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August 30, 2004
dogvercation
Ah, Monday. I just spent four blissful days where I didn't have to step foot into a theatre in which I am not working. Thursday we went to a play, Friday we went swimming with Amber, Saturday we went up to the city to escape the sweltering valley heat, and last night we watched the Olympics and played Scrabble. Not a thrilling existence, but nice.
Now I have to gird up my loins and get ready for week-before-hell-week for Whitehouse. Also, because I like to plan ahead, I got a copy of "The Miracle Worker" at Limelight. Troy is directing it next year at Broadway West and has asked me to AD. I'm trying gamely to read it, but all I can think of is the horror of costuming that many people with our nonexistent budget. And the props! And the food eaten on stage! Auuugh!
Posted by Kate at 11:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAugust 27, 2004
The Theatah, The Dahnse!
Last night Rob and I took advantage of a rare weekday night off by going to see the final preview of Theatreworks' new musical extravaganza, "A Little Princess".
(Warning: there are spoilers in this review!)
Let me start by saying it was a fantastic piece of theatre. Go see it as soon as you can get tickets. It's going to be a huge hit. The set was incredible, especially the exterior London scenes. The singing, dancing, and acting were all wonderful. The girl who played Sara had an absolutely amazing voice with astounding range and power, especially for a teenager. The supporting cast was phenomenal, particularly the wonderful Molly Bell (who I adored in Theatreworks' "Bat Boy" last season), Courtney Stokes, who was brilliantly cast as Ermengarde (and I'm not just saying this because I know her - she was marvelous), and the little girl who played Lottie, who pretty much stole every scene she was in.
There were some changes to the original story. Sara was inexplicably a gorgeous blonde. I vastly prefer the original concept of the dark, bookish, strangely beautiful Sara. It didn't bother me too much, though. Also, instead of setting the story in late Victorian England and India, it was set at the very beginning of Queen Victoria's Reign and in Africa. Captain Crewe has been ordered by the Queen to go do something or other involving Timbuktu, and that's why he has to send Sara off to school. Partly due to Tasha Tudor's illustrations of the book, images of late Victorian clothing are very clear in my head when I think of this story, but this change didn't bother me, either. Africa is just as magical and mysterious as India is, and the dancing and the music were wonderful, and I didn't miss India too much. What bothered me a little more was that they drastically downplayed Sara's extreme poverty. After her fall from grace, she's dressed in a respectable maid's outfit, not rags. In the book, she's a starving, abused slave. Here, she's a maid. She's hungry, but it doesn't seem like an enormous tragedy.
I was easily able to overlook those changes. However, they seriously Disney'd up the ending. I'm not going to out-and-out give away the ending, but let's just say the writer borrowed some things from the loathsome Shirley Temple film version. I saw it coming and was prepared, but it still annoyed me a little. What actually made me roll my eyes was this: at one point, a vital piece of evidence needed to prove someone's innocence is tossed into the fireplace. Lights flash on the fireplace, and magically - the letters aren't burned.
Here's what's so great about the original story. It's a fairy tale. There's a princess, a villain, a dark tower in a castle (okay, an attic), and there are "magical" helpers to the princess. But the princess is strong and independent and smart, and she eventually triumphs due to her own strong will and help from others who recognize her beautiful spirit. There is no literal magic. It's all psychological magic. It's real. That's the beauty of the story. There's nothing in the story that couldn't happen.
To take that away and sprinkle pixie dust on it does a great disservice to the book, and to us. This play is still a work in progress, and I can only hope that that part gets changed. It would have been so easy for Sara or Ermengarde to heroically snatch the letters out of the fire before they burned, or for someone to prevent the letters from being thrown. Heroism. That's REAL magic.
Despite the silliness, it was still a terrific show. Everyone involved with the show should be very, very proud. Go see it! Now!
Posted by Kate at 1:02 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackAugust 26, 2004
Citius - Altius - Fortius
So I'm about done with the Olympics. TiVo is getting every possible bit of coverage aired, so the box is totally full of Olympic coverage. For the first week, I was pretty much glued to the TV. I think I've reached the saturation point (though I am watching diving right now).
