Back in the Sticks

This was me this afternoon on the floor of the Delta Terminal at JFK International Airport. My Balducci's dinner as people stepped over me to crowd into their numerous commuter flights all leaving out of the same gate.

I've never seen so much mayhem. Thank god I had a good book and my Pom Blackberry Tea and a little Caprese...

Though it did get worse. I was on the smallest prop plane in the history of commercial prop planes, and after landing in Albany, I found out that they removed one of my bags from the hold for weight restrictions. As of right now at 11:32 in the evening, they cannot find said bag and I have no underwear, one pair of pants a few t-shirts and some flip flops to wear to my first day on the job (no deoderant, no toothpaste...) Delta airlines was all very nonchalant about the whole thing as if this happens all the time. They told me that bags get removed all the time without the customer being told and it would probably show up on the next flight from JFK in five hours . . . "we'll bring it to you."

Cold comfort when I have nothing to change into and no tennis shoes (and no underwear for god sakes). Ah well, it's the price you pay for air travel. This isn't the first time my bags have been lost to the black hole of checked luggage. Wanna take bets on how long it will take to recover?

So, the picture above is where I was yesterday. With my husband on Coronado Island, enjoying a birthday dinner at Peohe's. This pic was taken with my brand new camera - a gift from John. It was the most perfect day; a great way to end a month together. I see him again in six weeks.

Okay. Bed. More on my crazy old-fashioned house and life in Richfield Springs soon. (This year I have high speed internet in my HOUSE and can WALK to a convenience store!!!)

Half of Me..

I just boxed up part of my life and entrusted it to UPS for a week. It should arrive in Cooperstown on Tuesday and as soon as I open it up I'll be a little more at home in a foreign land. Every time I send a package off into the ether, I worry that it will never reappear. I track it obsessively.

I think because of my small trip to the UPS Store, I was in a terrible mood the rest of the day. I snapped at John and shuffled around grumbling to myself.

Acutally, now that I think about it, I had other reasons to be in a terrible mood. I woke up and stepped off the side of the bed onto a pair of jeans I'd left on the ground, which is not the bad part. It seems that Lucius didn't quite make it to the litterbox last night. Immediately after, I realized as he climbed onto the couch that he's terrible at hygiene generally...

I love my cat, but he seems to have a knack for making me worry or curse to myself. I try to laugh myself out of it by giving him nicknames like "poo tail" but deep down it immediately puts me on edge about his health.

I'm trying to enjoy my last few days with John before I leave, but nerves and stress seems to keep getting in the way.

Living With My Husband...

Days got much better this week. Rehearsals started like a moving train, slow for a few seconds then quickly jumping up to speed. We're into Act II right now and we started on Wednesday. I think this whole show is going to be a hurricane (hopefully not IN a hurricane, however. I already did that).

Our biggest issue is actually the size difference between our theater space in Broward County and our space down here at the Carnival Center for Performing Arts. The set fits beautifully into CCPA (as most sets would...in fact, many would seem swallowed up by its cavernous space), but Broward is going to be a tight, tight fit and will require some very specific choreography backstage to get all of the large groups of people out of giant traffic jams. We had our first chorus rehearsal tonight and the group didn't look as large as I thought, but when we get principals and supers into the mix, we're going to feel quite cramped quickly.

News was very very good today. I got a job that will have me working in San Diego for five straight months, which means I'll actually get to come home and spend time with my husband after each work day. I know that's normal to most people, but I've spent exactly 3 months with my husband since September, and will only have another 2 months before Christmas. 5 months in 16 is pretty sparse.

I'm not complaining. This is the career I chose. I love what I do...will love it even more when I'm directing my own shows, but when the opportunity arises to work in the same place my family lives, I'm going to jump on it. And so I did.

It'll be good to see the cats too, and to walk to the Farmer's Market on Sundays and lay on my own couch and do free laundry and get to use my orange Kitchen Aid mixer and be able to research stuff out of my library of books and do my taxes without having to have package after package sent to me...so many things get missed out of when you live out of a suitcase.

I'm sure the wanderlust will grab at me again once I've been home for a bit. I don't think it will ever go away entirely.

