Okay, so Wicked was what I expected it to be, mindless entertainment high quality mindless entertainment.

My sister absolutely loved it, which made me happy. There's something about showing someone a movie, or in my case, a musical, that he/she has never seen before, and watching them experience it for the first time. That's what made last night so enjoyable for me.

Anyways here's my review, for anyone that's interested. It's long, and long-winded so read at your own risk.

( Wicked Equity Tour -- June 3, 2008 )

Has anyone ever read any of Bruce Coville's short stories? I just picked up the book my Grandma gave me when I was little and fell in love with them all again. If you're looking for something to read, and aren't turned off by "fantasy," I highly, highly, highly recommend finding the book Oddly Enough. It's a compliation of Coville's short stories. I admit that some are juvenile, but most of them are incredible, even now ten years after I first read them.

My legs are killing me. I did lunges for the first time in two weeks yesterday, and had lost count half-way through and just kind of guesstimated, which was a stupid thing to do in retreospect, and am now paying the price. I have the mobility of a 90 year old woman, and show no shame in vocalizing my agony each time I'm forced to stand up or sit down.

I've been in a kind of weird mood today. I have no idea why. It may be how much I miss London, which is a lot.
God, I just connected with the people there. It had been like we were friends forever. The people there understood me better than anyone that I've known for years, including my family. Maybe it was because we were only going to be together for such a short time? I don't know.
This is probably going to sound elitist and asshole-ish of me, but I think that there is a certain type of people that study abroad. It's that group of people who actually care about their friends. The ones who pay more attention to what's going on in the world than to what the latest fashion trends are. They're the ones who look below surface levels and accept you for who you are. They think it's cool that you're a little off-beat, or unique. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Every. Single. Person. I met in London was like that. And I think that that was the first time I've ever encountered, or been included, in a group like that. I learned so much from those people and feel like I've grown so, so, much just from being around them.
My friends here constantly make fun of me for being "odd." They're judgmental. God forbid someone mention anything about homosexuals or transvestites. If I don't act like those people who are different are somehow not human, then they look at me like I have three heads. I try to show them that it's only a big a deal as they make it out to be, but they don't care. And I don't want to be one of those obnoxious people who shoves their views down other peoples' throats. It's annoying, and not right, no matter which end it comes from. But if the subject comes up there is no way in hell I am just going to sit by without speaking up.
God, I miss my London friends : (
I really hope that I have the opportunity to get to know people like that again. That's kind of why I love my livejournal people : )

Sorry, that was kind of a random rant about everything. But I guess I feel better, maybe? Yes?

So I woke up this morning to my phone ringing like crazy and I answer in that stupid groggy "you woke me up" voice, to discover, hey it's the MCC theater people calling me back... again. The sad thing was they called at like 11:00, and I was still in bed. Anyways, they wanted to reschedule the phone interview for next Thursday, so I get to stress about it until then.
Maybe I'll call random people and try to have intelligible conversations with them on the phone in order to practice. Oy... Stress. It runs my life.
In other news...
We had our first rehearsal tonight and sang Jesus Christ Superstar which is probably one of the most boring songs in the world to sing, unless you're Judas. I would really love to do a solo, but those auditions were held last week when I had le strep so it looks like that is a no go as of right now... too bad. One of the concerts is on my mom's birthday too, I cannot wait to hear what she has to say about that. Especially when I tell her I would rather the parentals didn't come to this little shindig because it would just stress me out and make me screw up.
Stress is my one true companion. Sad life I live.

Ugh. Today was just too long, I was going non-stop from 11:00 until... just about now. Where I am off to bed so I can wake up and do it all over again tomorrow!! At least I have that random Middle Ages play to look forward to... super duper!

