Callbacks!!!!!!

So after several days of lackluster ness, I've just gotten several callbacks for upcoming work Don't wanna jinx anything, so I will give more information as soon as I have it !! Positive vibes y'all!

Second Wind. Finally.

After about a week and a half of feeling quite gloomy and disenchanted (both with New York City and the auditioning/dance scene), an unexpected - but much appreciated - shift has dynamically changed my outlook and energy level!

I'm not proud to say that last week was a lot of snooze buttons, over-sleeping, and looking out the window to see gray-grumbling to myself-going back to sleep behavior. But you know, I guess I just really needed that week to be a grumpy guss.

Suddenly I'm up at 7am both days this week, even managing to get yoga or a good workout in before I head off to the day's auditions.

After a dearth of callbacks, I'm finally getting kept at all manner of dance auditions (Mary Poppins, Annie, Chicago) and feeling something like Stella must have felt when she got her groove back. Literally, my groove is causing a lot less lower back pain, and I'm crossing my fingers this current mode of elation and exuberance (and absence of pain) lasts.

I even managed to start my spring cleaning early! Along with my most fabulous, 6 foot tall, glamazon roommate, we've Cinderella-ed the bejeezus out of the kitchen and the bathroom. I even completely reorganized the linen/storage closet, cleaned my "office" nook, organized my taxes (God THAT was scary) and made another pass through all of my clothes to make a Housing Works donation.

Today felt GOOD. Thank you, Universe. Here's hoping I can bust out some fouettes and old school ballet at the Carousel audition tomorrow... yikes!

Lots of Love,

A Broadway Baby.

Sean P Diddy (Puff Daddy?) Combs

or whatever his name is, officially hit on me.

So I was heading out of this audition in midtown (aka I was looking much more put together than usual, hair done, makeup appropriately sexy) and there was this guy in a suit walking toward me. There was also a menacing, incredibly large gentleman close behind him, and I was almost concerned that Guy #1 was about to get mugged.

Low and behold Guy #1 sees me and says (I paraphrase and may misspell): "Dayuum gurl you look foine, what's your name?"

In characteristically New Yorker fashion, I respond: "Thanks, sorry gotta go, have a nice night!" and flee into nearest subway station.

At which point, my friend says, "Whoa. That was Sean P Diddy Combs."

A myriad of responses, spanning the gamut from "yikes" to "whoops" to "should I leave the subway now and ask him to go for a drink?" followed.

In any case, here I am back in the warm cocoon of my quirky little Upper East Side apartment, feeling pretty good about that yoga class I took today.

The little things in life, people. The little things.

Auditions on a Sunday?

Why not? Spent this afternoon with some good friends and the non union dance call for a production of Music Man to be staged in Washington DC.

Alas, I seem to be either un-interesting, or in some kind of dance rut, so I'll have to address that in dance class and at the gym this week.

In better news, all of my tutoring students are showing significant improvements in their grades and confidence levels, my fridge is full of yummy combination Trader Joes/Costco foods, my kitchen is clean, my laundry is done, and I feel a sense of achievement from being able to check of big "To Do" projects.

Next up? Paint some canvases to finally fill this blank wall over my bed.

The coming week is full of auditions and clients and things to do. Here's to rediscovering my old friend, optimism, and expecting better days ahead!

Hugs and Love,
A Broadway Baby

Truth Time

Not going to lie folks, but this week has SUCKED.


I guess that's how life works though, right? Some days, some weeks, some years are awesome; some are not.


Hopefully next week is better!


Cheers,
A Broadway Baby

And in other news, my roommate just got me into Will & Grace (circa 1998) and they're looking up apartment listings in newspapers! Newspapers!!

Possibly the most romantic date place in NYC?

Cost Co on 116th past Pleasant Avenue (aka all the way on the East River).

I kid you not. It is like Disneyland for grown ups in there! The furniture department has wonderfully comfortable beds, chaise lounges and other chairs to rest your weary bum, the aisles are lined with friendly people dispensing delicious samples of things like chili, wontons, naked juice, and chicken noodle soup with rice in it.

