Thoughts at Intermission

So I'm sitting here at The Old Globe's main stage during intermission for "Dividing the Estate" (which has been pretty good so far) and I've been struck by the following observance:

Young adults and professionals do not come out to theatre nearly enough, and it actually makes me kinda sad, in a way.

I've kinda noticed this before, that I'm often surrounded by senior citizens and a sea of gray hair whenever I come out to see a play or musical at the Old Globe or La Jolla Playhouse. And as I wrote yesterday, these companies offer a great deal to young adults and twentysomethings to come out and enjoy the arts. But no one comes... The houses see good sized audiences regardless, but I can't help but feel that my generation, whatever you wanna call us, should start taking some time away from the bars and the clubs and movie theatres with its lame blockbusters and seemingly endless remakes and 3D re-releases and start supporting live theatre. Expand your horizons and experiences a bit, people.

Anyways. Slight vent over. Show is about to resume!

A reason I love SD...

...is because it's a city with renowned theatre in both The Old Globe and the La Jolla Playhouse -- theatre companies that both offer up the opportunity for young adults (under age 30) to see top notch theatre at discount prices ($20).

Tonight I took myself out (as I do from time to time) to see "The Recommendation". This was the world premiere of a play from an up-and-coming playwright from Juilliard (and with a small cast of three that also came from the school). And it was just a really fantastic play that I'd highly recommend - amazingly acted and executed with a simple captivating storyline. I won't go into a full review about it or discuss the themes -- I hated doing all that back in high school...

But I'm so glad that I went to see this. On the drive home, all I could keep thinking about was how lucky I am to be able to take these opportunities that the San Diego theatre scene has to offer, and being able to enjoy these types of premieres for top notch plays or musicals. If I ever end up anywhere else, it's gotta be in a city with theatre! I need my culture fix in the form of live theatre.

So, props to you, San Diego and your plethora of theatre options.

And I get to do it all again tomorrow night, seeing another play! (Oh, and I'm also glad to have two straight nights where I'm not called into rehearsal - that helps too.)

Doppelgangers.

So I'm catching up with an old friend via email and he tells me about this John Legend video where he sings a parody to "Ordinary People" but changes the lyrics to make it about Tim Tebow... but my friend tells me that I kinda look like John Legend!

I never would've made that celebrity look-a-like connection. But this isn't the first time I've been told I look like a black guy... I've been told twice now that I looked like Tiger Woods (and both times were years apart). 

Anyways - I'll let you weigh in on the John Legend resemblance...

Come see me crawl across a table.

"Come see me crawl across a table!" My choreographer told me that should be my hook to get friends and family see me in "Bye Bye Birdie", heh...

Oh right - I never really continued to blog about the whole audition and casting process, huh? And given that my word of the year is "finish", I should get to that. 

As noted in a previous post, I dressed up like a Mormon missionary for my audition, deciding to use a song from my current favorite musical, "The Book of Mormon." I figured, "why not have fun with it and dress up?" So I bought that short-sleeved white button down just for this one purpose. Being the first one up, nerves got the best of me, but it was still a fun upbeat song to sing ("You and Me, But Mostly Me") as compared to the darker toned song from my previous audition. 

Immediately after I sang, the producer asked me to do something for her, as if something caught her eye. She asked me to walk across the room as I owned it... which actually, a few weeks later, I'm totally just reminded of that scene from "Friends" where Joey is working with Susan Sarandon's character and she tells him to walk into the room like he owns it, but then as he walks in, he acts excited at the thought of owning the room, haha... anyways, that then prompted the director to ask me to give them a big cheesy grin... which I tried - I don't know how I looked, really... but I left the room wondering, "what the heck was that all about?"

I got the callback two nights later, asking me to return again to read for Conrad Birdie, one of the leads of the show... and apparently those things they'd asked me to do related to how they saw him (since the character is a rockstar with swagger)... But now I was even more nervous, and in some ways now really wanted the part. Whereas before, not knowing anything about the show, I didn't care who I was. 

So during night two, we had to read a few lines and sing a few measures of one of Conrad's songs... it was a pretty simple process. But I was definitely conflicted between wanting a "big" part and not wanting to deal with the pressure of having to pull that part off either.

In the end, I got placed in the Adult Ensemble. When I got the call, I was really just relieved, between finally knowing that I get to be in another musical and that there's nothing on my shoulders. Not that there's less work though - I still have to be at lots of rehearsals and learn lots of music and harmonies. 

As part of the ensemble, I do have lines to read as "Reporter #1" -- I shall call myself "Kevin" -- and a male quartet member for this one song where we're backing up "Alfred" (the real male lead) but our harmonies are crazy and I'm singing the 2nd Tenor line. I haven't been singing a tenor line since junior high! I tend to just go for the baritone... but this one's going well.

As for the whole "crawling across a table" thing, there's this one number that we started to block last Saturday that had us guys trying our best not to laugh or break character, as we were being introduced to the scene and we're supposed to start off pretty stoic as "Rosie" starts to dance with her hips and stuff (yeahhhhh)... but then we get to let loose... and so far, I've had my ear played with by "Rosie" and get pulled out from my seat by my tie. We didn't do the table crawling yet, but apparently that's forthcoming... anyways, the number seems like it'll be a fun one, so if you want to see the show, let me know!

You gotta know when to fold 'em...

...know when to hold 'em
...know when to walk away
...know when to run.

