BlogCatalog

Photo from my HAIRSPRAY audition

My Pop found this long-lost photo from my Broadway HAIRSPRAY audition circa 2004. Looks pretty good… check out those legs! It took me about 3 hours to prepare for this audition and it garnished me a call back,   but alas… I did not get cast. The song I sang was THOSE WERE THE DAYS, the song Jean Stapleton sang in character as Edith Bunker for the opening credits of the famous 1970’s TV Show ALL IN THE FAMILY.

PS… Being frustrated about a wig, you can notice the hair rollers I sewed to the kerchief, then added slippers to get that worn housewife look.

At the theater last night someone dropped their ticket in the lobby and apparently an elderly woman picked it up and used it to enter the theater.  She then went to the  box office and tried to exchange it for another seat. When the scam was found out, the elderly woman raced up the stairs and out of the theater in the falling snow… not to be seen again.  Boy I wish I could run up the stairs  like her!

In snow-laden New York City,

-Jeff

The Red Hat Society

Last night at the theatre I sat some women who all had one thing in common… a piece of red clothing. I though they might be the Red Hat Women. Just returning from Florida a cousin of mine, is a Red Hat down there.

So I asked these women and although they were not from the Red Hat Society, they knew of it and express their interest in being part of it.

You can read more about The Red Hat Society at www.redhatsociety.com

That’s it from New York City as we prepare for our first very significant (6-9 inches) snowfall this year, and I’m working matinee & evening shows today.

-Jeff

Dream meaning “out of control”

Last night I had a dream about a plane crash in Times Square and people were saying Brian Epstein died in the crash.

Brian Epstein was the man responsible for The Beatles, he was their manager. I was walking around the crash site in Times Square and rockers were crying and mentioning Brian’s name. Brian of course, died of an overdose in 1967.

I’m not sure how Brian Epstein factors into my dream but I did research dreaming of a plane crash. It means that something which should be reliable in my life has gone out of control. I could probably relate that to a couple of things in  my life… but I think dreams are just an explosion of thoughts beings released by your brain.

I’m working a matinée and evening performance today, so it will be a long day. Maybe finish those Holiday cards?

I saw a screening of the new Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin film last night called “It’s Complicated”. Wonderful. The film was funny, I laughed hard & also had some bittersweet tears. Meryl and Alec play divorced parents who try to see if there is still a spark between them by having an affair. Nancy Meyers wrote & directed the film with great poise. Don’t miss it!

That’s life in NYC.

-Jeff

Happy Chanukah…

I left cold and windy New York City behind to come to sunny, hot Florida to eat potato latkes…

Couldn’t get better…

And what are you doing tomorrow?

I am very excited to be volunteering to work the BCEFA (Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids) Flea Market tomorrow at Shubert Alley.

During the matinee today a person asked me what I was going to do tomorrow… I replied I was working the BCEFA Flea Market. She then replied “You’re giving up a time and a half hour day for that?”

I said yes.

Even though I need the money, I guess people have different priorities.

Tiara to come…

A woman stepped into the theatre the other evening dressed in a green flowing evening gown.

She had a white mink stole with opera gloves, and a tiara sparkling through her radiant red hair.             Everyone noticed, as I watched her my head flooded with images of Audrey Hepburn.

How wonderful that someone dressed the way they felt. It probably never occurred to her that so      many people would be affected by the way she dressed. From the woman in the 3rd row reminiscing  her own prom while elbowing her husband saying “Hurry John, look at her” to the teenage boy with   his mouth wide open, to me… watching her and silently applauding her for her individuality in a time when people don’t have the patience to be themselves anymore.

We later found out she was celebrating her engagement. Cheers to her and her very fortunate  husband to be.

What can you do with a champagne cork…

One of the nice perks of working in a theater is the wonderful and talent people you get to meet.

In this case I speak of one of the Bartenders. She has made an awesome set of figurines

of the cast from champagne corks and other accoutrement from behind the bar! Cheers to the bartenders!

Every Little Step…

I just returned home from seeing the film EVERY LITTLE STEP with a good   Actress friend of mine. The documentary of A CHORUS LINE, past & present. Bring tissues, you’ll cry out of happiness, melancholy, and maybe even some resentfulness. The film is intense  for dancers, singers, actors… anyone in an Arts field to be honest. All our lives are the same… we strive to perfect the talents we were given, only to be the subject of rejection. Of course we know it’s not personal (Yeah, sure), but still we are told no.

For a dancer everything was covered in the docu bio, but for Actors… what happens when you go from a “working actor” to a “sometimes working actor” or least yet to a “don’t the casting directors know I’m alive, actor”. When does the Actor need to re-examine reality versus their goals & dreams, and possibly (for their own sanity) establish new ones. New goals & dream that can fit within the parameters of the given circumstances of the reality of their life.

So what do we do? What do we do after crying, sulking, throwing darts at our agents picture, leaving garbage outside the door of the young actor down the hall that just booked a job… What do we do after the physiological effects of our emotions run dry and we are left standing naked in front of the mirror?

We survive, that’s what we do. We finagle our way through our own existence by finding something, somehow, somewhere, that can still give us our Arts fix. Whether it be directing, writing, painting, and/or the occasional “The casting directors all know me, but OK I’ll send out some postcards” routine. Life goes on… and so do we… the group of ultra talented, awesome individuals who haven’t yet found their “break”.

Easy to say, I know… but look at the options… there are none. That’s what you should be saying. I am and always will be an actor! I am and always will be a singer! and so on. That doesn’t change, the only thing that changes is our mentality. Yes, I know booking a job lies in the hands of the casting directors AND the roles available. (That’s why it’s sooo important to know your “type” and market yourself that way). BUT, and I say BUT in capitals… that’s not your only talent. People like us, in the Arts are wonderfully sensitive, perceptive people. We may have our one talent that we would die over… but look inside yourself, see that rainbow kaleidoscope waiting for a release.

I’m drained. Tonight was dessert after a day of meeting with friends. Treat yourself to dessert… and leave a comment if you wish.

Always onward & upward
-Jeff

What’s on TV tonight?

Waiting for the 1 train at 34th St looking at great billboards for True Blood & Royal Pains.