This past week I was able to go to two wonderful shows! The first my friend Megan invited me to, Mary Poppins. I'll be honest at first I wasn't so sure. When I first saw previews of the show when it was going up on Broadway, I thought it looked cute, but nothing that seemed interesting. However, I will take just about any off to go see a show if I'm able to. We met up at Stone Ground for dinner. If you haven't been there, you should, it's amazing! Great pizza, wonderful pasta and AMAZING tiramisu. From there we went to the show at Capitol theater.
The show opened very drab, very dreary. Black and white and dark costumes. It felt very much like London! The house was like an old doll house. It opened up to expose the interior, and it was very lively and full of color. The woman that played Mary Poppins was spectacular. She was a perfect replacement for Julie Andrews. And although in my opinion there is no replacement for Dick Van Dyke, our Bert was so full of charm and energy he really brought the heart of the story together. My favorite scene was Step In Time. The Choreography for the entire show was just outstanding. Step In Time was an amazing tap routine, and the intricate "body spelling" they used for Supercalifragilisticexpealidocouse looked as though it would take forever to learn! All in all, I would suggest anyone go see the show if they ever get a chance.
Then on September 7th, I finally got to see my all time favorite Broadway performer of all time! LEA SOLANGA!!! She originated the part of Kim in Miss Saigon at age 18, then was the first Asian to play Eponine in Les Miserables during the 10 year anniversary concert series. Then played Fantine in the 25th anniversary this past year in London. She may be most widely known to the world as the singing voice of Jasime and Mulan. She was charming, and engaging very funny and just insanely talented. I was crying at almost every turn, she was so touching with every note she sang. She sang her Disney songs, she sang her Broadway songs, she sang some Jazz songs, and some pop songs. She's so fully talented I could only wish to be half the talent she is.
So I know they are short, but I am still getting use to writing a blog.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
I promise to someday get better at this...
Well hello, I'm sure not many read this, but I thought I'd say hello any way. It's been crazy busy here at the Naylor household. But they are still wonderful! Here's a catch up of all that's been happening.
Parade!
My friend Brighton is going to school to become a stage director. She's wonderful, we first met when we performed Fiddler on the Roof together. The first show I was in that she directed was Pride and Prejudice which James and I were both in. Her next show was Jane Eyre the musical, which I was unable to be in since I had a baby right before they performed! Now she is on her third main stage production and she chose to do Parade. For those who are not familiar with it, it was written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. It is the historical telling of a Jewish man in 1913 falsely accused of murdering a 13 year old girl in the pencil factory he managed in Marietta Georgia.
James and I were both planning on auditioning for the show, when Brighton asked if I wouldn't mind assistant directing it with her. I was really torn because I LOVE this show and I really wanted to be in it. But I was greatly flattered when Brighton asked me to help her put the show up. Even though I've had hardly any schooling, and it's all based on a little bit of experience in shows, she still had confidence enough in me to want me to help direct!
We had auditions, and as much as I hate auditions, I love them at the same time. We were a little nervous the first day. We had quit a lot of people show up, but not many with crazy talent that we knew we could cast for sure. The second day, we had a lot less people come in but they were all insanely talented!!
Callbacks were ridiculous, everyone was sitting there with nervous anticipation, all trying to do their best and show everything they had. When the night was over we weren't any better off. We knew we had the people to cast the show, but who to put where?? We had several people that we could easily put in several roles, and then we had several people who were obviously perfect for one roll only! Then we had to FIND someone to play a key role! There were debates, and arguments, and pro's and con's thrown about the room. but after several days, and a second call back for specific people we knew we had our cast....
James is playing Frankie, a friend of the young girl who gets murdered. He's really amazing. I watch him in rehearsals and I'm reminded again of when he was in The Crucible, and he was 17. He has such great stage presence I'm so happy to be able to call him mine. We have an insanely talented young woman playing Lucille Frank. She has been in many shows in Utah, and has tapped into the role perfectly! We get chills just watching her rehears all her scenes. The guy playing Leo is one of those rare finds. He hasn't done any theater since high school, and came to audition on an a whim. He was a God send! His voice is so clear and wonderful, with an amazing tone he will melt your heart when he sings at the trial. Our Mary is best known for playing Mary in Secret Garden at the Shakespearean Festival as well as at Hale. She's adorable, sweet, and perfectly endearing. Our Factory girls are wonderful! One of them is our Mary's real sister, and it's so touching to hear her sing about her. Our Watson is wonderfully creepy, with a singing voice like no other. You can't help but believe everything he sings he's so captivating. Dorsey has such stature and compels you to believe what he believes. Everyone else is just inspiring, and I really get chills as the scenes start pulling together. I know we are going to have one AMAZING show!!
Elijiah is growing like crazy, she's 17 months now. She's talking all the time. Her favorite word as of recently is "ouch" and "shoe". She runs around like crazy it's quit the work out keeping up with her. It's so wonderful to look into her eyes and see so much of myself, and even more of James. She will get upset with me and pretend to ignore me, and it's like I'm staring at James! It's so funny though. She is my world and I wouldn't change any part of her.
