ALL GOOD THINGS TO THOSE WHO WAIT

While driving in the car today the line I kept thinking about that line spoken with great bravura by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs "all good things to those who wait." More about that in a minute.

Most Happy Fella closed last Sunday and it was such an amazing experience. The performances were wonderful and I had so many dear friends in the audience for all three performances. After the closing matinee I was able t have dinner with my Dad & Sis and my beloved mentor Linda Hoy and her husband Bill at Original Joe's - that was the icing on a very delicious cake.

A day of rest and then rehearsals for Dirty Blonde began on Tuesday and so far so good. It feels so good to be working on such wonderful material. The play is written so beautifully by Claudia Shear and rehearsals have been a blast. My dear friend Colin and I just worked together on 'Fella' (incidentally we got a nice little write-up in the San Jose Mercury News) and I couldn't be happier to work with him again and my dear friend & director Rick Singleton. I've never worked with Judith Miller before, but I have been a fan of hers since I saw her beautiful portrayal of Patsy Cline last year. She's also a real hoot to be around. I am so grateful everyday I get in my car and drive to rehearsal and play with all these wonderful people. You wish and wait and then wait and wait and wait and most of the time nothing happens. This time, Dr. Lecter was right: "all good things to those who wait."

Tomorrow is our first designer runthrough and I need to run lines before goin' to sleep.

Have a great week y'all!

=+)

Martin

DREAMS CAN COME TRUE

This past week has gone by so fast it's crazy. Monday night was out first music rehearsal for MOST HAPPY FELLA In Concert with the Silicon Valley Symphony. We ran through all the ensemble numbers and got started on the three chef's two big numbers. Tuesday was an all day rehearsal where we finished learning all the music and started staging with our director Rick Lombardo, artistic director of San Jose Rep. Tuesday is also the first time I got to have my first conversation with our terrific leads - Gualtiero "Wally" Negrini and Lisa Vroman. Those of you who know me, know that Lisa has been an idol performer of mine for many years. I saw her in Phantom more than a dozen times when it played here in the 90's, I saw her in Threepenny Opera at A.C.T. and also in the all-star concert of Sweeney Todd at Davies Symphony Hall and I am a proud owner of her CD Broadway Classic (if you don't own this YOU MUST!) incidentally also conducted by the great Wally Negrini. Needless to say I am a big Lisa Vroman fan. Both Wally & Lisa have been dream colleagues to work with. Those voices!! It's thrilling to hear them sing together. This is a photo of Lisa & I, backstage at the Curran Theatre more than a decade ago. She signed it when I saw her in Sweeney Todd.

Wednesday night was out first symphony rehearsal on stage at the California Theatre. Yesterday was another all day rehearsal where we ran through most of the show without the symphony in the afternoon and ran the show with the symphony in the evening with the fabulous Billy Liberatore at the podium. And here we are, only four days rehearsal and tonight I fulfill a couple of dreams of mine - 1) to sing at the California Theatre, 2) to sing with a symphony orchestra. But if you were ever to ask me if I'd be singing with a symphony orchestra, in the California Theatre and singing TO Lisa Vroman, I'd say you were out of your fucking mind. This experience has exceeded my wildest dreams and I plan to have a really great time tonight.

=+)

Martin

A PLAY, A PLAY, A PLAY!!!!

This certainly was a good week. I have been cast in San Jose Stage Company's upcoming production of DIRTY BLONDE directed by my friend Rick Singleton. It is a fabulous 3 actor play about Mae West. I play 7 different characters and could not be happier to return to San Jose Stage for the fourth time. I say this without hesitation: of all the theatres I have worked at - this is my absolute favorite place to work. I have NEVER had a bad experience there. This is a drama free place to work and most of all a fun place to work. I know everyone in the staff and they are like family. (the good kind =+) The show will run from April 7 - May 2. I couldn't be happier. Rehearsals start immediately following my symphony gig which means I'll be a busy boy for the next couple of months.

Also this week I caught their production of Tom Stoppard's ROCK & ROLL and it was a really riveting production. Being a Stoppard play, at intermission my friends Diahanna, Tom & I discussed what the play was really about. A lot of political metaphors intertwined with rock & roll music with a really terrific cast that included Randy King, Julian Lopez-Morillas, Jonathan Rhys Williams and Ayla Yarkut.

Last night was my last night of freedom for the next couple of months and I broke my own "I'm only seeing one show a week" rule to see my friend Veronika's production of High School Musical 2 in Sunnyvale. (In all fairness, I saw 2 shows this week because I'm not able to see another show until after Dirty Blonde opens.) She did a great job and the kids were really energetic. I didn't know what to expect (you never know with kids shows) but I really enjoyed myself.

I saw 2 movies this week - AVATAR and ALICE IN WONDERLAND. I waited so long to see Avatar and I don't know why. The movie was delicious to the eye and I was really touched by the message. On the other hand, Alice was such a disappointment. After waiting so long to see it (we even went to the first midnight show) the movie was a dud. Boring as all can be (including Johnny Depp as the non-mad hatter) except for Helena Bonham Carter who stole the movie as the Red Queen. Sometimes it's hit or miss with Mr. Burton and I must say he really missed the mark with this movie. I was expecting for him to go all out with wonderland and that was a big let down.

Next week is all about MOST HAPPY FELLA with the Silicon Valley Symphony. I can't wait.

Have a great week y'all!

Martin