Best First Date. Ever.

Lovelies, I had the BEST first date EVER last night! Charming guy with a brilliant personality and excellent conversational skills - I was in Heaven!

First off he suggested that we meet at Forge in Tribeca. What a cool, trendy and warm atmosphere! I loved it instantly! And lovelies, he stood up and I almost jumped up & down and started clapping! He was 6' 6''!!! Tall! Hooray! In the NYC landscape of men, I have very rarely come across dates that are taller than 6 foot. The tall Scandinavian men of Minnesota are not dominant in the NYC dating field. (But the short, balding ones are... that's a whole other blog post, though!)

Then he opened his mouth - and the syrupy sweet deep British accent that came out gave me a little icky in my yuckies. Not gonna lie.

And the conversation was just de-lightful! I felt totally at ease from the second I sat down. It was so weird - I could've sworn that we've spoken before because there were no awkward pauses in the conversation! It just flowed so naturally - I loved this, as I'm a talker and I can't stand when I have to play social director on dates.

So he suggested grabbing something to eat, as I had just come from work and was totally famished!

So we went off to a super fun restaurant called Ninja. You walk into this little reception room and go down an elevator - when you get to the bottom floor the elevator doors open, you step out into a cave/bamboo looking room with calming Japanese music and then an Ninja jumps out at you! Seriously! It scared the shit out of me, but I loved it!

The restaurant could be tacky, but it's too fun and doesn't take itself too seriously! I loved the tabled - each table was in it's own little Japanese hut with those cool sliding paper doors on the front. And the servers yelled out "Hai!" every time they served the food or came in to refill the waters... I was in stitches the whole time!

And the Tall Englishman was just charming as ever - very funny & witty! And we have a lot in common!

He asked me out for Date #2 halfway through our date - I'm going to coffee and a Superbowl party with him on Sunday. Should be fun - I'm not a football girl, but I do want to see the commercials. And I usually don't say yes to group second dates, but he did ask to go to coffee before - so I'll go with it.

At the end of the evening he started to walk me to the subway, but it was cold and the subway was a walk away... And after a few "helpful" suggestions from me he suggested that I get a cab ride home! Yea! (and lovelies, we all know how I feel about cab rides home - especially on the 1st date!)

All in all was a smashing success! And I'm looking forward to tonight's date - hopefully will be a repeat of the first!

2 More Shows!

Lovelies, Hooray! I booked 2 more shows! Hooray!

Both shows are Sisters of Swing - however one will be in late April/ Early May and it will be at the Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach, Florida and the second will be in early June in Pennsylvania at the Totem Pole Playhouse!

Now, the Riverside theatre was sort of an extension from the show that I was doing in Minnesota. The whole show was asked to come down to Florida, so I get to do the same production with all my favorite people AT THE BEACH!!!!

Awesome.

The second show I booked on my own! Hoo-freakin'-ray!!! My first "I booked it and I haven't worked with these people before and they liked me enough to hire me"! This will hopefully be the first of many!

So it's gonna be a Sisters of Swing spring, but honestly, I get my health insurance with AEA and I'm getting paid the most I've ever made for doing theatre, so I'm pretty pumped! And I love doing the show - it really is a sweet, fun show & I love when I can move people through my storytelling!

Raindrops on Roses & Whiskers on Kittens....

Lovelies, here's a few of my new favorite things:

1. Minnesota Mittens.

First off, they are the warmest mittens EVER. Secondly, you can feel excellent about buying them because they're made with love at the old Winona Knitting Mills by disabled people. And I've never seen a pair cost more than $12 bucks. I love 'em! (Oprah should do a segment on this, no? Mittens for a good cause!)

2. Flip Cameras

I got my little Flip Camera as an early Christmas gifty to myself and lovelies, let me tell you, I love, Love, LOVE it! And when all the video-ing fun is done I just pop the USB into my computer and the whole wide facebooking world can see all the shenanigans I've been up to! ...Although I did buy it for "work purposes" and will be writing it off on my taxes this coming year. Hmm... Just because I use it for fun doesn't mean that I can't write it off when I use it in my audition and dance classes, right??

3. Papyrus Note cards.

So cute! So colorful! So beckoning to be wrote upon! I love these cards, my lovelies. Truly, I do. I send out all my thank you notes on these babies and all my follow up notes from auditions as well! I just think it's nicer to send an old fashioned card rather than one of those tacky postcards. I'm a classy broad. It's what I do.

4. Clinique Repair ware Intensive Eye Cream.

Lovelies, I'm 28, not gonna lie. However, my eyes look much younger thanks to the wonders of the Repair ware Eye Cream. It's expensive, but worth it. Your skin around your eyes is so delicate - we gotta take care of it so we have wonderful laugh lines when we're older, not horrid wrinkles! (shudder...)

