In another sign of the weak economy, I received an email from a dinner theatre in Akron, Ohio which has cancelled its 2009 season, putting 150 people out to work.  I attended a production of West Side Story a few years ago and was once again enchanted by the power of live theatre.  The Carousel began in a converted supermarket in 1973 (what a coinkidink) and moved to its current location in 1988).  The theatre has created a buzz in New York as it has recruited talent from the Big Apple.  Each musical was self-produced using equity performers.  Quite a shame to see artistic venues come crashing down during this economic crisis.  I also hear that New York theatre is not doing well, either.

The Carousel Dinner Theatre, LLC has cancelled its 2009 season and closed its doors effective January 4, 2009.

For the past year, the economy has materially affected the theatre’s attendance and its ability to make cost adjustments to keep pace with the decrease in attendance. The final tipping point became the reversal of certain stakeholders’ written or verbal promises that would have had a major impact on the theatre’s continuance for the 2009 season and beyond.

Mr. Joseph E. Palmer accepts full responsibility for this action and regrets the impact on one hundred fifty employees and their families and all others affected by this closure.

If you have made any advance purchases on your credit cards, you should should immediately contact your credit card company to process a full refund.

I recently sat and watched the movie Wall*E with my young nieces after they begged and pleaded to be able to do so.  They however, watched maybe 5 minutes of the movie and were off to other things.  I thought the movie was cute but far from all the praise it has received… even being mentioned as a contender for best picture of the year.

The Disney/Pixar film has similarities to Short Circuit.  The star of the show bears an uncanny resemblance to Number “Johnny” Five.  Wall*E seems to be one of the last remaining, functional objects left on Earth as the planet has been deemed uninhabitable because of the trash content.  He is left on Earth as a trash collector.  However, everything he finds is not discarded.  The robot collects a treasure trove of trinkets to add to his collection.  A Rubik’s Cube, a fish plaque that sings “Dont Worry, Be Happy,”  The most memorable trinket is a VCR that includes a tape of Hello Dolly and always placed at the scene featuring Michael Crawford as Cornelius singing “It Only Takes a Moment.”  Wall*E’s only companion is a cute(?) unnamed cockroach.

But what became of the humans inhabiting the planet?  A sleek, attractive robot named Eva is sent to Earth in order to find any sign of life.  When Wall-E finds a small plant, Eva’s directive is complete and she blasts off to the large spaceship full of human descendants from 700 years in the past.  The human’s are rather robust, lazy people who have to do nothing as robots have become the ultimate servants. Humans do not even need to walk anywhere.  They are transported by motorized recliners. When Eva returns, the robots on board the ship become jealous and mutiny against the human captain and will not allow the ship to return to Earth.  That’s the plot in a nutshell… enough to make those who have never seen it determine if it is for them.

Pixar’s animation continues to be cutting edge and the movie was cute but I don’t think it deserves all the attention it has garnered.[poll id=”7″]

After nearly 4 days, I believe Uncle Larry N. Gitis has finally left… THANK YOU SO MUCH 😀 !!!  I tell you, it seems like the four longest days I have had in some time.  Tuesday late afternoon while baking cookies for a New Years gathering, I noticed that my voice was getting scratchy and I was starting to think that I was going to be coming down with a cold.  However, throughout the ordeal I felt fine… just kept getting less and less of a voice which to me is quite frustrating and scary.  There is just so much that I do with my voice… it has long been a my instrument of choice.  I could probably pick up a trumpet or tuba and play and I can play a little piano, but I have always, ALWAYS LOVED to sing.  Even more than the other three instruments.  Makes me wonder (there’s that word again) how people like Julie Andrews and I am sure many other performers endure when they lose their singing voices permantely.  Of course, Ms. Andrews has endured with other projects such as writing children’s books as well as doing the occasional movie.  I’m actually glad that my voice has recovered just in case it needs to be used in a meeting tomorrow evening. [poll id=”6″]

While sitting at home trying to recover my voice or to allow it to get beyond sounding like Froggy from the Our Gang/Little Rascals shorts (primarily by keeping my mouth shut), I have been listening to my favorite gift.  For years, I have been torn between two iconic series of film scores by the same composer: Star Wars and Indiana Jones.  John Williams supplied all of the music for the 6 Star Wars films (yes, even the 3 prequel films) and the 4 films featuring the world-traveling archaeologist.  Just hearing music from either series is enough for me to want to pop in the DVD and sit back and enjoy but I also like kicking back and listening to a good movie score and picturing the events in my mind.  I have had the Star Wars collection of CDs for sometime.  However, the music for the Indy films have been rare indeed and even those recordings have lacked in length, until recently (I had a cassette of the Last Crusade soundtrack that featured only 30 minutes of the score).  Particularly the score for The Temple of Doom.  Williams expertly created scores for each of the films.  Raiders, Last Crusade, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull each are much lighter in tone and fun while Temple is full of dark, sinister, blood curdling themes.  However, it also features the Cole Porter tune “Anything Goes” sung in Mandarin Chinese and a fun theme for Indy’s young protege, Short Round.

Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection contains the four scores with previously unreleased tracks along with a fifth disc of ultra rare recordings with a fifteen minute interview with Williams, George Lucas, and the man, Steven Spielberg reminiscing about the creation of the films and the musical motifs throughout each movie.  Extremely cool.  Now I will post a poll that I know most people who frequent this blog can answer and you must choose, but choose wisely. [poll id=”5″]

After it was decided that the siblings and I would invest in a Blu-ray machine for the parents, I decided to get something to play on it for them.  For some reason, the local Wal-Mart is not well stocked with Blu-ray disks.  I decided on Patriot Games which stars Harrison Ford as former CIA analyst John Patrick Ryan.  I say Ford does not play his typical Indiana Jones type hero this time because this film challenges him by giving him something that Indy never had (well…): a family.  While on vacation in jolly old England, Ryan, his wife, and young daughter inadvertantly stumble upon an assassination attempt on a British royal by a renegade IRA terrorist faction.  Instead of standing on the sidelines, Jack jumps into the fray, saving the Lord, and shooting a few of the terrorists.  One of the dead terrorists was the younger brother of the leader, Sean Miller (Sean Bean), who escaped.  Miller vows revenge on Ryan.

What follows is a nail-biting, action-driven thriller.  Cathy (Anne Archer) and Sally Ryan are placed in mortal danger.  Jack goes to his former associates at the CIA to help him track down the villains.  The thing I enjoyed most about the Jack Ryan character is his vulnerability.  In a scene demanded by Ford himself, Ryan is brutally attacked by a young member of the terrorist group.  There is also a red-headed villainess who causes problems.  Like any good Harrison Ford thriller, there is action aplenty to hold you in suspense.  Although it seems cliche with Air Force One coming a few years later, Patriot Games is worth a look.  The closing scene also left the door wide open for the sequel: Clear and Present Danger.

Irony of ironies, Sean Bean has a scar over his left eye which was given to him by Harrison Ford during filming.  And before anyone asks, the parents were quite pleased with the choice since they both watched with me.  [poll id=”4″]

Last night was another fantastic celebration at our semi-weekly gathering place.  Everyone brought food or spirits to endulge in.  Friends who do not usually frequent our game nights came to shar in the festivities.  I went with my lingering effects from a visit by Uncle Larry N. Gitis.  Honestly, I feel fine but my voice says otherwise.  I remember losing my voice years ago a few weekends before I auditioned for a summer position at Cedar Point.  I made the audition, sang my audition piece and was asked to come back a half-hour later for the dance portion of the try out.  Unfortunately, my graceful choreographic ability failed to impress… their loss, right?

While playing charades, which my team was winning (thank you very much) the time had arrived to watch Ryan Seacrest announce the ball drop.  Dick Clark made an appearance from the studio; however, the damage done by his stroke of a few years ago is still apparent.  I noticed an almost plastic appearance to Mr. Seacrest.  Not sure if it was the lighting or makeup but he just looked wierd.  Speaking of charades, I do not think that the movie or novel Return of the King is obscure.  It was a title given to one of the other two teams but I thought it was a very good suggestion.  My gracefulness was put to good use in my acting out the movie title Last Tango in Paris.

Shortly thereafter, we read some Weakest Link questions.  I tried to keep quiet to allow others to answer.  However, I heard some moaners from the other players imploring me to wait until the question was read.  Finally, we moved on to some Outburst, and thank goodness for the arrival of our final player because some of the questions were beyond my expertise.  By the time we had arrived to an I.Q. testing game, I was lying on the floor.

But like last year, it was a great end to the old and beginning of the new.  There was no other place I wanted to be.  I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe holiday season and wish everyone the best in 2009.

Here is a fun email I received from my cousin who shares my alma mater as well as the year I graduated.  Some of the questions brought a chuckle as well as made me think.  See if it does the same for you.

Fill this out about your Senior Year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!  FORWARD  (or post in comments) with name of high school and graduating year in the subject box. Send this to all your friends, but don’t forget to send it back to me.
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1. Did you date someone from your school? No

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? No

3. Did you car pool to school? No… walked out the front door and was there

4. What kind of car did you have? Ford Fairmont… the brown beast

5. What kind of car do you have now? Pontiac Sunfire

6 . It’s Friday night…where are you now? In high school?  Usually at a sporting event

7. What kind of job did you have in high school? worked in grocery store

8. What kind of job do you do now? the same… go figure

9. Were you a party animal? Do i seem the type?

10. Were you considered a flirt? Occasionally

11. Were you in band, orchestra? Yes – band

12. Were you a nerd? Darn right and proud of it!

13. Did you get suspended or expelled? nope

14. Can you sing the fight song? Yes

15. Who was/were your favorite teacher? Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Peters, and others

16. Where did you sit during lunch? usually at home

17. What was your school’s full name? Edgerton High School

18. When did you graduate? 1992

19. What was your school mascot? Bulldogs

20. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Absolutely not.  Although I enjoyed high school, I am having way too much fun in the present.

