Is Blogging Dead??

Hmmmm.. I have gone to three of my favorite web-blogs and NONE have been updated in months! Wow... I miss you guys!!!

I have found this venue to be a great sounding board for myself. You know when you go on and on about something....and then read it back..? I've had a few AHA's.

I may (or may not)have anyone else readying this but I do it for me. Hey - reminds me of a line in the show....

"I guess I did do it for me."
"Why Momma?"
"Just wanted to be noticed."

AMEN.

Off to the theatre!

What a ride!

Here we are, in the final week of this long odyssey called "GYPSY"! In these photos you will see two of our three amazing "strippers". Jason is our wonderful director and the handsome dark haired gentleman in the photo with Tessie/Loni. Barry also got nabbed for a photo with Loni and cutie Patrick is with me in this first photo. The lovely ladies are part of the showgirl/Toreadorables group and one plays the back end of the cow - wonderfully, I might add! Aren't they beautiful?

Three more performances left. At the end of this run, we will have completed 13 shows and countless hours of preparation. Somehow, I thought I would be relieved to be finished. After all, it's taken a toll on my time and talents, to be sure! It will take a bit of time to let go of this low belt voice I have cultivated and go back to my own range...and repertoire!

Sadly, this is not the case. I am already getting teary eyed at the thought of the final curtain call - my most favorite part of the show! (Not really!)It has been the nicest side trip I have taken in the past 6 months. It also means that I will have to face, head on, the reality that my mother is not here anymore. Do you know I actually looked for her on Opening Night? For a brief moment I wondered...."now where is she and is she okay"..? Mother's Day we had a matinee and I was okay..until the curtain came down and so did the veil that had covered my emotions for the duration. Luckily, my cast was supportive - especially Rachel who plays my grown daughter, Louise, in the show. She too has lost a parent and understands how I feel. She was right there with a warm hug. Thanks honey!

Thanks go to her for the fine, fine work she has done. It's been so much fun to work with her. She gives back everything I throw at her, onstage. It's really been a thrill to do that last great scene with her. I don't know when I have enjoyed acting as much as I do when we throw down there.

These pictures I've posted were taken by my friend, Loni, who plays Tessie in our production. Loni has been a voice student of mine for some time and I am proud to call her my friend now. I am so glad I mentioned the audition to her all this time ago. I wanted to have some friends around me in this production and she has been great - onstage and off!! Thanks!

My onstage boyfriend, Herbie, aka Barry, has been terrific and I could not have asked for a more wonderfully supportive actor to smooch with onstage. Barry, you are a lovely person and a gentleman to the core.

Everyone in our production is really great - onstage and off! This time has helped me heal a little after that dark November night. I know I sound dramatic here but really ...that was the night I had to grow up. It also helped me to play the whirlwind that is Mama Rose.

Now, I have to go back to the real world and finish the job of emptying my parents' home and going forward as the adult orphan I am today.

Thanks, cast and crew of "Gypsy" for your love, support, hugs, laughs, hard work and sparkle! It has been my privilege to share the stage with you. Thanks for the friendships and the wonderful conversations I've had with some of you at those lovely after-show parties. What fun it was to have most of you in our home that Friday night. Thanks for coming!

Finally, thanks to the Theatre Gods! You have, once again, lifted me and reminded me that life is colorful and full of gifts along the way. I promise to keep looking for them and going forward even when I'm not sure of the outcome.

After all, no one knows what's coming down the pipeline, eh? Get ready and JUMP INTO THE POOL!!!!!

Local coverage

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20100506/NEWS06/5060549/1023/Farmington+Players+salute+moms+on+Mother+s+Day

The only bad thing about this is the fact that they took the pictures before I got my wig. Here I am in it!

WE ROCKED!

Opening Night was a success!!! We were sold out!! Thanks everyone. Pictures and reflections to come! Come see the show! We run till May 22nd! Show/Ticket info at www.farmingtonplayers.org

OPENING NIGHT

Whew! Tonight is the beginning of our run of "Gypsy" at the Players Barn. So many emotions..!! I really should be trying to take a nap - slept like crap last night - but I am too wired.

Let's sort some of this out, shall we?

Okay...first fear - FREEZING ON STAGE. It is a weird thing that happens to many people. You walk out on stage and, suddenly, there is Mr. Naysayer in your head... "Wow, I wonder if my dress is buttoned, am I standing up straight, how does my face look, do I feel centered, oops better listen to that line, I'm next..."

SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have never frozen onstage. True, that voice speaks to me but I will do my very best to not listen. With 14 scenes, 9 songs, 10 costumes changes (2 in under 30 seconds, a dog, children, food on stage.... there is way too much stimulus. Concentrate. 'Nuff said.