My Hubby on the Radio

That's John accepting an Emmy award for best editor a couple of years ago. He's a brilliant editor, but also produces arts and humanities programming at UCSD-TV, directs numerous programs for them as well, and carries around a big ol' camera. A lot.

David Lemberg, creator of Artscape in San Diego, just interviewed John for his Podcast on Friday. Click on the link and take a listen.

How nice to hear my husband's voice on my computer when I'm so far away from him in Florida.

Guess Where I Am?

In a hotel room, in Chicago, with (this is where it gets good). . .

My husband!!!

Woo-hoo!

A Few Words After a Very Long Week

This is me a couple of days ago, sitting in a quiet house during dinner break. slinging my feet over a chair, I went over the pages of notes I would give as soon as the singers arrived. I've talked about the magic of empty theaters before and it never ceases to blow me back. Such a huge cavern has the capability to be absolutely silent and that is an amazing thing. That half hour before a show goes up is so satisfying.

The show opens tomorrow. It's been a haul to say the least. This show is difficult to tech and call and we had our tech time truncated by a set that took it's time to arrive at completion. It's all in now though and we had a successful student dress rehearsal last night wherein there were several times that I wanted to fall on the floor in hysterical laughter at the antics on stage. Student audiences can be a little deceiving though. What twelve year olds find hysterically funny, an adult might find only moderately witty. The balls-to-the-wall laughter and shrieking that was enjoyed by the singers last night may not be there pump them up for the rest of the run. Though the bedroom scene in act II nearly makes me wet my pants every single time.



This is an advertising video on YouTube that Virginia Opera put up so people would get an idea about the show and its cast of characters. I'm not sure that the clips they chose were truly indicitave of the show itself and how beautiful it is in its specifity, how varied the music is for a baroque opera and how truly funny our cast of singers are, but it's nice to see it out there for people to grasp onto and, hopefully, be interested.

The Virginia Pilot did a story about the opera today and included a "mug shot" off all of the singers in full costume. Smart marketing. We'll see if it works.

Today was supposed to be my day off but I spent nearly seven hours with the director and set designer of the show I'm going to be assisting on here next year. It was great to go in and sit down and really start to hash out how this piece will come together. It's so rare to have an opportunity to be with a piece from its conception so I was particularly interested in being in on these meetings. We met with the choreographer a few days ago so I feel like I'm really starting to get a handle on the look and feel of this show. We start rehearsals in August.

Otherwise, life is moving. I'm working like a madman on this show. As soon as it opens, I'll turn large portions of my attention to "Merry Widow." I talk to John every night but it isn't enough. Most of us doing this show are married so we all have similar problems. It's a struggle but you keep going because you love what you do. John's in the middle of an opera season too, putting together an "Opera Spotlight" tonight about "Boris Gudonov" at San Diego Opera. He always does a brilliant job with these shows. I just wish I could be working on a couple of them while he's shooting.

Publicity

That's John shooting in Budapest. Right now he's resting; he's smashed his thumb something terrible and the bruise is like nothing I've seen before on the palm of one's hand. Just as long as it's calmed down for the show..

Speaking of, calendars of all sorts came out today. I'm listed in Citybeat, North County Times and the Union/Tribune's Night & Day section. My New York friend, Brea Cali, has included me on her blog, and I'm shouting about it on this forum as well.

If you're in San Diego this weekend, come by the Arts & Entertainment Center (3026 University) at 7pm on December 17th (That's Sunday). Tickets are $12 ($10 if you're a student) and I'll be showing off three stage pieces and the two dance videos I've crowed about on this blog. The show should run about 45 minutes and there will be refreshments afterwards. It should be a great evening.

You can call 858-752-7560 to reserve tickets.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a brief note to say Happy Thanksgiving! Despite our travel day, I am very happy to be home and now getting ready for the holidays and my length of time away.

The picture is sunset over the Danube, with Buda castle and the Lanchid looming in the back. What an incredibly beautiful, friendly city. I could go there again and again.

