HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

No matter where you are or what you're doing, I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Let's raise a glass to 2010, a wonderful new DECADE!

Where oh where is Spider Man?

Spider Man, Turn Off the Dark … Broadway’s latest WaterWorld/Carrie fiasco or Titanic triumph?

Reports seem to hint that the production will still premiere in 2009 as the most expensive Broadway show of all time with a price tag set at a whopping $52 million!

No doubt, with Julie Taymor at the helm and infused with the music of Bono and The Edge, the show promises to be a non-stop feast for the eyes and ears. The problem is … is this kind of production sustainable?

The LA Times reported the show would need 4 years of completely sold-out performances just to break even. But, then again, Taymor’s The Lion King is still going strong ten years later with mostly packed houses and productions all over the world.

Now the NY Times is reporting that the new lead producer of the show has reached out to Broadway stalwarts Kevin McCollum and Jeffrey Seller to possibly invest.

Who knows? If all the stars align, it’ll be an interesting spectacle to see, that’s for sure. And with all this financing publicity, I’m sure people will be clamoring for tickets.

It just remains to be seen if the show can live up to the hype.

Anyone remember The Lord of the Rings musical? Anyone?

Are you listening Verizon??

I want an iPhone.

Period.

But, I'm under contract with Verizon. Which isn't to say I haven't enjoyed my time with Verizon. I have no complaints. I've had no problems. I'm very happy with the coverage.

However ... according to legend, Verizon turned down the iPhone, and Apple turned its sights on AT&T. Bad move Verizon. (Bet they're kicking themselves now.)

I'm not adverse to switching, but it IS a hassle. And AT&T isn't supposed to be as good as Verizon.

HOWEVER, there are rumors rumbling around that Verizon and Apple are in "discussion".

Of course, then Verizon puts out the iDon't ads, showing off their new Android phones. Google=good. Apple=bad.

Sounds open and shut, right?

And yet the rumors keep swirling. Some insist Verizon is still on the hunt for the iPhone. Others say it won't happen.

I don't know what's true, but it would definitely be good business for both companies.

All I know is ... if Verizon doesn't have the iPhone when my contract expires in 2010, I will definitely consider switching to AT&T.

Are you listening Verizon? I'm waiting ...

Unattractive

One can always find things not to like about people. Some things are deal-breakers for relationships (platonic or romantic) and others have different levels of annoyance that can, ultimately, be looked over.

However, stubbornness tops my list of negative attributes.

I'm not going to go so far as to say that being stubborn is a deal-breaker for me, but it IS a turn-off. There's "being set in your ways", "sticking to your guns", and just plain having a strong opinion.

But, if you can't bend a little bit here-and-there, what's the point? Relationships are about compromise, and if you can't bend every so-often, you might as well move along, because I just don't have the time ... unless I reeeeally like you!!!

My new favorite obsession

The Broadway show Next to Normal is phenomenal. Not a spectacle, not really even a BROADWAY show as most people would expect, it's nevertheless a show that packs a punch in large part because of the tour-de-force delivered by Alice Ripley, this year's Best Actress Tony Award Winner.

She absolutely acts the heck out of her role as Diana. I saw her twice in New York, and both times she was completely and effortlessly in each and every moment.

In fact, the entire cast is rock-solid with strong performances and even stronger voices complimented by a pop rock score that keeps better with each listen (although there are some lyrics that border on insipid).

Known as being the "mental health musical", Next to Normal is more accurately about a family dealing with loss, grief, depression, and the struggle to connect to each other in some way, any way, even if it's not "normal".

The show sounds hard to swallow, but it makes you ponder life and relationships.

And really ... what better reason to go to the theater than that?

Update

Yes, I'm still here ... out on the open seas.

We've visited:

• Boston
• Portland, Maine
• Bar Harbor, Maine
• New Brunswick, Canada
• Halifax, Canada

The problem is the day before I signed on to the ship, another boy dancer hurt his shoulder. Eventually he had to sign off to have surgery for a broken bone that had healed improperly. Needless to say, that's been quite a roller-coaster for everyone.

We finally got a new replacement dancer so we've been in rehearsals for him. We're about half-way through getting him installed into the shows. Hopefully there won't be any more drama after that.

We only have a few more cruises before we transition down to the Caribbean and the ever-popular Panama Canal!

Cheers!

Fun with YouTube

Here are two fun videos I found. Short and sweet. I thought they were funny.

Ship Life

Okay kiddos ...

