!!

Happy and safe 4th to all!! HUGS!!!

...and to avoid spoiling it for those who have yet to see it, I will put my thoughts under a cut (though I don't think there's any time zone left in which it hasn't already aired...) I'm... now understanding why no one told me about Michael being on this week's episode.

On a side note, before I spout my reactions to the episode, I have to say that KINGS is an absolutely AMAZING show - and of course, like all other amazing shows of substance, it'll be gone all too soon. :(

( Now to my spoilery reactions )

I can't say enough how much I love this show!

Still uncertain whether there was a Michael spotting this week. The spoilers are unclear... "Rose tries to keep secrets about Michelle and Jack under wraps..." Well, we KNOW Jack's secret is Joseph... but that doesn't mean that Michael is necessarily on the show. Damn. Sometimes I hate living in my time-zone challenged state. :P

So, to pass the time I did this: ONE ARTIST MEME

...special thanks to waytoocoolrev who tagged me on Facebook with this (admittedly a while ago, sorry I just got around to it now.) :)

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 10 people and include me!

Pick Your Artist: Michael Arden (of course, who else?) ;)

( ONE ARTIST MEME )

Okay, had a couple problems and I definitely cheated a little... Michael only composed a couple of musicals. ;)

...in my previous post about my lunch with my good friend who I hadn't seen in over 7 years. :)

We met at my working place and walked over to CPK and caught up on the seven or so years that we'd been absent from each other's lives. It was... lovely! She is still very much the same person I stayed up to talk with for hours in college about our boyfriends, life, and our future... We spoke about everything - our men, our jobs, our lives -- where we'd thought we'd be, and how surprised we were at how things had worked out in both our lives.

She's a doctor now, and works as a pediatric opthomologist at a hospital near my office - she and her husband are like Mark & I,... probably will not end up having children... and, for the most part, it's okay with us. We talked about mutual friends, about people we hadn't seen in the longest time from our college days... it was wonderful.

When we left she told me what prompted her email (seemingly, to me, out of the blue.) She and I have always said that we'd go out to lunch, dinner, etc. but we never got around to setting a formal date. She told me that she always meant to call or email, but she was busy, she knew I was busy, etc... and time always seemed to get away from us and suddenly it was next Christmas and we never did get together...

Then she asked me if I remembered her friend Stephanie. She said that she hadn't seen or spoken with her in a long time as well (they had always talked about getting together too...) and she called her because she had heard that Stephanie was a realtor and she and her husband were thinking of buying a place. She told me that after many attempts to contact her, they finally got in touch with each other,... only to find that Stephanie was in the late stages of cancer and only had a short time to live. :( She said she really regretted not having made the time to meet up with her... and she said she didn't ever want that to happen to us.

I almost cried!

We made a promise that we would get together more frequently and semi-planned our next dinner outing - and this time we plan to drag the men out with us. :)

( Some THEN and NOW photos of us (back in 1990 and 2009) :) )

I am SO glad that we got the chance to meet up! She is and always will be my best friend from college, the one I told everything to,... the one who stayed up with me for hours when I broke up with my boyfriend, my maid of honor at my wedding... and I'm SO glad that she's back in my life... :)

Can someone update me on what the heck is happening on ATWT? Sadly, I just went over to VH.Net and for the very first time since I started lurking, I have NO IDEA what people are saying. :P I think I've been away from the board so long that I have no idea who half the regular posters are there anymore either...

I will probably always adore Van (he has to be the sweetest guy around) and I will go to see anything he does on stage, but, for the life of me, I haven't been able to get myself to watch the recent Nuke stuff on Youtube. I know one day I'll go in and catch up on everything that I missed, but really... I haven't watched the show since the kidnapping (and Zoe & Zac stuff) so I'm guessing I'm months behind at this point... :P The thought of having to go back in and catch up is pretty daunting. :P

On a non-ATWT note, tomorrow I have a lunch with my friend that I really haven't seen in almost 7 years. I'm looking forward to catching up with her because it's been so long, but I fear that we're too different now... What if we have nothing in common anymore? We really haven't talked extensively for about 7 years or so - and it wasn't because we had a falling out,... it was more because we just seemed to grow apart. Hopefully this lunch can reacquaint us. :)

Hope you're all having a nice week. :)

...for "Parade" at the Taper. As if it wasn't enough that there is FINALLY a staging of this show that I can see (after years of loving this musical...), I found out today that Will Collyer (from "BIG" who is absolutely ADORABLE - that's him in my new icon...) is in the cast! How amazing is that?? I'm even more excited to see it now... which doesn't seem possible. :) Thank goodness for my pre-planned Oct LA trip!!