John and I are spending the holiday alone. I am making leg of lamb and made a pumpkin pie last night. It'll be great to celebrate in our home. I hope everyone is having as lovely a day as I am.

More after food and sleeping...

The Eve Before the Trip

We leave tomorrow morning. We fly to Dulles then Frankfurt and finally to Budapest. Everything seems to be ready. I spent the whole day on line trying to put together a list of addresses for cultural facilities that might let me shoot on their property. I've only heard from one of them, who has invited me to a Balkan folk dance party on the 20th. Should be interesting no matter what happens.

We had a bit of a setback this morning. John called me to tell me that our hotel had not been secured. We thought it was taken care of but apparently not. He went on line at work and searched around for something affordable. We settled on the Hotel Pest, which is pictured here. It's a 3-star in an 18th century building with terrific reviews on line. I hope it lives up to its reputation. The best part is its location. It's right next to the Opera House and very close to the Lizst Academy of Music. Nothing like being in the middle of it all to inspire my shooting schedule.

Last night John and I went to see Pink Martini - Finally!! We tried to go when they were at Humphreys this summer but I got called away to work at Glimmerglass in New York and we ended up eating the tickets. Last night they were at 4th and B, which is a far inferior venue, but the band was still amazing. Check out the link if you haven't heard of them. They're from Portland, Oregon, and I discovered them about seven years ago when "Sympathique," their first album, was brand new. They do global lounge music. Bachelor pad favorites in Portugese, Italian, Japanese, French and even English. They have a great version of "Brazil," and "Bolero," and an incredibly creepy version of "Que Sera Sera."

There are twelve of them, with a great torch singer, China Forbes, along with piano, full drums, trombone, trumpet and a cross section of strings. All of them incredibly accomplished. I was especially enamored of one of Paloma Griffin, one of the violinists, who sat in the very front a bit stony-faced but passionate in her movements as she drew her bow across the violin. I enjoyed every minute of their playing and banter and wished there was a dance floor available. John says he doesn't dance, but I think if I can just get him out there...

The crap part was the venue. The people running the gig were loud and rude and seemd to think we were all teens at a rock concert instead of 30, 40 and 50-somethings at a big band performance. They stopped an incredible tango couple (and were admonished by the band for doing so) and spoke at full voice, yelling across the room, at extremely quiet times in the performance. The drinks were massively over priced, they didn't have a good liquor stock ("DiSarrono on the rocks, Oh, you don't have Amaretto...um, Kahlua and Cream, oh, no Kahlua?"), and they served everything in little plastic cups - even martinis. All through a beautiful Japanese song there were terrible noises and scraping sounds from the lobby and none of the people running the venue seemed to care. I was somewhat appalled. Pink Martini deserved better.

I hope they'll be back and in a venue more appropriate for the type of show they present.

And so, it was a night of fun and today was packing and running last minute errands. Tomorrow is getting on a plane over and over again and the next day will be running around Budapest. It's all up in the air - I have no idea what this experience will bring. It's terribly exciting and makes me a bit anxious, but I'm sure things will calm once I get there.

I'll let you know.

Feeling Better Today

This picture is of my neice, Elsa, showing me how well she spins in the living room of my parent's home in Missouri. I've been thinking a lot about my neice and nephew and how far away John and I are from them. The holidays always bring up issues of family and right now I am missing all of these people I love.

I think this bit of homesickness has been part of my problem lately. I've been in a funk, as was demonstrated by my blog entry yesterday. I'm feeling a lot better today. I took a three-mile walk and got a blended mocha at this amazing coffee shop called "Mystic Mocha" in North Park, and dropped off some more postcards and, well, ultimately revved up enough endorphins to keep me out of this funk I've been in for the last week.

I think I'm on the brink right now of a lot of things. The brink of this trip to Hungary, the brink of the holidays, the brink of me leaving for almost five months, always the brink of insanity methinks. It puts me on an edge I don't particularly care for and now I'm trying to figure out how to back up.