I'm going back out on on the open seas. Royal Caribbean asked if I could come and do a replacement contract on the Jewel of the Seas, so off I go. I leave September 14th.

I just moved to New York and already I'm leaving. Lots to do. Lots to do.

Pack, move stuff into storage, see as much theater as I possibly can ... you know, the important stuff!

Wish me luck!

Boo United! Part II

Here is Dave Carroll's follow-up to his first viral video about how United broke his guitar.

This one features a much larger production and cast size. Supposedly this is the second in a trilogy of songs/videos Carroll is producing as a "screw you" to United.

Ah, the magic of the internet. Go Carroll!

My Return to the Blogosphere

Hello dear devoted readers! (Are there any of you out there anymore?)

Sorry for my brief hiatus -- I seem to apologize every few months for my blogging absence, haha! Oh well. Such is life.

I've had a lot of personal transition lately and that's taken precedence over my writing, obviously.

Currently, I'm living in New York trying to make it big in the Big Apple. After getting off my Royal Caribbean cruise, I decided to leave Orlando and move up north. It was time for a change.

To pay the bills, I'm working for my good friend, Sarah, showing apartments. It's a tougher job than I expected. Not challenging mentally, but there is a lot of physical stamina involved: running all over the city. It's also commission-based so I'm always at the mercy of the clients.

But hey! It's a survival job.

I have gone to a few auditions here and there, but all the transition in my life: big move, new job, etc. etc. has slowed my grandiose plans for fame and fortune.

On the flip side, I've been able to read quite a few good books on the subway.

So far:

• Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet (fantasy)
• Blind Fall by Christopher Rice (action/adventure/thriller)
• A Bette Midler Bio by ?
• The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss (action/adventure Sherlock Holmes meets James Bond)
• The Devil in Amber by Mark Gatiss (Book 2 in the series)
• The Island of Mending Hearts by Tim Ashley (romance)

All of them have been good. My least favorite was actually the Bette Midler book. Too much information and not enough heart. The author liked to detail each and every song on every one of her albums, which got old. I wanted to hear more about her personality and relationships with people. Not just her accomplishments.


But the rest of my subway reads were extremely good for different reasons. I especially enjoyed Mark Gatiss's books. He's an English writer who's worked on Dr. Who and Little Britain among others. His novels are very witty and well-constructed.

Anyway ... it's good to be back. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :)

Boo United!

So ... awhile back I had a run-in with American Airlines, and I vented my frustration here. However, it was all monetary.

Unfortunately, Dave Carroll had a much more personal run-in with a different airline: United Airlines.

And boy ... I bet they regret it now.

Dave took his frustration a step further than I did. Instead of a boring blog post, he created a video. In fact, it's supposed to be the first of three. So take that United Airlines! And American ... next time I'm making my own video, too!

But, I bet it won't be as funny as Dave's ...

All the Single Ladies Do What?

This made me totally guffaw! Enjoy!

Crazy Bride!

Fake or not, I love this video!



And, now, the "explanation":

Is Twilight the New Harry Potter???

I’ve finally jumped on the Twilight bandwagon. I know, I know, it’s a little “after the fact”. So sue me.

I love Harry Potter, and I just couldn’t bring myself to betray that series by reading the Twilight series. Until now.

One of my fellow cast members bought the Twilight DVD, and I’d heard that people who’ve read the book didn’t like the movie. I don’t really know why that matters, but I decided to give in, watch the movie, and then read the books to finally see for myself what all the fuss was about.

And I finally finished reading the fourth book, Breaking Dawn. I love the world that Stephanie Meyer has created, and I love the characters, specifically the Cullen family.

However ... I’m amazed that these books became the phenomenon they are. Mostly because I don’t like Bella, the book’s protagonist. It’s not that she isn’t smart or determined. No. She just whines a lot. And complains a lot. Like how she doesn’t want to go to prom. Or graduation. Or receive any gifts. It’s just soooooo unfair, she says. A LOT!

Why would anyone want to be with her? She just isn’t an attractive character to me. And yet, everyone in the series seems to be drawn to her. Odd paradox.

Of course, in the fourth book, she isn’t nearly as annoying. She's actually likable. Instead it’s Jacob Black who annoyed the heck out of me. I guess there always has to be one irritating character in Meyer’s books.

The other thing I can’t wrap my head around is the cold vampires. Every time I read a passage about how Bella kisses the cold, marble lips of Edward, I’m left ... well, cold. Why anyone would positively yearn to curl up into the hard, frigid arms of a chilly, rigid vampire is beyond me. Just doesn’t sound all that pleasant.

