"You have to believe we are..."

It appears very sad to me to find more than three people I know are so young that they don’t even know what "Xanadu" is.

I just re-watched the movie last week on my ‘new’ widescreen TV and found that I’m still touched by this movie, even with all of its faults.

The good thing is I’ve found I’m not alone.

And then, there’s this (which totally rocks my socks)!

Do I/we need help?

It's Raining 300 Men

This made me laugh. It's also more than wishful thinking that the movie was as good as this. Sure, I was really looking forward to this ("Sin City" was excellent and the "Dawn Of The Dead" remake was v. scary), but for all of it's positives- the men, the cinematography, the men's abs, the FX, the men's leather britches, the men)- it was so lightweight that I pretty much had forgotten the movie by the next day.



Still good eye candy, though.

This kid can move

to Beyonce's "Irreplaceable."

Words To Describe

Monday morning was the Theatre’s “Meet & Greet”/First Rehearsal (together) for our next production- a world premiere of a musical by Kathie Lee Gifford called “Saving Aimee,” about evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.

Since it was in the morning, I snuck out of work for a bit to see some old faces and meet some new ones. After all that, we were allowed to watch the read/sing through of the piece as it stood that day. I was only able to stay for the opening number, but oh what a number it is…

If I were to calculate how much I spent to see this:

An hour of the McJob: $23.50
Gas: $.95
Mileage: 10 ($2.50)
Having
Carolee Carmello belt out 10 feet in front of me: Priceless

Huzzah?

Last night, I went to the final dress rehearsal of the new musical, Meet John Doe, at Ford’s Theatre. While I’m not at liberty to critique a rehearsal, there’s plenty of talented people on that stage and am looking forward to seeing it again.

But that’s not the topic of this post. At the top of the show, the Producing Director of Ford’s spoke and at the end of his speech, he made the request that all beepers, cellphones, Chinese watches and other noisemakers should be shut off.

As the overture started, I turned to my friend, VaWe, and whispered, “what’s a Chinese watch?” (Thinking I had missed out on a new electronic toy).

She looked at me, cracked up and replied, “he said Chiming watches.”

I need my ears cleaned...

Twice A Year, Just Like Clockwork

Ever since I got my cell phone in 1998, I’ve had the same issue twice a year, whenever we have to change the time because of daylight savings. It’s not just that the hour time difference kicks my ass because we lose an hour (it does, but that’s just cuz I’m used to waking up early- sorta).

You see, my mobile number is similar to the local automated time by phone, with the switch of two numbers; you can either get me or the time. *beep*

So I expect to get many calls between midnight and noon on the Sunday following, as it has been for the past nine years. Not to mention the sporadic times that a number I don’t recognize calls and then they get flustered that a human answers since they’re expecting a recording.

I’ve lately been getting snarkier and snarkier and now have the same reply to these people. Usually, they start by saying that they got the wrong number (I should probably hang up at this point), I then ask if they called for the time. If they reply in the affirmative, I then let them know it’s now time for them to purchase a watch and then hang up.

Is that too passive-aggressive or just plain aggressive?
Kinda makes me laugh these days.

Going, Going, Going- Part 2

After the “Vigils” matinee, we stopped at The Theatre so Patrick could see the new space and then a quick dinner before hitting the Kennedy Center for its acclaimed revival of "Carnival!"

Now, this show is based on Lili, an old MGM musical that is one of my mother’s favorite films, ergo, I remember it a lot from my childhood. I was not familiar with the musical at all, save for the fact that it was Jerry Orbach’s Broadway debut in 1961, so I was excited to see it. Not only that, but Natascia Diaz, a favorite of mine (& Patrick’s) from “Jacques Brel,” was in the cast.

The production at the Kennedy Center is exquisite, lavish, and beautifully acted. It’s just that I didn’t find the show itself as touching as the movie did (when I was a kid- it might be too treacly these days). The book is a little creaky, but at least it came to life when Natascia & Sebastian LaCause (her onstage lover) appeared.

Now, after we got ourselves situated in our second row seats, there was this woman right behind me who kept saying how much she loves this show and telling the people around her that they’d better not mind her singing along or they should find other seats. I groaned to Patrick, thinking she was just excited, as no normal adult would behave that way in a theatre. Well, during the “Cirque De Paris” number- sure enough- she started singing. I leaned over my shoulder and whispered (loud enough so she could hear), “Do you mind?”

She shut up after that. But then I felt a little guilt that the person sitting next to me was wondering if I meant that for her (and she was quiet).

But seriously, why on earth would someone think that they’re justified to act like they do in their own living room when there are plenty of people around them that had spent $80+ as well to listen to the show. It’s simple etiquette, people! Oy vey.

