Acca-October

First of all, I posted a bunch more photos of Kristen's and Nichole's weddings on my post Bouquets=a billion. Megan=0. I had planned to post them here, but there were quite a few and it made this post crazy long; they made more sense in the other post ;)

Meanwhile, October was fun! Pockets of really cool stuff mixed with some much-needed down time. For example, in between LDS General Conference sessions on Saturday, I met up with Sharon at Kneaders and bought these delicious cookies:

Spiritual and physical fulfillment? Sounds like a good day, to me! It was pretty indicative of the rest of the month.

Check out this awesome t-shirt that Kristen surprised me with as a belated birthday gift. I love it when my birthday lasts a little bit longer, don't you? This t-shirt has the 4th Doctor from Doctor Who and also Harry Potter on it. It totally rocks!

Nichole's bachelorette party: a low-key, happy affair with just a few friends (and ice cream cake).

Updated my peg board. It has been quite awhile since the last time!

Attended my nephew and nieces' Primary program. They all had a line or two and were all very clear. The G-child was in a few small singing groups and was not at all shy about belting into the microphone. He takes it so seriously and worked so hard. The girls didn't sing much, but their bored faces were definitely entertaining. I was very, very proud!
(This photo is to show off what Zonks called my "cowboy tie." She has a point.) 

Another quick trip to the Utah Shakespeare Festival to see The Marvelous Wonderettes and Richard II. I LOVED Wonderettes. I laughed through the whole thing, and cried more than I care to admit. Sadly, it wiped me out so that I didn't enjoy Richard II as much as I might have otherwise. Oh, well.

I have decided to always sit here if I can when attending a play at the Randall L. Jones Theater in Cedar City. Comfy chairs, plenty of leg room, and my own arm rest. Yes please!

Lovely Marion manned the Gift Shop for the Randall, and took me out to dinner after the matinee.
So good to see her again!

Playing in the leaves that Grammy raked especially for them.
(Grammy looks a little spooky here, lurking in the shadows to avoid my camera.)

I had to make Zonks play -- she thought she wanted to watch a movie.
Instead, she had a great time throwing the leaves and of course forgot all about the movie.

Larissa, Tiffany, Amy and I got to attend all of the "big three" weddings this fall
(Obviously, Larissa attended her own ;) )

I love everything about this photo!!

Kellie and I as Ruth (Kellie) and Edith (me) at a Pirates of Penzance sing-along.
I need more music and more Kellie in my life!

A nine-year difference between photos. I think my baby brother is so handsome!

Linda Lee Danvers and Pepper Potts at the Superhero-themed Halloween concert by the Utah Symphony.
The costume contest was amazing. I think this has to become one of my holiday traditions!

I wore my own old glasses to be the alter-ego to Supergirl (I didn't know until too late that she wears a brunette wig instead of glasses to hide her identity). Carrie didn't notice until intermission that the frames did not hold any lenses :D

Halloween was great! Someday I hope to be a part of a cool group costume; meanwhile, this one of my family circa 25 years ago is pretty sweet!

How was your October? Hope it was busy, happy, and healthy!

Next up: November, snow, Pie Night, Thanksgiving, Holiday time from work, shopping, a few plays, the Nutcracker, and who knows what else? Any ideas for fun things I should do?

Enjoy the last little bit of Autumn. Winter is coming in fast!

A Marvelous [Wonderettes] reunion!

I had a really cool opportunity last week to reprise another one of my roles. The South Valley Theater Association had an event to highlight some of the community theater in the area, and Midvale asked me and the other Wonderettes if we would be willing to perform a couple of numbers from our show. Of course, we jumped at the chance! We debated about which songs to perform and rehearsed our ten-minute set together just one evening before the tech rehearsal. We all admitted to being a little nervous about revisiting the show. Would we remember the harmony and choreography? Would we be able to find costumes that worked together, since our original costumes weren't available?

As luck would have it, the music and choreography had been so ingrained in our memories that all we needed was that brief refresher. We were also able to locate four poodle skirts of differing colors so we would look like we went together (thanks again for giving me your skirt, Mom)!

The event was well-organized and seemed to go fairly smoothly, barring some technical difficulties during our set. The other Councils said we were the only ones they could hear backstage, which might have more to do with the fact that we were one of the last acts so most of the others went into the audience to listen and there were fewer people backstage making noise. We had a TON of compliments afterwards. The audience members and people from all of the Councils (performers and producers) couldn't walk past any of us without telling us how fantastically we had sounded. I like to think we were one of the best acts, though there was a lot of talent there!

The lineup -- it went by quickly!

