Connect

I’ve been doing theatre for a long time. My first play was the 7th grade production of Julius Caeser, in which I played Strato and held my dagger while Brutus ran onto it. I had one line. “Give me your hand first. Fare you well, my lord.” I came out for one other scene, if I remember right. And I hardly remember anything else about the production, except Megan teaching me how to draw horses, Rachel telling people that she had been in movies/TV shows, and Mr. Talcott, the crotchety band teacher adding some music to the show.

I’ve been doing theatre a long time. Almost 20 years. A few of those years, I only did 1 or 2 shows. Some years, I worked on probably 10 shows in some capacity. I’ve been doing this a long time.

My estimation is that I’ve probably been involved with around 100 shows in some way. In all that time, I can count on my two hands the amount of experiences that I’ve absolutely LOVED. That’s a relatively small amount.

So why do I keep doing it?

It’s not for the money. My latest show bought me some furniture from Ikea and is helping me to pay off some bills, but it’s nothing substantial.

It’s not for the attention I get. I HATE getting attention. I hate being in front of groups of people without a script of someone else’s words. I hate meet and greets after I’m in a show. That’s probably the ONLY thing I don’t love about being in a show at the Hale.

It’s not for the friends I make. Okay, maybe that’s part of it. Some of my best friends are friends I met through the theatre. And honestly, if I hadn’t been doing theatre, I never would have met Lauren. Okay. That’s a big part of it.

The biggest reason I do theatre is because I have a story to tell. All the time. It’s not my story – at least not in my own words. It’s my story through someone else’s words. It’s my chance to take a story which may or may not be a great story to tell, and infuse it with my ideas. My style. My life.

Some of the most fulfilling projects I’ve ever done have been from the last few years. I’m getting pickier in my old age. I used to take any job, because I was a theatre whore (when you’re single and you’re making a decent amount directing and/or music directing multiple shows at the same time, it can very easily be about the money). Since I got married, I have a much higher criteria for accepting jobs, because I don’t want to be away from home if it’s not a project I’m going to love or have a major connection to the material.

My current show, Little Shop of Horrors, is one of those shows that I’ve absolutely loved. As I directed it, I tried to make it personal. From a religious standpoint, I focused on the redemption of one character and the fall from grace of another. I can relate to both.

Last year at this time, I did Little Women, and I focused on the bond between siblings and especially the devastation of losing one. It was incredibly therapeutic, coming just after the 4th anniversary of my brother’s death. I cried or nearly cried every night when Beth died.

Also last year, I did Seussical. As the character of Horton, I related to being an outcast who desperately wanted somebody to believe in him. I related to looking for love and not seeing it right in front of my face. And I related at the time to not knowing how to be a father (although, if I were to do the show again, I’d have A LOT more experience to pull from).

I’ve had other great experiences in the last few years, and I’ve had some TERRIBLE experiences in the last few years. Even Little Shop, which has been an amazing experience, had some REALLY rough times, and some people within the theatrical organization seemed to be out to get me. But gosh darnit, I prevailed, and the story was told. The Wizard of Oz, earlier this year, was such a bad experience that I was ready to swear off theatre. I’m glad I didn’t. For every Oz, there’s a Little Shop. For every Pinocchio, there’s a Secret Garden.

I don’t believe in theatre for the sake of entertainment. I disliked Wicked and The Lion King when I saw them on Broadway, because they were all about spectacle. There was no heart. No story. Just big puppets and special effects.

I believe in theatre for the sake of art, and art, to me, creates thought. After seeing In the Heights on Broadway, I couldn’t stop thinking about leaving my childhood behind and missing my Grandma. After seeing White Christmas, I reflected back on the great holidays I’d spent with family, and looked forward to the new ones I’d spent with Lauren. After seeing Mary Poppins, I vowed to be a good father, should I ever have a family of my own. After seeing South Pacific, I reflected back on the racial prejudices of my own upbringing and determined to never revert back to thinking certain behaviors and attitudes were okay.

