keladry_lupin: (Ooo (Mulan))
I might overuse this icon, but it is far and away the most appropriate one tonight, because Michael Dorn is fit as fuck. He first walked out on that stage in a well-fitted suit and tie, and my jaw was in my lap. Then later, he walked out in a waistcoat, shirt, and trousers, and I could not take my eyes off him. There were quite a few beautiful men in the cast of As You Like It tonight -- hooray for the Charles vs. Orlando wrestling scene -- but when Dorn was on stage, I had a hard time looking anywhere else.

The play was well acted, though a little hard to follow because a dozen actors filled over twenty roles, but it was a lot of fun. The venue is an outdoor theater in a Japanese garden on the campus of a huge Veterans Administration facility in Los Angeles, and there were no bad seats. [livejournal.com profile] ronfaure wisely chose a seat right next to one of the walkways where the actors entered and exited, so we had a lovely view of everything.

It's almost one in the morning, so I'm off to bed. Good night, all.
keladry_lupin: (Sad (Little Amelie))
Weeping over The Last 5 Years again. Seeing it four days in a row makes it even more potent than it already is. It took me a few days to recognize melodies that recur frequently in the music, the way Jeff the director used colors and props, and all that. I cried at the wedding and the final number on Tuesday and Wednesday, but just the final number last night and tonight. I think it's because it's a song that's full of energy, and while Cathy is joyful and optimistic, we see her future in Jamie, who's singing his lament at the end of the marriage at the same time she's singing that she'll be waiting to see him again tomorrow. And the music is beautiful, too, which makes the heartbreak even worse.
keladry_lupin: (Then a Star Danced)
So we went to see Hanna Friday night. I liked it, though Phil was iffy. I like sheroes and female warriors, so this was right up my alley. (Eric Bana was some mighty nice eye candy, too.)

Phil worked Saturday night, so I went to see Much Ado about Nothing at a little theater in Santa Ana. It was brilliant! Read more... )

And then we went to see Revenge: a Love Story this afternoon with Rose and Bill. (We'd seen Rose as Eleanor in The Lion in Winter twice, and Bill -- our Marley in Scrooge and Marley -- was her Henry in one of those TLiW productions.) Read more... )

Off to the courthouse for jury duty tomorrow. If you would be so kind, please keep your fingers crossed for me to stay out of courtrooms all day.
keladry_lupin: (Default)
Just got back from Crucible rehearsal. Four and a half hours, and they only got through four of the five scenes. It'll go faster tomorrow, since Lisa and I know what to do now. We're the stage crew!

Lisa the stage manager is pretty badass. Most of what I'm doing at the moment is hold curtains aside while she picks up tables and fireplaces and hauls them on and off stage like they're twigs. She'll be at the theater until at least 2 this morning, and then she's up at 6 to teach junior high school. And all this after spending a weekend in the snow with some of her students on a science trip in the mountains. After a full day teaching the little rats, she'll come back to the theater for at least ten hours before, during, and after Tuesday night's rehearsal.

See? Badass.

The show's going to be really good. No one's got their lines perfect, but they're hitting all the relevant points in the story, which is the important thing. And this play is downright scary! Mallory's Abigail is chillingly psychopathic, bulldozing over everyone and everything that gets in her way.

I'm up in six hours and fifteen minutes and off to work, then off to the Mysterium after that for another rehearsal. I'd feel better about this if I'd got more than five hours of sleep last night, but that's what I get for watching two episodes of Supernatural right before bed.

Good night.
keladry_lupin: (Sad (Nine and Rose))
Well, I had a lazy morning. The feet ached enough that I couldn't be arsed to go to the supermarket to buy bay leaves, so I did without. The chicken stock won't suffer; by the time I was through, three carrots, one and a half onions, and several stalks of celery gave their lives to the process. This is gonna be the best chicken and dumplings ever.

I finished Through the Looking Glass this morning, too. Alice's stories are insane, but I really liked her adventures. I'll try to write a coherent review tomorrow.

