Sometimes it is very difficult to find the moment when you know that a show is going to be great (at times, it may seem that the moment never comes). For two shows I was very proud to be a part of the moment arrived quickly. The first time I held up four fingers and cackled for my audition for The Clinic, I knew that Donnie would be a great part (whoever got it 🙂 ). For Idol Night it came when I read aloud the first line spoken by Morat (“HELLO EVERY PEOPLE!!!!”). Tonight, sitting at the theatre reading through lines for Little Women, I thought this is going to be good. We not only read through the first act, but the director kept going back and asking the cast questions to make them analyze the character and scene they were reading. Who is your character? What is he/she trying to say and do? How is he/she saying it… is he confident or shy? Much more fun and productive to analyze as a group instead of alone.

Before we got into all of that, we had an ice breaker of introducing ourselves. Name, part, past experience, and favorite restroom. OK….. so it was not favorite restroom but the director changed it to such after someone misheard him. Guess who?!

My name is….. I will be playing Braxton Prendergast, the evil aristocratic stock villain in Jo’s stories. My favorite experience on stage was portraying Morat Notboratnichkov in Idol Night at the Karaoke Place. My favorite restroom is the ladies room at Ohio Stadium (long story).

The director made it a point to comment that the video is still on youtube…. (I still have yet to learn how to embed videos on my posts as well as other things). So….You a know Morat. It will be a year on Sunday May 11, which ironically enough, I just learned is Morat’s birthday.

Later, we were asked what our own personal goal for the show is. I said to wear either a hoop skirt as some of the cast do or pumpkin pants which I was told I would be doing.

So, it should be another enjoyable month and few days. Aren’t they all though?

Finally after the casting issues have hopefully been taken care of, the rehearsal process for Little Women can finally get started.  Apparently, one cast member (that I am aware of) decided that she would rather not be in the cast.  Better to get that taken care of sooner than later.  Hopefully, there will be no further predicaments to present themselves.  Read through will be Thursday night from 7.30-10PM.  Thank heaven for DVR so I can watch new episodes of Smallville and The Office at a later time.  By the way, the second season episode “Booze Cruise” was absolutely tremendous.  I just appreciate how much character development can be placed in one-half hour show involving most if not all of the ensemble.

Back to theatre (sorry to go off on a tangent).  Today at work I had no less than 10 customers ask me when my next show is.  My next show?!  I told them all to keep June 20-29 open.  Then I get the customary person who has seen me before but just can’t place me.  Well, I worked at a major retail chain for like 6 years.  No…. that’s not it.  Well, I have been doing a bit of theatre…. That’s IT!!!!  Then, it is time for the character from Liswathistan to return.  BTW, my boss keeps telling me to say that my former place of employment stinks instead of going into my 2 minute speech about why I am not there anymore.  Always nice to have fans.

I have already touched upon this subject by mentioning those fly-by-night performers on a certain reality show becoming Broadway performers but the practice of bringing big names in an attempt to fill New York audiences is nothing new. I found it rather interesting to discover that in 1969 Muhammad Ali sang in the musical Buck White. According to the Internet Broadway Data Base, the show only ran from 12/2/69-12/6/69. So, bad example… I never said the shows in which the names appeared were successful.

-Julia Roberts was in the play Three Days of Rain from April-June, 2006.

– In Fall 2007, Jennifer Garner starred as Roxanne opposite Kevin Kline’s title role in a limited production of Cyrano de Bergerac.

-Perhaps most notably and most successfully has been the continuing revival of the musical Chicago. This seems to be a revolving door of pop culture names appearing on stage. Melanie Griffith, Bebe Neuwirth (so she was a stage actress prior to Cheers), Wayne Brady, Joey Lawrence, Usher, Brooke Shields(?), KELLY OSBOURNE(?!… as Mama Morton), ASHLEE SIMPSON. Ok… so even most of the names do not appeal to me. Most would turn me off of the show (which is good seeing live). But the musical is still running.

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As my fellow blogger so eloquently posted, I would also like to send my thanks to all the readers, commenters (even those I have just now begun to spam because they seem to be worthless… don’t worry all ye faithful die-hard fans you are not among the spammed).  I too have enjoyed sharing my views on entertainment, news, and other bits of life.  Along the way, I have discovered even more about myself and the people I like to call friends.  I also send greetings from Indiana (or In-di-ana) via Morat who will be covering the vote tomorrow.   Even talking about  my not so favorite movies like Howard the Duck has been entertaining as hopefully I have entertained my readers.  Here’s to the next 100.

In my ongoing effort to catch up on old episodes of The Office, I watched a hilarious repeat from season 2 (two episodes air Tuesday nights on TBS at 9PM eastern time thank you DVR).  “The Client” featured a guest appearance by Tim Meadows of Saturday Night Live fame as a client who actually is receptive to Michael’s particular brand of customer interaction.   Also along for the  meeting at Chili’s was Jan Levinson-Gould (no Gould….HAHAHAHA).  “Awesome Blossom!”

While back at the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin, Pam discovers a screenplay that Michael had written in which he changed some of the names of the staff into characters in a spy movie.  Agent Michael Scarn, Dwigt (his sidekick), “Catherine Zeta Jones” also appeared in the screenplay (surely as a love interest for Agent Scarn).

A very hilarious episode.

This will be my first and only post on this subject so as not to beat it over the head but at the same time give my opinion on the matter. The past week has been drenched with the controversy that is Miley Cyrus. It must be terribly difficult to be a 15 year-old girl who is a “star” with a hit Disney Channel show, singing career, and millions of adoring fans but at the same time feel the pressure of “looking ahead a few years” and feeling the need to re-invent herself and “grow up” as her audience grows. However, I do not think that she thought about her entire audience that stretches way beneath her 15 year-old age. Not to mention the company that she is contractually obligated to.

It may not have been solely her responsibility as her father (country singer Billy Ray Cyrus) and her mother were present during the photo shoot and both felt that it was a tasteful, artistic display. In my opinion, a teenager appearing to be wearing nothing but a bed sheet pulled up over her with a rather “come-hither” expression on her face  does not look too tasteful. The best explanation for the shoot seems to be that it is too hard to say “No” to famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. A bit of peer pressure coming from an adult.

My question is: what are the parents of the fans to do about all this? Do they attempt to shield them entirely from it? Do they wait until the children ask about it? Do they wait and hope the controversy blows over? Or do they entirely forbid their children from watching Hannah Montana? In an attempt to make amends and save her contract (which is more important?), Miley has issued an apology. But will that be enough to prevent her from becoming the next Britney Spears who ironically started on The New Mickey Mouse Club?

Recently, I encouraged a fellow blogger to post a review of a film which I had heard was absolutely rotten. Since, I had not seen such, I decided to see for myself just how terrible it was.

Some genius decided to give one of the most popular characters in the Batman franchise her own shot at a solo picture on the big screen. Unfortunately, the character bore almost no resemblance to the character at all. Instead of going too far indepth, I will tell you what it is not.

Catwoman in the movie is not Selina Kyle who was introduced decades ago as the sometimes feline nemesis and sometimes love interest of Batman. Instead, she is given the convoluted name Patience Phillips. I had NO patience with this mess and as most people will tell you, I usually do have some degree of patience. She is also endowed (after dying and being resurrected by a cat) with superpowers. The only power I am aware of that the feline fatale possesses is her cat-like reflexes and her nine-lives that she seemed to have used up in the movie Batman Returns. The movie Catwoman does however make a silly attempt to allude to other women who put on the cat-suit including Selina Kyle. Too little too late I’m afraid. That is as far as I feel I need to waste space remarking on this tragedy of a movie. I cannot believe that Bob Kane, creator of the original character, would have his name anywhere near it. He should have sued.

Halle Berry accepted her 2005 Razzie Award in person with her Oscar in hand and made the following statement:

“First of all, I want to thank Warner Brothers. Thank you for putting me in a piece of _____, god awful movie… it was just what my career needed.”

I am so glad that I did not have to spend a dime to see this thing. I only wish that I could have my 90 minutes + returned to me.

There are two sports that I really cannot stand to watch. I realize that this may put me in the minority especially in this area where it seems that both sports seem to have legion of fans (particularly in my own family).

The first is NASCAR racing. How anyone can sit for 3-4 or sometimes 5 hours at a time watching cars go around and around a track is beyond me. My mother regales us with stories of her youth and spending weekends at the area race track watching local drivers compete. I can sit through maybe an hour of televised auto racing before I excuse myself and do something more constructive. I do enjoy cheering for my favorite drivers. These are not the more popular stars including Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon, etc. I chose to chose the most colorful name I can think of, usually one who is nowhere near competing. Names like Dick Trickle (Tricky Dicky or Trick Dickle as I used to call him), Hideo Fukuyama ( I wonder if he is related to Chicago Cubs acquisition Kosuke Fukudome sorry if I insulted the new Cubs outfielder), or my new favorite… AJ Allmendinger.

My second favorite sport to fall asleep to is professional golf. Honestly, whenever I hear that someone hit a birdie I say… what kind? At a recent extended family gathering where everyone was gathered around the television quietly waiting for Tiger Woods or some other player to take a shot, I shouted “THREE AND A HALF!!!!” They were not amused. When I want to watch golf on television I stick with the classics: Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore. And if I want to play a good round, I much prefer going eighteen holes at the area miniature golf course.

Sometimes I really think I would prefer watching paint dry or worse yet….. The multi-colored bar code test pattern on the television screen HAHAHA.

Perhaps in an attempt to put closure on a character he introduced to millions of fans everywhere over 4 decades ago, Sean Connery has pondered the possibility of returning to the Bond franchise.  Not as the British superspy, but as a villain.  That would seem to me to be a first.  An actor who originated a role in a popular series of movies returning to that franchise as the antagonist.  The possibility is intriguing, but as the 77 year old actor stated, they probably would not be able to pay him enough to come out of retirement.  They could not do it for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but Never Say Never Again Sir Sean.  Actually, Connery’s final outing as 007 in the rather waterlogged remake of Thunderball was not one of his finest  two hours.  NSNA has never been acknowledged as an official Bond movie and was released by Warner Brothers and not MGM/UA.

Read the full article here

Everyone knows that most famous people do not become so overnight. In fact, the majority of today’s stars led everyday lives and some of them probably wished that they had. Here is but a sampling of the “odd jobs” and other highlights of some famous people.

Dan Aykroyd and Steve Carell both worked for the postal service.

Jennifer Aniston was a telemarketer.

Warren Beatty was a rat catcher.

Lucille Ball was fired from an ice cream parlor for not putting bananas in a banana split.

Boy George (of the 80s group Culture Club who created the Broadway flop musical Taboo) was fired from a supermarket for wearing the store’s bags.

Finally in the 1970s, Tim Allen (in the would rather forget category) spent two years in prison for dealing cocaine.

My personal favorite odd job of the stars would be for Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg. Apparently, the Whoopster was a mortuary cosmetologist before she became a stand-up comedienne. The thought of going into a funeral parlor to beautify a dead body seems strange at best. However, my mother who is a beautician herself has visited our local mortuary on several occasions for just that reason. She also has a standing appointment for several of her more mature patrons… talk about making house calls. Apparently, they want no one else touching their hair as they make their way into the great beauty parlor in the sky.

To learn more about other stars before they made it big visit this site:

https://www.hardlyfamous.com/