I was surprised that there hadn't been more advertising considering this was such a cool idea. Nine Arts Councils each brought something to share. A lot of us hung out backstage and listened to the others. I got to watch many during the one tech rehearsal. But even with the minimal advertisement, several of my friends came! I was so surprised and happy they made the effort! I just love this "showcase" idea. If they do it again next year, I'll be there, either as a performer (if invited) or an audience member.

One of the coolest things for me was seeing so many of my favorite theater people all in one place. I have performed with six out of the nine Councils represented and consequently knew quite a few of the people there. It's a weird truth that theater people can spend three months together, become really good friends... and then not see each other after the show ends... until the next show we do together! It makes me happy to have any excuse to see my friends in the interim. Even better when my friends from different shows get to know each other. The separate groups may not have done a lot of mingling during the show (we were pretty focused on our performances) but it was nice to be able to say "Hi" and support each other!

Long-time friend Theresa and her daughter

Toni taught my first "Theater School"
class nearly 20 years ago!

The Midvale crew at the SVTA tech rehearsal

My Into the Woods director, Wendy (she has already asked
me to audition for her show next summer -- woo-hoo!)

There have been so many productions that I loved doing so much I wished I could have a reunion, so this was a very cool opportunity. Unlike playing Amy in two different productions of Little Women, this time I reprised the same character with the very same cast! It was nice to have one last chance to work together and sing the songs we loved. Such a nice memory to cap a wonderful play!

With Paige, Melody, and Kristen one last time

Love you, my Wonderettes! Thank you for giving me one more chance to get it right! And thank you SVTA for organizing the whole thing!

Marvelous moments with my Wonderettes

There is nothing like live theatre. Every play and every performance is different. Just want to write these Wonderette-specific experiences down before I forget about them:

The Marvelous Wonderettes circa 1958 - closing night

Rehearsals

• Sitting around the table and learning the harmonies. Who knew "Mr. Sandman" was going to be so dang hard, especially when we had to learn two different versions!
• Paige saying "I don't play the harmonica" and then totally rocking out her song on one two days later.
• Jumping rope while wearing my pregnant belly. 
• The day I was 15 minutes late to rehearsal because the drive-through line at Taco Bell took forever and I got boxed in :P
• "Woot! Be marvelous!"
• My director would have been a far cuter Suzy than I was -- I could never successfully deliver the lines the way she would demonstrate them.
• Remembering that my grandma shared a name with one of the characters... though they were completely opposite personalities.
• Getting tips from 8 months pregnant Janzell and Lindsay on how to act pregnant, and not posting any photos of me in the belly, no matter how much fun I was having.
• Karen and Galen saying they keep forgetting I'm not pregnant ;)
• Buying 1 1/2 inch heeled character shoes when my right foot kept falling asleep in my 3 inch shoes, and then discovering that the same thing happened in the shorter shoes... and the flats, too. I must just be standing wrong...
• Driving Janzell to my house after rehearsals and her husband meeting us there to take her the rest of the way home.
• Performing a few "preview" songs before the Army Band a week before we opened. We were all so nervous, but it sure was fun handing out flyers afterwards. Before then, I felt I was being too wacky as my character, but after I knew I needed to be bigger. Thank goodness for live audiences!
• Realizing about five seconds into the preview performance that I forgot to put gum in my mouth before going onstage... hope the audience wasn't too confused when I supposedly swallowed the fictional gum later. (I never forgot again after that.)
• The awesome performance shirts Stephanie gave us. I'll definitely be wearing this one during regular life!

