ON Friday Night & Using Your Voice

This past Friday, I had been looking forward to a good night in. My life has been slightly crazy lately and the week had been heavy for everyone. A good night of bad TV and writing emails. De-licious, I thought. But here's the thing about the Universe: it throws me the most incredible curveballs. And instead, I wound up in a small room with Michael Arden, Jennifer Cody, Carrie Manolakos, Andy Mientus, Nikki M. James, Jeremy Jordan, Laura Michelle Kelly, Josh Young, and Sutton Foster.

How did that happen? Let's back it up. My Friday night started with my most favorite boy person and a quick catch up at a bar. This already would have been a great night, but then, a friend posted that he had an extra ticket to a concert that night. A concert that included a handful of the most incredible talent on Broadway (and TV, too! holler musical theatre stars on TV! you know I love me some Bunheads!) singing songs from one of my most favorite writing teams. In a penthouse. Over looking the Manhattan skyline. Um, yes, I would like the extra ticket, thanks.

I (literally) ran home, stopped at the bank, threw on a dress and heels in my kitchen, and (literally) ran out and to the concert. And after that week, with its sadness and fear and disaster, I sat in a room and listened to these voices sing from the places in their being that so few allow to be seen, and I felt magnificently alive and grateful.

Sometimes I forget what our voices can do. We can ban together to collectively support, we can yell, we can speak up for what we believe in. And we can sing, uplifting ourselves and those around us with nothing more than breath support and vocal cords vibrating together. And if we are incredibly lucky, we get the chance to do this on stage, to sing for others. I was so moved that I went back to boy I'd started my night with and told him all about it, my head not even fully wrapped around what I had just experienced but my mouth needing to talk about it.

Recently, someone told me the story of a woman rescued in Haiti, after spending several days buried under the wreckage. When she was pulled out, she started to sing. Arms up, full voice, singing. SING.ING. What an image. Let us be so lucky to sing for those who are still buried underneath the weight of their world, and let us rise up out of our own turmoil, reach our hands up, and sing.

Boston, we Love you. Texas, we Love you. The midwest and the south and the west coast and the everywhere and everyone else's, we Love you.

"This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." - Leornard Bernstein

On A (Numerical) Day In The Life

A Day In The Life (By Numbers):

Today..

was a solid TEN,

I took the train NINE times,

shared group meditation with EIGHT beautiful souls,

spent SEVEN dollars on lunch,

did the voice of a SEVEN year old raccoon (swear)

worked for SIX hours,

called my mom FIVE times,

ran into FIVE fabulous friends,

was in FOUR different neighborhoods,

and had FOUR outfit changes,

had THREE celebrity sightings (hello, Chuck Bass),

and more importantly, THREE kick-ass auditions,

where I sang for TWO of them,

and curled my hair TWO times,

walked ONE adorable Noah Dog,

and am ONE really happy, completely exhausted girl.

:)

On Bring It On

This is my family

they're kind of silly

 and cause me to make this face often

we went to see Bring It On the musical

 my mom was super excited

 the crowd waiting at the stage door was rather, well, crowded

 see?

 the cast that did a pretty super excellent spirit-stick award job

if you're in or around NYC, go check out Bring It On

i was very lucky to see it about a year ago in LA

and it's pretty neat to get to see how much the show has grown since.

i'm still confused how i'm not in it BUT i know if i'm supposed to, i will be.

(cause that's how stuff goes, you know?)

AND this was a super magick night because i ran into the director/choreographer.

who is king of all things brilliant (hi Andy, hire me)

and i also ran into one of the songwriters, who happens to be one of my idols,

who happened to know who i was before i introduced myself.

which left my mouth hanging open in shock. very lady like, if i do say so myself.

so maybe i am not in his show (yet) but he knows who i am..

and i got to audition for it and got to go to callbacks for it..

and that, my friends, is a big success in my books.

maybe i am not there yet, but i am surely on my way.

(that's how stuff goes, you know?)

truthFULL: musical theatre

i picked up the phone on the third ring and we chatted briefly, it had been awhile:

"what's new, honey?"

"well, actually, things are starting to pick up."

"oh! tell me, tell me."

"i think i might get to watch this dog in this gorgeous apartment every day."

... and then i realized she probably thought i was going to say something about acting.

it's strange that despite my incredible love for voice over, with almost daily auditions and one of the best agencies in the business, i still don't consider myself to be pursuing acting. honestly, i'm not sure i ever will if theatre isn't involved; the word 'acting' was synonymous to 'theatre' for so very long. musical theatre, to be correct. sometimes i laugh at the thought of a future me with a recurring role on a tv show, sitting on set, talking on the phone and explaining that 'i'm not really acting anymore'.

for now, i've learned to say that i'm not currently pursuing musical theatre at this moment, that i've found things i love more right now. 'at this moment' and 'right now' being key phrases because i truly don't know if i'll ever return to it. all i know is right this second.

i will, however, tell you that when i hear news of another friend achieving the broadway dream, getting cast in a show, or when i see friends' facebook photos of life on tour or in glamorous places, or even just hearing the opening credits of an episode of 'smash' with the orchestra warming up, it's like hearing someone say the name of your ex. that sort of pulling feeling, the tugging on your heart. not because you're not over him but because you loved him and he was such a large part of your life for so long. that feeling. but then again, for me, musical theatre might be that ex who you run into a few times, who still hangs with some of your friends. the one you eventually get back together with, not because he is the love of your life but because he is comfortable, because you know him so well. the relationship where maybe you're not totally who you truly are but it's nice to have someone to go to weddings with. something easy. and it that's the case - well, i don't want it.

we shall see.