How Time Flies...

I knew I hadn't written in a while, but then I check at I haven't written since July 25! Woops! Things have been great but crazy since then. As August came (and went) I was frantically searching for a job. I applied to so many jobs and interviewed with some places, but nothing was coming together. The Wednesday before my internship was up on Friday I got called into a meeting and interviewed for the office manager and development database assistant position. Unknown to me (and apparently everyone else knew), Noel was leaving at the end to the month and they were looking for a person to fill to the job. It was a shock to me because I had no expectation of getting to stay at NYTW, but it was exciting to think that I would still have the familiarity of working here as I was moving and getting settled. As you might know or can figure out, I got the job and have been in the position since late August. I couldn't imagine being new to NYTW and trying to learn this job because so much of it is just an understanding of what we do and how to work with everyone here.

Also, out box office manager left so I have gotten to work in the box office some, which is fun too because you get to interact with members, who often I would only talk to on the phone. I have also become the resident photography - which I love - and I get to take photos at various events and programs.

In the mean time, I needed an apartment. New York is a weird place for rentals and stuff comes and goes very quickly. I ended up finding a sublet for a few weeks that I could stay in that gave me a little more time to find an apartment. The place I ended up getting I first saw on Craig's List but it was through a company. The pictures were actually true to what the place look like, which is uncommon and I saw it and knew it was the place. It is a one bedroom (small bedroom) and has a kitchen down the hall and a great living room with two big windows.

Getting furniture was a nightmare - that may have to be a later post, but just say no to Ikea. I am mostly settled in and my parents are coming this weekend, so I hope they will help get all the little things fixed.

So there is no way that I will every go back and write about all the shows I have seen since July, but here is a list:
The Addam's Family
39 Steps
Trust (saw it three times, enough said)
Timing of the Day
Gate B23
Bunked!
Terms of Dismemberment
They're Playing Our Song - Concert version (loved it)
With Glee
Getting Even with Shakespeare
Friends Like These
Wicked
Bachelorette (twisted, but great)
Capsule 33
Through the Night
American Idiot
The Little Foxes (a little bias because I work here, but I LOVE the show)
Without You (which was incredible)

Ara Nova

It always great to see someone is a show, but it is also great to see people live performing their own music. As a benefit for Ars Nova, John Gallagher, Jr. performed with Fran Sancisco opening (Brian Charles Johnson and Chase Peacock). I went with Molly, a girl I meet with her sister at the American Idiot benefit from work. The guys in Fran Sancisco were great and John Gallagher, Jr. was amazing. He is very similar in his performing, his mannerisms, as when he is playing Johnny in American Idiot.

You can hear some of John Gallagher Jr's music on YouTube and Fran Sancisco.

Hello America

This is out of order, but last weekend I went to visit my friend Michael in DC. It was my first venture on Mega Bus and I was very pleased with the trip. Getting in about 7:30, I meet up with Michael, a friend of his Ashley (who is a fellow Gamecock) and a friend of hers (no clue his name but he smelled). First stop was dinner. Michael picked this place called Nando's. It was really cool, you got a table number then went to the counter and ordered. You picked the size of chicken you wanted (1/4, 1/2, whole) then the sauce/spices. Then you pick the sides, great southern sides. Corn on the cobe, garlic bread, mashed potatoes. Yum! Then after dinner we went to Fro Yo, this frozen yogurt place where you could pick the flavor/flavors you wanted (there were 20 or 30) and then add whatever toppings from the topping bar. It was so efficient because you get as much or as little as you want and you can get multiple toppings without paying per toppings. You pay by the ending weight of it.

To cap off the night we took a tour of the Washington, World War II and Lincoln Monuments. It was so beautiful to see them at night and it was cooler and less crowded. Saturday morning we meet up with Ashley again (minus the smelly boy) and drove out to Old Town Alexandria. It was so calm and peaceful. One of the neatest things was at the old torpedo factory they had partitioned it off into individual studios with artists who worked with any medium you could image. There was also this really cool set up where this woman had the steps of how silk worms make silk. We finished there and went to the Mason temple. That place was so creepy and there are some rooms there that you know bad stuff has happened in.

Saturday night we headed off to Wolf Trap to see Idina Menzel. It was with Marvin Hamlisch as conductor and the first section was just the National Orchestra playing songs from various musicals. The second part was Idina Menzel and she, as normal, was amazing. Sunday was a short day, but we headed to the Eastern Market that had the neatest local artists and vendors and grabbed brunch before I had to get to the bus to head back to NYC.

