Sunday, July 23, 2006

The Boy Friend

Well, we're moving into the third week of Rising Star part 2...the older kids are getting ready to present The Boy Friend, and as usual, they have really impressed me! This is such an amazingly talented group of kids, and they are going to have a phenomenal show. After working with adults for so long, and getting accustomed to the level of attention an adult with a job, family, kids, etc. can bring to a show, it always amazes me at how quickly kids can commit everything to memory. I guess that's what happens when you're still young...all those healthy little brain cells and no real worries...ah, the joys of youth! :-)

Anyway, I am so proud of this group of kids. The future of Birmingham theatre is completely secure. I was commenting to one of the parents just last week that it's kind of scary to be essentially training your own "replacements." There is a great joy, however, in seeing them blossom. There are several kids in this group that have been around CenterStage for years, and to have known them first as little kids and now see them as young adults getting better and stronger as performers is really heartwarming...the cycle of life in full view, ya know? We even have one kid who at 15 has already directed a show, and several others who have worked in professional settings. On the other hand, we have a couple who are almost completely new to theatre, which is also exciting from an educational standpoint...having the opportunity to introduce a young person to the world of the theatre is really an honor. Even if none of these kids ever make it to stardom on Broadway, my hope is that they will all maintain a love of the theatre throughout life. If that happens, we have all done our jobs as adults and teachers.

FLT3

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Happy Birthday, Leah!

Today is the birthday of Leah Luker, who is one of my very closest friends. Happy Birthday, sweetie!

(Other things are going on in my life, but I'm too tired to post them after teaching at workshop all week. More to come...)

FLT3

Monday, July 10, 2006

Here We Go Again...

Today was a fun day. We started our second CenterStage Rising Star workshop of the summer. This time the older kids (with a few younger ones joining us) are enjoying classes in acting, music, stage combat, and dance. At the end of three weeks, they will be presenting the musical The Boyfriend, which is one of my favorites. I am very impressed with this group of kids...they are all well behaved and enormously talented.

The violence at the World Cup has been distressing. The Frenchman who was involved in the head-butting was apparently provoked by a comment from one of the Italian players. It's easy to sit calmly here at the computer and say "no words should ever lead to physical violence," but if someone had called my mother a terrorist (as is rumored to have happened) I'd probably want to punch the guy out, too. I would hope that I am civilized enough not to act on that impulse, but if you're already playing for The World Cup, I guess emotions are running pretty high.

Weirdness...I've had the song "Rhiannon" running through my head all day. Now, it's a great classic and all that, but I don't remember all the words, so it's been going something like this:

Na na na na doo doo doo doo
Who will be your lover?
Dee dee dee dee boo boo boo
Something something lover...
Bum bum bum if she promised you heaven,
La la ever will...
Dum dum ever will...

If anyone reading this knows all the lyrics, please send them to me. I'm really getting tired of just humming through 2/3 of the song. :-)

Only three more shopping days until Guy Fawkes Day. I suppose fireworks would be appropriate...God save the queen!

Not much else to report. Cheers for now!

FLT3

Monday, July 03, 2006

Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie...

I just got back from seeing A Prairie Home Companion, and the Rhubarb Pie song is stuck in my head...of course, being a Garrison Keillor fan as well as a Robert Altman groupie, I loved the movie! Add to the fact that Virginia Madsen (on whom I have had a crush for years) is in it, along with Woody "the funniest human being alive" Harrelson, and it's a hit with me.

I fell in love with Lake Wobegon when I was in high school and first discovered Keillor's books. (I even used to have a Powdermilk Biscuits t-shirt, but I have no idea what happened to it.) The film takes some familiar characters, mixes in one or two new ones, and provides a very faithful homage to the A Prairie Home Companion radio show. If you love the books as much as I do, you'll definitely get into the movie. Even if you're not familiar with Keillor's writing, the film still stands alone as an enjoyable story. Below is a link to the more substantial review I have posted on epinions.com.

http://www.epinions.com/content_240225980036

FLT3

Sunday, July 02, 2006

God Save Our Gracious Queen...