We lost a little girl this week to cancer. She performed in several of the youth theatre shows and summer theatre camps. Haley was a bright star and given a short span here on earth. She used up every moment of it and was an inspiration to her family, her friends and those who knew her. She loved theatre and singing and I need to remember that as I have the opportunity to go out there tonight. Haley can't so I will sing and act in her honor and in her memory.

Then there are my parents who will be watching from the celestial balcony tonight. They would have burst with pride at all that I have achieved in this production and I cannot let them down. They will be in attendance and, again, I sing and dance in their honor and in their memory.

This is a great chance to bring to life an amazing story. The real folks depicted in this wild tale are gone now and they too need to be honored in the age old tradition of "the show must go on!"

And lastly, this is theatre. Theatre must be for the audience; to lift, to inspire, to amuse, to shock and to entertain. The actors will have an amazing time of it but we need to bring it so that our audience can savor the "in the moment" feeling too. The Arts stop us, dead in our tracks, and gets in our face. This is why music, dance and theatre is essential to life. It lifts us up and out of our lives, out of our heads, out of ourselves and MAKES us look around!!

And we need to stop, once in awhile, and look around, right?

This is a roller coaster of a show. It makes us feel. It makes us think. It is art.

I am humbled to be a part of it.

So, with the spirit of my English grandmother, my mother and father, Haley and Rose Hovick herself, I intend to walk out on that stage tonight and SHINE!

On with the show!

EASTER 2010

Here are some shots of our family this Easter. It was the first without both my parents and that was hard. But my "new" family - my husband's family - were so wonderful and we are so blessed. Have you hugged your folks lately?

WHAT A WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay....whew. What a week. First off, I had a birthday. Not a biggie, as far as numbers go. It's not what I am feeling inside my body so it's not really a factor is the story. For the record...my internal number is 37. No idea why - just is.

The morning of my birthday - March 2nd for calendar watchers - I sent Mal off to school and hit the shower. I drove to Starbucks, got a Venti and munchie and headed off to see a 9:45 show of "Avatar". Okay, you're thinking...you had me till 9:45 ..?? Well, I was trying to get it all in, ya know? The first 3D showing I could get to was 9:45 so I strolled in to my own private large screen show. Way cool! I pushed up the armrests, put my feet up, drank my coffee and watched in my oversized living room! I even took a call from my brother - who was I going to disturb?! He actually remembered my day without any prompting from our mother. Remember, this was my first Orphan Birthday for those of you arriving late to my blog.

"Avatar" was spectacular. It really touched me with it's message of connection and the idea that we are not separated from our ancestors or God. It was the reminder I needed that morning. After a good sob over the credits...again, who was I bothering...I took my self to the 'loo located right next to my theater and threw some water on my face. I headed out into the sunlight and got into my car. The first song that blasted out of my stereo was "Wherever We Go" from Gypsy. Not too much of a coincidence as I am studying the show but still... I get it! I feel you, Mum!

Drove off to Ferndale to see my good friends, Jeanne and Robert. After a short time in Robert's lovely home, we walked to INYO where we enjoyed a really great sushi lunch! Really YUMMY and I would highly recommend this place. Bonus - we ran into another good friend of mine, Jeff! How fun! The only problem with all this was the time crunch. After hugs and an amazing cake put into my hands - it rocked, Robert! - I drove back to my side of town and a lesson I had to teach. After that, my husband put together a really lovely dinner and after that!!!!, I had to go to a three hour Gypsy music rehearsal! Whew!!! What a day.

Thanks for all the wonderful birthday wishes, gang! Thanks!!!

Onto the rest of the week. Saturday morning I was able to give my annual student Vocal Recital at Greenmead Historical Village in the Newburgh Church. I had 9 singers perform and all went exceedingly well! My aforementioned friend, Jeanne, borrowed my daughter for the weekend so we had a chance to do a few things,namely, a wonderful lunch with my charming partner. Later we attended a DSO concert. Highlights include...shaking hands with Mr. Michael York and Sir Neville Marriner! Not too shabby! If you look at the website..we saw the concert the evening of 3/6/10.

The one very surreal thing to come out of this weekend was the situation that finally came to a head for a very old friend of mine. Our girlfriend has meekly fought a battle with severe alcoholism and this weekend was almost her end. Luckily, I am part of a 4-woman posse that gathered around her and got her the support she needed. She is now in hospital and will move to a treatment center soon. Our dear friend may well survive to die another day but she didn't expire on our watch.

Geez, that was one week in the life!. What will this week bring?