Here's some stuff I don't particularly care for about the Olympics:
1. The trampoline event. Whatever.
2. The freestyle dressage. Dressage is just plain weird to begin with, but set to music it slides into freakyville. Abbie called me the other day and urgently wanted me to turn on the "horse dancing". It freaked me out. Don't get me wrong - I absolutely appreciate the skill involved here. It's just so...weird. I do like the jumping, though. That looks fun.
3. Synchronized swimming (well, synchronized anything, but especially swimming). The hideous makeup, the hysterical plastered smiles, the wacky hair ornaments - ACK!
4. The women's team gymnastic competiton. I get so nervous for those little girls. With the new rules where nobody can fuck up, I think the pressure is just unreasonable. The men are a little older and are possibly more capable of dealing with stress, but these are little girls we're talking about. The balance beam makes me especially queasy. Rob and I fast-forwarded that part on 1X.
4a. Who the hell waxed Carly Patterson's eyebrows? Someone turned her nice, full brows into tadpoles. It's especially a shame since she has such gorgeous eyes. CARLY! GROW THEM BACK!
5. The jaded, gum-chomping U.S. men's basketball team. These guys need to get over themselves and show some respect for the Olympics. If they do win gold (which I sort of hope they don't), I just hope they are gracious and respectful on the podium and don't stand there chomping their gum and looking really, really bored.
Here's some stuff I love about the Olympics:
1. The medal ceremonies. Doesn't matter whose anthem is playing - I almost always get all choked up. I especially love our anthem. It makes me so proud that, no matter how calm and composed the athlete, that when the line "...o'er the land of the free" is played, you can see the smile breaking through.
2. Women's beach volleyball. These girls are freakin' gorgeous, and that's all I have to say.
3. The olive wreaths that the medalists wear. That's such a nice touch. It amused me that Michael Phelps thought it was a hat, but I have to give him snaps for showing respect for the flag.
4. Speaking of which, YUM! Michael Phelps! Yum! Swimmers! A lot of types of racing don't interest me, but I love watching swimming. Yum! Ian Thorpe! Yumyumyumyum.
5. Watching Alaa Jassim, the Iraqi girl, running in the 100m. She came in way at the back of the pack of her heat with (also amazing) a girl from Somalia. It was so sweet and touching to watch her run her heart out in her shorts and t-shirt. She had no chance to win, but she was there, doing her best, which is what the Olympics is all about.
But what I really like is the winter Olympics. Can't wait for that!
Posted by Kate at 3:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAugust 24, 2004
Abbie is Great! There's No Debate!
So I was talking to Abbie on the phone on the way to rehearsal today, and I mentioned that I have a blog. She was reading it to me on the phone, which seems weird in retrospect but was charming at the time. ("Yeah, I read that, DUH!")
Anyway, she said, "How come you never talk about me?" This seemed like a fair question. So: Abbie! She's pretty cool. She has been a nanny for three adorable children for the last 6 years or so, and now she lives in Minnesota with Steve. (That is a non-sequitur. I do not mean that Steve is an adorable child.)
Abbie's a big 'ol party animal. Due to two consecutive New Year's Eves where she wound up naked in my bathtub, she has earned the nickname "Naked Abbie". Besides attending them, she loves to plan parties. I think she should do it for a living.
She shares my penchants for outrageous vintage costume jewelry, show tunes and Orlando Bloom. She is the only person I can talk to about All My Children. Like most of the girls in my family, she's also nuts about Disneyland.
There's Abbie, pretending to hold up the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Lisa Eve looks unnecessarily apprehensive.
Anyway, Abbie is pretty freakin' great. I'd say she is my favorite sister, but then Elizabeth would be all mad and stuff.
Posted by Kate at 11:42 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackAugust 23, 2004
Warm and Fuzzy
With a couple of exceptions, I get a little weary of people going on and on about their kids. However, I have the cutest nephew in the whole world, so I'm going to be annoying and brag.