But ... even still, the fourth book wrapped up the series well. It was a satisfying conclusion which is oh-so-important to me. Meyer's climaxes are odd, though, in that they’re never really climaxes. Just resolutions to the conflict. Strange.

Oh, well. You know I’ll be buying a movie ticket when New Moon arrives in theaters.

And speaking of ... have you seen the trailer? It's awesome! Enjoy!

[title of show]

I only have one thing to say about the Tony Award nominations ...

[title of show] was ROBBED!!!!

ps. I'm missing the Tony broadcast by three days. I'll still be in the Baltic Sea. :(

Les Miz Bloopers

I grew up on Les Miserables. It was my first musical ... 

My first cast album and my first live Broadway show: a touring production I saw at the Ordway in Minnesota. I love love LOVE Les Miz because of the show itself and because of the nostalgia associated with it.

And so ... this compilation of Les Miz bloopers brought tears (of laughter) to my eyes!!!

 

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (Thanks to Patrick for bringing it to my attention!)

Once Bitten, Never Shy

I have this massive bite wound on my neck.

I had these two scabby, pimple things for the past week or so right about where the neck meets the shoulder. Looked like a vampire had bitten me. Didn't think much of it. Then a couple days ago, they started looking funny and getting slightly inflamed.

I thought it might be a bite, so I went to the nurse here on the ship for some antibiotic ointment. She said to come back in twenty-four hours if they didn't get better. I woke up the next morning ... and they were HUGE!

The redness was spreading across my neck, and the bite areas had developed these white dots in a circular pattern around them. Plus, I now had a third bite that I hadn't noticed before, higher up my neck. They were all swollen. And red. And angry.

I went back to the doctor, and the doctor said a passenger had gotten bitten by the same thing last cruise in Costa Rica.

But, I didn't get off last Costa Rica.

In fact, the last time I had been off the ship was in Jamaica to go to Margaritaville with the cast, and that was over a week ago, and the doctor said that was too long before symptoms began to appear.

So, I guess that means I was bitten on the ship?? I don't know. It's weird.

The doctor gave me an antihistamine for the allergic reaction (basically some Benedryl) and Calamine lotion because, although the bites don't hurt, they ITCH like K-razy!!!

The moral of the story is ... uhm ... don't ... uhm ... watch out ... uhm ... stay away ... uhm ... have a good day! :)

Pet Peeve Time

Do you know what aggravates me the most? What really irks and annoys me?

People who don’t do what they say they’re going to do.

Please don’t tell me you’re going to call or email me if you’re not going to. Please don’t tell me you’ll take care of something if you’re not going to. And please, please don’t tell me that you'll meet me somewhere and not show up.

I understand the occasional episode of forgetfulness. I understand that life sometimes gets in the way of our good intentions.

But I find that, more often than not, people lack the integrity to follow through and actually do the things they say they’re going to do. It’s extremely annoying.

And disappointing.

And disrespectful.

And selfish.

So next time you tell someone you’ll do something, please be considerate and only say you’ll TRY to do it if there's a possibility you may not be able to. Own up to your faults. Be honest about the situation.

Or, better yet, as Nike says ... just DO it.

I Wanna Live Forever

Have you seen the trailer for the new Fame movie? I wasn’t interested at all before. Now I am.

Great trailer for what looks like a great movie. Although, now I have high expectations. Hope the movie is as good as the trailer promises.

High Drama On the Seas

I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. I’m in shock. Really and truly. We have lost a boy singer.

Dwayne has decided that it’s time to move on and has resigned his position on the Jewel of the Seas.

That leaves us in high water. We currently have no replacement scheduled. Just more rehearsals and reblocks. The cast thought we'd seen the end of rehearsals, but I guess not.

To date — since November, and out of a cast of 12—we’ve lost:

A girl dancer due to injury.
A girl singer due to personal issues.
A boy singer due to ??

When will the madness end?!!!

In other Jewel drama ... we had an accident.

During a tech run, one of our flyers was doing his silk act and his grip slipped. He fell from the ceiling to the stage and had to crawl off. Luckily his pride was more injured than his body, but he still got hurt. He's missing a lot of skin from the left side of his body, his elbow is swollen and hurts to move, and his chin needed about 4 stitches, but he'll be okay.