( If anyone wants to see how adorable Will is in BIG... )

After watching that video, I wish I could see BIG one last time before it closes in July. Too bad I could only stay in town for one day...

...I finally changed my LJ layout. :) It's been about 5 years or so that I've had the same, boring, standard layout and I thought I'd try something else... Forgive the banner photo - it needs more work. :P It was just my VERY quick attempt at putting something together. :P I will go back and change to something better later - though it does have the people I tend to talk about most on my LJ... ;)

And, I changed the wallpaper on my computer... It WAS Nuke, then it was Pippin, now it's:

( this... )

:)

...Kings was INcredible! Yes, Michael's scenes were MUCH too short, but having Jack seek him out, the kiss, the hand holding, the "was it real?" Wow... well, well worth the wait!

And yes, Michael had only something like three lines to say and far too little time is spent on developing the Jack/Joseph storyline,... but it was still pretty amazing! I have to say, when Jack is leaving with tears in his eyes, it absolutely breaks my heart. This show is simply amazing! I'm so sad that it hasn't been picked up... the story is probably better than any show I've seen in a very long time (even aside from the Jack/Joseph storyline.)

I can't say enough how much I love the show!!

Also, on a non-Kings note, I HAVE to see THIS! After all, I sadly missed the MTG production of Parade the year that Misty was in it because I went to see Kevin in the one night only Assassins reading at Reprise! And though that was TOTALLY worth it, this is still my favorite musical that I have NEVER seen! Plus, they just announced that T.R. Knight has been cast as Leo Frank AND that Rob Ashford is directing. :) Yay for the fact that I already have an early October LA theatre trip planned - PERFECT! :)

"Jack uses the outage to camouflage his double life..."

Wooo Hooo! NBC is actually showing this episode... thank God!

Can't wait for this and for Season 1 to be released on DVD! :)

http://www.starbulletin.com/business/20090618_Bankoh_to_cut_12_workers_in_investment_services_division.html

This. SUCKS.

...was an "I need Yogurtland" kind of day. :P

If you've been on my friends list for a while, you'll remember this post about my best friend and former roommate in college and how I was saddened that we'd drifted apart over the years before attending her wedding in 2006...

Well, amazingly, out of the blue, I got an email from her the other day suggesting that we go out for lunch next week! :) I truly haven't seen her since her wedding, nor have I seen her in the 5 or so years leading up to her wedding. It was SO nice to hear from her and it'll be SO great to see her!! :)

I have to admit that I am a little apprehensive about it, just because so much time has passed... I know we're not the same people we were in college - far from it actually... But my hope is that we'll be able to build a different friendship, based on who we are right now... Our lunch is next week Thursday, if you can, please think good thoughts that things go well.

On an LA theatre note, I wish the Rubicon wasn't so FAR away from LA! :( I would give anything to be able to work this show into my July theatre trip!! It's been FOREVER since I've seen David Burnham on stage. :(

Doing the weekend (no vacation) theatre trip again in late July... So far, this is my tentative theatre schedule for that trip... If anyone is in the area and would like to meet up for one of these shows, please let me know - I'd love to see you!

Saturday, July 25th (mat): Little Shop of Horrors at MTW (to see Lowe) :)
Saturday, July 25th (eve): The Andrews Brothers at Fullerton CLO (to see Bets)

If I had even ONE more day in LA, I'd head over to the Rubicon to see David's show! :( Drat. lindasings, I envy you!! :)

Speaking of which, my favorite straight play of all time - "Trying" - will be playing there over the Labor Day weekend! :) Not sure if I want to try to fight the Labor day travel rush to fly out to see it... but it could be SO worth it!! No Alan Mandel, but I still adore the show and would love to see another variation of it...

Finally, I've been hearing such great things about Violet last night. I really wish I could've stayed in LA just one more day this time to see it... Hoping there's at least one MTG show that I can make it down to next season... :(

So, the weather here has been getting progressively more humid and much harder for poor Cooper to handle with all his fuzziness... so Mark & I have been doing things like giving him COLD water from the refridgerator to drink instead of the normal tap water in his dish. He LOVES this!! But not in the way you think...