That song's about gambling, right? I really don't know. I feel like I remember hearing it during commercials for Barona Casino or maybe Sycuan. Anyways, so I was talking to a coworker on Friday, and usually whenever we cross paths we talk about the latest episode of "How I Met Your Mother".

And then I admitted it out loud.

"HIMYM makes me sad now."

It really does. After 6 years... the comedy just falls flat. It's been going on waaaay too long - at least Lost set a definitive end point and could plot its denouement. HIMYM still hasn't definitively set its own yet - though allegedly it's 2013 - so we're still waiting to meet the titular mother. I tried to deny these feelings in seasons 5 and 6, like I was clinging on to a relationship that used to be great... but now I can't help but think "get on with it, Ted."

I came to admit this to myself after watching last Monday's episode, when I shut it down after the first half. The episode just felt way.too.long and that was after only 10 minutes.

This struck me especially when compared to my new show of the moment, which I started watching it last spring when it came on as a mid-season replacement... and that show is "Happy Endings". I have that show on when I'm falling asleep, as I'm getting ready for work the next morning, and it never gets old! It gives me the same warm feelings and laughs that HIMYM used to give me.

So yeah... if you haven't watched "Happy Endings" (ABC, Weds, 9:30pm), give it a shot. It's easy to call it "Friends" set in Chicago (i.e. where I want my future home to be, except for the winter)... but I really feel this show stands on its own. And the cast is just as fun+tight. And it has Elisha Cuthbert from "24".

I just love this clip in particular because it just shows the fun the cast has doing scenes like this... and plus I think Eliza Coupe (who plays Jane) looks ridiculously hot at the :33-:34 second mark, with that smirk and the slightest of shimmys............ ohhh yeah.

The Week In Instagrams

With the whole Picture/Instagram of the Day goal for 2012, I don't really intend on doing a recap of the week's pictures, but I feel like doing it at least for the past week...

SUNDAY - Me and my old friend from UCSD, Michelle, at the end of our coffee+Flood reunion. We hadn't seen each other in a few years, since the days when I was working the graveyard shift back in 2006-2007. Those days are hazy... we hadn't been in touch since then, except for a Facebook status comment every now and then, until around Thanksgiving or so when she messaged me about church recommendations and I invited her to come out with me. It was so great to catch up and make plans to keep hanging out this time around so that the years don't pass us by again.

MONDAY - Worked until... I think 10pm or so? Gotta love working on databases...

TUESDAY - I'm in a supplement fix lately, taking upwards of 16 pills a day between multivitamins, thermogenic pills, fish oil, fat burners, and one pill that my personal trainer recommended to take pre-workout for energy that is also... well, I later found out that some find it useful as an herbal bedroom enhancer... yeahhhh, I didn't know... but that would explain why the guy at Vitamin Shoppe gave me the whole "yeahhhhh buddy!" look of approval + headnod.

WEDNESDAY - My songbook for the next 8 weeks!

THURSDAY - The view from my desk, where I worked until 11pm... not a fun night.

FRIDAY - After a long week that did not end as planned, I still got to de-stress a bit and go out on Friday night when Ashley invited to come out to a hookah place with her roomie and another friend of theirs. Turns out I know very little about hookah, but I still enjoy it from time to time. Oh, and we got to go Trujillo's after, where I got to have one of my favorite things - which was basically a Cali burrito w/ onions and bacon. The best!

SATURDAY - Rested. As in took a nice long nap after rehearsal and caught up on the sleep I did not really get during the week. But on the weekends, I do like to watch my TV DVD sets, in particular "Boy Meets World" that I got for Christmas (and you can see the Adele and Foo Fighters DVDs on top).

SUNDAY - Today's message at Flood talked about taking a rest (Sabbath day)... I think it was a timely message. Oftentimes we keep going and going, and this week for example between work and rehearsals, I was always in a "working" mode... and the weeks ahead are bound to bring more of the same. So on the days off I get (such as Saturday), there's nothing wrong with just wanting to stay in and relax, to say "screw that" to the pressure of finding more ways to keep busy/active in an attempt to have an "exciting" weekend. It's okay to just be still, to find that space to reflect.

TOW The Margaronas

So during this first week of 2012, I've discovered that... it's kinda hard to keep up an Instagram of the Day when...

• you work a deskjob and you're in the office 40+ hours a week
• you do not have cute teenage kittens
• you do not have one of the cutest little toddlers in the whole wide world or are not currently experiencing the miracle of life growing inside of you

So the Monday thru Friday pictures might be a little challenging at times... but I did get through this week. If you're on Instagram, you'll have seen them.

Luckily today had more interesting things to take pictures of, and today's picture will commemorate tonight's outing with some friends to Trivia Night at On the Border, where I had my very first margarona.

Margarita+Corona = margarona. That's my mango one on the right, Suzy's strawberry one on the left. 

And our dynamic team of 5 - The Margaronas - totally pulled off a comeback to win 2nd place, which we were very stoked about! We were dead last at the half, and I think 5th place before the final question...

Wanna hear it, hear it goes...

List the following events in the order that they occurred -

"South Park" premiered

"Family Feud" returned to TV with Louie Anderson as host

"Cheers" aired it's last episode

Drew Barrymore flashes David Letterman on his late night show

Can you do it? Well, we were the only team that did and ended up finishing with 54 points, and the first place team got 55... if only I'd given my hunch earlier in the game that Martin Luther King Jr. was the one who was assassinated at a hotel in Tennessee... but we were very excited with our 2nd place finish (including $10 off our next trip to OTB)... But we do plan to win the trophy next time... 

Care to challenge? ;)