I did make it to Jerad's memorial and found out lots of really fantastic things about him, which makes me even more upset that I didn't have the opportunity to see him perform and that I didn't have the time to get to know him better. It was a lovely get-together, and over fifty people showed up. I expected to see Phil's friends Scott and Mary, but I also saw Bill and Nell, who are from the play reading group. An unexpected delight was Rose, who played Queen Eleanor in The Lion in Winter twice last year, and she even recognized me! She acted with Jerad once, and they were friends for about ten years.

I'd committed to be the stage manager for a couple of abridged Shakespeare plays with Scott directing, but that project has been put on the shelf. Jerad had performed the Shakespeare one-acts with Scott before, and I think Scott's retiring the project indefinitely because Jerad's gone. Scott and Mary saw something else last night that lit a fire under his butt, so we may do something completely different later this year, but for now, I'm free to spend more time at the Mysterium. I e-mailed Marla to let her know, because I really want to learn as much as I can about all the behind-the-scenes stuff of theater as well as performing again. I think she's going to start me in box office, and I'm perfectly happy to donate my time in exchange for an education. That's how apprenticeships work, right?

I was supposed to go to a church thing tonight, but my entire body is in an uproar for a few different reasons, so I'm giving myself the night off. Phil's there, so there goes my chance to see him today; BOO. (He was at work during the memorial.) I'll put Inception in the DVD player and then reread a Sherlock fanfic I read a few weeks ago that was a crossover. It was really very interesting, but I couldn't remember all the rules from the movie, so this will refresh my memory. If you're interested in a Sherlock BBC/Inception one-shot, here's the fic rec:

Title: I Deduce In My Sleep
Fandoms: Sherlock (BBC) and Inception
Characters/Pairing: Sherlock/John (implied), plus Ariadne, Arthur, and Cobb
Rating: PG-13
Summary: John Watson doesn't quite recognize the agitated man in his dream screaming about idiots, but he knows that he's important somehow.

Happy Saturday night and Sunday morning, y'all. ♥

more stuff

Jan. 20th, 2011 03:44 pm
keladry_lupin: (Hermits United)
Achoo!!! )
keladry_lupin: (Domicile (Kitty Litter))
My flat looks awful and smells worse. The poor cats have been doing their business in a box that hasn't been scooped since Friday morning, I don't have a single clean cereal bowl or drinking glass, and the recycle bin is overflowing. It won't keep me from doing another play eventually, but I will plan better next time. I'll have enough vacation time to take Hell Week off, and I'll hire a cleaning service to dust and mop my floors when everything gets intense.

Sunday. )

Today, my SED meme is what I've already hinted at: I'm gonna start cleaning so I have a nice, clean flat for Mom and me for the holidays. This morning I'll wash at least half the dirty dishes, scoop the Beastie Boys' box, organize the shopping (I only put the refrigerated stuff away Saturday), and take out all the trash and recycling. Also, I'll put a pound of frozen bread dough in the fridge so I can make myself a pizza for tonight's dinner (and a couple more meals). Then I'm off to work, where I will torture my coworkers with chocolate; I bought a big bag of Ghirardelli squares to share with everyone.
keladry_lupin: (Acting (David))
Both Phil and I are already mourning the end of our Scrooge and Marley experience. One week from today, I shall weep pathetically because I'll be so sad it's over. But we're enjoying it as much as we can right now. When we saw The Lion in Winter Saturday night, Bill (our Marley) was in the audience as well. He told us he was going to get to the Mysterium early on Sunday to see the other play that's going on, A Child's Christmas in Wales. Phil and I decided on the way home to go too.

We got there yesterday, and the only people who showed up to see it were the three of us. So Marla canceled the show, and the three of us and Mallory piled in Phil's car to get lunch at Chipotle. Cody (our Ghost of Christmas Future) and his parents were right behind us, and Shannon (one of our Cratchit kids) stopped there on the way to the theater. So we all ended up sitting on a bench outside the Mysterium, munching our burritos and chatting. It's not an earth-shattering moment or anything, but it was just really nice to hang out like that.
keladry_lupin: (Beauty Sleep (Sully))
Yeeeeaahhh ... if it's past midnight but I'm still awake, it still counts as Friday, right?