Oh, and did I mention that should you decide to move beyond appetizers and get into the big leagues, a foot long hot dog + a delicious berry smoothie is only $3.00!!

Romance. Cannot have imagined a better way to spend a Sunday morning with my roommate. I'm literally not going to have to go grocery shopping for MONTHS!

Love,

A Broadway Baby

Bebe Neuwirth

and I had a pleasant little conversation about the weather and Silantyev's ballet class this evening at Broadway Dance Center.

Then I run into Mandy Patinkin (aka Inigo Montoya in Princess Bride, or the hot rabbinical studies student in Yentl, or you know, he of the famous Broadway career) as he was exciting the Barrymore theatre from his show with Patti Lupone. No joke.

New York City is sometimes just too cool for its own good.

Auditions today were also not seeing non equity members. Hopefully this is just a false start week, and next week will be much better. Yay showbiz! At least I got to take a few ballet classes and some vocal technique this afternoon!

Hugs & Happy Weekend,

A Broadway Baby

Good Age Week, Bad Audition Week

Soooo the past three auditions I wanted to go to were not seeing any dancers or singers who were not part of the union, Actors Equity Association. That was not awesome.

In an unexpected bout of good news, I had a great age week! For those of you who are more recently tuning in, yours truly had a really special month in 2010. In the same week, a 26 year old woman suggested I see her plastic surgeon to botox away my fore head wrinkles, and a production assistant for Evita on Broadway asked me if my age range was 28-35.

Welp, haters begone! Just this past Wednesday, I went to see Michael Fassbender's new movie Shame, a very appropriately rated NC-17 film, and the sweetheart at the ticket booth actually CARDED me!!! I hugged her and told her she made my day.... Can't believe she thought I could be 17. And then tonight, the nice old Indian man at the wine shop near my house asked me if I was really 21, because I looked too young. I showed him my California ID, and he was actually surprised!

Oh the romance, thank you New York city for making up for my lousy audition access week with a great age week! The little things in life.

I read a great saying the other day, something about how we should all just stop trying to ignore the rings in a tree trunk. Instead, embrace them, count them! Life is worth living, and awesome experiences come with age!!

Time Turner; I Need One

Any one else ever feel like they could use 36 or 48 hours in a day instead of 24?

How come that Hermione girl gets all the fun!

I have so many things I want to do over the next few days that I feel a bit overwhelmed with how to plan for them... but one thing is certain. I own WAY too many possessions for my quirky little New York apartment, and it is time for spring cleaning to come early this year. Yikes!

Legally Blonde and Big Fish auditions beginning tomorrow morning, and I'm only just going to bed at 1:30am. Eep and I just remembered I'm out of paper resumes... Tomorrow should be interesting!

Lots of love,
A Broadway Baby

ANYTHING GOES!

Auditioning season is here again! Wow do I feel it (in energy, not to mention in my feet and joints, haha)!

And it's like I never left. Cattle calls a plenty with several hundred girls, nails breaking, dance rooms fogging up from body heat, leotards feeling a BIT too tight after the holiday season. Here's one fifth of the girls in the callback line at Anything Goes:

The first big new musical of the year (a Flashdance reiteration for the stage) held an audition this morning, but of course did not see any dancers who were not members of the union (street slang for that is the noun: non-equity). Basically it was a lucky judgment call I made to get up early and go to work instead of trying to be seen at Flashdance.

In addition to Flashdance, the Broadway hit revival Anything Goes was also auditioning this afternoon. When the production team for AG first came into town, I got through a few cuts to dance in front of Kathleen Marshall (Director and Choreographer) herself! Now that they're casting the First National Broadway Tour, I was lucky to get through one of the biggest casting hurdles: the mysterious realm of "type."