Well, it's that time of year again...the 4th of July. This is a particularly awkward time of year for us Anglophiles. While the rest of the country celebrates America's independence from The Crown, there are those of us who don't view an affiliation with Mother England as such a bad thing. (I'd much rather be under Tony Blair's leadership than Dubya's, I have yet to find an American city half as grand as London, and a nation where everyone has health care seems damned civilized to me...)
Now before anyone calls Homeland Security on me, I am not suggesting that the Redcoats storm Philadelphia or anything like that...merely suggesting that we could learn a few things from our neighbors across the pond, including:

. The civilized ritual of afternoon tea. Stopping everything for scones with lemon curd and clotted cream at 4:00 could take the edge off God-knows-how-many surly and carb-deprived people every day. The Cadbury Chocolate machines in the tube stations are a nice touch, too.

.Royal Ascot. Yes, we have The Kentucky Derby (which is glorious) but this is beyond words. I have been to the racetrack, but have only seen pictures and news footage of the race itself. Even deserted, Ascot Raceway had an aura of excitement blended nicely with grace. (And yes, I did shout "Come on Dover, move your bloomin' arse!" to the empty stands.)

.The West End. Broadway but better.

. Not that one usually sings the praises of British food (even the British) but one of the best meals I have ever eaten was at Simpson's-In-The-Strand. I think I lived on peanut butter sandwiches for about a week after buying dinner for myself and a date, but it was well worth it. I remember it was July 16, 1995. (I have no idea why I have held on to that particular bit of information, but there it is...)

. European thought has always seemed very sensible to me. If one dares to mention Socialism on these shores, the word usually conjures images of grey, government-dominated drudgery. Although the UK has a Parliamentary government with a figurehead monarch, the day-to-day lives of the people are essentially lived in a Euro-Socialist mindset, and I think I have seen a greater concentration of happy, prosperous, bright, colorful people in the UK than anywhere else I have traveled. (Universal health care and governmental services do not mean that everyone has to live like an extra in Fiddler On The Roof. ) There is also a sense of social awareness and open thought in England that has genuinely touched me. Of course there is crime, poverty, etc. but there seems to be a genuine love for one's fellow man in Europe that we don't always have in the US. There are also sensible, adult viewpoints on social issues which eclipse many of the right-wing hysterical dogma (dogmae?) espoused under the rule of Bush II.

.Elizabeth Hurley. Enough said. :-)

. The sense of history in the UK is amazing. I was fortunate to spend 6 weeks at Oxford through the "Alabama At Oxford" program when I was an undergraduate at UA, and we were literally living in buildings three times the age of the US. My friends and I spent a lot of time (too much, I'm sure) at The King's Arms, a pub immediately adjacent to Wadham College, where we were staying. This pub was like a glimpse backwards into history, from the decor to the regulars, a few of whom I think may have babysat William The Normand. There is a seemingly seamless juxtaposition of the old and the new in the UK...one of my favorite vacation pictures is of a McDonald's in Bath, housed in a magnificent old building, with the Golden Arches smiling out from a window in what looks like a castle. (Admittedly, sometimes corporate sprawl can go way too far, but this was cute...)

...and the list goes on...Westminster Abbey, the white cliffs of Dover, the rough beauty of Newcastle and Durham, The Tower of London, the coast of Swansea, breakfast at a traditional British cafe (baked beans, anyone?), tea in The Georgian Room at Harrod's, a ride on Britrail trains, and the soft, lilting Mayfair accent... (sigh.)

So there you are. I am, as the song goes, proud to be an American, but I am also extremely proud of my British lineage (on both sides of the family.) On Tuesday, I will eat barbeque and watch fireworks with the rest of the nation, but I must confess that at some point, I may also have to enjoy bangers and mash while humming "God Save The Queen."

FLT3