I started off the year in a production with Up in Lights Productions. It was a 10th Anniversary benefit show called "Broadway Showstoppers" and it included songs from shows that have been on Broadway in the past 10 years. It was HUGE!!! I had a ton of fun with this one. I played several different roles throughout the show. First I was Abuela (the grandma) from In the Heights. Then I was an Ozian in "Defying Gravity" from Wicked. Then I played the title character in The Drowsy Chaperone. I blew the roof off the Rialto when I sang "As We Stumble Along". We also did the hilarious number "Aldolpho" from the same show. Then I did a complete 180 degree turn and played Mary Poppins for the song "Supercalfragilicstiexpialidocious." After that, I played the "Audition Panel" for "Electricity" from Billy Elliot and was a back up singer for "River of Dreams/Keepin' the Faith" from Movin' Out. The entire show was a BLAST! Crazy costume changes, four wigs, five pairs of shoes, millions of people backstage, and a lot of fun!!
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| "As We Stumble Along" from The Drowsy Chaperone |
On April 1, 2010, I officially moved out of my parents' house. I paid off my student loan in March and so I was basically debt free. My brother Neal was going to be coming home from his mission and since my sister Shauna was taking up the extra bedroom for her office, I got voted out of the house. I moved in with my cousin Melissa!
Two weeks after moving, I went on the trip of a lifetime! My parents and I went to England to pick up Neal from his mission! It was an amazing and incredibly fun two weeks! I had never left the country before, so this was totally new for me. We flew to Manchester, picked up Neal a day or so later, spent several days traveling to places he had been (and some places he hadn't been, but had heard about.) Then we took the train to Scotland for a few days. We went to Edinburgh and Inverness. We took a boat tour of Loch Ness, but we never found Nessie. Then we took the train back to Manchester and flew home. I could go into so much detail here, but there is a video slide show, 3 scrapbooks (2 of Mom's, 1 of mine), and a trip journal that tell the whole story. As well as a previous blog that summarizes the trip: http://tangents-by-angela.blogspot.com/2010/04/england-trip-blog.html
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| Taken at Edinburgh Castle |
Once home, I settled back into real life (after not fully getting over the jet lag for about a week!) I had auditioned for a show prior to leaving and I found out during my trip that I had not been cast. It was going to be the first time in several years that I didn't have a show to do over the summer, so I joined the Loveland Concert Band for the summer. I hadn't played with them in awhile, so it was nice to get my flute out and play! The funniest thing of the summer with that was that the 4th of July concert got COMPLETELY rained out. When it was time to head over to the park, the water was coming down in buckets. The streets were flooding. It was crazy!!!! And I was supposed to play piccolo at that concert. I had practiced and everything!!! They couldn't even reschedule the concert. Luckily, the City rescheduled the fireworks for the next day, so it was like the 4th of July lasted for 2 days!
In June I sang at a Loveland Opera Theatre fundraising concert. We did songs from The Secret Garden, and I got to play Lily! It was great to sing "Come to my Garden" and "How Could I Ever Know." We even got ahold of the score so that we could do the Archie/Lily duet part at the end. I love it when people say to me "I thought you were a mezzo!" That stuff is really high and I love that I can sing it!! (When my voice is healthy, that is. And it really was that day!!!)
In late June I was asked to take over a part in Up in Lights' production of 42nd Street. (This was the show I had auditioned for earlier.) I agreed and with just 3 weeks until opening, I took the role of Mac the Stage Manager. I was still able to do all of my band concerts. And I didn't even memorize all of my lines. My character was always carrying a clipboard, so I just typed up all my lines and put them on there. Sneaky, but effective! I had a lot of fun with my Up in Lights family.
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| Mac in 42nd Street |
Another fun project this summer was a show/reader's theatre piece called "The 10 Virgins" that we did at church. It involved 10 different girls playing each virgin. I was the director and the narrator. We were able to perform it twice and we had a lot of fun putting it together. It's a fabulous piece.
Around the time 42nd Street closed, I lost my job at Falcon Properties, Inc. The owner sold the company to another property management company and I was not part of the deal. I was burnt out on property management anyway, so I took this as my push to find another career. I bumped up my hours with Loveland Opera Theatre and started looking for another job.
The first weekend in August, Shauna and I made a trip to Yellowstone! Our dear friend Katrina was in a production of Quilters in Cody, WY, which is about 20 miles from Yellowstone. We had never been there, so we drove up on Friday and camped, spent Saturday in the park, watched our tent almost blow away in a late afternoon wind/rain storm, saw the show in Cody, slept in the back of the Jeep in a hotel parking lot, and drove home on Sunday. It was a great weekend!!
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| Old Faithful |
Once back at home, it was time to find a new job. I sent my resume out to a ton of places, but didn't get any bites. I filed for unemployment and got one payment from them before I was hired in the box office at the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse. It's part time and my job with Loveland Opera Theatre is part time...and together they don't equal full time, but I'm making ends meet for the moment. It's fun to be working solely in the arts, but that's why I have no money. Oh, well... At least I'm getting more sleep, right?
Over Labor Day weekend, we got a cabin up at Hermit Park for the entire weekend. It was so much fun to be up there, away from everything. I only turned my phone on when we went down into Estes Park, and I kept the internet connection off. It was great! Everyone was up there for at least part of the weekend, but I was up there the entire time! It was FANTASTIC!!!!!!
My next performance was in the Loveland Opera Theatre Gala in early October. We had 5 guest artists this year, but we did the Act 2 Party Scene from Die Fledermaus for the 2nd half. It's tradition to have some guest soloists sing something totally opposite of the opera during this scene. I was one of these guest soloists this time, and I sang "The Alto's Lament." It was a ton of fun and the audience loved it!
My last show of the year, which will also be my first show of 2011, was A Grand Night for Singing at the Jesters Dinner Theatre in Longmont. It's a Rodgers and Hammerstein Revue. It's originally written for 3 women and 2 men, but we are doing it with 10 women and 3 men. I get to sing "I Cain't Say No" from Oklahoma, "When the Children Are Asleep" from Carousel, and "Something Wonderful" from The King and I. I also sing in a fun Andrews Sisters-type version of "I'm Gonna Wash That Man..." from South Pacific. There are so other cool group numbers as well. We are taking a break for 2 weeks in December while they do Scrooge, and then the show closes on January 23rd.
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| "I Cain't Say No" in A Grand Night for Singing |
I've had a lot of fun this year. I've done some really cool stuff. So many blessings that I can't even count them! Life is good!
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