As I've mentioned elsewhere on this blog, "type" is this nebulous concept whereby different casting directors and casting teams are looking for certain aspects of an individual at an audition. Those aspects can be anything from

• Height
• Hair color
• body shape
• measurements (if you need to fit into a costume that's already been made)
• whether they've worked with you before
• if they know who you are
• and lastly, skill level

I'm SO grateful to have been able to dance again for the people casting the AG tour, because I am so into period musicals and would LOVE LOVE LOVE to work with/near anything associated with Sutton Foster. Here's crossing fingers someone wakes up one day and decides to give me a call!

City Magic

So after an amazing 60 degree brunch outside with the lovely Hannah, I went to Lincoln Center cinemas in midtown  New York and bought tickets for my friend James and I to see Iron Lady with Meryl Streep. He was hungry, and I was always game for more food and beverages, so we grabbed a bite at the heart warmingly organic Le Pan Quotidian.

It was 615 when we asked for the check, and James and I initially thought we'd go around the corner and adventure in the Bed Bath and Beyond. But then, at the last minute, something compelled me to go to the Met Opera store and play around with the opera glasses and china ware.

Get this. I've been gushing to everyone who will lend me half an ear about the upcoming production of "Enchanted Island" at the Met Opera, which stars Placido Domingo in an almost cameo role as sea god Neptune (can anyone believe he's never actually played a God before??!? with THAT voice?!) 

Anyway, James and I came across one of the advertising posters for the new opera in the lobby, and I began extolling the virtues of this brand new production. I guess I must have been loud, because one of the security guards (Joe!!) came over and asked us if we wanted to see the show that night. I was like "How are you going to do that?!" And Joe was like, "Do you want to go or not!?" James and I looked at each other, paused for maybe half a second, and were like 'uh... YEAH!" 

And then do you know what happened? The security guard reached inside his jacket and pulled out two, complimentary ORCHESTRA CENTER tickets for that night, the OPENING night of Enchanted Island!! I couldn't believe it! James couldn't believe it! We had just enough time for James to go home and change so we raced up to Harlem to get my date feeling sexy.

That kind of city magic you just can't make up.

I love you, New York!

And also, everyone in New York must go see Enchanted Island. It was my friend James' first opera, but he and I were both LOVING that Opera can be surprisingly and genuinely comical. Like, laugh out loud funny! Who knew?

Off to bed before I go to Anything Goes auditions tomorrow! Here's hoping for good vibes from the universe, please and thank you.

Lots of love,

A Broadway Baby

New York Is Small & Awesome

Within a five block walk, I ran into one of my former Kaplan students (who just told me he got a 1700 (!!) on his most recent exam, though he took his first diagnostic test before my class and had scored 1100... that's an incredible increase, and he speaks French as his first language! I also saw David Duchovny and Tea Lioni (who is aging oh so gracefully), and managed to pay all my bills (yikes) before the grace period was up.

As a random side note, I love New York City cab drivers. While they drive like loons, they also gift me with inspiration, support, adrenaline rushes and/or rogue history lessons without fail. The gentleman who took me home from JFK last night was blaring this loud reggae-sounding music with French lyrics (turned out to be "copa," which is a style of Creole music from Haiti). Of course I started an onslaught when I inquired about the music. Over the next forty minutes I got a tidy little history lesson about Haitian revolutionaries (evidently parts of Louisiana were sold to a Haitian man who helped the United States fight their revolution against the British?), not to mention the Black Jacobins, the Haitians who rebelled against Giuliani in New York, Haitian versions of bombs and all that jazz. Very fascinating stuff.

He also had the most amazing laugh. New York, why are you so awesome? (Probably because I don't start working again until Sunday... eep!)

Hugs and love,

A Broadway Baby

Love the Holidays, Dread the Packing

Well, my three week sojourn in California has quickly come to its conclusion!  I've almost completely settled back into the slower rhythm of life here in Los Angeles, so it's good that I've got a huge suitcase to pack and 15 degree weather in New York to keep me on my toes!

