I'm makin' pies...

It's been a lovely few days here in NYC....
I'll start with the latest excitement and work backwards.
I just took Adrienne on a musical adventure. I recently joined "TDF" a group that supports theatre and gives special discounts to non-profits and artists. I got $25 seats to a new musical off-broadway built around the songs of Patty Griffin, one of the best singer-songwriters in the world (in my opinion!) It was at the Atlantic Theatre Company in Chelsea which is a small theatre, about 160 seats, that was started by William H. Macy and the playwright David Mamet. Well, tonight, Adrienne and I were in two of those 160 seats and William H. Macy was in one of them! He was sitting a few rows back, on the aisle, no Felicity in tow, and we even walked right past him. I held my tongue, wishing I could ask him why "Wild Hogs?"
The musical was beautiful. I love the songs, of course, and the acting was amazing. My favorite was Mare Winningham, known best to me as Meredith's recently-deceased step-mom on Grey's Anatomy. She can sing! And she played several different characters with different flavors that all broke my heart. Two favorite moments were "Kite" and "Makin' Pies." a-mazing! Did I mention that we were in the second row and that she was six feet away? A-mazing! I was also very excited to see Matthew Morrison, the original Fabrizio from "The Light in the Piazza" (my favorite musical of the past 3 years!) as Duane. His voice and his looks are very, very nice. Irene Molloy was refreshing and real as Molly and she captured Patty Griffin's style with ease. The 4th and final player was Skip Sudduth, best known for his starring role on 3rd Watch. He was a great character actor but his overly-measured singing seemed a bit stiff. Still, what an evening! I hope the show does well! The last musical that Atlantic produced was "Spring Awakening" which has since moved to Broadway and just picked up 11 Tony Award Nominations today!
Other highlights of today, Tuesday: Being turned away at two auditions, renting studio space and trying to teach myself how to belt before my coaching. I had a great coaching with Michael F. who assigned me 6 new songs that I'm totally stoked to learn. It was like being a kid in a candy store, really.

Monday was a long day of auditioning. I got in right away for "White Christmas" which my new friend Zach played for (more on him to come) and had the joy of sitting and waiting with Hannelies for our chance to sing for "Spelling Bee." I was 8th in line and ended up getting to sing late in the afternoon. Hannelies didn't make it in. :( I was really bummed, because she is better for the show than I am and she had taken the day off of work. I decided that I would try to make "Unexpected Song" comedic for my audition. The thing is, as I was singing it, I realized, it's just not funny. It's Andrew Lloyd Webber, and well, he's not very funny. Oh well. I was really glad for the time spent with Hanne. And I can finally say I auditioned for a genuine Broadway show! Monday night I made dinner and then went to a citilights (Redeemer's post-college parallel) coffeehouse night that was in my neighborhood. I met some nice people including a guy that works at People magazine on the "nightclub beat." He was saying he had to work later because, well, "Lindsay's in town." Lindsay, being Lindsay Lohan. Crazy, right?

Sunday was a glorious day. I booked it to church and made it in record time. I've shaved the walk from 38 minutes to 32. Wihoo. After church, Jenny and her friend Tom and I hung out in the Sheeps' Meadow in Central Park for awhile before Tom had to leave to see his Mama. Jenny and I dined at Whole Foods and I was meandering through the Park, heading home, when Karim called me and convinced me to frolic with him downtown. I met him at Union Square and helped him shop at Paul Smith and Diesel, and later Prada in Soho, which is really more of a museum than a store. Very fancy. We enjoyed a lively ragtime band complete with swing dancers in Washington Square Park (officially one of my new favorite spots.) It's the NYU center of action (where Felicity graduated) and it has a lot of life and beauty to it. The ragtime was especially fun and as Karim suggested, just one of those 1000 reasons why I love living in NYC. After Soho Karim and I walked to the Village and had some yummy Italian food at an outdoor cafe. We parted ways at Columbus Circle (because none of my friends live on the East Side!!!) and I enjoyed, again, walking in the park, even tearing up a bit as I walked past my favorite angel statue accompanied by a duo on violin and guitar. Ah, bliss.

Saturday was an early morning after a very, very late Friday end. I was happy to get up and at 'em for a seminar at Redeemer about Beauty and Image and the Christian Woman in NYC. It was a great morning of reflecting on image and identity and I learned a bunch. I may post some of my notes soon! Jenny, Hannelies and Elizabeth were there and we enjoyed debriefing over a picnic lunch in Bryant Park. I went home for a much-needed nap before heading out again to a Redeemer Dance Network Salsa lesson and party. I knew only one person, Russ, and met some really socially awkward men. It was kind of rough, to be completely honest, and I slipped out a bit early, missing my dancing partner-in-crime, Katie!

Friday night I met up with Zach, Soon's great friend from Cincinnati, who is a musical theatre pianist in the city. He invited me to meet him and some friends at a bar called Port 41 near the Port Authority. I ended up meeting them at 10:45 and staying out till 3 am! I am way too old for them, I think! It was fun, because a few of them were CCM kids and we talked all about the dangers of the 'nati and the tastes that we missed...Graeters anyone? Zach is real sweet and was so thoughtful to invite me out and meet his friends. We ended up at Ben's apartment where I played Nintendo Wii for the first time. So fun, especially the bowling!!!

Thursday was my first coaching with Michael F., a recommendation from Kat. He works with loads of Broadway people and his whole deal is finding you off the beaten track rep. He was super-helpful and though he crushed my dreams of playing Clara in "Light in the Piazza" (says I'm too brunette, tall and womanly! :( ) he was really complimentary of my singing of her song. He's already having me work on my forehead wrinkling and is determined to get rid of many of my stale songs in my book! He has a wonderful spirit to him and I'm excited to work with him. He also owns every Broadway score in the world and happily makes them available to his special needs children, as he likes to call us. :)
I was able to audition for "West Side Story" at Actors Equity after my coaching and then headed home to cook up some quick lemon bars for the Seals. They had me over for dinner and ordered some yummy, yummy pizza from Nick's down the street. We had a fun time and I learned all about their extreme gift of hospitality!

And now, I'm caught up, however backwards that may be!