musicals

musicals have taken over my life...

i was alway the one to tell people to stop singing show tunes, but now i can't get them out of my head. at least the ones i'm singing are funny and riddled with profanity or slightly emo rock.

working for nymf has gotten me thinking about my play again...you know the one...the one that i was so close to completing and then i stopped because i didn't know how it should end. well, now i know how it should end, i just don't know how to get there. and in my ideal world, i found my musical collaborator. first, he's won an obie, so it's always to have that name recognition. ;) and i can't get his music out of my head. if they had a cd, i'd buy it in a heart beat. the music for his show is amazing...but the script has a bit to be desired (which is perfect in my case). AND when he's not doing theater, he fronts a glam rock band. which is exactly what i need for my show!

i'm friendly with him, but not FRIENDS...now, how do i get him to want to keep in contact with me so that at some point in the future i can show him my script and make him want to write the songs and score???? i don't want to just show him my script now and let him run away with my idea and go off and do his own show with the same concept and win another obie.

_insert_exclamation_here_!

i'm nervous! tonight's the first preview for don't quit and i feel like i'll be flying by the seat of my pants. i don't feel prepared at all. there's been so little time to adjust to the idea and learn...anything...but i guess that's why they call it a preview and not opening night...

voiceless

everyone keeps telling me not to whisper; that it's bad for my voice. but it's not like i have much of a choice.

i know someone can only have a certain amount of luck at any given time, but this wrench in the works came at precisely the wrong time.

i lost my voice. it's a fairly common thing to happen to people, but i feel that the timing of this makes my life even more bizarre than it already is.

yesterday i had interviews with three potential replacements at petaholics. i can only imagine what they thought as i whispered questions at them.

yesterday i also had the meet and greet for don't quit. when we went around the room introducing ourselves, i had to whisper in the ear of the stage manager, who acted as my translator. wonderful first impression, i'm sure...

my lack of voice also weirded out a lot of people. elizabeth, the company manager for don't quit, kept thinking i was unhappy or bored because i was nonresponsive, but i had to keep telling her i wasn't, just that i couldn't respond. i also had a lot of people whispering back at me, as if what i was saying to them was a secret.

i was hoping that by some miracle my voice would be back by the time i had to do my show, but that truly was just wishful thinking. leslie, the stage manager, had to go on for me, instead. she did a great job and i'm very proud of her. but the whole ordeal also greatly frustrated me. i already feel like i'm letting the show down by leaving a week early to do don't quit. and then i can't even perform in my penultimate show because i have no voice. i also feel a little cheated, seeing as i don't know when i'll get to act again because of my work schedule for don't quit.

today my voice is better, but still very hoarse. i'm trying to concerve it by writing everything down so i'll be able to go on tonight and have a last show. i started writing stuff down last night when we went to a bar after the show. there was no way i could compete with the music and noise in the bar. it was actually kind of fun and for some reason i was able to come up with a number of good pickup lines. maybe i should be mute more often. ;) no, not really.

i ran out today to enjoy the amazing weather and to run some errands. on my way back i stopped at my local favorite coffee spot to grab my essential summer drink, the dirty chai. i wrote out a nice note to give to the cute coffee guy. he took a look at it and said, "i don't read." nice. then handed it to the guy who makes the drinks. he held up four fingers to indicate how much i should pay. i may be mute, but i'm not deaf. he then asked me if i was faking (a common thought among a couple of my friends), so i attempted to speak for the first time since i woke up. it didn't sound much better. i told him that i was trying to conserve my voice for the show tonight since the stage manager had to go one for me last night. he told me my voice made me sound like a tough guy and that i should do my character like a civil war general. then he offered me a cigarette. dick...kinda funny, but still a dick.

so here's hoping it works out tonight...if not, maybe i can put my new voiceless pickup lines to good use.

it has happened.

friday i gave notice to my boss at petaholics. why? you may ask, knowing how long i stuck it through crappy real estate jobs that provided more grief than this current part-time gig.

because i was offered (and i accepted) a position as asst. company manager/box office liason for don't quit your night job, a new improv/sketch comedy show created by and featuring broadway actors. yes, you heard right. karron's day and night jobs have finnally merged. my primary source of income will be from the theater. well it fucking took long enough, didn't it?

i'm still not fully filled in on the details of my job...i know my work schedule and it will be a total life and schedule change. i'll be working 6 shows a week, with my weekend being tuesday and wednesday. because all of the actors in the show are currently working on broadway, the show schedule is around the broadway hours, meaning we have 3:30, 5:30, 7:00 or 11PM shows, depending on the day of the week. i've always said i was a night person, now's the time when i'll put my money where my mouth is and see if it's true. i'm really excited to see what this job brings.

my one regret is that i'm going to have to leave the cast of five years later a week early. the first preview of don't quit is during the last week of performances for five years later, and there's no way i can be in both places at once. it's a good thing my part is so minor. they're on the case searching for my replacement, and i have no doubt that she'll do a wonderful job.

so you know what that means, kiddies...this week will be your last chance to see me on stage for at least a little while...so if you need your dose of karron on stage, go see five years later.

i'll keep you posted on the details of my exciting break through as soon as i have them. yay! i've done it...finally.