Performances - Act I

Director Karen and I in our Marvelous Wonderettes shirts

• Stage manager Alicia asking me three times before every performance whether I had gum (I asked her to do this, and she never forgot).
• Freaking out when I realized I could see the reviewer was sitting on the front row with his notebook, and wondering what he was writing every time he picked up his pencil.
• Stressing out about the storm clouds that always seemed to gather every day at 3p.m. I might have to retire from outdoor theater after this show -- I can't take the stress! I've never had a show get rained out before, and for this one we moved indoors three times. Thank goodness for that alternate stage!
• The mic check when I wanted to sing "In His Kiss" instead of one of my own songs, and then I totally nailed it. Being able to belt is FUN!!!
• Forgetting during every performance that the standing microphones didn't work, and leaning in to sing when I wanted to be louder.
• Squinting into the sun for the first 20 minutes on the park stage.
• Singing to Stephanie every night, and the way it made her laugh when I'd request to sing "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" totally deadpanned.
• Jumping between Melody and Paige while they're slap-fighting, and crying as I shout "L-O-V-E, that spells love!" Those girls slapped hard, and I have the bruises to prove it. It always reminded me of that episode of Friends where Rachel takes everyone on a ski trip, and Ross has to save them when they run out of gas. They start yelling at each other and Chandler does a little dance to try to deflect the tension... yep, I was totally Chandler in this show!
• Mr. Lee: from the guys who hammed it up, to the ones who just looked embarrassed, to my older brother who I had to pretend pinched my backside, to the guy to almost refused to come on stage -- they were all different and all funny! What awesome guys to play along.
• I told Mrs. MacPherson every night that she didn't have to count the ballots for the Prom Queen, but every night she did. I even won the popular vote a couple of times! Closing night, Mrs. MacPherson refused to play the part until I told her she didn't have to get up on stage :)
• The night I wasn't sure who Mrs. MacPherson was, so I picked someone and forgot to tell Kristen who it was... she covered the mistaken identity really well!
• The night Melody's mic wasn't working and had to have the batteries changed during the ballot-gathering. If Kristen and I thought we couldn't ad lib before that, we know we can now!
• The night the gum fell off my mic, and I had to use the reserve stick I'd hidden in the pitch pipe case (after forgetting the gum entirely, I wasn't taking any chances).
• Applauding Kristen after "Secret Love" -- that was not acting, my friends. She killed that song every night!
• I wasn't choreographed to do anything specific when singing my songs, but my backup singers/dancers knew exactly what they were doing :D
• Those times when I actually got to sing the melody -- woo-hoo!! First alto is tough. Good thing I love to harmonize!
• Chewing gum and blowing bubbles while jumping rope frontwards, backwards, and in a circle. Suzy had skills!!
• The night I blew a bubble so big that it popped all over my face and microphone. I chose the bubble-gum flavored Extra, but the strawberry shortcake was definitely more elastic and durable.
• Being afraid every night that I'd forget the Chipmunk Cheer (why am I always in front for these things?!) Also, trying not to laugh whenever the audience cracked up at "We'll pick your nuts!" There are some lines I had to say straight-faced to keep from braking character :D
• Melody and I realizing that we were the only one who actually rolled around on the ground in our prom dresses.
• Paige's daughter told her mom frequently that Suzy was her favorite character and voted Suzy for Prom Queen every night... even though her mom was playing BJ.

Intermission

• Four ladies with four assistants trying to age 10 years -- by changing costumes, hair, and make-up -- in 15 minutes.
• Sucking on cough drops during every intermission.
• Blue eyeshadow that never seemed to completely wash off.
• Melody's and my suspenders.

Performances - Act II

• Singing backup to "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Maybe", feeling totally relaxed and knowing they were among the best moments of the show.
• Accidentally forgetting the words to the first song and blaming it on pregnancy brain.
• Melody's ginormous tattoo that we somehow didn't see until after her first song.
• The audience laughing whenever I cried during "Maybe I Know" -- I was so worried they didn't know I was trying to be funny!
• My forehead hurting by the end of the show because of all of the fake crying.
• Trying to figure out what to do with my handkerchief... it was different every night :P
• Drinking as much water as I could while onstage -- that punch bowl idea is genius!
• Those few nights when my voice wasn't completely dead after "Respect."
• Everyone's advice during "Respect", especially Kristen telling me to "channel Aretha" and Melody telling me to "own it." It always helped me (not Suzy, but me) gain more confidence to get through my toughest song. But hey, having the whitest of white girls singing the soul song is what made it funny, right? I hope so!
• Never remembering what order we were acknowledging the crew, Mr. Lee, and Mrs. MacPherson during curtain call.
• Going out wearing said blue eyeshadow; the staff at Chili's, Denny's, and Leatherbys are pretty nonchalant :)
• Going to 7-Eleven and Wal*Mart with Janzell... still wearing the blue eyeshadow.
• Kristen's brilliant idea to make shadowboxes with items specific to our characters as a cast gift for the production team, and Karen's reaction when we gave her hers. Such a cool idea!

The Marvelous Wonderettes circa 1968 - closing night

I'll miss you, my Wonderettes cast and crew! Thank you for absolutely everything. I love you and hope to work with all of you again soon!!

The Suzy Simpson "drinking" game

Only two performances left of The Marvelous Wonderettes. If you've been planning to come, you're quickly running out of time!

Just to make the last couple of performances a bit more exciting for you, the viewer, I propose a little game that I like to call "The Suzy Simpson Drinking Game." My character in The Marvelous Wonderettes has a lot of catch phrases. In fact, there are only a few times in the show where she doesn't use some form of her signature phrases. It's a lot of fun to play, but sometimes confusing to remember which one I'm supposed to be using, and where the heck to put it.

