The Fringe Festival is starting this weekend. As part of my new "producer" duties I am to attend some shows and get a feel if there is anything "good" out there brewing on the theatre fringe of NYC. However, this is making me stressed. The "guide" to the Fringe and its bounty of shows is a BEAST! I have been instructed by Mr. Bway that I am allowed to attend 5 shows at his expense. And I quote this will be a, "Good chance to test your reasoning/instincts."
I feel sick how am I supposed to use my instincts and decipher what random shows will be good from tiny blurbs in a catalog as thick as my thumb. Especially since the only show that really jumps out at me is: GEM! A Truly Outrageous Parody. Am I a gay man or what?? Clearly my instincts skew gay with jazz hands and glitter.
Ok, I can be objective and I have been in and around theatre almost as long as I've been in Catholic Churches around the world. Shaking Catholicism isn't as easy as it looks people. Those nuns don't like to lose a single girl in saddle shoes and black watch to the East Village.
Like in art I don't know what's good, but I know what I like. I have a serious mind when reviewing shows (staring with or without friends) so I think it’s just picking the right 5. I’m playing Russian roulette for low budget artists with a script and a dream. For the most part I know what Mr. Bway wants and is interested in cultivating. Unfortunately I’m not sure that is exactly what the Fringe has to offer.
Needless to say I hate “tests” I was never a good tester. Story teller, yes, comedian, yes, eternal pan, yes, test taker NO! Just thinking about scan-tron sheets and bubbles gives me cold sweats and hives. I do have a fondness for #2 pencils, but that’s unrelated really.
If any readers of my fair and fine blog have any suggestions I am open. Help me sift through the pages of mediocre shelf indulgence and help me find the GEM (pun totally intended) in the muck.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Next Stop Apocalypse
This weeks Friday picture has the tri-state area in a tizzy. The corpse of a bizarre-looking creature with a dinosaur beak washed up on a Long Island shore this week. When I first saw it my cube mate Louisa Solomon was like, “guys come look at this, we’ve got monsters on the beach,” all of us were like WTF? To me it looks like a baby griffon that never got it’s wings, we also discussed that it was more than likely a sea turtle without it’s shell.
The fact that Gawker.com is reporting that there is a possible government animal testing facility very close by wouldn’t surprise me either. Bush is probably planning the drop the military attack creatures on Iraq before he leaves office. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could be a plausible exit strategy, right?
Whatever it is, I feel sorry for it. Hopefully, they aren’t splicing and dicing animals in a lab somewhere, or people for that matter. Hopefully, it is a sea turtle that lost his home and couldn’t survive without its protection. Hopefully, they won't turn it into the Loch Ness of Long Island and start charging admission, but they probably will….God Bless America!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
FREAKING OUT!!!
The past few weeks I have been taking baby steps towards becoming a Broadway Producer. I know what your thinking, “WTF??” Well with the help on my dear friend Jacob Toth, he and I are spearheading a Broadway Dance Project (title still in the works) that is about to get off the ground. Mr. Bway, as I have nicknamed him, seems to have full faith in us and so needless to say I feel nauseous and completely overwhelmed. But hey doesn’t every creative person who is trying to put their dream up on a stage just want to die inside. Ok, maybe not die, but it is a little stressful considering I am walking and talking like a grown up with clout and buckets of knowledge about theatre, dance and female theories regarding their notion of what is “erotic”. Did I mention I’m nauseous?
I am trying to remember my halcyon days at The Really Useful Company, before Lord Andrew Lloyd Webbers fall from sweeping epic Broadway producer to reality show host monkey. That first day when I walked into the offices at Rockefeller Center surrounded by Hirschfield’s in the lobby I thought that everyone who rushed past was where I wanted to be. Taking calls from the Shubert’s and yelling at some vendor who hadn’t delivered the new wigs to the Majestic Theatre. I was in heaven, trying to absorb every little thing as if it were going to help me somehow in my “staring” role in showbiz. It seemed simple. I had gotten to that point within a year out of school. Then after three years of being at the “top” suddenly the reality wasn’t the dream anymore. Nothing new was being considered. Nothing bold, no risk, nothing that didn’t have ALW finger prints all over it came across productions desk. I mean how many times can you do Joseph on Broadway? So I left.
I thought I would make money at a survival job that would let me be funny and that would get me were I wanted to be. It’s been great and continues to be so, but now through the magic of a playbill.com job listing here I am back in the game. Only this time I am trying to create something outta nothing. Trying to find that next great choreographer whose vision will take us somewhere we might never have thought about. Plus, it has to be all female. No boys allowed. Could you just die? A project for female choreographers with Broadway possibilities and I’m in charge, sort of.
Yup, I feel nauseous.
