And even more appropriate to my personal Valentine's Day...

Josh Ritter sings Springsteen's "The River."

...and I'll be in the Super 8 in Wheeling, West Virginia, working on my thesis and waiting to hear from theatre companies. sigh.

I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love with a wonderful guy...

Well I AM. And I'm not ashamed to say it out loud. Just in time for Valentine's Day, too.

Josh RItter - The Temptation of Adam - El Rey Theatre

Nothing makes any sense here...

I have complained way too much about this show and this tour, the, er, experience that it's been so far, I don't have the negative energy left to expend in doing it again. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. This is the view from backstage of our shows @ the Playhouse yesterday--the neon rainbow acid trip called The Phantom Tollbooth:


And some shots of what doing this show with an inconsistent and unpredictable schedule, a set that risks our lives (Actually, it doesn't anymore--thank you, CPIP Scene Shop Geniuses!), 90-minute notes sessions and photo calls for a 60-minute children's show, and discussions so in-depth that we have all wondered if Olga, Masha, and Irina will ever make it to Dictionopolis, have done to its actors:And I know you've been waiting for it...the full experience (with pom pom hat and gold pimp glasses) will be posted later, but here is the Spelling Bee Costume in corral mode. Oh, and words spelled so far: "family," "transportation," "tyrannosaurus rex" (almost missed it, it took me about five tries but I finally got it), "stink," and "curiosity" (both shows on Sat, it's the default word if the kids don't yell out something good and the Playhouse kids were not exactly responsive, plus several of them were older and Aaron didn't trust my ability to spell a middle school level word). Liz Helitzer keeps encouraging me to go on stage in only the bee--no pants, no underwear, and the Spelling Bee could teach those kiddies to spell words like labia majora. Somehow, I don't think it would go over with the grades 1-3 set.

I must add that I do enjoy the show itself, and the people with whom I'm sharing the ride. I joke about wishing I'd taken my Equity card back in December and blowing this popstand, but I don't mean it. Just one more due to pay, you know? I'll keep payin' 'em as long as is necessary, I just hope that there won't be too many more productions where the most rehearsed scene (at least 4 full hours of rehearsal time) is a 2-minute one dominated by actors tottering around in beanbag chair fat suits.

funny from the road today...

...if by "the road," I mean it was actually Gilbert Avenue, a mile from the scene shop. We were on our way back to our cars from our performance at St. Mary's today, so technically it was part of the touring day, and it made me laugh really loudly for about two minutes straight, which doesn't often happen when I'm not on a phone call from Daytona at midnight.

ME: Is he married?
Amy: No...
ME: Oh goodness, I bet he's really lonely, he seems to have the Playhouse and I guess photography and that's about it.
Amy: Yeah, I asked Jamie if he was actually interested in men or women, she said she thought women but she wasn't sure.
ME: Oh, that never occurred to me, actually, but he's not totally unattractive, and he seems nice enough...poor guy...
Amy: I know, I mean he's definitely super dorky but I'm sure there's some equally dorky man-slash-woman who would be really happy with him.
ME: Maybe that's it, that's what he's looking for--literally, a man-slash-woman.
Amy: Yeah, maybe that's the problem--
ME: I mean the supply is really thin, it must be tough--
Amy: --Yeah, it's a real seller's market for those folks.

In other news, I finally finished watching Manhattan. Some absolutely fantastic actors in it, as Allen is wont to get, and some great lines, and of course I LOVE the musical theatre score, though Woody apparently hated the movie and was often ashamed of it. In Central Park on a horse-drawn carriage (a clichéd situation, but it is chosen by the child in question), Woody's character Issac says the following to his 17-year-old girlfriend:

You know what you are? You're God's answer to Job, y'know? You would have ended all argument between them. I mean, He would have pointed to you and said, "Y'know, I do a lot of terrible things, but I can still make one of these." You know? And then Job would have said, "Eh. Yeah, well, you win."

Of course I don't normally support a squirrelly 42-year-old man seeing a 17-year-old girl, and it's always really hard for me to watch the little guy make out with anyone, but that might just win me over. Though I'd prefer him to be taller. And with more hair. Darker and curlier, while we're at it. But most importantly, if the lesson learned in the end is "not everyone gets corrupted... you have to have a little faith in people," and Woody Allen, the Cynic's Savior, believes it, then so do I.