5. Re-usable bags!

Obsessed lovelies, I'm OBSESSED! There's a great new re-usable bag from Bath & Body works on sale for $2.50! (Don't go buy those fancy $12 ones, they don't fold up as compact.) AND you can get discounts using them (like between 2 and 5 cents off) when you use them at CVS or Target. Love that! Green AND saving money!

So I simply remember these Favorite things and the best one of all: ICE CREAM!

More Auditions AND an Agent appointment!

Lovelies! I've done 4 auditions in the past 2 weeks and have ROCKED at every single one! (Just sayin'...)

The first was last Monday - they were auditioning for She Loves Me at the Westport County Playhouse in Connecticut. I got to the Actors Equity building where the audition was being held fairly early - like 7:40 am. And I saw all my great friends who were all so excited to hear how my show went!

(side note: I've been ferociously jealous when other people come back and I hear everyone asking them "Oh, Hello So&So! How was your show?" or "We missed you here, So&So! Glad you're back!" and then the So&So person is like "It changed my life! I love theatre!")

And last Monday, lovelies, I got to be THAT GIRL who everyone was like "Oh, Hey, Miss Musical! We love you & missed you so much! By the way, How was your Show!?" and I got to be all "Oh, it was fantastic! Let me tell you all about how great it was over coffee next Tuesday!"

Joy, lovelies! And I'm so bloody proud of my work! And my talents! I really feel like I'm in a place where I'm grateful for what I've got, but can also recognize that I have talent and be able to acknowledge that without being too egotistical! I just feel really rockin' about myself and my work!

So yes, Monday's audition for She Loves Me rocked the casba.

Wednesday I auditioned for Mary Poppins chorus call - I've been seen for it before, but it was worth it to go in! I felt really good about the story I presented in the room and the casting director just seemed tired. However, I'm so happy that I now know there was nothing that I did wrong to make him tired. I did my bit by preparing and doing the best audition possible! Hooray for that!

I also took a class at the Actors connection with a lovely agent who runs her own boutique agency. I'd never met her before, but I felt an instant chemistry between the two of us. I just really liked her. She was fun & I wanted to know more about her! I also felt like I could be real with her - and I'm not afraid to call her, so that's always a good feeling. She said that she would call me by the end of the next week and if she doesn't that I'm supposed to call her. Love that, lovelies! (Wouldn't it be swell if I accomplished one of my 2010 goals in the first month!?)

New Necklace from Tiffany!

Lovelies, my boss gave me a de-lightful gift for Christmas! A bracelet to Tiffany that had an engraved charm. You know! It was one of those that they use in the Legally Blonde advertising on Broadway. Like so:

Trouble is: I don't wear bracelets. Ever.

I loved it and it was so pretty, but I knew I wouldn't wear it. (they feel like shackles to me - I must've been a slave in a previous life because I hate having things around my wrists and ankles.)

SO.... I tried to exchange the bracelet to the Cake Eater, MN Tiffany store. (Yes, yes - it is sad that we have a Tiffany store in Cake Eater, MN. It's the only Tiffany store in the whole state, mind you.) Well, the douche bag manager at the store said "Oh, I'm sorry - this charm is sodded on and (blah blah blah) we can't exchange or return it."

What a stooge. C'mon - I told him it was a gift, I loved it, but I just wouldn't wear it. Uugh.

So being the devious little elf that I am, I had my dad cut off the engraved charm (which is now on my key chain) and I took the plain bracelet to the Tiffany store in NYC to see if they would take the plain bracelet back.... Guess what, lovelies??!! It worked ! Hooray!

The lovely sales associate Angela (who is also a Midwesterner - from Ohio) helped me out. She took it back & exchanged NO QUESTIONS ASKED!!! Awesome! (Ha! Take THAT douchey-manager in the Cake Eater Tiffany store!)

And lovelies, I got a beautiful necklace that's a delicate little silver chain with a pendant engraved with the letter of my first name! It's so beautiful! I just love it and I wear it every day!

So thank you Lady of the House for the charming (by way of exchange) necklace!

2 Great Shows!

Lovelies, I'm now back in NYC and ready for another audition season!

I took a voice lesson this morning, worked on getting all my songs in order and printed off a TON of monologues from my acting coach! So exciting to have gratitude and hope to draw from!

It's time lovelies, I feel it! Mama Musical is going to book her first job by herself in NYC in 2010!

But let me give you an update on the new shows I've seen!