Ah!!
So today I had one class from 11-12:30 and came back to my room to find out that I had missed a call and that there was a new voicemail waiting. No one calls me, ever, so it was a big deal.
It turns out it is one of the theaters (The MCC Theater to be exact) I applied for an internship with last week, and they want to interview me! Ah! I almost crapped my pants, not going to lie. This was probably my first choice theater out of the fifteen or so I applied to. They just put on their big "Miscast Broadway" event last night and had performances from people like Jesse L. Martin, Patrick Wilson, Leslie Kritzer, Cheyenne Jackson, Kelli O'hara, and lots of other people I am a very big fan of.
So I called them back right away and had to leave a message, and of course, due to my super duper awesome phone skills, instead of saying "Thank you for your interest," I said: "Thank you for calling me" and made myself sound like a total douche bag. I also told them I would be around for the rest of the day and they can just call me whenever, then promptly left to go run some errands, again, because I guess I really am a douche bag, (although I was in dire need of socks, so it couldn't be helped really). I ran three red lights trying to get it all done and back to my room as fast as I could in case they called when I was out (which they didn't). Instead, they called back at dinner time where I immediately (and accidentally, I swear!) hung up on them.
Oops.
Clearly, my phone skills are among the best ever.
It all worked out though, they left another message saying that they would like to do a phone interview (again with the phone skills... please don't let that be what fucks me over on this!!!), this Thursday at 12.
So I will probably be a nervous wreck until then. But oh well, it'll be worth it. I am probably going to practice talking on the phone all day tomorrow (fuck going to class), and research the shizznat out of the MCC theater.
But yeah, I'm excited!!

Why is it that I can do spur of the moment, intelligent sounding speech during class in a discussion setting, but when I have to get up for a 2 minute impromptu presentation I freeze?

I can belt it out in front of a room full of strangers, but I can't talk intelligibly about the fucking ladder of inference?

I can be someone else for hours at a time and act out situations I will probably never encounter in my entire life, but I stutter when talking about athlete's that can run quickly?

Ugh, give me a break.

At least it's over with. I am determined to dominate the informative presentations next week. It's about theater, if I fuck that up too I will probably explode from frustration.

I'm also missing all of my socks. For some reason every. single. pair. of. socks. I brought to NYC (which was basically all of them) is missing. I know I brought them home because I remember unpacking them, but they are nowhere to be found. I've ripped apart my suitcase, my room, the laundry room and my dresser to no avail. Laundry really is the bane of my existence.

I was in the mood for some quality entertainment and decided to put myself through 10,000 B.C. this afternoon. Who knew that wooly mammoth's built the pyramids -- yeah, it was that kind of movie. Not bad if you're looking for some indistinguishable accents (I understand that this takes place in 10,000 BC, but they were talking in a weird Middle Eastern/British hybrid, and everyone had a different idea as to what that actually sounded like), horrible dialogue, gorgeous half-naked men (most redeeming part of the movie right there), and a ridiculous ending. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting/hoping it would be, and it still managed to keep me entertained (see half-naked men). So, go see it? I guarantee you won't be bored.

And on a more depressing/upsetting note, I saw that Parade lost all of its Olivier awards to Hairspray tonight. That upsets me. I saw both shows in London last semester and each of them were great. But Parade blew Hairspray out of the water in acting, design, and directing. The Olivier people fucked poor Parade sideways up a river... repeatedly. I was hoping for a chance to see it again on Broadway, but I doubt it's going to happen now that it lost. If you haven't done so yet, go out and buy the 2007 Donmar Parade recording, you get lots of dialogue and can experience some of the glorious performances of Bertie Cavel and Lara Pulver. Thank God for small favors...

I was bored today so I took Frank for a two hour drive in a blizzard to try and clear my head. One thing lead to another and, for some reason, I ended up thinking about catharsis, and certain cathartic moments I've experienced in my life...
( Three X Catharsis )

There were other "carthartic moments" I remembered during that wonderful drive, but those are the big ones.
Thinking about what it felt like to sit in a theater and just let these amazing stories wash over me makes me want to help others experience the same thing. I think that is the closest I can come to tasting that kind of emotional power again.
I want the people I care about to understand just why I'm "obsessive" about these aspects of my life. It is not because I have nothing better to do. It's not because it's the cool thing to do (HA! the irony...) It's because it is the purest form of happiness that I can understand.
Theater has always been the closest I ever came to recapturing some of my greatest memories. I need to be a part of it. I don't care what I do. On-stage, backstage, front of house, usher, administrative, marketing, production, fundraising, public relations... just, something that lets me share what I love so much with anyone willing to listen.

God. Please, let me be able to do this someday, or at least let me have to strength to try.

So tonight in medieval class we were split into two groups and were told that we each had to put on a medieval play. Our group was given something about shepherds... the name escapes me at the moment, and I was given one of the lead roles, "Coll." It's a man, but whatever it'll be fun.