Rob and I went up to Orland to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday yesterday, and I was stunned by how tall Ethan has grown, and how many more words he's picked up since the last time I saw him. He and the rest of the Orlanders went up to Seattle last month. Apparently my sister Abbie made an impression on him, because every time he saw me yesterday, he'd point and say "Abbie!" (We do look alike, but STILL!) Eventually we got him to recognize me as "Cake", which is close enough.
We had a dandy time. Pinochle was played, abalone was eaten, and birthday presents were opened.
On Saturday night we went to the City with Kris and Chad and some of their entourage to belatedly celebrate their wedding, which we missed to due to cruel fate. On our way to a delectable dinner at Chaya, we stopped at China Beach to feel the love. It was foggy and overcast at sunset, but the lights on the bridge shone reassuringly. It was a supremely romantic moment.
August 20, 2004
Fish Out of Water
Since I'm hideously, disgustingly fat, I've decided to join a gym.
Yesterday I went to check out the 24 Hour Fatness nearby, and it was really not very nice (and very expensive). The pool was all icky and unheated and there were tiles falling off the walls. Also, they only had exercise classes at the butt crack of dawn or after 5 PM.
Today I tried out Club Sport, which is infinitely nicer. It was like the difference between the Circus Circus and the Paris Las Vegas. It's more expensive, but it seems worth it. And WHO KNEW gyms were so expensive? Why didn't anyone tell me?
Anyway, I took a Pilates class this morning (okay, noon). I've never done this before, and I felt like a gigantic dork. Everybody else seemed to know how to breathe and stuff. It was okay until we had to lay on our sides. Everybody else was all nicely balanced, but I kept flopping around and falling over on my mat. Really, I felt like a greased watermelon. I just couldn't stay in place. It was humiliating.
Somehow I managed to make it through the whole hour, then I went outside and swam in the lovely, lovely pool.
Now I'm home, watching the Olympics. Mmmmm, men's swimming. Yum Yum Yum.
Posted by Kate at 3:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAugust 16, 2004
Man vs. Machine
I am sitting at a seedy public terminal in the Fremont Public Library. The machines have risen up against me. In the last four days, the DSL at home abruptly stopped working, my hard drive completely crashed, and my stupid cell phone failed to let me know that I had an important message from a director.
I dunno what I'm going to do if my laptop doesn't come back to life. I don't want to think about it.
On a happy note, the important message from a director was that I've been cast in "Scapino" at Altarena. It's a small but interesting part, and I will be working with fabulous people, and I have really, really, really wanted to do a show there. Woohoo!
We closed "The Boys Next Door" on Saturday. I'm very sad to see it go. As Troy spun me close to him on the dance floor at the end of the first act, he whispered "That was perfect!" into my ear, and I burst into tears just as the curtain closed. What a delightful show. We had a swell cast party, with Troy, Dawn, Mary, Paula, Fred and me sitting out on the patio until the sun came up. I listened to "Oklahoma" on the way home, and it was perfect.
Rob and I celebrated the Olympics in grandly ironic style on Sunday, laying on the couch like slugs for eight hours straight. Then we went out with the Yasudae, then came home and watched four more hours of the Olympics. Thank you, TiVo!
Posted by Kate at 4:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAugust 12, 2004
Big O
Two more performances of "Boys" left. Despite having a weird day (dealt (well, watched Rob deal) with the DSL, walked Amy's horsie, and saw a really bad movie) and it being a Thursday to boot, I had some crazy energy tonight. We had a packed house, and they were rolling in the aisles from the very first scene.
It's SO much easier to do comedy in front of a responsive audience. Anyway, we got a standing ovation at the end. Not just a couple of people, the whole audience. This is a small, intimate theatre. It's quite heady to have 70ish people standing up directly in front of you, applauding madly. We all stood and basked for quite some time. It was glorious.
Now I'm at home, eating cold pizza and drinking a g&t and trying to shake Sheila out of me. It's pretty hard to get her out of my head. I've never really missed a character I've played before. I think I will miss this one. Maybe because she is so likable, and maybe because I had to work so hard to find her.