Now, I don't drink, and I don't think it's actually allowed at the park (I'm too lazy to look it up, so I don't know for sure). Plus, this is a family-friendly show. Instead, I suggest the following whenever I use the associated phrase:

• "Hi Ritchie!" or "I/we love you Ritchie!": Eat three Skittles
• "Thank you, Mr. Lee" or "We love you, Mr. Lee!": Eat one Starburst
• "Oh, okay, so...": Eat three peanut butter M&Ms
• "L-O-V-E! That spells love!": Drink four sips of a sprite
• "[Being] a butthead.": Eat a bite of Twix
• "That's the Prom Queen!": Take a bite of a Snickers*
  
• Blow a bubble: Eat a handful of peanut M&Ms
• "Oh my golly!": Chug a root beer

The first person to get sick, or have to return to the concessions stand for more, wins!
*All of these items can be purchased at the concessions counter. All proceeds go to future Midvale Arts Council shows!

It's been a really good run. Our producer says it's successful in the sense that we've had a very, very positive response from those who have seen it. The reviewer from Utah Theater Bloggers loved it, we've had a ton of wonderful comments on the Facebook event page, and Larissa liked it so much that she came twice AND blogged about it both times! I am so grateful. All I want as a performer is to have fun, tell the story, and entertain an audience. I believe those goals have been met this time.

There's always a danger when doing a play outdoors that we'll be rained out. However, none of the five outdoor shows I've done previously ever were. During the run of this show (so far), we've had rain three of those nights, including opening night. Luckily and happily, we have an alternate location right behind the outdoor stage. I happen to love performing in the Bowery, because it feels more like a high school... but those have been the nights we've had the smallest audiences. Still fun and appreciative audiences, but I get frustrated whenever someone says "I was going to come, but then it rained..." Grrr! There's nothing I can do about the rain. I can only be grateful we weren't cancelled and people still came, and they were terrific shows (last night was my best vocal night yet, tied with last Saturday).

Maybe I forgot to chew gum for one of the performances (which is pretty crucial to my character in the first act). Maybe we've all forgotten a line or two, and stepped on each other's lines a couple of times. Maybe the audience participation aspect didn't go quite as planned... it's those kind of things that makes me love live theater! Our performances and voices are stronger every night, and I'm still amazed that I have been able to sing the way our music director hoped. I never knew I could belt like that and am looking forward to another opportunity!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I feel very blessed to be able to do this show with so many people I love, and even more blessed to share the experience with others. I hope that we have large, happy audiences for our final two performances, that the rain stays away long enough, and that everyone has a good time!

We don't sing this song in the show, but I think about this video sometimes when running the choreography. Enjoy! Happy Friday!


See you from the stage!

2012 reading goals

Open a book this minute and start reading. Don’t move until you’ve reached page fifty. Until you’ve buried your thoughts in print. Cover yourself with words. Wash yourself away. Dissolve. 

- Carol Shields

This year, I decided to stretch myself a little, and make some reading goals:

1. Read at least 25 books this year. Totally doable if I read at least two books a month.
2. Read books I either hadn't read before, or hadn't read in at least 10 years. (For some reason, Goodreads doesn't seem to acknowledge repeaters on the goal tracker.)
3. Read a mix of genres, such as non-fiction, biography, self-help, classics, plays, fiction and young adult fiction (young adult fiction is usually my genre of choice).

Now that I've reached the halfway point (it's July already?!!), I thought I'd take a look at my progress* :)

I'm doing pretty well so far!

I've read 13 books this year in various genres, keeping me pretty much where I need to be with goals #1 and 2, and with two exceptions they've all been new to me**:

Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged, Carrie Bebris (fiction)

North by Northanger: Or, the Shades of Pemberly, Carrie Bebris (fiction)

The South Beach Diet, Arthur Agatston (self-help)

Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (YA fiction)

Goliath, Scott Westerfeld (YA fiction)

Midnight in Austenland, Shannon Hale (fiction)

Shopgirl, Steve Martin (fiction)

Dating Game Secrets for Marrying a Good Man, Alisa Goodwin Snell (self-help)

Bossypants, Tina Fey (biography)

Beauty Sleep: A Retelling of Sleeping Beauty, Cameron Dokey (YA fiction)

**The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare (YA fiction)

The Marvelous Wonderettes, Roger Bean (script)

**Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (classic, YA fiction)

The problems I'm facing at this halfway point are as follows:

• Last month, I only read one full book. I had been 1 book ahead and now I'm feeling behind. I know my show's script technically counts as the second, but it feels like cheating 'cause the book is so short! 
• I don't have much time to read, and when I do, I'm studying my script for The Marvelous Wonderettes. Eighty pages of dialogue and 200 of music -- ack! It's a lot of work.
• The books I have on deck are long and intense. I'm on about page 150 of 600 in Game of Thrones, and I love it and plan to continue reading this and the others, but the goal to read two a month is stressing me out a smidge. I could just read short YA stuff, but that also feels like cheating and would keep me from.the goal to try different genres.