There are people moving into the house next door. The moving van has been out front all day and I hear noises like vacuum cleaners and electric drills and tiny shouts and sometimes laughter coming from inside the walls. John and I have discussed buying a house but it's a near impossibility for artists in the land of Southern California. What an exciting time it must be for them, but I imagine, as I would be, they are also stressing about being able to keep their finances in order and their house from falling apart. It's one of those future things that I want and don't want all at the same time.

My three cats have all been really ornery with each other lately. Lucius had a huge, bleeding scratch across his face the other morning and I've been periodically hearing screeches and growls coming from the other two as they swipe at each other an jump on the other from behind. The weather isn't nearly as hot as it was and John and I have been in good spirits with each other (despite my bit of funk) so I'm not exactly sure what's going on with them. I don't recommend three cats. There was nothing John or I could do about it as we love all three of our little quadrupeds dearly and had to force them together when we moved into the same abode, but the work load increases ten-fold when you put three of them together. My cat is particularly difficult. It's too bad he's so sweet and utterly cuddly.

I'm leaving in about half an hour to go rehearse with my six-year-old performer. She has very distinct ideas about this piece the two of us are putting together and the whole process has been a huge lesson in compromise for me. I want her to be in on the creation process but we rarely see eye-to-eye about what the piece is actually about. I thought it was going to be a conversation between me and my younger self, but it's become more of a battle of wills between a type-A of my generation and a type-A of hers. The girl's got a mind like a steel trap and a sharper tounge than I ever had at her age. I admire her spunk, and it's been a huge learning process for me. I'm interested to see what we ultimately come up with.

Life never ceases to amaze me.

And How!

John and I worked all weekend on "Weiblich Ist?" Our little dance film - six minutes long. The image is the logo for our new little production company. I think it will have my voice saying "And How!" like the little girl in the old Shake and Bake commercials. I wish the company actually brought in money to pay for these films, but I guess we can't have everything.

It's great to work on little pieces with my husband. It's unbelievable how quickly he cuts together all of the pieces to make a cohesive whole. We have a montage in the middle of the piece that seemed to fall together by itself, but I know it took his honed skills to make it happen. We make a good team.

Brecht opens on Thursday. Tomorrow is a cue-to-cue, and I worry that we aren't ready. The kids actually had a pretty good run on Friday, but we are still missing some props and some of these changes are still pretty rough, and I know the five in the ensemble are really stressing about their cabaret songs, though they shouldn't. I'm really impressed with how those came together. We have this amazing, mop-headed piano player who talks each of the kids through their music and suddenly they have this instant cohesion with the music.

I didn't really work on anything pertaining to Brecht Project this weekend. I needed a respite. Actually, that's a lie. I went to Nordstrom Rack yesterday to look for the infamous thirties-esque shirts for my two main characters. I think I found something, but it wasn't a picnic. There was a tour group from Arizona shopping there - not to mention that Mission Valley is a heinous place to be on the weekend anyway. Nordstrom's was packed and I stood in line for what seemed like hours, shifting from foot to foot with my arms laden with bad looking shirts in colors I would never dream of wearing, while college kids from Arizona yelled into their cell phones all around me.

Anyway, I laid off the rest of the weekend and John and I spent time at the editing trailer, drinking copious amounts of coffee and laughing a lot. We also ate a late breakfast at Brian's American Eatery (Brian's Big Gay Eatery, as some people call it), watched "Zelig" and "Shadow of a Doubt" last night, and actually read books that didn't pertain to our work. "Zelig" was actually extremely funny. I never realized how well Woody Allen and Mia Farrow fit into the '20's era. Mia Farrow especially; she looked amazing as the demure pschyanalyst. The whole film is pretty genius. Woody Allen slipped himself into real footage from the time period way before "Forrest Gump" came out, and I think he did a much better job of it. There's one moment when he's trying to get Mia's attention from the podium where Hitler is giving a speech that is seamless and hysterical.

I also got started on both stage works for my concert. It was great to see Molly and Kim again, as we struggled through remembering "They'll Devour Me Too." It always amazes me how we can't talk through old choreography, but put the music on and we just start doing the steps. Our muscles have an incredible memory. The hard part will be trying to change some of the choreography and retraining our muscles to understand it. Muscle memory doesn't often like change.