First show: In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)

Now lovelies, this sounded like a risque title to me, and you can't imagine how surprised & delighted I was to find out that the play was a comedy/romance! The play took place in the 1880's when electricity was first installed in peoples homes and the story was about a Doctor and his young wife and the doctors clients. Mainly women. The Doctor was "treating" his female clients with a new electric machine that would "release the tension in their womb".

Was truly funny as they were all very naive (including the Doctor - he really thought he was treating these people!) and the show was also about friendship, motherhood and marriage.

I also loved the costumes and scenery! As it was all set in the 1880's all the women had these BEAUTIFUL gowns and underthings - we got to see them as they went into the doctors office & disrobe for their "sessions" with the Doctor and the electric machine. They only went down to their corsets and bloomers, but there was such detail & care given to the little bits of lace on the bloomers. Love that! AND those dresses were made of LOVELY silk!

Perhaps this show would transfer well to the Guthrie or other regional stages! (and when it does, you can bet that I'll be trying out for the Doctors young wife! I want to play that part SO bad! And I think it's a good fit for my personality type!)

The second show I saw was "A Little Night Music". Oh. My. Freakin'. Stars.

Lovelies, I had multiple musical theatre-gasms that night in the theatre! (thank you Mr . Sondheim!) All those songs are just beautiful! And the sets were creative and minimalistic and the costumes were simplistically stunning! I loved all of it! And there's just so much sexual tension and energy underlying the whole show - that's what drives the story! Very exciting stuff!

And the ensemble they put together - what a wonderful group of talented people! (headed by the lovely Catherine Zeta Jones and the unmatchable Angela Landsbury!) No to mention all the other leads who were just WONDERFUL!

It really doesn't hurt that my super talented friend Kevin David Thomas is in the show as one of the quintet. He rocks my socks and does a FABULOUS job with the part!

I also met Hunter (the guy playing Henrick) and Ramona (the gal playing Anne) when I went to see the show Memphis a few months ago. We were all sitting in the student rush seats, they were tapping their toes, and the next thing you know - we're BFF. Well, actually I just butt my nose into their conversation and introduced myself, but that lead to the facebooking, which lead to the show, which lead to the hanging out backstage with THREE cast members after!

Oh, and lets talk about the merits of the show itself: the orchestra was OUT OF CONTROL! So talented - I'm so happy we don't have "canned music" on Broadway. Or in the Twin Cities for that matter. Just makes such a HUGE difference to hear live music!

The direction was minimal and beautiful (God Bless Trevor Nunn). BTW, did you all know that Trevor Nunn is British and not Asian?? I have been thinking all these years that he was Asian who was maybe adopted by British parents. Guess what, lovelies?? He's not. Totally 100% wonder bread white. Good thing I didn't audition for him ever - I might have royally fucked that up by saying something gawd awful like "Ni-how, Trevor!" or "Sayanara Mr. Nunn!".

All in all 2 good shows, and I've heard sadly that In the Next Room is closing very soon... Come visit NYC and see it while you can!

FINALLY!!! A new Blog post from Miss Musical!

Oh, lovelies! Has it really been a whole month since I've last blogged!?!?! I've missed you!

Let's call this whole thing a Christmas card from Miss Musical to you lovelies out there who read my little bloggy blog. An update of sorts over the past month!


Well, well - the show closed on Sunday, and it was a bittersweet closing show. Tons of my family members were there, and several friends came as well! For all those of you who turned out for "Sisters of Swing" over the past four weeks, I cannot even begin to tell you how much your support (and applause) has meant to me.

I was truly humbled to get to work with the greatest "Sisters" a girl could ask for: P.N. and Stace-a-frass. Both are so uber talented, kind, generous and warm... The list could go on & on... And I'm also lucky to have worked with a great 6 piece swing band, a wonderful crew and a great professional creative team!

When I first came back from NYC for the rehearsals I was a very angry gal with a lot of confusion, especially in the theatre world. I didn't know if that's where I fit anymore, and if this would be my "swan song" last show ever. Well, after a fabulous opening night, excellent reviews, and a great run my faith has been restored in myself as well as the universe's plan for me!

Even though I may have not been in a show for four long years, it does not mean that I'm untalented and useless. On the contrary, I've come to the conclusion that I am right for a great many things, but I've been so busy focusing on the jobs I didn't get that I forgot to look to the future. There's loads of "what-if's" that await me! (Aka. What if I get a Broadway show the week I move back? or What if I land a national commercial? or What if I have two agents fight to have the privilege of representing me?)



I feel hopeful again. And hope is something I haven't felt in quite some time, especially in the theatre realm.

So here's to life experiences that are therapeutic and thought provoking! May you all have a truly wonderful holiday season!