Author: theactorvist

I love the Theatre. It's my church. It's my joy. I have been performing in plays and musicals for over half of my life, and I would be lost without it. Now more than ever, people are cutting back on everything that is too expensive or unimportant to their lives. As an actor, heck as a person, I don't know of anything that is more important than the arts. Art reflects history. It shows humanity at its worst but also its best. Every day some artistic program is getting cut from a school or a great show goes unseen. Maybe a talented singer isn't able to audition for American Idol. There are a ton of people who live in the South Bay Area of California, who go unseen or unheard. There are many production companies that are just bursting with talent, but people don't see the shows. I will do my best to bring you interviews with local artists of every kind, send out the call for local companies looking to cast people in productions, and much more. Stay tuned because this is only the beginning.

I am really looking forward to this!

West Valley Light Opera has now announced it’s 2011/2012 season!! And drumroll puh-lease!!!

Directly from the West Valley

“How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying”

Nov./Dec. 2011

Music & Lyrics by Frank Loesser, Book by Abe Burrows

Returning to this theater is this Pulitzer Prize-winning musical comedy; an irreverent satire about Corporate America, based on the book by Shepherd Mead in which J. Pierpont Finch owes his meteoric rise from window cleaner to Chairman of the Board of the World Wide Wicket Company. He accomplishes this not through hard work, but by his ability to make others work hard for him.

This musical opened on Broadway in 1981, receiving a Tony Award for Best Musical, starring Robert Morse and Rudy Vallee, who also repeated their roles in the movie.

A new production of this delightful musical opened on Broadway in 1996 and the National Tour appeared in San Francisco.

Memorable songs include “Coffee Break”, “The Company Way”, “A Secretary Is Not A Toy”, “I Believe In You”, and “Brotherhood of Man”.

“The Drowsy Chaperone”

Mar./Apr. 2012

Music and Lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison,
Book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar

Coming to this theatre in its Saratoga premiere is this truly modern, original musical within a comedy. It pays tribute to the Jazz-age shows of the 1920’s and the power those shows held to transfer the audiences into a dazzling fantasy and lift their spirits in times of sadness.

The story is based on a diehard musical theatre fan who plays his favorite cast album and the music literally bursts to life in his living room telling the rambunctious tale of a brazen Broadway starlet trying to find and keep her true love. It offers a sentimental, sweet, hilarious and sometimes surprising look at the impact that musical theatre can have on a person and the pure, unbridled joy it can bring.

“The Drowsy Chaperone” opened in Toronto, Canada in 2001 and after a successful run, moved to New York in 2006.

Songs in the score include “Fancy Dress”, “As We Stumble Along”, “Message From A Nightingale”, “Love Is Always Love”, and “I Do I Do In The Sky”.

“Bells Are Ringing“

June/July 2012

Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics & Book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Returning to this theatre after a long absence, this award-winning musical comedy is our final show of the season. “Bells Are Ringing” takes you back to a time before answering machines and high technology, when a real person answered your ringing telephone for you if you couldn’t do it yourself. Welcome to “Susanswerphone” where the lines are blurred between doing a job and eavesdropping.

This musical opened on Broadway in 1956 starring Judy Holliday and Sydney Chaplin and received solid reviews, received 4 Tony nominations and 2 Tony awards. It was revived on Broadway in 2001 with Faith Prince as Ella Peterson, the switchboard operator.

The story and musical numbers are delightful and uplifting and include “Just In Time”, “Better Than A Dream”, “Drop That Name” and “A Simple Little System” which keep the cast and audiences smiling.

SO close!!!

I wanted to get this up at least by 11pm on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find ANYWHERE in the space from Reno to Gardnerville at an hour before midnight that had a wi-fi connection that would load the podcast fast enough to get it up and running before the end of 2010! I was standing outside of a place called Keva trying to piggyback off of their wi-fi as a last resort, but standing outside in 30 degree weather for 20 minutes and only getting to 51 percent complete really got me so mad!! Now that I am home, here it is:

Episode 15

(click to play)

Show notes will be up on Sunday afternoon. I really need to sleep off the last two days! Cheers.

Where did the week go?!?

Hey y’all, it’s been a crazy week! I wanted to create a podcast, but it’s been a bit um, hard to do…

I couldn’t find a unifying theme for a short podcast, so I was kinda stuck. And everything that I got inspired by was all wacky and stuff.

I already have a “future” episode in mind, so I couldn’t do the future before the past, so I didn’t want to jump the gun.

It’s been a crazy week full of lunar eclipses and Rock Band parties, and learning more about the gardening biz, I didn’t have time to be as depressed as I am normally am when a show ends. I have been trying to write my rehearsals for “Bless Me, Ultima” and “Mack and Mabel” down in this nifty lil calendar so I can figure out if there is any way I can get more shows under my belt during 2011. Oh, yeah, that’s the other thing…I really need to get my shtuff organized. I am wickedly scatterbrained so this is gonna help me big, big time.

So until Friday…Talk to you then.

Oh, and big ass congrats to the amazing Adam Berry for being cast as Sonny Malone in The Retro Dome’s XANADU!!!! I cannot wait to see it!!