And that’s what theatre is all about, Charlie Brown.

It’s not about “oh my gosh, she actually FLEW up over the stage!” It’s about relating to somebody feeling so free that they could fly.

As soon as Little Shop closes, I’m planning to take a break. A needed, deserved break. I’m going to focus on the next stories I have to tell, and the new audience of one. And she’ll love it. And we’ll have so much fun, but we’ll learn, and we’ll grow together. But I’ll be back. And then I’ll have more stories.

2011 in Review

Pretty much the only regular thing on my blog anymore is my annual wrap-up.

Last year, I wrote this:

Overall, this year will go down as the year that the world screwed me. Life with Lauren was great, but almost every other aspect of my life seemed to fall apart. I’ve been left rethinking my career, rethinking friendships, and regretting way too much.

On the plus side, that means 2011 can ONLY get better, right? That’s how I’m viewing it.

It DID get better. It totally did. 2011 was everything 2010 wasn’t. I got a better job, I had some very rewarding theatrical experiences, I got a house, I perfected my pancake-making and pizza dough-making skills, the family members who cause the most drama in our lives decided to remove themselves…it was a near-perfect year. The only thing missing was a trip to Disneyland, and that will come soon.

Here are some of the things that made 2011 so great.

Favorite Personal Theatrical Experience: Seussical
I’ve wanted to play the role of Horton since I saw the touring production in 2003, and somebody finally gave me the opportunity to prove that I could. One review said I wasn’t a good singer (which I tend to agree with), but of the three reviews I got, they were all generally positive. One even said I was the best in the show. Hot diggity! Working with Dave Tinney was amazing, and it was an experience I’ll never forget. Little Women was nearly perfect, and was the best ever page-to-stage rendition of one of my concepts. And I cried every time I saw it, along with lots of other people in the audience, so that was rewarding. It was truly touching. Anthem would have been better (equity/SAG actors! talented people! no divas!) except I clashed with the composer.

Runners-Up: Little Women, Anthem

Least Favorite Personal Theatrical Experiences: NONE!
I only worked on three shows this year, and I regretted none.

Favorite Local Theatre Productions: The Drowsy Chaperone at HCTO
A) Dave Tinney is a genius
B) Brett Merritt is a genius
C) Marcie Jacobsen is fantastic
D) The rest of the cast was brilliant
E) I’ve never laughed so hard at a local theatre production

Runner-Up: Oklahoma at UVU

Favorite Movies: The Muppets, Winnie the Pooh
Two of my favorite things from childhood were resurrected and done well.

Runners-Up: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Least Favorite Movie: Insidious, The Roommate, Super 8
All three started out interestingly, but the first became unbearably cheesy, the second became a less-fun Single White Female, and the latter became a less-fun E.T.

Runner-Up: None

Favorite Movie-Going Experience: None
We really didn’t see much in theaters this year.

Least Favorite Movie-Going Experience: Everything
We’ve become the crotchety old people who go to the movies and shush everyone around us and tell kids to put away their darn phones. It’s bad. Nobody has manners anymore.

Favorite New TV Addiction: Suburgatory, The New Girl
Both are just plain fun.

Runners-Up: Once Upon a Time

Least Favorite New TV Shows: Pretty much everything else we tried…
When did TV get so dumb?

Favorite SNL Sketch: Ranch Dressing, Captain Jack Sparrow
These are two of the ONLY things that really made me laugh on SNL this year. Remember how it used to be one of my favorite shows? I watch it mostly out of duty now. Although, every once in a while, there will be an episode like the one with Jimmy Fallon, that makes me grateful that I haven’t pulled the plug on it yet.

Favorite Album: Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger”
Not as good as her last, but definitely not as bad as her first. It’s probably the only album I’ve gotten this year that I’ve listened to more than once the first week I had it.

Least Favorite Album: Didn’t have one
I don’t recall severely disliking anything I got this year, but I really didn’t get much new music.