21. Did you have fun at Prom? Yes

22. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? No, though I would if I ran into her.

23. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? Most likely.

24. Do you still talk to people from school? A few people

25. School Colors? Maroon and gold

26. If you could do 1 thing differently in high school, what would it  be? Follow my heart instead of my head when deciding what career path to choose.

This morning, I caught the opening chat fest on Regis and Kelly.  If I see nothing else on the show (when I am able) this is it; many times the guests do not interest me.  However, I love the chemistry between the hosts.  Bantering, poking fun, reporting on the headlines, etc.  Also the trivia contest in which a caller selected at random attempts to answer a question about a previous show in order to win a fantastic trip.  Today’s question: “In which 2008 movie did Sir Ben Kingsley co-star with Mike Myers.”  It took me nearly the full 20 seconds to come up with the answer, unfortunately for Christine Neves from Cumberland, IN, she could not come up with the correct answer to win her stay in Gren-ah-da/Gren-A-da (however you pronounce it).

I won’t even go into the details of The Love Guru only by saying that I have heard many poor unfortunate souls who have seen it and have said that they wished that they could have gotten not only their money but also their time refunded.  I’m not sure but I think Mike Myers has gone the way of Eddie Murphy who has also added to his list of stinkers this year. Anyone remember Meet Dave?  That’s ok, I don’t either; I think it lasted a minute or two in theatres.  I’m not sure if even Austin Powers or Shrek can resurrect Myers’ movie career.

The last two evenings saw auditions for an upcoming production of The Lion in Winter.  The play itself tells a tale set during the waning years of Henry II’s reign in England, his relationship with his family (Eleanor of Aquitaine, Geoffrey, Richard, and John) as well as Philip, King of France.  I must admit to being a bit overwhelmed.  I have never tried out for a period piece, but I think I did my best.  I was not sure which role I specifically intended to try for, so I put “Any I Fit” on the audition sheet.

I think my lack of experience with the piece coupled with a cold (not trying to make excuses, just stating facts), hindered my success.  I am happy for the gentleman who was cast as Philip as he was instrumental in pushing for the production to take place.  The rest of the auditioners did really well, also.  The women who read for Eleanor were so good that the decision on casting that role was put on hold.  The role of Henry also is also up in the air as well as the part of the King’s young whore.

In all actuality, I am not that disapointed this time.  I can take a few weeks off and find a song to audition with for Honk and find the music (can anyone help with that?) and familiarize myself with that show.  However, I must send a shout out to Megan who was cast in the theatre’s production of Over the Tavern as well as the rest of the cast of Lion in Winter including justj.  I was not sure when he would find out that he was cast as Geoffrey and did not want him to learn from anyone else but the director.  A hearty congratulations to you, my friend.

Today was a long but enjoyable day.  It started out at 8AM when I put in a half-day at work.  We then had our annual holiday gathering with my mother’s family at her brother’s place… a nice, spacious home with lots of spread out space for the pack of little angels to enjoy (ok… some not so little).  This meant ANOTHER feast.  However on Christmas Eve, our priest gave permission for all to eat as much as we like without feeling guilty.  We had a nice buffet of ribs, turkey, and all the trimmings.  However, what everyone looks forward to is Aunt Sandy’s spread of delectable goodies: holiday cookies, caramels, pretzels, and BUCKEYES… ooooohhhhhh, yummy.

While enjoying the feast, we caught glimpses of the Detroit Lion’s perfect season.  At one point, the score was actually tied.  But I thought why ruin a good thing and spoil the perfect record even if it was a perfect losing record.

Later, while everyone was digesting and in an attempt to corral the kiddies, Santa made his annual appearance.  You never saw a group of kids become quiet so fast.  Traditionally, the youngest starts and we make our way to the oldest (18 and younger this time, it seems the idea of adult gift exchanging had been ruled out sometime ago).  Following the tumult of the present giving, one was given to my second oldest brother, Chad: a scratch-off lottery card.  Reveal three like prizes and win.  When he revealed the prize, his reaction was rather ho-hum for the amount he had won. I mean to say, if I got a ticket that said I had won $10,000 I would have been jumping up and down, banging my head on the rather low hanging ceiling lamp ( I could have easily been decapitated if I did not watch where I was walking), and making my way to the nearest agent able to cash my ticket in…. meaning a three-hour drive.  Chad was more like…Whhoooppeee… rather low key.  Shortly after, he was asked to read the fine print on the back of the card.  GOTCHA!!! We all had a good laugh.

By the time the merriment was complete, it was 8.30.  I had planned to attend an open house that ended at 9, but unfortunately was not able to.