bizarre night

on my way home tonight, i was pumped. i was so excited and happy. i had gone to happy hour with my office and then saw an amazing show with an amazing actor. i was all ready, upon returning home to write a blog entry about it and my trip home, to study my lines for my rehearsal tomorrow and go to bed early enough so that i could get up early enough (and not feel like shit) to take a load of stuff to storage before rehearsal. but instead i am sitting, alone, in my ex-boyfriend's apartment in his bathrobe, drinking a beer, contemplating an earlier incident where i was crying and he didn't even get up to give me a hug. instead, he told me to move to give him one. how did i get where i am right now? i sometimes feel like my life is so full of the ridiculous. (oddly enough, the other night, hatim and i were talking about how none of our "5 year plans" have ever worked out.)
the show tonight, prelude to a kiss, was amazing. i thought alan tudyk was brilliant. i wasn't so sure the comic relief from firefly would be able to pull off being the romantic lead of a piece, but he did so with flying colors. (and he looks pretty damn good without his shirt, too.) the show had me thinking about all sorts of things. how i want to make changes in my life, for the better, and how to do so without picking up everything and moving someplace completely new, where you know no one. despite my efforts, those seem to be the only times when re-imagining myself has been successful. otherwise there are too many people who have a fixed idea about you that they are unwilling to let go, despite anything you try to do to shake them of it.
then i had a unique new york moment on the train. i was waiting in the last car of the L train as it was stopped in the 8th ave. station. there was a bum asleep on one of the benches. i was admiring his creative use of newspaper as clothing. he had very neatly tore thick, even fringes from the paper and had wrapped it around his head, arms, and jacket. something woke him up and he started pacing and staggering the length of the car. he was about to fall over into a guy who tried to direct him to fall on a bench. instead, the bum thought he was starting a fight and started to get violent. but he didn't really know where to direct it and ended up charging a guy who just walked in the car. eventually he ran out, and only then the conductor and one of those guardian angels in the red uniform came (i haven't seen one in years). i ended up chatting with the guy who the bum charged, bonding over the moment and talking about other weird things that have happened to us on trains.
then further along the ride, i look up and notice gloves a woman is wearing. she got them from old navy. why do i know this? because i looked at the same pair for a costume i was doing in college. it's amazing how i can remember that, but i can't remember my keys. yes, my keys.
i had been in and out of the house repeatedly today. i swore i had them when i left, if i did, they're gone...either in the bar or in the theater. i hope to god they're still at home.
i'm walking home, all bouncy and excited from the train. as i said before, i was jazzed from the show and amused by the goings on on the train. i was thinking of the changes i wanted to make in life, etc. and i was happy. but, i guess, here's the problem with me: happiness is so fragile. such a tiny thing can shatter it. i reached into my pocket and the keys weren't there. no problem. i call hatim because he said he and archana were going to be home tonight. no answer. still no problem. i think he might not hear his phone or may be ignoring it because he's too busy with the romance. i get home and start buzzing. no answer. he's really not home. fuck. and he's leaving on spring vacation tomorrow. i need to find a time to get home to see if my keys are indeed there. i can't wait till he gets back. by this time, i realize that i need to make a plan on what to do in the mean time. when i got off the train, the temperature was 32, and i knew it'd get colder the later it got. i had precisely two dollars in my wallet and not much more in the bank. i knew of a few places i could go for a while, but eventually they'd kick me out if i didn't buy anything.
i start calling a number of friends who live a reasonable distance away from me. no one picks up. i mean, i know it's 11 on a friday night, but come on...i start to panic.
after making the last call, i start to cry (and yet, through the tears end up giving a girl directions to a local club...i told you my life is ridiculous). everything starts plummeting down. the high of happiness i felt gives way to the dispare that i've been feeling lately. i start focusing on the negative. i start focusing on how lonely i am. i start focusing on the fact that i'm getting cold and have no where to go.
finally i get calls back. the only people to call back...the ex-boyfriends (one after i had already arrived at my current location). haha. i get here and he's already made plans. he offers for me to come, but halfheartedly. i know i'd be crashing. i'm sure a bunch of metal guys having a high school reunion of sorts would want me tagging along. besides, it was already late, i have no money, and i have rehearsal in the morning (which i will not be memorized for). so he watched me cry. it was awkward. and he left. now i'm sitting here in his robe, typing on his computer. ah well. ce la vie.
his roommate gave me soup to eat because i hadn't had dinner and i have no money. boy i'm feeling pathetic. but in a funny sort of way. writing this has lifted my spirts a little (or maybe it's my blood sugar from the soup). sometimes it helps to get it out. i don't know why i don't get locked out in the summer (well, i do, but that's only after my mom changes the locks on me and i think she's dead inside my apartment because she doesn't answer the door), 'cuz i'd just walk the bridge in to manhattan and walk around until it's light. i've done it before and will probably do it again.
well that's it. it's all out. i'm feeling better and now i can sleep. don't think i'm insane or anything. i just need it to be officially spring and/or a good show to purge my dark side in again.

theatrically speaking...

this past week has been very busy for me, theatrically speaking. i've kind of been immersed in theater because of my new job.

tuesday i got free tickets to see the show, howard katz (starring alfred molina), at the roundabout. since the tickets were free, i figured, i'd have crappy seats in the back row or something. but when i got there and got my tickets i was in row G of the orchestra, center. they really were the best seats in the house. not only that, david schwimmer was sitting in front of me.

on thursday, i shadowed the company manager (who is awesome) for jewtopia. she showed me what she did in the theater, introduced me to the cast and crew and even let me sit in on an interview with a candidate for a wardrobe position. then i got to see the show. (again, for free). on my way to the theater that night, i also saw bill nighy. i love him! i totally would have stopped him and told him so, but he was already in the theater door (for the vertical hour) before i could reach him.

and tonight i worked the door for "don't quit your night job," an improv/sketch comedy thing that is comprised of actors currently on broadway. they normally do it once a month at joe's pub, but tonight was a special benefit at the ha! comedy club. david hyde pierce was the guest star. it was kind of cool.

now if i can only find out how to get free tickets to see the vertical hour and prelude to a kiss...