I've been:

singing for
Hal Prince
Sheldon Harnick
Terrence McNally
Stephen Wadsworth
Arthur Laurents
James Lapine
Rene Flemming (and her cape)

singing with
Lance Horne at Lincoln Centre
Kate Baldwin
Howard McGillin
Ana Gastyer
Sheldon Harnick
Cheyenne Jackson
Alan Cumming
Daphne Rubin-Vega
Michael Urie

Running Fiddler lines with a frantic Harvey Fierstein

Sounding the call (with my gorgeous friends Michael Arden and Toni Trucks)

Receiving colanders from Martha Stewart

Witnessing Jane Fonda licking her fingers and mimicking tears...

Rocking at Joe's Pub

Living in between...
uncertain about what the future holds and attempting to just ride with that uncertainty rather than try to control the uncontrollable

healing

Learning

Traveling like a crazy person and genuinely confused about the city I am in ("Where am I what city what day is it what time why the what the why why zzzzzzz....")

Emoting, dancing and singing with and basking in the glory that is Adam Cooper

Giving Thanks

Proud of my friends
Santino (for bouncing back)
Tasha (for being brave)
Victoria (for going out to the other end of the world and getting what she deserves)
Alley (for bring so brave about the death of her amazing father)

Humbled after winning a lovely award

Wrestling with my swinging feelings about London:
            feeling this one moment: "having the most incredible time back in London. Although my visits were fleeting they was filled with familiar things, faces of true friends and of course a lovely award! (Thank you all for such a wonderful visit, and everyone's lovely and generous congratulatory words. A lot of people made what I did in Carousel possible..., and I am incredibly humbled and grateful. xxx)"
            and this the next: "Dear London, why do you hate me? Love Al"

auditioning for the same role as a girl so young SHE BROUGHT HER MOMMY... who fixed her hair... and feeling really REALLY old...

Seeing her lovely new friend Kate Baldwin in Finian's Rainbow

Meeting LAUREN GRAHAM (her hand was incredibly soft...)

trapped after locking myself in a closet at an audition-- story to follow...

filming an episode of the ultimate badcrimdrama-- LAW & ORDER! (airing 8 January on NBC)
     and loving and laughing my ass off with Anderson and Sisto. FUN-NY (seriously... I had no ass)...

Planning the future (Christmas with mom in LA followed by a Reprise of Julie Jordan than an operatic trip to The Kennedy Centre!)

realizing that every once in a while... every so often now, it still smarts...

Writing:
sitting in my living room surrounded by 14 research books (each sprawled and lying face down), over 200 sticky notes, and the evil evil (appropriately black and Bulgakovian) cat, and a blaring collection of eclectic soundtracks and my trusty laptop awaiting the words... (AH! let the book come together...)

Enjoying a week writing 4 more chapters of my first book and filming 3 scenes in my first television...

Overall,
... Good two months.... Great two months...

Coops...

...as Carnival Boy.

Adam Cooper Comes to Rescue of Carousel
Date: 14 May 2009

The audience at last night's performance of Carousel at the Savoy Theatre got a special treat when renowned dancer Adam Cooper (choreographer of the show) stepped in at the very last minute to perform in place of the injured Tom Dwyer, who plays the Carnival Boy. Dwyer's usual understudy, Leon Webster, was also off injured, and the second understudy James O'Connell was too ill to perform.

Cooper, who is currently choreographing a production of the opera Roberto Devereux at Holland Park, only agreed at the last minute to go on, with producers facing the prospect of having to cancel the show if he couldn't do it. After 30 minutes of frantic rehearsal, he went on to perform the famed 15-minute pas de deux segment with dancer Lindsey Wise, and a bouquet from co-star Leslie Garrett at the curtain call.

But Cooper, famed for his performance in Matthew Bourne's seminal 1994 all-male version of Swan Lake and appearance in 1999 film Billy Elliot – is unlikely to be called on again. Leon Webster has today been given the “all clear” by doctors and will resume in the role this evening.