I'm working at Diamond Limousine now. I love it, the company is great and reliable, the people I work with are so great! The hours aren't too bad. I had a hard time adjusting being away from Ellie for so long, but I think I've finally come to a place where I'm ok. She stays with my friend Jennifer during the day, she has a little boy names Ryker who is 6 months younger then her. They don't always get along but they love each other, and she loves Jenny a lot! She has great toys to play with and she eats such great food with Jenn. I know she's being well taken care of and that helps me feel better. I'm hoping to become office manager as soon as I'm done getting trained on a few more things. That way my manager might actually be able to take a few days off! Lord knows he needs it.
James' brother Mike comes home from Afghanistan soon, actually I think he IS home, he's just in Texas being debriefed as of now. It's been a year, and it's definitely time for him to be home. His whole family missed him, and James need some brotherly gaming nights.
Well I think that's all I have to write as of now. I'm going to see Lea Solanga tonight, and I went to Mary Poppins last night. SO I will write about those tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to read!
Parade!
My friend Brighton is going to school to become a stage director. She's wonderful, we first met when we performed Fiddler on the Roof together. The first show I was in that she directed was Pride and Prejudice which James and I were both in. Her next show was Jane Eyre the musical, which I was unable to be in since I had a baby right before they performed! Now she is on her third main stage production and she chose to do Parade. For those who are not familiar with it, it was written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. It is the historical telling of a Jewish man in 1913 falsely accused of murdering a 13 year old girl in the pencil factory he managed in Marietta Georgia.
James and I were both planning on auditioning for the show, when Brighton asked if I wouldn't mind assistant directing it with her. I was really torn because I LOVE this show and I really wanted to be in it. But I was greatly flattered when Brighton asked me to help her put the show up. Even though I've had hardly any schooling, and it's all based on a little bit of experience in shows, she still had confidence enough in me to want me to help direct!
We had auditions, and as much as I hate auditions, I love them at the same time. We were a little nervous the first day. We had quit a lot of people show up, but not many with crazy talent that we knew we could cast for sure. The second day, we had a lot less people come in but they were all insanely talented!!
Callbacks were ridiculous, everyone was sitting there with nervous anticipation, all trying to do their best and show everything they had. When the night was over we weren't any better off. We knew we had the people to cast the show, but who to put where?? We had several people that we could easily put in several roles, and then we had several people who were obviously perfect for one roll only! Then we had to FIND someone to play a key role! There were debates, and arguments, and pro's and con's thrown about the room. but after several days, and a second call back for specific people we knew we had our cast....
James is playing Frankie, a friend of the young girl who gets murdered. He's really amazing. I watch him in rehearsals and I'm reminded again of when he was in The Crucible, and he was 17. He has such great stage presence I'm so happy to be able to call him mine. We have an insanely talented young woman playing Lucille Frank. She has been in many shows in Utah, and has tapped into the role perfectly! We get chills just watching her rehears all her scenes. The guy playing Leo is one of those rare finds. He hasn't done any theater since high school, and came to audition on an a whim. He was a God send! His voice is so clear and wonderful, with an amazing tone he will melt your heart when he sings at the trial. Our Mary is best known for playing Mary in Secret Garden at the Shakespearean Festival as well as at Hale. She's adorable, sweet, and perfectly endearing. Our Factory girls are wonderful! One of them is our Mary's real sister, and it's so touching to hear her sing about her. Our Watson is wonderfully creepy, with a singing voice like no other. You can't help but believe everything he sings he's so captivating. Dorsey has such stature and compels you to believe what he believes. Everyone else is just inspiring, and I really get chills as the scenes start pulling together. I know we are going to have one AMAZING show!!
Elijiah is growing like crazy, she's 17 months now. She's talking all the time. Her favorite word as of recently is "ouch" and "shoe". She runs around like crazy it's quit the work out keeping up with her. It's so wonderful to look into her eyes and see so much of myself, and even more of James. She will get upset with me and pretend to ignore me, and it's like I'm staring at James! It's so funny though. She is my world and I wouldn't change any part of her.
I'm working at Diamond Limousine now. I love it, the company is great and reliable, the people I work with are so great! The hours aren't too bad. I had a hard time adjusting being away from Ellie for so long, but I think I've finally come to a place where I'm ok. She stays with my friend Jennifer during the day, she has a little boy names Ryker who is 6 months younger then her. They don't always get along but they love each other, and she loves Jenny a lot! She has great toys to play with and she eats such great food with Jenn. I know she's being well taken care of and that helps me feel better. I'm hoping to become office manager as soon as I'm done getting trained on a few more things. That way my manager might actually be able to take a few days off! Lord knows he needs it.
James' brother Mike comes home from Afghanistan soon, actually I think he IS home, he's just in Texas being debriefed as of now. It's been a year, and it's definitely time for him to be home. His whole family missed him, and James need some brotherly gaming nights.
Well I think that's all I have to write as of now. I'm going to see Lea Solanga tonight, and I went to Mary Poppins last night. SO I will write about those tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to read!
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