happy
cahwyguy and his lovely family and my friends Steven and Netalee from BWW.com, and got to meet wonderful new people like ellipticcurve and Netalee's friend, Shanee. :) And though it must've been only 4 degrees out (okay, so it only FELT like 4 degrees...) ;) the day itself was a warm one that I'll never forget.The day started with a wonderful lunch at the Eclectic Cafe in the NoHo Arts district. :) I was shocked to find out just how different the area was during the day! I'm usually fighting for street parking at night in that neighborhood, trying desperately to make a curtain time at NoHo Arts Center without getting mugged, but this time, the area seemed much safer and a lot more inviting! After lunch we browsed the quaint shops in the area and I was even able to purchase a cute sheltie magnet for just 50 cents! :) What a bargain!
THE MATINEE WITH
cahwyguy AND HIS FAMILY!The matinee performance was great! All the actors seemed to have more energy than the night before. And though at first I was disappointed in the pre-recorded music (no live orchestra,) by Saturday's matinee it was beginning to grow on me. Not only did it match the campiness of the piece, but it also provided the BIG sound (complete with background vocals) that the small cast of 5 needed. :) (And as an interesting sidenote - Heather told me the original tracks were recorded by Toto 20 years ago.)
After the show we hung around and spoke with Kevin for a while. While we were speaking with him, Heather came out and gave me a HUGE hug and apologized profusely for not being able to speak with me last night. She was an absolute angel! I really have to say that I never expected her to be SUCH a sweet and warm person - I absolutely adore her! And Cornell (who wrote the book for the show and is the show's producer) is just the greatest guy! He stopped by while I was speaking with Kevin and handed me a CD of ALL of the production photos from the show for the website! He's just the best! :)
THE EVENING SHOW!
As great as the matinee was, the evening performance was even better. In fact, it was the best performance of the show that I've seen. The show was being filmed for a DVD and so it really felt like the actors were giving something extra last night. And the audience... Oh my word... it was clearly the best audience that I've ever seen! They were laughing and applauding and immediately rose to their feet to give a standing ovation even before the curtain call began! It was SO special being in the audience to see the show receive SUCH a warm response. :)
After the show, Steven, Netalee, her friend, and I stuck around to speak with Kevin. As we were waiting for him to come out from the back, Todd spotted me and said a hearty "Welcome back!" He came up to me and gave me a HUGE hug! He was the sweetest thing and was SO incredible in the show that night. Steven loved his performance and gushed endlessly to him about how great the show was (it was really kind of cute to see him so excited) :) Cornell also came up to me and was nice enough to give me a CD of all the music from the show - he's SUCH a great guy!! :) He and I also exchanged contact information and he promised to email me all the latest news on the show. He's just the best!
Robert Picardo (of "Star Trek Voyager" fame) was in the audience last night (which was VERY thrilling for me since I loved him in "A Class Act" at Pasadena Playhouse a few years ago). Apparently he came to see Kevin since they were in "A New Brain" together. As Kevin was speaking with him, Heather came out from the back and spotted us. She did a little "Hey, hey, hey!" and ran up and gave me a HUGE hug. I think she's just the nicest person! It saddens me that everyone in the show was SO sweet and I'll probably never see any of them again. :( Thankfully I can keep up to date with Heather through MySpace. :) I'm really going to miss the entire cast, they were all so wonderful and so talented!
Tonight I'm making a LONG trek to Long Beach to see Tami in Never Gonna Dance. Hopefully the weather isn't too bad and I can actually make it there in time for the show. I'd better run, I'm off to update Kevin's site with the pictures I took yesterday... Here are a few of them if anyone is interested. :)
Todd, Heather, and Kevin - what a sweet and incredible cast they were!
Stephen Breithaupt and Kevin :)
Kevin and Ali Spuck
Kevin with
cahwyguy, ellipticcurve, and his family.Kevin with Steven, Shanee, and Netalee.
Hope you're all having a nice weekend!! Big *HUGS* to all of you! :D