Things I will miss about this, the sunnier and warmer of the two United States' coasts:

1. Sunshine
2. Gardening with my dad
3. Family meals
4. My California friends
5. the HUGE amount of space
6. All the good smelling candles in my house
7. My slightly demented kitty
8. Driving
9. Inn and Out

But I can't think about those things now... somehow, I have to keep this behemoth of a piece of luggage under 50 pounds (!!) so that I don't get slammed with overweight fees. It was 40 pounds when I weighed it in JFK, but then I was so fortunate to get lots of (heavy) presents... the weight of books and candles really adds up!

Sigh... Didn't traveling by air used to be pleasant and anti stress? My great uncle and aunts speak of the "olden days" of leather seats, and complimentary everything, before there were fees for any little aspect of one's flight that airlines can think to make money on. Meals used to be free with every airplane ticket, golden retrievers could not fly in first class, and space for one's gawky legs was ample. Oh modernization... I am SO iffy on you right now!

It's been an amazingly relaxing three weeks at home, and I've got at least twenty dance auditions in New York to look forward to in January, so I better get back on top of my game, and fast. **Whoops to gaining 4-5 pounds from all that holiday food, bridal shower treats, and cookies! ** I guess I'll dead-lift my suitcase a few times tomorrow morning to see if it feels like 50 pounds or less.

Here's crossing fingers for no extra fees!

Hugs and love and,



A Broadway Baby

Year of the Dragon!

Good news to all my fellow 1988 babies, a dear friend from Princeton just reminded me that this year is our year!!! Here's to crossing fingers that her wise Chinese mama has good associations in store for us Dragon people.

Just got back from a movie date with my mom - Sherlock Holmes #2 - and I must say I appreciated the cameo that the Don Giovanni opera played in the dramatic action of the Paris scenes. I've always LOVED the Il Commendatore scene.... I can't wait to get back to rehearsals in February!

A dance colleague just drew my attention to a new Met Opera ballet audition in two Fridays. This one's for Ben Millepeid (Natalie Portman's man man and the Black Swan film's choreographer). I imagine I might be a bit too tall (Natalie's like 4'11 to my 5'8), bottom heavy (Natalie's a size zero... I'm a six!), and musical theatery in my dance style for his tastes, so hopefully I can get back into pristine ballet shape in two weeks!! (Yikes!!)

I foresee ab workouts a plenty in my future...

Happy New Year!!

It's resolutions time!

But first, here's a walk through memory lane to investigate the success of mah eleven goals for 2011:

1. Start a blog to keep myself accountable for dancing/auditions/performance progress (check!)
2. Work on my diction (partial check... there were some nights and days and songs where words were slurred...)
3. Take more ballet (check!)
4. Stop saying "sorry" so often (check!) 
5. Be more hopeful about love (work in progress, though I've had moderate success, so I'm going to go ahead and say check, but with room for improvement)
6. Be more put together (about 80% of the time, check)
7. Learn new songs on the ukulele (check)
8. Work a new Broadway audition song at least once a month (check)
9. Try to do at least one new thing a month (I can't believe this, but check!!)
10. Get a Broadway job (I'd like to think I'm close.... but twenty blocks away at Lincoln Center does not a "Broadway job" make, so no check)
11. Laugh and go out more (definite and most emphatic check)

All in all, not bad for a year that flew past... Although in the interest of the year to come, I'm holding on to number ten!

*** TWELVE GOALS FOR 2012 ***

1. Get a job on Broadway
2. Exercise more, drink [much] less
3. Take vocal technique or performance class at Broadway Dance Center once a week
4. Take at least two dance classes a week (auditions cannot be counted!)
5. Take a few acting classes
6. Improve my "story telling" in my audition songs
7. Get back on pointe
8. Learn a few opera arias (especially Musetta's waltz, for my dad)
9. Get a [visible] four pack of abs! (Though the dream would be a six pack)
10. Take more yoga
11. Study for and take the GRE
12. Figure out if/when/where I am going to graduate school

Hold on to your hats and skirts, folks, 2012 is shaping up to be another whirlwind year! ...Full of potential and hopefully some moderate improvement on my new resolutions!

May all my friends, family, and fellow performers be met with exciting opportunities and enjoy finding room for improvement in the coming year!

Lots of love,

 A Broadway Baby