I get a giant five minutish monologue that opens the show along with several one liners that follow. We rehearsed tonight, and get some time next week before we put it on for everyone else. People laughed when I wanted them to which made me feel good. I still feel really awkward during my monologue though. Hopefully, after a lot of rehearsing I'll grow into it a little more. I'm pretty sure I suck at it just because I'm a unfamiliar with the material.

The play itself is supposed to be a comedy, but we'll see how it comes off. It starts off with me ranting about society, then another character ranting, than a bunch of shepherds chilling in a field until some other character demands a sheep. He casts a spell on us when we sleep, steals our sheep and takes it home to his wife. They decide to act as if she just had a baby and cover up the sheep to make it look like a child. We, the shepherds, are extraordinarily pissed about our missing sheep and demand that the character give it back. It takes awhile but we eventually figure out that the baby is actually a sheep, so we decide the couple needs to die. For some reason that's never made clear, we decide beating them up with a sheep is enough and we stomp off and are greeted by an Angel telling us that Jesus is born so now we have to go trek over to Bethlehem and chill with the baby Jesus. I don't know how well this is going to work, but it's going to be a blast regardless! : )

Anyways, I was just really excited about getting a decent part that actually fits me (despite the fact my character has a penis). Maybe this will be enough to break me out of my funk and help me actually land roles during an audition! Stranger things have happened...

So the Avenue Q tour premiered at the Auditorium Center last night and I had second row center tickets.
This was the third time I've seen the show and probably the second best cast (London was the best). Everyone was insanely talented but I didn't like some of their choices. I don't have my playbill in front of me at the moment, so please bear with me while I use character names instead.

Avenue Q follows the story of Princeton, a young college graduate with a B.A. in English as he starts out on the long, hard, road known as real life. The actor playing Princeton (Robert Mcloud?) did a good job making the character likeable and established a strong connection with the audience rather quickly. He also doubles as another character, Rod, throughout the show, but I felt like he didn't distinguish well enough between the character's voices. They sounded exactly alike.

The actress playing Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut was very talented. Her vocals were outstanding and her comedic delivery was rather brilliant. She did a wonderful job making the role her own and really making the audience sympathize with Kate. I loved her facial expressions for Lucy the Slut.

Nicky/Trekki Monster was rather typical. The actor I saw in London set the standard extremely high, I don't expect to ever see anyone ever come close again. His choices were so strong, and made his characters (especially Nicky) so real, that you completely forgot you were watching a muppet. This actor did not tug at the heartstrings at all, he pretty much played everything for laughs. I understand that Avenue Q is a comedy, but I really feel like there is an important message and the characters have a lot of substance that the audience can relate to and the London cast really created a wonderfully varied and textured performance. This was just a flat comedy, it was like watching an episode of South Park.

Christmas Eve was also very talented vocally. Her acting was, once again, primarily for laughs. There was no depth or substance, and she missed a lot of opportunities to really connect with the audience (again just my opinion)

The actress playing Gary Coleman, I think, was the most talented member in the cast. She was, by far, the best Gary Coleman I have seen. Her performance was the only one where I made the connection to Gary Coleman. Vocally she was one of the stronger members in the ensemble. I really hope to see her in something else on Broadway soon.

Cole Porter played Brian, and I felt he was the weakest member of the cast. Most of his jokes fell flat and I had some difficulty understanding everything he was saying.

Overall it was an enjoyable evening at the theater. I cannot believe how seamlessly the cast moves from puppet to puppet, playing two characters on-stage simultaneously, and not getting confused. The puppeteering skills were also incredible as well. It looked as if everyone in the cast spent years training to handle the puppets.

If the tour stops anywhere near you, I wouldn't pass it up, especially if you haven't seen Avenue Q. The show is a delightful commentary on modern American society, and really connects to the college, post-college graduation audiences. Is it great theatre that will be studied dozens of years from now? Probably not. But it is definitely a fun distraction from reality.

Yay strep throat! Just what I need right now. I had to skip two classes I can't afford to miss today since I'm still contagious for awhile. Neither of my professors e-mailed me back when I asked them to let me know what I missed which upset me. Fuckers.

So yeah, my throat is swollen to the point where I can feel it rubbing against itself whenever I talk. Excellent. I guess it's all blistered and shit too, and I can't tell you how wonderful it all feels.

