Ahem, MememememMMMEEEEE.

Opening Credits: ME, singing Brahms' "Rote Abendvolken" from Zigeunderleider. So, the opening credits consist of me singing about some gypsy walking up and down a road obsessing. Perfect!!
Growing Up Montage: "Speravit, anima mea" sung by the Chamber Singers. This is not the best recording we ever did of this piece and it's a little tentative sounding, so that really works for the whoel growing up thing. Also, it's about hoping for things but mostly it's a tonal trainwreck.
High School: "Best Imitation of Myself" by Ben Folds. Tis true that in HS I was but a shell of who I am today.
College: "I Fought the Law and the Law Won" by BUDDY HOLLY (originally and thusly recorded). Well, I used a lot of Buddy Holly in shows to good effect. I also once was stopped in the street up by The Ganter (Nate, you may recall this), and got us all off the hook by stating that I was from Massachusetts.
Waking Up and Morning Routine: "Stepping out with my baby" by Tony Bennett. "Can't go wrong cuz I'm in right?" Well, at least I'm in the right pair of pants.
Driving: "Trouble", Coldplay. Yep. Piano, whining, regrets. Sounds like a late night suburban drive.
At Work: "21 Questions" by his majesty Fiddy Cent!! How perfect. Everyone has 21 damn questions when they call me.
Falling in Love: Hahahaha. "All lampo del armi" from Handel's Guilio Cesare. it's only Julius Cesare's bad-ass battle cry. Did I mention he's usually played by a woman??
Breaking Up: "Everything in its right place" Radiohead. Thom Yorke says this is a love song. "Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon."
Getting Back Together: "I See Monsters" by Ryan Adams. Hm, this is a tough one. I guess I coudl relate it back to neuroses, or the "monsters" one sees when one isn't with the person one wants to be with.
Dinner with Family: ME, singing Pres des remparts. This is a tricksy little aria where Carmen gets Don Jose to untie her with the promise of sex. I'd probably have to trick them into dinner, anyway.
Wedding: "My Friends" from Sweeney Todd. Hahahhaa, yep, at this point I'm more likely to marry either my friends or sharp inanimate objects. ;)
Life's Good: "God Put a Smile on Your Face" Coldplay. Did he really?
Mental Breakdown: 'Learn Your Lessons Well" from Godspell. Creepily perky and yelling at me. Sounds about right."
Flashback: "Billie Jean" by MJ. Well, aside from the obvious reasons .... it was written in like '86 ... I think it has the perfect blend of paranoid and rose-colored nostalgia
Birth of a Child: "Henrietta" by the Fratellis. Is the child's name Henrietta??
Final Battle: "Fare thee well, attractive stranger" from Iolanthe. ;)
Death Scene: "The Ascent of Stan". Ben Folds. Well, at least I'm going up, not down.
Funeral Song: "Like Spinning Plates" Radiohead. Hopefully the live version. I think I really could listen to that for all eternity, so I'm good with that.
End Credits: "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd". Like many good stories, it'll end where it began. :)

January.

This morning, it was nice to wake up to an e-mail from Sam Helfrich, a cell phone voice-mail from Linda O'Brien (production manager at Opera Boston), and a home-phone voice mail from Amy Kitchin, Audience Services Director at Boston Lyric Opera, a company which, despite my completely dogged degree of persistence in my quest to work for them, has never called me on the phone before now. I didn't even pick up the phone when I saw the label "Boston Lyric Opera" because I was so sure it was a telemarketer.

For about a month now, January has loomed in my mind in this sort of stone-carved, Monty-Pythonian way. Last night, I stared at the ceiling for about twenty minutes, trying to exhale all the nervousness out of my body while still retaining the nerve.

I am probably going to gain five pounds this month, and most definitely lose some hair, and I'll probably cry at one or two or three commercials. But things are happening!! And when it rains, apparently it pours.

I should really buy an umbrella for non-metaphorical rain, too. ;)

"The theatre, the theatre ... what has happened to the theatre? Especially where dancing is concerned."

Erin and I randomly watched the DVD of my production of Pirates whilst swiffering floors the other day. Sure, there were huge glaring problems, tempo inconsistencies and one or two costumes which might have been better suited to hang from the acoustical shell, but the backs of the audiences heads consistently bobbed with laughter -- and the good kind at that. So, this brought me to notice one thing which inspired in my quest to find a consistent vision for "Ernest" ......

When faced with a script like "Pirates", I saw it as one of my primary obligations to make sure that my audience of intelligent and sophistocated people had FUN at the theatre.

I had been struggling so much with whether to update Wilde. I don't know why I was thinking so hard about it, because really, when I look at just the *text*, I don't know what would be more fun than sticking to its original setting. Yeah, updating it might help tell the story a little bit for a few modern viewers, but I don't think this play will be terribly well-served by anything that makes its behavior more dignified or normal.

So that settles that.

When I did I start considering having Fun in the theatre the least important thing I could do on a stage? It might not be the *most* important, but I like to think it promotes at least a little bit of good in society, at least in helping to facilitate a small, if skeptical, belief in magic and faith in people.

New Year's Resolutions

I don't think there's anything wrong with New Year's Resolutions really, cliched as they are, we all need a little check-in time with ourselves. Here are a few of mine:

1) Conquer my fear of directing my own show in the Real World while staying true to myself and producing something I can be proud of.
2) Quontinue in my Quest for Qulosure, until such a thing happens or such a time arrives which makes me feel I have it.
3) Don't stop going to the gym, especially in January.
4) Eat breakfast! The purchase of veggie sausage patties from Trader Joe's ought to help facilitate this. Spend less money at Starbuck's and Dunkin' Donuts.
5) Give my time or money to something political, and make an informed choice for all votes.
6) Reach out to my brother-from-another-mother-but-also-kind-of-from-the-same-mother, Richard, who lives across the street.
7) Get back in touch with Kristen. I miss her ...
8) Learn how to meditate or do some yoga.
9) Stop Putting Things Off
10) Keep the above nine. ;)

What're yours?

Thank you, San Francisco Chronicle, for making me feel a little less alone.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/21/DD04U1E8B.DTL&type=movies