Today we caught him, instead of drinking the water, he pawed at it with his front paws (alternately) until they became a wet mess... Then he happily walked around the house tracking his wet little paw prints. :) I know that dogs sweat and cool off through the pads on their feet, but I've never seen a dog do this before.

Sydney certainly never did this... does anyone else's dog use their water dish just to cool off their paws?? Or is Cooper just a silly strange dog? ;) (Or should I even be asking this, considering he grew up in OUR house?) ;D

So, I'm back from my (what felt like) overnight trip to LA... I have to admit that when trips are short like that, I do tend to try to make the most out of every minute and will sometimes end up doing more things than when I'm in town for several days.

The trip started off with some serious (and much needed) retail therapy at the Glendale Galleria. Walked into LUSH for the very first time (and immediately thought of underworldfairy) :) There were so many things I wanted to try and buy... but sadly I only brought a carry on and I couldn't take the liquids home, and the solids would weigh my carry on down too much... I did make mental notes of what I wanted to buy the next time I come back, though!! :D

Went to Express and Windsor and bought a bunch of things... I try to save all my clothes buying for my mainland trips because the selection in Hawaii is still pretty limited...

Then I went to Red Robin and got a carry out boca 'Shroom burger, fries, and a freckled lemonade... I figured if this was the weekend to indulge, I might as well go all out! It was amazingly delicious and I've decided that I need to try every burger that Red Robin has to offer in boca form! (That's actually a goal I now have!) :)

Went to West Hollywood to check out the Pride festivities. My friend Patrick was supposed to meet me there, but got tied up at work and couldn't make it. The traffic to Hollywood was RIDICULOUS! So bad, that I got there about 10 minutes late and completely missed Michael's number! :( I did get to see him walking around the grounds there afterward, but he wasn't alone and I didn't want to bother him (or seem stalkerish). I did get to see Eden sing "Wizard & I" and got to watch the sign language interpretion of the song (which was incredibly neat!)

Afterward, I walked around the booths and got into great discussions with a lot of volunteers there about marriage equality (I wish I could volunteer to help them canvas and call folks, but I don't live there...) I also got some great dog treats for Cooper from the Petco booth, a "Fantastiks" poster from the Reprise booth, and a Fuse drink from the Gelman's booth. All in all it was a pretty great experience. Oh, and I saw "Marvelous Wonderette" producer, David Elzer there! Someone called my name as I was heading out and it was David!! It was SO nice to see him!! :) He told me about Roger's new show and we talked about what was currently playing around town. :)

( Some pictures from Pride )

That evening, I drove to La Mirada to see Michelle Duffy in "Ring of Fire" - the new Johnny Cash musical. I'd heard of it before on Broadway, only because Beth Malone played the June Carter role there. I know that anything Michelle does, she does wonderfully and I thought it was a perfect reason to make a trip out there to see her. :)

The show itself was... interesting. It took me a while to figure out that BOTH Christa Jackson and Michelle were playing the role of June Carter and that they really don't "play" June Carter, they just sing songs that reflect times in Johnny Cash's life and represent June Carter... Michelle is stunning whenever she's on stage, though and the music, being so heartfelt was truly magic when she sang it. I loved the show even if it was just to see her incredible performance. Christa was hilarious and gave an incredible performance as well... Her "Flushed..." was one of the highlights of the show!!

After the show I had a lovely, lovely conversation with Michelle! I swear, she has to be one of the nicest, most gracious people I've met through LA theatre. She and I spoke candidly about our jobs, my BIG boss, and plans for the future. I adore the woman -- she's extremely gracious and VERY down to earth!! I also got to speak with Christa (who surprisingly knew who I was before I introduced myself to her!) :) Such a great experience and SOOOO what I needed after the long stressful work week last week.

And after that, I'm almost ready to face work tomorrow morning... ALMOST! ;) I'm off to HUG my fuzzy dog and catch up on all of your entries. I hope you all had a great weekend! :D HUGS!

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/130000-Reasons_to_Be_Pretty_to_Close_on_Broadway_June_14

SOOOO sad! I wish I could just see it one last time! :(

This is probably the very first year that I have been able to watch the Tony Awards NOT already knowing who won. It was hard, but I stayed away from message boards, FB, and even Twitter all day today... I have to say that it totally helped to enhance my enjoyment of the show - it was definitely more emotional for me.

Below are some of my disjointed thoughts as I watched the show...

( Some thoughts about the show & the awards... )