Wonderstudies

Understudying and swinging is one of the hardest jobs in all of show-business, and although we've had a renaissance of uplifting these performers in a post COVID world, don't be fooled: we still don't give them anything close to what they deserve.

A role in a specific production is not "mine" — to be stingy with. I prefer to think of my primary duty as being to the character herself— and to serve her as best I can. More often than not that means coming to work and doing what I know I'm on earth to do. 

But if I am not capable of serving? Or for some reason require rest and respite to continue effectively serving? Than the way to truly serve is to allow the other members of The Team do just that. 

It's an honor to be on Team Marian with Christine-- it's been an honor my entire career to work with every teammate serving these women I've had the honor to portray. 

You all know who you are.

Some of you are my very best friends. 

After all: what else are we doing on earth if not uplifting one another? 

Here's to Teamwork.

"There was love, all around..."

©aka liz lauren

“There was love all around, but I never heard it singing…”

One of the things I adore—and have truly learned—in the playing of this classic song (‘Til There Was You’) is the humble admission of something I know all too well (because I personally did it for years):

That, as individuals who desire to love and be loved, sometimes we participate in our own solitude. 

We perpetuate it by keeping the world at a safe distance. We think that a world kept at arms length cannot hurt us. But that isn’t how it works. A heart sealed in an airtight box does change— just not with scars or wounds. It calcifies and hardens.

For Marian— a woman who has an almost rigid rigor for upholding the 'absolute truth' — I think this line in this song is Marian’s greatest moment of vulnerability.

To fully admit (in song)—that despite all her research, her knowledge OF love stories, poetry and BALZAC— she didn’t just miss something, she missed everything. She missed the point of all of it: love “all around” her.

And she missed it not because of town gossip, or grief, or the lack of a suitable partner in the area,— she missed it because her own rigid walls were built up and buttressed so high that she almost tossed love aside even when it was right in front of her.

I relate.

And I celebrate her humility and admission because it is, in every way, my own.

Maybe it’s yours too.

(And I thank —infinitely— the love of my life, my beloved Alec, for patiently standing before me until the walls came down)

May you be brave enough to see the love all around you, whenever you are ready to fully receive it.

Love on.

© Marian at sunset by @brave.lux - What a dream it is.

Janet: No People Like Show People

photo by @kulpy

Mama. 

Roomie. 

Legend. 

Emotional support animal 

and new Chicago bestie. 

Let’s hear it for JANET. ULRICH. BROOKS. 

 

You know? In the Business of Show it certainly isn’t the career volatility, or the total artistic unpredictability that *gets us going.* And it isn’t living far from home, or the job security; and it definitely isn’t the TENS of dollars we make for the privilege of dedicating our life to art. 

 It’s all about the PEOPLE WE SHARE IT WITH.

The honor of sharing this experience with the legendary talent that is Janet Ulrich Brooks has been more than a joy— in fact there aren’t words for all it has been, and you all know I’m very rarely speechless.

To my stage Mama— 'Widda Paroo,' talent beyond, 

and now dear, 

fiercely loyal, 

infinitely reciprocal, 

unimaginably generous, 

ambulance-calling, 

tradition-upholding,

 laugh-out-louding, 

make-your-own-kinda-music-singing, 

new Friend-with-a-capital-F:

     I love you beyond.

Thank you for allowing me to love you out loud.

You’re stuck with me forever.

photo by @kulpy