My health has been shit lately. It's pretty much my fault. Ever since London I have pretty much stopped taking care of myself. I still exercise and everything, but my food choices have been absolutely horrible. It's funny, I go to London and eat ten meals of absolute shit for four months and lose like fifteen pounds. Before that, I ate healthy, exercised often and barely lost anything. Now I exercise and eat shit. This needs to stop. I know what I need to do, but I'm too lazy to do it. It's time to step it up and grow up. I have to take responsibility for my life and start taking care of myself.

I don't eat anymore. When I do, it's usually shit. I need to schedule my meals, and plan them out ahead of time until I get in the habit of eating again. I need a regular exercise plan too. Time to grow up and face the real world.

I haven't heard back from any other theaters yet either. God... I need to hear something soon or I'm going to lose it.

Today was not great... it wasn't awful, but it sure as hell wasn't great.
I'm starting to get sick, my throat was on fire all day and I'm pretty sure I overdosed on ibuprofen. Morphine would be nice at this point since the ibuprofen isn't doing anything any more.
Anyways, I skipped my PR class today partly because it's a piece of shit and partly because I felt like shit. Ha. The irony amuses. Instead of class I still managed to be productive and mailed out another ten resumes to various organizations in NYC. Mostly off-broadway theaters and publishing houses. Twenty minutes after I sent one of the e-mails, the guy calls me back and asks when I can make it to the city so we could talk theater over a cup of coffee. I pretty much panicked and said I had no idea. I spent pretty much all of my money last week when I went down. The guy seemed nice, the theater's in Greenwich Village which is pretty effing sweet. They put on some interesting productions and I would seriously love to be involved.
So after that little bit of excitement I choked down a turkey burger and was prepared to zonk out through night class, but of course, it's the week we all have to do these impromptu presentations where the professor basically makes us talk for five minutes about the most random shit in the world. We pull our topic from a deck of cards, I, of course pull mine (theater) and was all set to be excited but the person in front of me had just pulled it so I get to pick again. And what do you ask was my thrilling topic?
Public transportation.
Jesus Christ. So I talk about how I loved the tube in London because you were allowed to drink in public and blah blah blah, made the class laugh a few times, talked about NYC subways and how they fuck you up, and then sat down. What a great day.
That being said, this week's episode of Lost was one of the greatest episodes in the series. It gave some incredible insight into Desmond, and I literally bawled at the end when he finally got to talk to Penny after however long. Great job on the writers' part. Great job on the actors' part. I cannot wait to see what comes next, this season is by far the best.
And that was my exciting day. I need to write more stuff... it's killing me, I have no time. Argh. Fuck sleep. I want to write.

( Trading List )

Comment here or e-mail me at skwhite87@gmail.com with your wants and list and I promise to get back to you asap : )

New York was fantastic :)))
Katie Gray and I won the lottery for Avenue Q so we got front row tickets to that which was fantastic.  Only six people's names were called and mine was the last one out of like fifty people so... yay!  
The show was really good, I thought Princeton/Rod (I can't remember his name off-hand, Howie something) was a little weak though, but that could just be because I'm so used to John Tartaglia (<3).  There was an asshole next to me though who thought it would be nice to take over as much footroom and armrest as humanly possible, I could barely move through the whole show, but I shouldn't complain.  I did get front row tickets for $21.  
Phantom was so much better than I remembered.  The last time I saw it was five or six years ago on tour, and I think my memory got corrupted by the movie or something because it was just so good.  The performances were fantastic, especially the Christine's (I really need to remember the actor's names).  But yeah, everything was great, the special effects, the music, the singing, everything.  I was so upset when it was over.
On Sunday we ate at the Life Cafe which was quite exciting for obvious reasons.  I don't know what I expected but the crowded, loud, little space wasn't it.  The food was excellent though, and I loved watching the people in there (creepy, I know, but whatev).  People watching is cool.  Chinatown was crazy too, but I liked it.  I'm pretty sure I'm not going to shop anywhere else in New York again, everything was so cheap.  I loved it.
So yeah, I love New York and I can't wait 'til graduation.  

Soooo excited for Friday!!!!!
I need to get away so bad, and am insanely looking forward to NYC... it's been far too long.