I am trying to remember my halcyon days at The Really Useful Company, before Lord Andrew Lloyd Webbers fall from sweeping epic Broadway producer to reality show host monkey. That first day when I walked into the offices at Rockefeller Center surrounded by Hirschfield’s in the lobby I thought that everyone who rushed past was where I wanted to be. Taking calls from the Shubert’s and yelling at some vendor who hadn’t delivered the new wigs to the Majestic Theatre. I was in heaven, trying to absorb every little thing as if it were going to help me somehow in my “staring” role in showbiz. It seemed simple. I had gotten to that point within a year out of school. Then after three years of being at the “top” suddenly the reality wasn’t the dream anymore. Nothing new was being considered. Nothing bold, no risk, nothing that didn’t have ALW finger prints all over it came across productions desk. I mean how many times can you do Joseph on Broadway? So I left.
I thought I would make money at a survival job that would let me be funny and that would get me were I wanted to be. It’s been great and continues to be so, but now through the magic of a playbill.com job listing here I am back in the game. Only this time I am trying to create something outta nothing. Trying to find that next great choreographer whose vision will take us somewhere we might never have thought about. Plus, it has to be all female. No boys allowed. Could you just die? A project for female choreographers with Broadway possibilities and I’m in charge, sort of.
Yup, I feel nauseous.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Mad Men Season 2
Well it’s finally here, my boys and girls of summer are back and swinging it ‘60s style. So in a celebratory romp my Mad Men partner in crime Madeleine Maby joined me at the magic tree house for the last four episodes of Season One and the premiere of Season Two. I made themed hor’dourves saltine crackers with sharp cheddar with a pan fried pepperoni on top. Then for dinner we had steak (bloody of course), twice baked potatoes and sautéed mushrooms washing it all down with Mr. Jack Daniels. When we do it old school we do it right folks.
I love watching TV with someone who, like myself talks back to it in response to what might be happening. Ms. Maby and I need our own MST3K show it would be a smash as long as the 3 of us (Madeleine, Jack & I) were in attendance. Plus with the invention of DVR we could pause and have discussions (aka shots) or rewind to review if from our yammering we missed some tid bit. Trust me tids and bits were missed….
Also, I would like to take this moment to profess my undying love and unrequited yearning for one Miss Joan Holloway. Oh Joanie, if you weren’t so busy screwing the boss, who after two heart attacks left you worried and broken only to returned to work to tell you that, “you’re the best piece of ass I’ve ever had” if that boorish brute didn’t make you want to jump the straight train nothing will. So I must love you from afar, far, far, afar. (She’s the majestic red head in the middle, le sigh)
In true ‘60s fashion Ms. Maby and I about killed the Jack, which resulted in a mild, “gee I don’t wanna go to work today,” thought when my cruel alarm went off. Overcoming I pushed on and now am bright eyed and bushy tailed (a shout out to Beatrix Potter – Happy 142 Bday) as I sit in my cube. This season will surely delve deeper into the mysteries of what’s wrong with our parents and how they got that way. It’s like a time capsule of dysfunction and “oh my god he didn’t just say that!” If you aren’t watching start, the first season is On Demand so get in there and catch up it’s so worth it and you’ll save tons on therapy. Mad Men will do nicely until my Dexter comes back to me….pssst Dex get a move on, I miss you & your bloody fun!
I love watching TV with someone who, like myself talks back to it in response to what might be happening. Ms. Maby and I need our own MST3K show it would be a smash as long as the 3 of us (Madeleine, Jack & I) were in attendance. Plus with the invention of DVR we could pause and have discussions (aka shots) or rewind to review if from our yammering we missed some tid bit. Trust me tids and bits were missed….
Also, I would like to take this moment to profess my undying love and unrequited yearning for one Miss Joan Holloway. Oh Joanie, if you weren’t so busy screwing the boss, who after two heart attacks left you worried and broken only to returned to work to tell you that, “you’re the best piece of ass I’ve ever had” if that boorish brute didn’t make you want to jump the straight train nothing will. So I must love you from afar, far, far, afar. (She’s the majestic red head in the middle, le sigh)
In true ‘60s fashion Ms. Maby and I about killed the Jack, which resulted in a mild, “gee I don’t wanna go to work today,” thought when my cruel alarm went off. Overcoming I pushed on and now am bright eyed and bushy tailed (a shout out to Beatrix Potter – Happy 142 Bday) as I sit in my cube. This season will surely delve deeper into the mysteries of what’s wrong with our parents and how they got that way. It’s like a time capsule of dysfunction and “oh my god he didn’t just say that!” If you aren’t watching start, the first season is On Demand so get in there and catch up it’s so worth it and you’ll save tons on therapy. Mad Men will do nicely until my Dexter comes back to me….pssst Dex get a move on, I miss you & your bloody fun!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Friday's Picture of the Week!!
My picture of the week is of my boo, Kayla. For those of you that don’t know her, Kayla is my best girl. My sister got her at a flea market in Santa Barbara, CA. and I was lucky enough to get her after my sister realized that Foxy her best girl was NOT having Kayla, at all. She makes everyday just a little brighter, she loves me no matter what….even if I get drunk on a Friday night and can’t walk her till 4pm Saturday afternoon she still loves me….So this Friday is for you Miss Kayla!! Momma will be home soon!! MWAH!
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