Today I just took care of myself. Stretched, stayed hydrated, ate lots of potassium-rich stuff so I can stay healthy for the play and Christmas and all that. Finished it off with a bowl of hot soup. Yum yum yum yum yum.

Four church friends came to see us tonight, and one of them had a tin of homemade sweets and a Christmas card each for me and Phil. I'm full now, but that'll be my first stop once I get out of bed.

This play is bad for the actors' health, though! Getting a little graphic here, so don't click if you're squeamish. )

I get a little narcoleptic in the minutes before a performance. I sit in one of the rocking chairs, and my eyelids get all heavy. I don't think about anything, like my lines or blocking. I just blank my mind out and take in (without really listening) all the babbling of everyone around me. It's very calming, even when my butterflies are at their worst.

Good night, everyone. And happy birthday to my Mom, who first appeared on 10th December several decades ago.
keladry_lupin: (Default)
Boy, won't you all be happy when this play is over and I shut up about it!

I tested my memory and spent the last five minutes typing out all my lines for all four of my parts (five scenes) that I'll play for the next three performances, just to make sure I've got the words down. No queues, blocking, or gestures; just lines. Then I went to the script and compared it with what I'd typed, and with only a few insignificant exceptions (using "nearly" when the script says "near," for example), I remembered every line I must speak and got them all correct.

I feel better now. I'm still nervous (which is entirely natural) but not as much as I was half an hour ago. It'll be over in five hours no matter what, so it's up to me to determine if I go home happy or in tears. I have everything I need in me: the lines, the blocking, the gestures, voices, facial expressions, songs, and dance moves.

Patrick Stewart used to perform A Christmas Carol as a one-man show, and he did every part from Scrooge to Tiny Tim. I figure all I have to be is a tenth the actor he is to pull off four of the forty-odd parts in Scrooge and Marley.

I can do this! *\o/*
keladry_lupin: (Blergh (Bertie))
What time did I get to work this morning?

What time do I get to go home?

Can it be now?

Read more... )

SoCA friends (and visitors, if you'll be in town before 19th December), if you want information on where, when, and such for Scrooge and Marley ... Together Again, I'd be happy to give you the address, directions, ways of getting discount tickets, and just about anything else short of my firstborn child if you want to come.

stuff

Nov. 12th, 2010 10:56 pm
keladry_lupin: (Blergh (Bertie))
Mom's home for Da Weekend! She's exhausted and in need of serious quiet therapy, but I'm so happy to see her that I haven't shut up since I got home from the chiropractor. Mom read the first 500-ish words of [livejournal.com profile] celebrate_sshg fic and said "More, please." So I told here where it was going and what little I know about how I'll get there. She now knows who Mithridates was and one of the things he's famous for.

Sick-ish today. I thought I'd caught cold, so I called in to work, but now I'm feeling better. I think it was a combination of a bunch of factors: windy (and therefore dusty) weather plus dehydration plus poor nutrition over the last two weeks plus insomnia. Took two naps, cleaned the hobbit hole, watched a few Sherlock Holmes episodes with the lovely Jeremy Brett, and spent quality time with the Beastie Boys. I still feel slightly icky, but loads better than I did this morning. A friend scheduled a hafla for tonight, and I was going to go, but ickiness prevented it. I'll go to the next one if it's after the play is over. Mom and I got takeaway and watched Sherlock instead. She admires Benedict Cumberbatch almost as much as I do, but she doesn't get Martin Freeman's appeal. I'll keep working on that, because HELLO!

Phil made me giggle liek woah today. I told him I wasn't feeling well, and he said he'd keep good thoughts/prayers going for me. "On the airwaves. Prayerwaves." He invented a sniglet! I'd been sitting on the sofa during our conversation, but I giggled so much that I was lying down by the end of the phone call. So now when someone asks for good thoughts or prayers for themselves or their loved ones, I shall put them out on the prayerwaves.