As fate would have it, all of the books I have on Hold at the library are all becoming available at the same time :P I'm not quite through Game of Thrones or You Already Know How to Be Great, and suddenly The Hobbit came available (I love Lord of The Rings but was never able to get through the prequel -- it's been awhile since I've tried and with the movie coming out I thought I'd give it another chance). When I went to pick up The Hobbit (I borrowed Game of Thrones from a brother, so I can delay it a bit), I found that East of Eden was also available for me, so I grabbed it too... and discovered they're both really thick books. Ack! I guess I could return them and put them back on hold, but there's no guarantee they'll come up again at a more convenient time, so I think I'll hold onto them (I already returned the second Game of Thrones book and The Actor and the Housewife unread). I want to be annoyed that all of these books are coming free at the library... but is having more good choices really a bad thing? No!

I'm kind of stressed at the moment, because all of the books I want to read seem so daunting. I've really enjoyed everything so far; I just wonder if I took on a little too much with these goals. Next year I might create a smaller numerical goal so I can go back and read some old favorites, too.

I'll have slightly more time after we open Wonderettes and before Little Women the Musical rehearsals get intense (and for sure after Little Women opens). Hopefully I'll still be able to finish my two books for the month, whichever they be! After I finish the stuff I have right now (and at least the second Game of Thrones book) I might just blast my way through Beverly Cleary's Ramona books, since I want to reread them all anyway...or maybe I'll be in good shape and want to finish the President Hinckley biography, Go Forward with Faith -- I'm so close!

What about you? Did you make any reading goals this year? How are they going? Are you reading anything right now? Anything you would recommend? I'm always happy to add something to my list!

*Details about all of the books mentioned in this post can be found at goodreads.com.

Come see The Marvelous Wonderettes!

We open a week from today. The show is going to be a lot of fun, and if nothing else you can laugh at me during the entire second act (it's awesome and ridiculous, and hopefully not completely unbelievable).

Seriously though, the music is killer, and my costars are wonderful... no pun intended!!

Bring a blanket or chair to sit on. See you there!

Wonderettes' songs in the movies

In my latest show, The Marvelous Wonderettes (playing July 13-21 at Midvale Park -- be there!) we sing a lot of great songs from the 1950s and '60s. I've been listening to and a fan of most of these songs my entire life, since this is the music my parents played on road trips and weeks in Lake Powell.

And some of the songs are so popular and awesome they've been used in movie soundtracks for more contemporary movies. I admit, that when we sing through the following songs, I think of these classic movie scenes, and not the original recording (click the link to hear the original):

"You Don't Own Me" in First Wives Club

For the record, my character is Bette Midler in this video... and Kristen, yours is Diane Keaton.

"Teacher's Pet" (at 18 seconds) in Waiting for Guffman


"Stupid Cupid" in The Princess Diaries

Introducing... The Marvelous Wonderettes!

Cindy Lou, Missy, Suzy, and Betty Jean

I get to do a summer show after all! I've just been cast in The Marvelous Wonderettes with the Midvale Arts Council :D It's a four-women show full of songs from the 1950s and '60s and I'm so excited! I've been cast as Suzy, the ditzy, happy-go-lucky, bubble-gum-chewing girl -- haven't played a ditz in awhile, though it does seem fitting, no? Ha ha! I've been wanting to work with this director for awhile, and I'm thrilled to finally work with Kristen (cast as Missy, who is best friends with my character), and these other women that I don't know quite as well... yet!

Come see us at the Midvale Park stage July 13-21 for some crazy, wholesome fun!

The Marvelous Wonderettes takes you to the 1958 Springfield High School prom where we meet the Wonderettes, four girls with hopes and dreams as big as their crinoline skirts! As we learn about their lives and loves, we are treated to the girls performing such classic '50s and '60s songs as "Lollipop," "Dream Lover," "Stupid Cupid," "Lipstick On Your Collar," "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me," "It's My Party" and over 20 other classic hits! You've never had this much fun at a prom and you will never forget The Marvelous Wonderettes-a must-take musical trip down memory lane!