Yo.
Well, hello lj.
I know, its been like, a MONTH since I've posted anything. I'd like to say its because I've been so super busy and just can't find the time to update anymore, but the truth of it is actually very dumb. I may, after 20 years, have broken my nail-biting habit, and subsequently have had to relearn ow to do just about anything with my hands since I'm not used to anything coming out past my fingertips. This makes typing a pain in the ass, which means less posts, no matter how interesting they may be.
However, I'm hoping to start writing more, and my good lj friend mdunnbass has helped me with a little five-question interview meme. Comment and I'll ask you five questions :-)
1) You and Liza on stage together for a one night only show. What's the setlist?
This has actually crossed my mind. I would hope it would go something like her and her mother's performance at the London Palladium, where she sings five songs, then I come on and sing five songs, and then we sing some duets together. Unfortunately, her vocal deterioration limits the set list, but you can bet we'd sing the same arrangement of "Together Wherever We Go" that she sang with her mother on the Judy Garland Show. And a sassy "Cabaret" Medley.
2) Thinking way back as far as you can, can you tell me of a single defining moment that made you want to be on stage?
I don't know if I ever had a "this is it!" moment. It all happened very gradually. I was in middle school, which is that time in your life where you're trying ot figure out what it is you "do". Are you a jock, a nerd, a music geek, an artist, an academic overachiever? I was convinced, after much of my adolescent protesting, to try out for the school play by my parents (Oliver!, 6th grade) and I got a small part. And throughout the rehearsal process and the actual performances, I just kind of realized that this is where I felt most comfortable, and these were the kind of people I like being around. There's a wonderful lyric in Jonathan Larson's tick, tick...BOOM! that goes: I thought hey, what a way to spend the day! I make a vow right here and now, I'm gonna spend my time this way. It was like that. Not to mention I happened to be good at it. At the time I still wanted to be a doctor, but as I did more shows, and started taking voice lessons and acting classes, it just became what I "did."
3) Favorite composer/songwriter? And why? Sondheim, Gershwin, Berlin, R&H, Lloyd Weber, Schonberg, etc?
I've always got a soft spot for John Kander and Fred Ebb. Fred Ebb's lyrics are so lovely and pure and conversational, and convey so much emotion with so little effort. Songs like Maybe This Time or Isn't This Better? or Show People just make my heart happy, and Kander's music is always so appropriate. After seeing South Pacific, I've gained a long avoided admiration for Rogers and Hammerstein. And of course, singing anything by Sondheim is a thrill because its technically challenging and because he just knows how to write songs for actors (as opposed to someone like ALW, who cares not a bit about the acting, only the melody)
4) If you lost your singing voice permanently through some horrible freak accident and could still speak normally but never sing again, what would you do with your life? (But let's hope that never happens, hmm?)
Honestly? Its truly a horrifying thought. I would continue acting, since I love that too. But singing is my release, my passion. I honestly don't know if I would be able to handle it.
5) Is there a fun story connected to you and your roommates chasing a gecko around your place in Fl, or is that pretty much the whole of the tale?
HA! We New Yorkers are not used to the whole "nature and wildlife" thing down here in Florida, like the weird storks instead of pigeons, and iguanas instead of squirrels. For realz... IGUANAS. But yeah, a gecko got into our bedroom and myself and two roommates had to trap it in an Official Gecko-Trapping Device (read: a shoe-box) and release it into the wild. :-)
I know, its been like, a MONTH since I've posted anything. I'd like to say its because I've been so super busy and just can't find the time to update anymore, but the truth of it is actually very dumb. I may, after 20 years, have broken my nail-biting habit, and subsequently have had to relearn ow to do just about anything with my hands since I'm not used to anything coming out past my fingertips. This makes typing a pain in the ass, which means less posts, no matter how interesting they may be.
However, I'm hoping to start writing more, and my good lj friend mdunnbass has helped me with a little five-question interview meme. Comment and I'll ask you five questions :-)
1) You and Liza on stage together for a one night only show. What's the setlist?
This has actually crossed my mind. I would hope it would go something like her and her mother's performance at the London Palladium, where she sings five songs, then I come on and sing five songs, and then we sing some duets together. Unfortunately, her vocal deterioration limits the set list, but you can bet we'd sing the same arrangement of "Together Wherever We Go" that she sang with her mother on the Judy Garland Show. And a sassy "Cabaret" Medley.
2) Thinking way back as far as you can, can you tell me of a single defining moment that made you want to be on stage?
I don't know if I ever had a "this is it!" moment. It all happened very gradually. I was in middle school, which is that time in your life where you're trying ot figure out what it is you "do". Are you a jock, a nerd, a music geek, an artist, an academic overachiever? I was convinced, after much of my adolescent protesting, to try out for the school play by my parents (Oliver!, 6th grade) and I got a small part. And throughout the rehearsal process and the actual performances, I just kind of realized that this is where I felt most comfortable, and these were the kind of people I like being around. There's a wonderful lyric in Jonathan Larson's tick, tick...BOOM! that goes: I thought hey, what a way to spend the day! I make a vow right here and now, I'm gonna spend my time this way. It was like that. Not to mention I happened to be good at it. At the time I still wanted to be a doctor, but as I did more shows, and started taking voice lessons and acting classes, it just became what I "did."
3) Favorite composer/songwriter? And why? Sondheim, Gershwin, Berlin, R&H, Lloyd Weber, Schonberg, etc?
I've always got a soft spot for John Kander and Fred Ebb. Fred Ebb's lyrics are so lovely and pure and conversational, and convey so much emotion with so little effort. Songs like Maybe This Time or Isn't This Better? or Show People just make my heart happy, and Kander's music is always so appropriate. After seeing South Pacific, I've gained a long avoided admiration for Rogers and Hammerstein. And of course, singing anything by Sondheim is a thrill because its technically challenging and because he just knows how to write songs for actors (as opposed to someone like ALW, who cares not a bit about the acting, only the melody)
4) If you lost your singing voice permanently through some horrible freak accident and could still speak normally but never sing again, what would you do with your life? (But let's hope that never happens, hmm?)
Honestly? Its truly a horrifying thought. I would continue acting, since I love that too. But singing is my release, my passion. I honestly don't know if I would be able to handle it.
5) Is there a fun story connected to you and your roommates chasing a gecko around your place in Fl, or is that pretty much the whole of the tale?
HA! We New Yorkers are not used to the whole "nature and wildlife" thing down here in Florida, like the weird storks instead of pigeons, and iguanas instead of squirrels. For realz... IGUANAS. But yeah, a gecko got into our bedroom and myself and two roommates had to trap it in an Official Gecko-Trapping Device (read: a shoe-box) and release it into the wild. :-)