Today was the last day off before nine consecutive days at the Mysterium: five days of rehearsal and then the first four performances. I have my lines down pretty well -- now I just need to make sure I have the order of Christmas carols and remember where and when we sing them. We had another dance practice at the studio on Wednesday, and it was such fun! A bunch of us went out for burgers after, like last week, only we had a bigger crowd the second time around. It takes some time for introverted me to warm up to everyone -- and for some of them to warm up to me -- but after four weeks of rehearsals, everyone is friends with everyone. At this time in six days, I'll be on my way home after my first performance! (Hopefully not wanting to slit my wrists.)

Our understudy for Bob Cratchit is from Boston by way of Brooklyn, and he can't do an English accent to save his life. A bunch of us stood behind the set last night giggling because the line "I would like to drink to the health of the man who employs me, and to whom we owe our support, and that man is Ebenezer Scrooge" came out like "I would like to drink to da helf udda man who employs me, anta whom we owe our supoawt, andat man is Ebuhneezuh Scrooge." I really shouldn't laugh, because we're all struggling, but it was funny anyway. We figure his Bob emigrated from New England back to London when he was in his late teens.

Our Ghost of Christmas Future is going to be awesome. He's played by a teenager who's 6'2" and has mad stilt walking skillz. He's going to be eight and a half feet tall! He enters from the back of a audience, climbs the steps to the stage (Marley will spot/help him), does his thing with Scrooge on the stage, and then stalks off stage right. I've told Mom to warn Squirt (six-year-old niece) so she doesn't freak out.

Must go to bed. My alarm is set for eight hours from now because of a 9 AM rehearsal. And then I have to shop for a wig or hairpiece after, because apparently Victorian women didn't have boy-short hair. Need to fit food shopping in there somewhere, and then Dad's taking me and Mom out to dinner.

Found my lost box of tea bags. ♥
keladry_lupin: (Default)
Six-hour rehearsals on Saturday and Sunday, and I'm sitting here wondering where the weekend went. Still, carpooling with Phil is nice, though we didn't say much this afternoon. We were all talked out, and we were bloody pooped to boot.

Smashed a HUGE spider on Scrooge's bedroom floor with my script this morning. The pencil that I'd clipped on the script went flying, and I never found it. Celestina nearly wet herself when she saw that thing scurrying towards her, and I am her new hero. It's just a spider, for goodness' sake, but who am I to talk when I turn green and run away screaming at the sight of garden slugs?

We have to be off book by Tuesday night. Phil is really anxious about it, and I am scarcely less so.

Hagrid Dane and I keep stomping away at our dance number, and we'd just got to the point where we felt comfortable when the news came through that they expect us to go through the one-minute routine in thirty seconds. Oh. Crap.

I made an appointment a month ago for a haircut and color, but Marla the Director talked to me about it Thursday. No matter what I slap on my head to make it look like I have long hair, it has to have something to be fastened to, so I couldn't cut it when I went to the salon yesterday. My hair would have been too short otherwise. I'm going to look like a shaggy beast until the Tuesday after we close.

One of the SSHG Anniversary prompts has made me think and speculate. I've written some thoughts about it and will let it simmer for a bit, because I'm a leetle busy at the moment. Not sure if I'll get it in in time for the festival, but I'll see what I can do. Watching one of the Potter movies for research (any excuse), and I'll read the corresponding scene later tonight. I must get chocolate chips tomorrow, because the jar is empty.

Took Phil by work to print out some sheet music Marla e-mailed us last night. He met one of the librarians and got a little tour of the offices while my computer woke up. It's kind of nice that SOMEONE where I work knows that this boyfriend I've been talking about isn't imaginary.

Joined [livejournal.com profile] sherlockbbc a week or two ago and am having a marvelous time reading fic and looking at art. I usually swap out my desktop background once a day, but I've had John Watson in Afghanistan there since the art showed up in the comm. (Un-GAWA.)

