Theatre Update!

I guess it's time to do a little update!  The summer has both dragged and gone by really fast.  How does that happen?  I have no idea.
  
I just finished up a 10 week run of Titanic: The Musical at the Union Colony Dinner Theatre in Greeley.  I played the role of 1st Class Passenger Marion Thayer.  

This picture is from the beginning of the lifeboat scene...which is one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the entire show.  And I kicked it off with my solo:  "You and I are getting in the lifeboat.  Father will be staying here awhile.  It will be like rowing in the Serpentine.  Come along now, let us have a smile!"  In real life, the Thayer's son, Jack, was 17 years old.  In the show, he is supposed to be a 8 or 9 year old boy.  We used a baby, since it was easier.  I seriously considered having Emily, Rebekah, George, or Ben play the child, even just once.  Didn't do it, though.  Too much work to get them to understand where to go and what to do.  Plus, they are all blonde and blue eyed.  Wouldn't look right.  So the stage-veteran doll it was.  That is the 3rd time that doll has played my child onstage.  (Fiddler on the Roof and The Miracle Worker were the 1st two times.  It's also been in a few shows at the Candlelight!)

It's no secret that Titanic is one of my most favorite shows ever.  The production I did with Front Range Music Theatre in 2003 was nothing short of AMAZING!  It was hard for me at first to not dwell on how awesome that production was.  This show was different.  Different cast (well, except for Lloyd and Sharon as the Strausses, and me in a different role), different theatre, smaller stage, smaller set, no full orchestra.  But we came through with a wonderful show and touched many hearts with the message.  Sail on, sail on, great ship Titanic!

Up next, I will be playing Mrs. Paroo in Up in Lights Productions' The Music Man.  The show runs the last two weeks of October at the Rialto.  Craig is playing Mayor Shinn.  It's going to be a fun show!

But before that, I'm singing in the Loveland Opera Theatre Gala "Give our Regards to Broadway" on October 6th.  I'm singing "Home" from Beauty and the Beast and "Defying Gravity" from Wicked.  It's going to be a great Gala!

Scammer Fail

They say that e-mail scammers are getting smarter.  Well, after an attempted scam reached by my inbox this morning, I submit that they are complete idiots.

This is the e-mail I received today:

Hello,

   I'm writing this with great grievance . I'm presently in Madrid,Spain. with my Family for a short vacation and we're stuck...And really it was  unannounced. We were attacked by four armed robbers on our way back to the hotel where we lodged.we were robbed and completely embarrassed.All our cash,credit cards and cellphone were stolen.
 
We've reported the incident to the embassy and the Police but to my dismay they seem not  bothered...their response was just too casual.Our flight leaves in few hours but We've got to settle our bills before We're allowed to leave....Now am  freaked out....Please I need you to loan some money,I promise to refund you as soon as I'm back home. All i need is $1,650 .. Please Let me know what you can do?Write me back so  I can tell you how to
get it to me..

Umm.....okay.  The sender was my friend's name, and his e-mail address.  Except for one minor difference:  After his e-mail address, it said "via Yahoo".  Huh.  Just out of curiosity, I clicked "reply".  The Reply-to address was the same prefix as my friend's e-mail address, but it was @ymail.com.  I reported it as Spam, but I don't know how to take any further action than that.  I'll need to look that up.

But really, the one thing that made it immediately clear that this was a scam was this:  I knew he wasn't in Madrid.  We had a show last night.  He was there.  I last saw him at about 10:30 pm.  We have a show tonight.  There is no way that he sent that message to me from Madrid at 7:47 am MDT.

So this is a message to all the scammers out there:  If you're going to hack someone's e-mail and send a message like this to all of their friends, make sure that you don't send this to people who just saw them the night before.  I really, REALLY want to reply to the e-mail and tell this person what a moron they are.  But I won't....it just verifies that I received the e-mail and puts me in danger of getting hacked myself.

Idiots. 

Olympic Opening Ceremonies...just a little late!

I finally got around to watching the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics.  (I had a show that night and I don't have DV-R or a VCR.)  

Just a couple of things you should know:  I have been obsessed with the Olympics since 1984.  I was 6 at the time and it was the first time I remember watching the Olympics.  (I have a hazy memory of the Winter Games in Yugoslavia, and I have a couple of not vivid, but not hazy memories of the  Summer Games in Los Angeles.)  Also, it is on my Bucket List to perform in an Opening or Closing Ceremonies.  If Denver ever gets the games, I will be on the phone within minutes, trying to get on the list of willing performers.


Anyway, just a couple of thoughts on the London Opening Ceremonies:

• I LOVED the beginning.  The Pastoral scene was so beautiful!
• Kenneth Branagh quoting Shakespeare?  Perfect!  And I loved it every time they showed him again...he had the biggest smile on his face.  I could read his mind...he was thinking this was the coolest thing he had ever done!
• The children's choirs singing those familiar hymns brought tears to my eyes!
• The transition to the Industrial Revolution was AWESOME!!!!!
• Forging the Rings?  Sweet!  (Probably not a nod to The Lord of the Rings, but I took it as such.)
• The entire James Bond/Queen Elizabeth II thing was HILARIOUS!!!  Oh, how I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when they pitched that idea to her.
• The homage to Children's literature was really cool!  I could have done without the love letter to the NHS, but whatever.  
• I thought it was funny that they were naming off the villains...but they didn't name one of them:  The Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  Probably because they didn't know who he was.  Way to go, Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera.  Way to go.
• I LOLed when the Mary Poppinses (Mary Poppini?) came to attack the 100 foot tall Voldemort.
• My absolute FAVORITE moment of all was the part with Rowan Atkinson.  That man is, hands down, the best physical comedian ever.  Or at least, he has the best facial expressions ever.  And kudos to him for doing that bit live.  How many other comedians today would not be able to perform live?   Genius.
• After that, it all got a little weird.  I didn't particularly care for the whole June and Frankie thing or whoever they were.  I started fast forwarding.
• It got to the parade of nations and I was going to fast forward some more.  But I was at Shauna's house and Ashlin was standing on the couch with her front paws in my lap and her face in my face...and she wouldn't get down.  So I turned the TV off and went home.

This wasn't my favorite Opening Ceremonies.  That honor goes to Beijing, of course.  But I enjoyed it very much.  I look forward to watching the rest later!