TLM audition number 1

Today I woke up at 5 to go to the ECC call for THE LITTLE MERMAID - and alas - I ended up being #583 on the list --- (number 5 on non-equity.)  Needless to say I wasnt seen.  But just you wait!  I'm going to Philly - I'm going to Boston - I'm going to the dancer call - gonna make it happen!

WAIT AND YOU'LL SEE - SOME DAY I'LL BEEEEEE - PART OF YOUR WORLD!

Also I saw the movie MILK today.  It was a really interesting movie that is very topical to today's political and social issues, but never preachy.  A great thought provoking artsy movie - if anyone is interested -I'd recommend it.

I do NOT recommend that you eat a burger at BRGR.  Nothing compared to my mom or dads burgers  which are - as Teddy Roosevelt would say - deeeeeeeeee-lightful!

I'm also almost done with the second book of the Twilight series.  They are really great books if you need a perfect man in your life - but a real one is nowhere to found.  They arent a steeped in mythology as Harry Potter or the Percy Jackson and the Olypians series, but they are a fun romantic read.

And on season three of Buffy.  Gotta love a girl who can kick butt in high heels

Guardian Angels of Tap Dance

As you probably know - if I gave you the URL to my blog (is anyone actually reading btw?) - I want to be in THE LITTLE MERMAID more than I want to breathe.  However, there is one very worrisome stipulation to being in this show - what is this you may ask?  The tap dancing seagulls!

Now - I have nothing against tap dancing seagulls.  In fact, its a very clever theatrical device.  Mad props to the choreographer.  However, my tap dancing leaves MUCH to be desired.  MUCH.  

However, I have FOUR very fabulous tap afficionados who have come to my aid!  One is IN the show, and he taught me the dance, two are tap teachers at Steps, and one is a very good friend and superb tapper.  Their powers combined - we are going to make me look like one of Scuttles flock. 

I am very lucky to have so many guardian angels of tap dance!:)

Always looks on the bright side of life.

First off - I would like to state my unequivocal love of ice cream.  

Now - for the "real" stuff.

I've been here in NYC - trying to audition and - I dunno - get a job.  This involves waking up at obscene hours of the morning to sit around a room for many hours with a bunch of other hopeful girl praying that the audition will see "non-equity."  There is a rather irksome rule for us non-eq people that states an audition must see ALL the equity actors that show up BEFORE non-equity.  Because so many Broadway shows closed at the beginning of the month, and because so many regional theatre are just plain cloing - aka - going out of business - the auditions are jam packed.  I went to one where there was a 155 person EQUITY wait list - 155 EQUITY girls who were not seen - not to even mention to "non-equity."  I arrived when the audition studio opened- and was already number 78 on the non-eq list.  That is how crazy these things are!  Needless to say - I was not seen.  Actually - I was only seen at ONE audition of the many I've gone to.  The trick is - to not get frustrated and stop going - you never know which audition will the the "lucky one."

Besides - I've found lovely ways to pass the time.  Dance calls I'm usually there with lots of friends.  That makes the time much more enjoyable.  At singer calls, I don't know anyone - so I could be very bored.  However, it turns out - I'm very far behind on my tv and movie watching - so my friends lend me dvds and I watch them for five hours in the morning!  This month oddly seems to have a vampire theme.  Buffy episodes, the underworld movies, and the Twilight BOOKs.  None of them are particularly enlightening, but it will be nice to be in loop when people where "Team Edward t-shirts" or quote Buffy and say things like "That is so Xander."  

Some friends came over on Sunday night and we had a read through of Giraffes Can't Dance.  I was fairly pleased.  A few typos, but I think it is ready to be sent away and have music put to it! Then - acquire rights - then workshop - then - MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  World conquest.

Other than that - its just the usual.  Lots of dance classes, voice practice, and being weird with my friends.  

Oh yeah, and apparently I have once again had a run in with the law...This time with NYS tax.  Ugh - and this whole affair it turning me into a paranoid schizophrenic  who thinks the police are out to arrest her at any moment.  Worst part is, the whole thing is a misunderstanding on the behalf of the NYS tax people.  BLARGH!  And today I am spending a whole lotta time on hold - but hey - I have LOTS of Buffy to watch - so here - we - go!

Awake

I usually like sleeping in on Sundays - I don't set an alarm and let myself sleep until whenever my body feels likes waking up ---

But today my alarm was set for 7:30 a.m. - so I could wake up and go audition for a dance company I've never heard of before - woohoo.  

Yeah - I just felt like saying that.  Whilst this morning's venture is most likely TRULY QUIXOTIC - my theatre company QUIXOTIC is having its first informal reading of "Giraffes" this evening.  Some friends are coming over and we'll read the script out loud, and then discuss what needs to be improved upon - what works - where more baboons can fart for laughs...etc...

I suppose I should go make my hair not look frizzy now.  

I Think I Can I Think I Can

One of my earliest obsessions in life (oh and since then there have been MANY) was the story of THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD.  To read one version of this beloved children's tale - please visit this website: http://ah_coo.tripod.com/engine_that_could.htm

I suppose I enjoyed the idea of the little steam engine doing the impossible - doing what the mighty BIG steam engine could not - simply through will power.  

So - Here I am - becoming my own little engine that could.  Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to work in theatre, perform, direct, dance, sing, have a work out video a la Richard Simmons - the possibilities seemed endless.  It was always a DREAM - but now it is time to make that DREAM reality.

Up to this point - I have had some truly magical experiences.  Assistant directing a Broadway Play, Working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Performing at the Jupiter Theatre when I was a little kid, Many Nutcrackers, heck, even winning the SCNY's 2007 Showcase Figure Skating Competition.  But I never actually made a LIVING at it.  I brushed with success but never actually seized it - made it my own - become one with it.  I was almost AFRAID of it - or too full of self doubt for whatever reason.  Making excuses, whining, saying "if only."  

People talk a lot about potential.  I personally feel a person's potential is only their ability to overcome their "if onlys."  Mugsy Bogges was a tiny little man, yet he had a very successful NBA career.  He didn't whine about how if ONLY he wasn't so short.  Barack Obama didnt whine and say IF ONLY I was born to "American Aristocracy" and was grandfathered into an Ivy League School.  Ben Hur didnt say - if only my best friend hadn't betrayed me and sold me as a slaveon a galley ship and left my wife and daughter to die of leprosy in a prison cell.  The people at NASA didnt say IF ONLY we didnt have gravity to deal with.  They OVERCAME it - and went to the moon and beyond.  

So all of my if onlys - if only I was prettier, smarter, skinnier, had a better voice, was a better dancer, had more connections in the directing world, was a member of the British realm, etc... no longer matter.  No - I am going out and am gonna shine like the star I know I am.  I don't know whether success will come by way of directing or performing, but I know it will come SOMEHOW - and I'll gonna give it 210%!!!  BECAUSE I DESERVE IT!:)

So - ladies and gentlemen - we got a blind date with destiny - and it looks like she's ordered the lobster!

ENGINES - GET SET - GO! 

I THINK I CAN I THINK I CAN I THINK I CAN!!!!:)