WIN SOME, LOSE SOME

Ah, the month of November just rolled on by, didn't it? As I write this I am fighting this awful flu that's had me home bound for the past three days and it looks like it's here to stay for a while. When I get sick - I get SICK. I realized that I hadn't blogged in a while, mostly because there's been not much to blog about. My production of Once Upon a Mattress opened and closed, and I gotta say, it was a very successful effort for all involved. This was the first time that Hillbarn Theatre, Hillsborough Rec and Crocker School partnered to do a show and the outcome was pretty amazing. I was blessed with a fabulous team that helped me make these middle schoolers shine.

While in tech for Mattress I flew to LA to audition for a production of Sweeney Todd. I would love to play the Beadle again (I can sing the role sooo much better now) but alas I didn't get it. What bugs me about auditions in LA is that they let you know right away if you're called back or not. They deliberate for 2 minutes and then they tell you if they need to see you again which normally would be fine if I was 20 minutes from my house and not 500 miles away. I must say, I kicked ass in that room. I asked if I could sing an aria in Spanish (the haunting zarzuela No Puede Ser) and I was allowed to sing the entire piece, but no cigar at the end. It would have been great, but that's the actors's life. Win some, lose some.

I managed to squeeze in some shows in November, including the lovely production of Holiday Memories at Coastal Rep which featured my friend Scott Solomon. My beloved Linda Hoy played Sook in the production at TheatreWorks a few years ago and I am so saddened that I never got to see Linda perform this role on stage. On a few of our wonderful talks, she spoke fondly of her love for this play.

I also caught a couple of my Hillbarn Conservatory students in their high school productions of The Producers (which was pretty amazing) and Urinetown, which got me really excited about next year. The amazing Dottie Lester-White will be choreographing my production and I am already starting to pick the rest of my production team. Can't wait!!!!

I also caught The Seafarer at San Jose Stage which featured my friends Colin Thomson, Randy King, and Kevin Blackton (who surprised the hell out of me with this delicious role - he plays The Devil) and was directed by the wonderful Kimberly Mohne-Hill. Kim was one of my teachers at NDNU and it was so wonderful to see her directorial debut at The Stage. Yeah girl power! I highly recommend this show.

On Friday I was supposed to go see the fabulous Barbara Cook perform with the SF Symphony but she has cancelled due to illness. Speaking of cancellations, I had to cancel my New York trip because I am in the process of trying to purchase a new car. As I write this, I should have been in New York trying to calm down from seeing Gavin Creel in Hair. I gave my tickets to a couple of New York friends, and I hope they enjoy the shows I was supposed to see. Like I said, win some, lose some.

2009 has been an interesting year full of these win some, lose some times but I am optimistic that 2010 has a lot more wins in store. Let us hope.

Cheers,

Martin