Afterwards, we met up with Ms. Diaz and had drinks with her before I took Patrick back to the bus so he could get home. Another full weekend complete.

Going, Going, Going

This past weekend was a whirlwind of activity. Saturday morning, I gathered my brother, a friend of his and my friend and co-worker, MiMo, to assist in getting a 50" widescreen TV from my friend WEW. A few weeks ago, he purchased a new 60" plasma HDTV and I asked what he was going to do with his other TV. I (jokingly) said I'd take it for free and he said, "If you can get it out of my house, you can have it."

You don't really need to twist my arm with that kind of answer. I took measurements and made sure it would fit and then we figured out the right date and resources to do it and so, at 11:30 we ventured into Mt. Pleasant . It amazingly took 90 minutes total to get the TV out of the row house and into mine. After that, I heard from my ex-girlfriend (and mother to one of my godsons) that she was in town and would like to see me. I was strapped for time, as I still had errands to run and my friend Patrick was coming into town to catch some theatre with me, so the only thing I could do with the ExG was pick them up at a metro stop and then take them to their car at another metro stop. Since it's been years since I'd seen them, it was good to do (and, man, 11 year olds grow like weeds). Thankfully, Patrick's train was delayed, so I was able to finish my errands before picking him up. The poor thing was starving, so we had a bite to eat before going to Arena Stage and seeing "Frankie and Johnnie In The Claire De Lune."

One of Terrence McNally's first popular plays, I've always found it moving - even the Broadway revival with Stanley Tucci & Edie Falco, while both being almost too attractive for the roles, touched me immensely- yet Arena's production was slightly uneven. Vinnie D'ambrosio has all the makings of an excellent Johnnie while Kate Buddeke's Frankie leaves a lot to be desired. I think that, with a few more performances, she'll be up to the task of a fully-formed character.

Sunday, we saw the final performance of "Vigils," a new play at Wooly Mammoth Theatre by 28-year-old Noah Haidle. A fun concept of a grieving widow, while hanging onto her dead husband's soul, trying to move on had a slow start but became engaging after the first half hour. The twist here is that it's the soul that didn't want to linger on earth and the living partner who wants to hang on, which is the opposite of all those other romantic ghost stories. I think with a little judicious trimming of the quickly monotonous memories; it'll be a captivating piece of theatre.

What else did we do? Check back soon...

I Can See Why Hetero Men Get Into Fights Now

Almost two weeks ago, during the final weeks of "Into The Woods," I was almost assaulted by a rather aggressive patron. What happened was that the volunteer in charge of the listening devices had mixed up and given out the wrong ID, so the person who's ID was given out was, understandably, upset. Welp, her male companion, started getting very angry at me and his voice began to rise, accusing me of grand theft, asking how his friend was going to get home, etc. As his volume increased, he started getting in my face and physically closer to me, climaxing by pushing me and trying to provoke be by calling me all sorts of names.

By the time he grabbed me and started pushing me, I could feel my face flush, my right arm pull back and my fist begin to close up. K. Kitty, a friend who was there that night, said the my face completely transformed at that point. I honestly didn't know what I would have done if this lady hadn't gotten between us and yelled at her companion saying how he wasn't helping the situation and told him to walk away. As I walked towards the bar, trying to figure out the best way to resolve this, the bartender asked if she should call 911. The Stage Manager and all those near the bar asked me if I was okay and, although v. heated, I was.

After finagling with the Box Office, we got a hold of the other lady, who had already gotten home and the one left at the theatre came up to me to apologise for her companion and that wasn't enough to calm me down. She left and those remaining in the lobby were asking if I was allirght. I realised that I wasn't that allright- my blood pressure was still through the roof (I could tell by the heat emanating from my cheeks)- so I stopped at The Office for a beer and a smoke. I eventually got home, drank half a dose of Nyquil and, after about 45 minutes of tossing and breathing deeply, finally fell asleep.

Thoughts About Oscar- Finally

Okay, so the Oscars were a little over a week ago, these ramblings are probably a little dated, but here’s my take:

• Ellen DeGeneres did a great job hosting. She brings a child-like wonderment in her humour and those bits in the audience were hysterical. Who else has the audacity to convince Spielberg to get a picture of Ellen and Clint Eastwood for “her MySpace” page?


• Martin Scorsese winning was not a huge surprise, but v. well-deserved. The Departed’s winning Picture was also expected and not overlooked.


• Eddie Murphy was robbed- ‘nuf said.


• Dreamgirls was robbed in the “Best Song” category, but at least it gave us the most energetic performance of the night:

No editing needed here...

Jennifer Hudson singing THE SONG live at Clive Davis' Grammy party. Shows she's got the vocal chops with no tweaking needed. Be still my heart.