All I can say is this: sitting in the wings with the entire company, stage management team, crew and theatre staff, we experienced a communion of sorts. There, bonded together in the presence of such astonishing greatness, we simultaneously glinted for a moment, and bathed in a feeling of unity that I have only ever experienced in the theatre. Tonight was what being in the theatre is all about. It was beautiful and a shattering honour.

What a day.

"follow follow follow follow..."

Forgive the absence.

Reasons:

1. I have a broken RIB. I blame Jeremiah James. And The Cooper. And myself. Mostly myself. No, actually, mostly Jeremiah. I completed my amazing workshop with The Cooper, and having the weakest lower back in Christendom, and having overworked it with backbends and flippy-Cooper-majigs last Friday, I decided that removing my corset for one show would aid in temporarily relieving the discomfort. I didn't count on the brute force of Mr. James' giant hands, and whilst lifting me in the prologue, a rib (#9 to be precise) was busted (and twisted! according to the Osteopath). Had I been wearing the corset, it never would've happened. It goes to show ya. So. Yes. Back to the blame: Cooper, James... and mostly me.... Anyway it has left me rather distracted. Perhaps I should ask Adam for a spare...[wink wink].

2. I am writing. And writing. Up until 5:30am kind of writing. And I cannot share it with all of you. At least not yet. This may be the case for quite a while and I apologise! But, it is gonna be worth it, my friends. My followers. And speaking of followers, this brings me to my next point....

So. I have been CHALLENGED. [play 'Rocky' theme]

Now I am not a betting woman, but what they heck?! Someone (who shall remain nameless though I would love to name and shame them because they are the same person who insinuated "Dickens of a" was a fiction) has challenged me to a followers DUEL! And this person deserves to go down in flames. [Cruella DeVil voice] FLAMES I TELL YOU!!

Would you be so kind as to become an official "follower" of my blog (scroll down the page and you will see a bar on the right hand side located below my "Labels") so that I may win this silly little bargain?

And just because I understand that in this life one can't get something for nothing, every new follower gets a SUPER DUPER TOP SECRET VERY SPECIAL GIFT from me. To you. With love. I will just need your email address.

LET'S WIN THIS PEOPLE....

Apologies!

I apologise for my temporary hiatus from bloggage. I have had a jam packed two weeks; and I can't go in to a tremendous amount of detail because it is "classified" and all that...

.... Buuuuuut it may or may not have involved a workshop of a new piece (that was actually very good--- which is exceptional, because workshops are often pretty atrocious) that included me dancing, yes dancing (!!) with... WITH... the great Mr. Cooper. There was singing and acting and dancing and the stage smooching of two lovely men and well, it was just thoroughly marvelous. I worked hard doing double duty, rehearsing during the day and performing in Carousel at night, but it was worth it to feel creative and challenged again. It was exhausting in the best possible way and utterly exhilarating.

The other exciting thing-a-majig is something I am not ready to share with all of you yet... but it has something to do with writing. I promise to share more when the time is right.

But I will say this... this has been one of the best fortnights of my recent life.

My return to bloggage begins again this weekend. Thank you for your patience. We will be on the move shortly. Please stand clear of the closing doors.

Come ride the Carousel

"The World belongs to you as much as to the next fella. 

So don't give it up..."

Having recently completed the final week of rehearsal I can safely say that you will not be disappointed, and that it is gonna be pret-ty gosh darn good.

Dark. Gritty. At times quite graphic.
Romantic. Evocative. Incredibly sensual.
Uplifting. Cathartic. Soaring.

Lindsay*, Adamº and David˚˚ have created something absolutely incredible, and I feel so unutterably honored to be a part of this beautiful production of an already exceptional piece, skillfully wrought by two of the greatest talents in theatrical history, and considered the "Best Musical of the 20th Century" by no less than Time Magazine. 

...See you there.

* Posner,  º Cooper,  ˚˚ Firman