Trust

On Friday I went to see the first preview of Trust, a new play showing at Second Stage. I have a ticket for a while because I'll go see anything that Sutton Foster is in. This is the first time I have seen her in a play, all the others were musicals. The synopsis is pretty vague about the show and that made it all the more intriguing. So it ends up that Foster plays Prudence, a dominatrix who runs into a guy from high school, Harry (Zach Braff). They end of grabbing coffee at the Tic Toc (which is the diner in my building!) and Harry invites her over to meet his wife. Harry sold his business for a ton of money (something like $300 million) and now just manages it through his foundation. His marriage is blah and does not know what to do to make it better. Prudence has a boyfriend who is controlling and abusive. To much disclosure and the four enter into a twisted web of lies and blackmail.

Recently I have become obssessed with set design. The picture shows the set before the show began, but each wall opened to allow other sets to come out: the sofa from an apartment, the bed for a bedroom and the office. The were chic and minimal and really helped to shape the show. I can't wait to see it again!

Long Story Short

One of the great benefits of being an intern is free tickets. The Theater Intern Group sent out an e-mail to get tickets to see Colin Quinn in Long Story Short, history of the world in 75 minutes. If only history had been this interesting in school I might have retained something. The show very comedically took the audience through the entire history of the world. It is hard to explain, but a great show none-the-less. And, as a bonus we got to meet Jimmy Fallon!

From their website:

Covering more than 2000 years in 75 minutes, Long Story Short is Colin Quinn’s hilarious look at the ups and downs of great civilizations gone wrong. In this one-man sendup, Quinn channels comedic personalities of nations past, offering satirical takes on the attitudes, appetites and habits that toppled powerful empires. Charting a comical course from the excess of ancient Rome to WalMart/Costco/BestBuy, Quinn proves that the forces undermining the American empire are as old as time. Directed by Jerry Seinfeld, the moral of Long Story Short is that the greatest Empires of history, like most people, have a basic approach to life and never really change, even if it is clearly leading them to ruin.

Neverland

How did Peter become the boy who could never grow up? Adapted from the book Peter and the Starcatchers, the play by the same name takes audiences through a journey that explains how Peter became the boy who could never grow up. I had read a script from June and then started in on the book, all in anticipation for the workshop reading on July 23. I loved the first script I read and was excited to see it performed. The show has a cast of 12 who play multiple roles and there are parts where they are talking to each other then they will address the audience directly. There is a also a person who reads stage directions. The show essentially has not props, a rope, pineapple and a few sticks.

All week we heard the cast upstairs rehearsing on the third floor. On Monday we got an e-mail that it could be possible that everyone wouldn't get to go to the reading, so it is an uneasy week until Thursday evening when we got confirmation that we could all attend. A couple people in the cast I was familiar with and I knew a few more when I saw them. Peter was played by Adam Chanler-Berat (Next to Normal), Black Stache by Christian Borle (Legally Blonde) and Molly by Celia Keenan-Bolger (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee).

Earlier in the week we got to meet with Alex Timbers, co-director with Roger Rees. I was surprised at how young he was, but it was wonderful to hear about his career path and how he got where he is today.

Seeing the reading was amazing. Since June, the script had been significantly re-written. Peter's character was probably the most evident change. He was much more lost and grew to become the leader through the course of the play verses being the leader from the beginning. Other changes were noticeable because of their uniqueness, like Molly said she skipped the odd years in counting her age instead of the even and they spoke Dodo instead of porpoise. The character that surprised me the most was Borle's portrayal of Black Stache. It was funny and engaging, something that didn't read that way on paper. His part had a lot re-writes as well. I am now excited for the spring when I can see it on stage.

Don't Fly Away

It a little overwhelming how far behind I am in blogging. Chelsey came to visit two weekends ago and then I went to DC last weekend to visit Michael. So far this summer I have been lucky in getting comp tickets, but also winning tickets. I won tickets to see Love, Loss and What I Wore and then I won tickets to go see Come Fly Away. I wanted to see the show but wasn't really interested in paying to go because I really hated Movin' Out and I didn't suspect I would like this show any better. Well, that turned out to be 100% true. I just can't figure out what it is about Twalya Tharps shows. I love the music and the dance is great, but together it is one blah night of theater. The most annoying was this asian american woman who couldn't act and her dancing wasn't much better. I'm hoping she was an understudy, but anyway I literally couldn't watch the show if she was dancing alone or it was just her and a guy, it was awful. Some of the cast was so talented but blah. And then you get to the second act and apparently the bar turns into a brothel/ sex scene and Victoria Secret made a lot of money on the barely there costumes. Just glad I didn't pay for a ticket!