May 31, 2008

I'm back in NYC and am so happy to be back. I definitely miss all of my B&B castmates, but am glad to be back to my own apartment! I've missed my roomies and all of my friends here. I'm having a great time reconnecting with everybody since I've been away. And I even started Jen Waldman classes again. I'm excited to start auditioning again and to be working on my skills.

Last night, we went out to celebrate Billy birthday (albeit 3 weeks late). We went out to a couple bars and went dancing. It was a lot of fun! I'm not much of a clubber, but I had a good time dancing and hanging out with friends!

And speaking of birthdays, I'd like to wish a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Joven, who is celebrating turning 18 years old, once again. Miss ya Joves!

May 22, 2008

I can't believe that we just have a few more shows left! I'm going to be so sad to leave this cast. I've loved spending time with everyone. I can honestly say that I've made some really great friends on this contract! I'm happy that I have 4 more days with everybody! We have some fun stuff planned to fill our next few days! More to come...

On my day off on Monday, Billy and I went to San Francisco. I'd never been before. It was so beautiful and we had such a great day! We went to Fisherman's Warf, Ghirardelli Square, Union Square, and ate our way through San Fran. It was quite chilly, but I managed to get a sunburn on my face. I had such a great time walking around the city, and riding the trollies! It was a great day off!

It was an exciting week in the land of American Idol! A lot of people in our hotel gathered in Michael's room for an Idol party the past couple nights. I am so excited that David Cook won! I thought that the other David was going to win, since everybody was considering him the inevitable winner. I actually think it helped that Simon dogged on David Cook so much during performance night. I think it rallied his fans to vote! I can't wait for David's first album. I'll be downloading it the day it comes out! :o)

I want to thank all of my friends who helped me reach my AIDS Walk goal! In the very last hours, Roy, Tim, Talor, and Cary came through to help me reach the $1000 mark. Thank you so much for helping me meet my goal this year!

May 14, 2008

We had our opening night last night! We had a great audience, and even got a standing ovation! I think everything went really well! In the afternoon, we had a rehearsal and, as dance captain, I got to sit out and watch everything! I was pleasantly surprised by how good everything looked! During our dinner break, I went to Walgreens and got a knee brace to wear during the evening's show. My knee is still swollen from taking a spill on Monday, so I figured that the extra protection would be a good thing, and the added compression and stability could only help. And it made all the difference! I was worried about my stuff in "Be Our Guest" but it all went really well, and the audience even applauded! All in all, I was very happy with the show! Afterwards, we went across the street to the hotel bar and hung out for a while. It was great, after a long week of tech, to just spend some social time with my great castmates!

Since we didn't have a day off this week, today is our "daylight day of rest" before our show tonight. Then tomorrow is the understudy rehearsal. I've never been an understudy before, so this is a new experience. Wish me luck tomorrow rehearsing the show as Lefou!

I want to say a huge thank you to Sherri, who donated to my AIDS Walk page! I'm now just $100 away from my goal, but I only have 3 more days to go. PLEASE go to my page and give what you can...every little bit helps!

May 13, 2008

It's been a long week of tech rehearsals, but our Opening has finally arrived! Everybody is very excited! We've had 4 straight days of 10-hour tech rehearsals, so everybody is pretty exhausted, but Glenn gave us a little extra time to rest before today's rehearsal, so I'm very grateful for that! We had a little bit of drama yesterday! During our run-thru yesterday afternoon, Nikki (who plays Belle) got hit in the head by drop that was quickly being lowered from overhead. We broke early for dinner and they took Nikki to the hospital to make sure she didn't have a concussion. Luckily, she's okay and was sent home to rest for the evening, which left us without our leading lady for our invited dress rehearsal. So Kari, the extremely talented teenage understudy, had to take over. With little more than an hour to prepare, Kari stepped in and did an amazing job! We were all so proud of her! If that wasn't enough excitement for one day, I took a spill myself. As I was cartwheeling off the stage after my solo section of "Be Our Guest", I ran into the set piece in the wings in mid-cartwheel, and came slamming down on my right knee. It's kinda bruised and pretty swollen, but it should be okay. So it was definitely an eventful night for our cast! But we're ready for our Opening Night and are excited to officially start the run!

I have but a few more days to reach my $1000 goal for AIDS Walk NYC. I want to thank Justin, Nancy & Mark for your donations! I really appreciate it!!! I still need $150! If you can give anything, please please please visit my page and donate what you can.

May 7, 2008

It's been a while since I've written in my journal... Rehearsals have been keeping me busy! We're moving into the theatre tomorrow so we've been running the show a lot and cleaning things. A new member of our cast arrived yesterday! Jill is replacing Lauren, who is now on the WICKED tour (Congratulations Lauren!!!! We miss you!!!!) So we taught Jill all of the first act yesterday, and then did a run-thru of Act I last night. She's doing great learning everything, and we're excited to welcome her to our B&B family. We have such a great cast! I'm having a great time!

Monday was our day off, so Michael asked me if I wanted to take a trip down to Monterey. We drove about an hour and went sight-seeing. The water there is a greenish-blue color and is so beautiful. Michael took some pictures so I'm hoping to post them soon. We went to a little beach and drove up to a small lighthouse. It was a great day-off!

I want to thank David for contributing to my AIDS Walk page. Thank you so much!!! I have less than 2 weeks to raise the rest of the money to reach my $1000 goal. If you can give anything, please visit my page and donate to the cause! I'd be so appreciative! :o)