Boring afternoon. I have a flat that desperately needs to be cleaned, but the only motivation I've been able to muster is the fact that I don't want to start the work week with a dirty hobbit hole, so it's slow going. I think it's that I'm not used to it being dark so early, but I'll get over that presently. The cats have enjoyed all the cuddling I've lavished on them, though. If I'd ignored them today, I think they'd have pissed on everything in sight to get my attention.
keladry_lupin: (Default)
Today, it's an unexpected musical rehearsal. Everyone was supposed to get to the theater by ten to go over the final scene, and six of us were there on time. Since it was pointless to go over the blocking for twenty people when only six were there, we crowded into the director's office and went over the Christmas carols we'll sing in the show. We started out with one soprano, one alto (me), one tenor (Phil, who also played the piano), and one bass, and omgosh, we sounded good. I wasn't too sure on all the notes because they were arranged a little differently than the LDS hymnbook I've used since I was a child, but I squinted over Phil's shoulder and did well enough. Others gradually filtered into the office to sing, so we had a decent crowd of singers by the time Marla dismissed us. And an even larger crowd outside listening to us!

So yay for an impromptu singing rehearsal and making music with some really good singers! Phil overheard Marla talking about me and Phil: "Listen to them! They've spent the last year in the audience when we could have had them on stage!" So that's an additional yay for overhearing lovely things said about us.

Thanks for the meme idea, Scoffy; it's been fun.

Mom isn't home yet, but I'm prepping taco ingredients for when she gets here. I'm off again at 5:30 to spend some time with friends this evening, so I don't have much time with her, and then she's off again in the morning to the doctor and then out to the Jimbos'.
keladry_lupin: (Default)
Opening night of the church musical went well. A few flubbed lines, and one of the lead boys can't sing to save his life, but he's adorable, and he hams it up enough to make you forget his voice. I didn't see a bit of it because I was backstage bossing the actors and crew around -- "Julia, get dressed for the funeral now, and then you can color." "If the kids are wearing church clothes for your next scene, shouldn't you be wearing them, too?" "What are they doing?! We don't need the sofa out! The next time the curtain opens is the airport scene! Get the sofa behind the back curtain!" -- and I had a fantastic time. Phil was backstage on the other side, and I don't know where he was during that last near-disaster. The majority of entrances and exits were on my side, so I had the lion's share of getting all this done, and I think Phil deserves to actually watch the show after all the stress of getting us this far. I did get to sing because there were some ensemble pieces where Phil wanted all the voices he could get, so I stood backstage and gave it my all.

Just gotta get through the busiest day of my life tomorrow so I can get to church after chores, work, and S&M rehearsal. Then we get to do it all over again! I'm doing laundry now because I have no time in the morning, and as soon as that's done, I'm off to bed for six hours of sleep if I'm lucky.

*dies*
keladry_lupin: (Yay (Dara))
Phil and I went to see a play in January called Sarah Was Mine at the Mysterium Theater in Orange. It's a drama about about love, friendship and finding yourself in a pre-AIDS society, and the performances were fantastic on their opening night. Now the actors are headed to New York for the Fresh Fruit Festival next month, so if you want to see a really good play, it'll be at the Cherry Lane Studio Theatre in Greenwich: http://www.freshfruitfestival.com/calendar.htm

And the festival's website is here: http://www.freshfruitfestival.com/

Bring Kleenex.

I'm very excited for Paul, Mary, and Robert and for the chance they have to perform in New York, which was Joe's (the playwright) dream. Sadly, Joe passed away a month after Sarah Was Mine premiered, but the three actors are carrying on his legacy and will give everything they have to these performances. They'll also be performing in Orange County July 9-11, so if you're in Southern California and you want details, please feel free to ask me!

Picspam from the original production under the cut: )
keladry_lupin: (Stephen Sleepy)
Somebody wake me up, please. I'm at work, running on five hours of sleep (only a little less sleep than normal), the stuff on my desk is telling me to ignore it, and my first dose of caffeine in a month isn't doing anything. (It's not a matter of getting stuff done -- I've already accomplished a lot -- but a matter of enthusiasm. I haven't any.)

Oh, how Kel loves to babble. )

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