We had to reblock the show to make some adjustments for him, and his understudy went in to fly for the passenger shows, but now he can rest and recover. He's planning on flying again next cruise though. Crazy, huh?

There’s always something going on.

Pierced

Yes, ladies and gents ... I got my ear pierced. Again.

Some years ago I spent a semester of college in London, and being the cool, hip, trendy guy I am, I decided to get my ear pierced. Not my nose; not my tongue; and not my ear lobe (so passe!).

No, I got my cartilage pierced.

I loved it. Hurt like hell, took three months to heal, but I thought the hoop emanating from the top of my left ear was so cool.

Unfortunately, guys usually aren’t permitted to wear jewelry like that at most jobs (too unorthodox, I guess), so eventually I got tired of taking the thing in and out, and instead let the hole close.

I was lucky, however, and the piercing healed very evenly with a nice break in the cartilage. No keloid.

Flash forward to 2009, when I’ve been thinking about getting the hole re-pierced. I know, so rebellious of me!

So last time I was in port from my cruise ship, I passed by a Claire’s Boutique, and on a whim had the thing redone.


This time it’s a small stud, but I love it just the same. And it’s healed so fast. Basically they were able to just re-pierce the flesh instead of the cartilage for a much nicer experience all the way around.

Does it look stupid? Can I pull it off? I don’t know.

But, I like it, and I now have a piece of metal in my ear.

I’m so trendy.

The 2009 Update

Hola, Bonjour, and Hello! Yes, I’ve been neglecting my blog, and I apologize. I’m still here, but my internet connection has been and continues to be rather sketchy.

So, let’s get you up-to-speed ...

As you may or may not know, after returning home from the Brilliance of the Seas last April, I worked part-time at Disney World for several months. However, I received on offer to return to sea, and I decided to accept it: The Jewel of the Seas.

So, here I am ... out on a boat. Again. AND the itinerary is almost the same as before: Panama, Panama, and more Panama! YIKES!

My contract runs until June 10th. The good part is that before I sign off, the ship transitions to Europe, and I'll get to see some of the Baltic: Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, and Russia. So I'm very excited to visit those new countries.

The experience, so far, has been much different than my last contract with Royal Caribbean.

We began rehearsals in October in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, where we had about 6 weeks to learn three shows: City of Dreams, West End to Broadway, and Tango Buenos Aires. The Tango show is the same as the show I did on the Brilliance, so I was happy to already have that one under my belt.

City of Dreams is quite a spectacle with gorgeous sets and costumes. It is by far the most difficult show I've done with Royal Caribbean, but extremely rewarding. Lots of partnering and concert style dance as we travel to the Lost City of Atlantis, Bombay, Beijing, Venice, and even, yes ... Heaven. (Gotta get that club remix in somehow!)

West End to Broadway is an odd assortment of songs from shows originating in London before moving to Broadway such as: Sunset Boulevard, Cats, The Pajama Game, Hair, Chess, Les Miserables, and Barry Manilow’s Copacabana (!).

We even do "Bohemian Rhapsody" from the Broadway smash (that no one's ever heard of) We Will Rock You, the Queen musical. That number is one big acid trip, but our audiences seem to enjoy it.

And, of course, everyone always loves watching the Tango couple from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Always a favorite.

If you're interested, I've posted some show pictures on my website, and I hope to eventually have some video clips up there as well.

The cast joined the ship in November right before Thanksgiving, and we had about 3 weeks of rehearsal onboard before we were fully installed.

Unfortunately, at that time, one of our girl dancers rolled her ankle during "Come Sail Away", our opening number of City of Dreams and eventually had to be sent home for surgery. We were minus a girl dancer for almost two months.

During that time one of our boy dancers had to go home for compassionate leave, so we were then down 2 dancers for 2 cruises. He came back to us, but immediately after his return one of our girl singers needed to go home for personal reasons.

Suddenly our cast of 12 had turned into a cast of 10 ... again!

Luckily, the entertainment office was able to send a replacement singer. At the same time, they also found a girl dancer to take the original girl's spot. So during the last few months, we have had lots and lots of rehearsal time reblocking numbers and then putting new people in.

We finally have a full cast again, and hopefully we can avoid any future injuries or problems.

Now it's time to hopefully settle into some semblance of a routine. I'd like to start working out more, writing more, and figuring out what the heck I'm going to do at the end of this contract ... especially with the current economic climate.

I’ll try to blog more often, but again, internet is difficult out on the open sea.

But please consider this to be a very belated ...

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! :)