Posted by Kate at 11:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAugust 7, 2004
Double the Fun
Today we had a matinee AND an evening performance of "Boys". I just got home and I am so exhausted I can barely sit up straight. It was a fun day, though. Of course, it's weighing heavily on my mind that we have a 1:00 matinee tomorrow. Wheeee! And my parents will be there, so there's extra pressure to be really good. Kevin unexpectedly came to the matinee (it was a benefit performance), so I was very nervous to be dancing in front of my dance coach. He didn't run screaming from the room, which was a relief.
Some of Jim's people from the Altarena came to see the show tonight. They were very sweet and complimentary, and the woman who is directing the next show there invited us to callbacks next weekend. I would love to do a show there. It's a great space.
I never know if I'm any good or not, but the audiences for this show have been extremely receptive, and I've had a lot of amazing compliments from the patrons after shows. It's a rush, and very addictive. It makes all the difficult parts worthwhile.
Posted by Kate at 11:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAugust 4, 2004
In Which I Am Thwarted By the Shopping Gods
Got up at the BUTT CRACK of dawn today (okay, it was 10:45 - but I'd been up reading re-reading Elswyth Thane until 4 AM), forced myself to drink several cups of coffee, and dragged myself over to Palo Alto to get my hair done.
After several grueling hours at the salon, I strolled over to the Ann Taylor store to see if they had that great shirtdress that I've now seen in two magazines. They didn't. So I walked up to Neiman-Marcus to buy a bra. I love the one I have, (I love it so much that I wear it every day and it is becoming somewhat rumpsprung, as my mother would say) and they're the only ones around here who sell it. Anyway, they were out of it in my HIDEOUS, FREAKISHLY LARGE size in anything but black. Like I'm going to wear all of my light, summery t-shirts with a black bra. Who do they think I am? Then I went over to Nordstrom to get some Prescriptives toner, and they were out of it.
I left the mall in a huff and went down to the Borders on University to find something to read while I killed several hours before rehearsal. I couldn't find a damned thing. The drama section was a disaster as always, so I amused myself for a while by surreptitiously alphabetizing. Finally I bought a Gregory Maguire that I hadn't read, and headed off to the theatre.
I parked and read in the shade for a few hours, then suddenly all these joggers started showing up. This car pulled up beside me and this young, vibrant yuppie couple started unpacking and assembling their jogging stroller. After much effort, they loaded up their really cute baby and leashed up an extremely cute blonde Labrador puppy. Watching them, I started to feel all icky and unfulfilled, so I went into the rehearsal room to wait out the time.
Rehearsal was fine. One of the actors is off book for the whole first act. I must remember to buy some actor treats with which to reward him.
Now I'm waiting for Rob to come home. He's out playing poker somewhere. I wish he'd get home. TiVo has two episodes of "The Simple Life" for us. If someone could explain to me why I find Paris Hilton so appealing, I'd appreciate it. I don't usually go for leggy blondes, but she is just enchanting.
Posted by Kate at 11:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAugust 2, 2004
Seal of Approval
Yesterday I got home from my matinee all hot and sweaty and gross, and the neigbors were thoughtfully playing their stereo at full volume. So I gathered up beach stuff and went to TiVo to take Rob to the beach. Dean was also at work (this was Sunday at 4:30) and he hadn't left the office in like two days or something, so we bullied him into going with us.
Rob decided we should go to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk so we could have a corn dog afterwards. I'm not nuts about swimming there, but it is a nice, flat beach. It wasn't too crowded (it was almost 6 by the time we got there), but DAMN, the water was cold.
As we splashed around in the water (Dean stood at the edge of the beach eating garlic fries), we kept seeing a seal swimming around. Suddenly his little sealy head popped up about three feet away from us. He gazed at us with his big brown sealy eyes, dove under and swam away, then came back. This time he was so close, we almost could have touched him. He swam around us and between us, then vanished.
When we were done swimming, we went up to the Boardwalk and rode some rides (the big roller coaster is surprisingly great), and ate everything that wasn't nailed down. We had fried Twinkies, a corn dog, caramel apple slices, Dippin' Dots (Dean kept yammering on how they were the ice cream of the future), and a truly fantastic pretzel. I was freezing cold and I hated the ride that suspended us upside down, but we had a grand time. It was a weekend's worth of fun condensed into about three hours.
Posted by Kate at 1:54 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack