Adaptations from original sources always leave things on the “cutting room floor.”  I just read a very fascinating article about the transformation of South Pacific (click the link to the article) from a James Michener novel to the original Broadway production to the classic movie to the current revival on the Great White Way and touring around the country.  More historical background from the first performances of the ground-breaking, Pulitzer prize winning classic came to light.

• On April 17, 1949,  ten days after the show’s opening, a boat carrying 120 American casualties of war arrived in Honolulu.  Casualties of the Theatre in the Pacific.
• There was a lot more that Rodgers and Hammerstein wanted in the show dealing with race relations.  “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught” was just the tip of the iceberg.  The central story of Emille de Becque somehow made it into the show.  But there was a lot more.
• Like many musicals turned movies, many things were dramatically altered from the original.  The director of the 7 Tony Award winning revival, Bartlett Sher, called the 1958 cinematic effort “no use” when developing the return to the stage. Which just adds to my belief that most of the time, somethings are better left ON stage.  Beautiful to look at, perhaps, but with a loss to its central meaning.

How fitting that I came across the article as we stop to reflect on the millions who have made the ultimate sacrifice in preserving the freedoms we all sometimes take for granted.  Hopefully, one day, the revival of this musical masterpiece makes it way to our neck of the woods.  Or… better yet… just another great show with a scene-stealing character role or a central male lead I wouldn’t mind tackling.

We are winding down our first year of teaching youth group, and it’s been an interesting experience, to say the least.  Last week, my “small group” consisted of 17 girls, and it was totally crazy.  We couldn’t get much accomplished, but luckily they weeded themselves out – those who didn’t want to participate (their choice) went to play in the gym, leaving quiet for those who did want to participate.  It’s not like that every week though; last week for some reason the other two 7th-grade-girls teachers were missing, so I had to have ALL the 7th grade girls PLUS my 5th graders.  Yeah, you read that right – I  have 7th graders AND fifth graders, and it’s been a challenge to bridge the gap between the two ages groups.  It happened innocently enough  – a new 7th grader brought her 5th grade sister.  At our church, our student ministries typically don’t usually start until 6th grade, but we didn’t want to turn her away either.  She liked youth group and started bringing friends, all of which are great things, but next thing I knew, I was getting a call from the office manager who handles attendence and things like that, wondering why I had all these 5th graders in my group.  I explained to her what had happened, and she acted like she felt sorry for me rather than being upset –  I was a bit anxious to know why I was getting called by my “boss”.  But no problem – the more the merrier!  I just wonder what will happen next year –  I cannot move up to 8th grade and 6th grade at the same time!  I would think the now-5th graders would get a new group with other 6th graders, and I would stay with the 2015 group as the 7th graders are called for their graduation year.  We’ll see.

But anyway, it’s been a fun year, and I’ve learned A LOT.  Tonight is the final youth group of the year, and we’re having a pizza party, plus another party in regular small group time.  That will be interesting – I have a feeling that my girls will forget the snacks they pledged to bring as they’ve done in the past, so they’ll probably just run around crazy doing gymnastics, cheerleading moves and whatnot as usual.  Except tonight I don’t have to interrupt them since we are supposed to be having a end of the year party!  And, I’m bravely bringing my two youngest kids  – my youth group girls have always wanted to meet my little ones, so I figured tonight is a good opportunity.  I just hope I’m not going to overwhelm myself, but there’s only one way to find out…

But anyway, a fun year that makes me look forward to the next one, despite the time commitment involved.  Here is a typical schedule, in case you’re wondering – especially since a friend suggested oh-so-nicely:  “You should make more posts about your youth group.”  🙂

6:30 – students have arrived and assemble in the Linc – a sort of clubhouse-type room.  We watch a short video or two that’s related to the message, usually 2-3 minute clips from movies.  We’ll play 2 audience participation games, and these are always really fun to watch.  One had 2 teams of 2 kids each wearing pantyhose on their heads.  They put bananas in the feet of the pantyhose, and their goal was to swing their pantyhose around until their pantyhose was wrapped around their partners – hilarious to watch.  Another game involved speed-eating of baby food and another one had pies-in-the-face.  Of course my girls were chosen for that one, and after they  were late to small group after having to wash the pie off their face and out of their hair, that one wound them up all night!

Around 7pm, the worship band (not the same one we have on Sunday mornings) begins their set, and the leaders leave for a leaders’ group prayer in another room.  After this, the kids and leaders move to the Wherehouse, a room with a small stage where they’ll sometimes watch another very short video and hear the youth pastor’s talk for the week for about 40 minutes.  We get to small group around 7:40 and have until 8:18 if we need it to talk amongst our small group.  We leaders get a paper with discussion questions on it, but we are allowed much freedom with this – we adjust the questions as they apply to the conversation we have.

I love all my girls, but of course some are better behaved than others.  And some are much more interested in developing spiritually and bettering their relationship with God than others.  The 7th graders are much more mature about this than the 5th graders – they just don’t get it yet.  Probably why our student ministries start at 6th grade, but they’re worth a try!  I wish that all my girls are on the same page, but they’re not.  There is one girl in particular who causes a lot of drama amongst the other girls (they’re all friends in the same social group), so if there is drama going on that day or that week, it’s difficult to  get anything done.  I now understand the process a little better from when I was a new leader – the other leaders “cherry-picked” their students and left me with the clique.  Not that they’re bad girls at all or anything like that, but I can see where it would be so much more fun if I had a group of girls who were all there for the sole purpose of improving their relationships with Christ.

Well, that’s it in a nutshell.  I’m really hoping to have more leaders next year so that our groups aren’t so large, but it’s been difficult to find leaders that have the 3+ hours per week this volunteer job requires.  It’s a shame, but then again, for a job like this, you only want people who really want to be there – the kids can sniff out reluctant and moody adults like bloodhounds!

Back in the day, when I let myself go, I would talk about different philosophies. It was an interest of mine that I had a yearning to discover. I have since dropped the formal training from my current recallable knowledge base. (it has been too many years since I’ve read or discussed anything about formal Philosophies.) So if you are expecting me to name drop some famous philosophers you will be disappointed.

I am now more interested in the interactions between people. What makes friendships. How can we remain friends with someone we rarely see or communicate with. What is trust? Why do people behave differently in a group. What masks do we weave for others to see. And of course, how does this all interact with the new electronic neighborhood.

I’ve always been a people watcher. I do tend to notice the background or driving force behind the hustle and bustle of daily life. I notice when people are having a bad day, sometimes, to my embarrassment, before they realize themselves. I notice when people aren’t getting along. I see when people really like each other. I usually can tell that people are putting on a mask to hide their true feelings, and at times I can see the truth behind the mask. I find that interesting.

I also see the way people are on-line compared to how they are in real life. Some people really hide behind the machine. Others, thinking they are anonymous in their computer lives. They hope their employer never finds out about their on line activities. Again, I find it interesting.

We are social beings, constantly (almost) looking for acceptance in our little parts of the world. Not finding that acceptance can cause pain or sorrow. Finding too much can give inflated feelings of self-worth. We need to look elsewhere for our worth. Find it, hold on to it and live it. Everything else is then just gravy on the meal. Nice to have, but the base can stand on its own.

Well, today I won’t be writing much. I haven’t been home much at all since I worked 9-5 at Goodwill and then went to see a house with Amie almost as soon as I got home and then there was church after that and then waiting for Tony to get off work! Whew, it seems that there are days that I am never at home and I miss my cats terribly! They are my babies, and they know it. Anyway, I have been trying to get ahold of my older sister to see if she has found me a job in Toledo but does she answer her phone? Noooooo. Though my other sister has found me a job in Florida. Tony really doesn’t want to move down there since it would be a pain to move all our stuff down there. It would be very expensive! I just know that we need insurance, very badly! I am over due for my check-up with the doctor and unless I see the doctor for this check-up, I can’t get any birth control! ARGH!!!!

We checked out the Nightmare on Elm Street remake a few weeks ago.  It was better than the Friday the 13th remake and the Halloween remake but not comparable to the Texas Chainsaw remake, which was very well done and better than the original, in my opinion.  Nightmare on Elm Street, not so much.  For starters, I don’t understand why the new Freddy Krueger was so short.  His burned face was much less scary than the original Freddy, and I have to say that having high school kids tower over him did take away some of the intended fright.  Also, Freddy’s back-story changed for the new version, which now includes allusions to child abuse of Freddy’s victims at a preschool rather than all of the terrorized kids being from Elm Street.  In fact, I don’t really know what Elm Street has to do with the new version of Nightmare on Elm Street.  Part of the reason we wanted to check this one out is because much of it was filmed in the suburbs of Chicago where we grew up, but we didn’t recognize anything, and my husband did not recognize which scenes were filmed in his former high school.  But not recognizing the filming locations was not what disappointed us most – the 2010 version of Nightmare on Elm Street is just not as scary as the original.  Sure, the special effects are better and the throwback and remakes of certain key scenes were done well and appreciated, but the movie just didn’t have the same effect.

We also recently took in the original My Bloody Valentine, the 1981 version, and it was a good horror movie.  I read afterward that much of it is actually filmed in real mines, which must have been really dangerous, and I wish I had known that before I watched the movie.  Many things were changed for the 2009 version, which I really enjoyed – probably my favorite modern day horror movie.  But to enjoy the original version was nice too.  We picked up the 2009 version on a sale at Walmart, and it came with both the 2D and 3D version and some glasses.  I’ve never had any luck with the old red/green 3D glasses technology, and this time was no exception – my vision is just too uneven, I guess.  It worked for my husband, but I ruined his fun because seeing everything in red and green was incredibly distracting for me.

We’ve also been watching the After Dark Horror Fest movies lately, and there have been too many to review, so I’ll just make quick lists of recommended vs. terrible ones for any horror fanatics reading my blog and looking for some opinions.

Good:
The Final
Kill Theory
Perfect Getaway (more thriller than horror, but good)
My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009) – especially if you can get the 3D to work for you at home.  The 3D for this one in the theater was amazing, and I really enjoyed my first horror movie 3D experience on the big screen when it came out.

Worth one viewing:
Dread
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
The Graves

Awful waste of time:
The Broken
Grace

And, I think I’ll throw this one out there separately since it’s not horror at all, but we also watched The Prestige again yesterday and it’s very good – especially the second time around.  It’s a story about two rival magicians that takes place in the 1890’s.  If you’re going to give it a try, pay attention!  Oh, and I would not look too closely at the imdb entry for it – there is too much that can be given away.  That’s all I’m going to say other than I highly recommend it, but again -it is in no way a horror film; we just watched it again recently which is why I put it in this horror-movie-laden post.

And congratulations to Lee DeWyze from Mt. Prospect, Illinois.  Even if Crystal had not been from our neck of the woods, being talked about continuously on the 4 local stations, I would definitely think that she was the clear front-runner.  From what I have seen of American Idol this year, the paint salesman has grown by leaps and bounds and deserves to be crowned.  But why, oh why do we need two hours of it.  We had the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Some of the performances by the top 12 were good… others not so good (Siobhan), and others were downright UUUUUGLY!  (I was almost afraid that one of the myriad of guest performers was going to have another wardrobe malfunction).

Taking second place to the anticipation of the announcement was the farewell to Simon Cowell.  I’m not totally convinced that the show will be the juggernaut it is without him.  I don’t think it is now after nine years.  Video tributes, a hilarious segment by Ricky Gervais, and the inevitable return of Paula Abdul all ate time up.  I think it will all come down to who the new person at the table will be as to how it will fare.

My favorite part of the evening:  THE YANKEES WIN!  About time.  The win TWICE.  The suspended game from yesterday and today’s scheduled game at Target Field against the Twins.  Plus (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) but kudos to the Red Sox for sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays which inches the Bombers closer to that first place AL East lead.

Plus, the Pants on the Ground rendition featuring Season 3 standout William Hung was priceless.  Congrats, Lee!  And THAHHHHHHH YANKEES WIN!

I will blog about that soon, but I will just say for now I was in Southern Illinois the entire weekend, or driving there or back.  Monday I had my usual busy day.  I tried to blog yesterday but the allergy pills I took for my headache just zonked me out.  I must say, for a new position with higher pay I certainly don’t feel those newfound funds.  I guess another $500 car bill last month and $300 for an eye doctor visit and contacts will do that.  That in addition to the medical insurance I finally purchased and the property tax bill I am trying to save for.  None of this will keep me away this weekend, or keep me from spending money, mind you!  I have plenty for that.

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So what has been going on?  Well, my boss has been taking some time off because her brother was critically injured in a motorcycle accident (or some sort of motorized scooter I’m told, as if that makes a difference.  Last I heard he was in a coma and they were going to take him off the pain medication to see if that would shock his system enough to wake him up.  Yikes.  In addition, her father was admitted to another hospital shortly after, though I forget why.  So I am covering for her as best I can as far as technical things go.  I was on the phone for awhile this morning trying to get a couple of our people in Florida up and running- this while training someone on the handheld computer who is back with us after leaving some months ago before his training was complete.  Oh, and I just learned today another employee of our company was involved in a motorcycle accident, and her father had a medical problem (a heart attack in his case) happen at the same time as well. 😯

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Now I have learned my brother is extremely upset about some damage to the classic Mustang sitting in our garage.  Apparently someone, probably me I suppose, put a ladder in the wrong place and some boxes just happened to fall on the ladder, causing it to fall on the car.  My brother was ranting on the phone yesterday and today with my mother.  One of the unfair things he brought into play were our Christian values, as if we were purposely trying to cover it up.  Really?  Christian values?  How about not making an idol of worldly possessions to a point where you yell at your mother for over a half-hour in three calls (which she had the grace to not just hang up on) and threaten to “disown us” if we don’t fix it?  My nephew, who is the actual owner of the car mind you, has made an assessment of his own that it can’t be fixed for less than many thousands of dollars due to the tiny dent (I couldn’t even find it) being in a bad spot.  He said he won’t make us pay for it, but I asked him to find out some time how much it really would be.  Lovely, we need our roof reshingled and new windows, but now we might have to pay to have a tiny dent fixed.

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So…  In more positive news, I have made an appointment to audition at our local professional theatre.  My day to go is June 12.  I need to get a new headshot done somewhere (hopefully they don’t cost too much) and I need to write a new résumé.  More importantly, I need to come up with a monologue.  I expect I will sing a selection from my usual song from the Secret Garden, Race you to the Top of the Morning, but I’m not sure about the monologue.  Someone has recommended I do something from Oliver! since I played Fagin a few years ago.  A site, musicaltheatreaudition.com, says I should not use an accent unless specifically asked to and I couldn’t imagine playing Fagin without one, so I don’t know.  I do know that since the song is dramatic the monologue should be comedic.  Many other tips involve knowing what one is actually trying out for, but I am trying out for an entire season, and one show is even listed as “unknown musical.”  The song and the monologue have to total no more than three minutes, so I have my work cut out for me- but at least I have a couple of weeks.  Any recommendations anyone?

Another aspect of the first dramatic lead role kinda snuck up on me in the days leading up to the opening.  It just seems that whenever I set out to do something new theatrically or musically I can feel the hand of my guardian angel on my shoulder.  I even make a point to visit Emily’s graveside at these times.  And I have come to the realization that I KNOW she would be really proud of my accomplishments as I am, she would also be advising me to more.  I still think that her voice was coming through as I told Beth that I “need to be BIGGER” although I know that the director was primarily addressing my fellow female actors.  I was not joking.  But all three kept insisting that I did not need to be bigger than I already was.

To that end, I am  beginning a search for a vocal coach in this area.  Not just ANY vocal coach.  They need to be willing to PUSH me, be as demanding as I am on myself.  I have to be able to trust that they will do that!  Any ideas?  I have been without a vocal coach for almost 3 years.  A mentor I have and I am forever grateful for that.  I just need someone to help develop my theatricality even more.  Who knows to where it will end?  Perhaps to get that first big musical lead in community theatre (my next goal) … maybe even BIGGER… AND THEN… BIGGER THAN THAT! And not because someone told me I should or should not but because I told me.  Sounds  like a challenge issued to myself.  However far it takes me is my decision and as a sage once told me… “The Sky’s the Limit!”  Not that I would hesitate to ask for any help would be great.

Here I am watching Julie and Julia and I decided that I needed to do something to keep me blogging everyday. I am thinking about blogging on the movies that I watch, but if anyone else has any other ideas, I would like to hear them. Maybe if I had multiple things to write about, I would be able to keep up with this. I don’t do a lot of interesting things in my life to write about everyday.

So hopefully I will be able to figure out something. Hope to hear some suggestions soon!

Sometimes I get inspiration from my little posts on facebook. Sometimes I get inspiration for little posts on facebook from my blog. This is a bit of both.

A blog post with the above title was started on the 20th of May. Five days later, I think the original thoughts are finally gelling. All from a facebook post I made yesterday.

I don’t know your pain. I only know my own. I can, however, listen when you need it, advise when you want it, and care for you always, because I call you friend.

There it is. The original idea behind this was that I have a number of friends going through some difficult times right now. I was able to listen to their description of pain and sorrow. I offered a bit of advice when asked. And through it all I think I became a better person.

It takes a lot to try to ignore or temper your own sorrows when dealing with the problems of others. Your problems. sorrows, worries are of the utmost importance to you. Nothing can be bigger or more intense than the situation you are in . These are your feelings and are rightfully justified.

That being said, if a person shares their situation with you, their problems are going to be bigger than yours, at least in their eyes. To be a truly caring individual, you need to look past your problems and listen to what your friend needs to share. There are times when this cannot be done. In those times, you should beg the others indulgence and say you are at best willing to listen, but advice would not be the best from you right now. Good friends will be able to understand this. There is never a good time to be in a war of who has the worse problems.

And through all of this, maybe you will be able to see that other peoples problems can be bigger and even more intense than your own. Then we come to true understanding of the people we share our lives with.

And that leads me to one of my favorite movie quotes. From the movie “Harvey”:

Elwood P. Dowd: Harvey and I sit in the bars… have a drink or two… play the juke box. And soon the faces of all the other people they turn toward mine and they smile. And they’re saying, “We don’t know your name, mister, but you’re a very nice fella.” Harvey and I warm ourselves in all these golden moments. We’ve entered as strangers – soon we have friends. And they come over… and they sit with us… and they drink with us… and they talk to us. They tell about the big terrible things they’ve done and the big wonderful things they’ll do. Their hopes, and their regrets, and their loves, and their hates. All very large, because nobody ever brings anything small into a bar. And then I introduce them to Harvey… and he’s bigger and grander than anything they offer me. And when they leave, they leave impressed. The same people seldom come back; but that’s envy, my dear. There’s a little bit of envy in the best of us.