Favorite Trip: St. George w/ my family
It was a nice break. It was way too hot, but we spent most of our time indoors, shopping, eating, and enjoying each other’s company.

Runners-Up: Los Angeles for Anthem

Best Concert: OneRepublic at Rio Tinto
Granted, we only saw two concerts this year, and this was the lesser of two evils. The band was INCREDIBLE. We were really close. I was worried after seeing Ryan Tedder botch a couple of live performances on TV, but he rocked it. The only major issue was that they only played a few songs. The whole set was around a half hour. LAME. We were introduced to soccer beforehand, though, so that was fun.

Worst Concert: None.
Stadium of Fire with David Archuleta (who we don’t care for) and Brad Paisley (who we don’t like). The concert itself wasn’t great, but the fireworks were MUCH better this year. And we had great seats, thanks to my company’s owner, who is head of the Freedom Festival. I should start dropping hints of better (ie, not country or American Idol wannabes) artists to get this year…

Dear 2012, the bar has been set!

Theatre and Me

One of the projects I’ve been working on in the new house is framing all of my theatre posters and hanging them. I’ve been collecting posters from shows I’ve done for the past 8 years or so. Some of them were hung up at one time or other, but most of them just sat in drawers, waiting to be looked at again someday.

All of them are now in frames, and pretty soon, they’ll be on the wall over the desk in my studio/office/workspace. It’s been really interesting to look at all of them and reminisce about the shows I’ve done in the last several years.

Some of the shows, I directed. Some of them, I music directed. Some, I did both. I was actually IN two of the shows, and I’m really bummed that I don’t have a poster for the most recent show I was in, Seussical.

Some of the posters are from shows that I LOVED working on, and I hated the actual poster design/graphics. But I want to keep the posters anyway, because they’re reminders of shows that meant so much to me. Some of them are posters that I love for shows that I loved. Some of the shows I HATED, but I want to remember those shows as well. I learned things from even the worst shows.

Looking at all of the posters has really gotten my nostalgic juices flowing, and I’ve been really pondering my relationship with theatre.

I still love theatre. I really do.

But sometimes, I just get a little…sick of it.

In 2010, I got really tired of theatre. I had some miserable experiences. I was majorly screwed over by some fellow theatre people. I lost my job teaching theatre. The bad definitely outweighed the good. I even blogged about it.

At the end of 2010, I felt like I would be truly happy if I never did another show. And then Seussical came along. It was an incredible experience. And yet, when it was over, I felt fulfilled – which usually doesn’t happen after even the best show.

Then I went down to work on Anthem with Rachel, and while the experience of it wasn’t the absolute greatest, I LOVED working with amazing, talented, professional actors. It was thrilling. And yet, I still felt fulfilled. I wasn’t dying to do any theatre.

Before long, Little Women came along, and I wanted to do it, but I went into it with the attitude that if it wasn’t an amazing experience, I was officially done with theatre. Luckily, Little Women turned into one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.

Since it ended, I’ve been craving theatre again. It stinks. It’s like a former girlfriend that you just can’t get over, no matter how hard you try. This time, I’m wanting to be on stage again. I want to go back to how things were about 10 years ago, when I traded off acting and music directing. Only, if I’m going to music direct, it has to be for amazing directors, like Dave Tinney and Chris Clark. Trouble is, in order to feel like it’s worth my time to be doing theatre, I need to be making money. Especially when the local theatres here are bad, so I have to go to at least Orem to find good theatre. For good or bad, my curse has been lifted, and I’m getting asked to work again. So far, I’ve turned down one acting offer, and I’ve decided not to audition for a couple shows that I had considered.

I think it’s best for my sanity to not be working on a show over the holidays, so it’s good. I’m also STILL slowly putting my house together. (After the posters, I just have that blasted vanity/medicine cabinet to put up.)

In the meantime, I get somewhat of a theatre fill by working on musicals all day at work. It’s kind of cool to have direct communication with some of the big wigs in New York and being able to ask for things from them and usually getting it. And they know now that I’m also a director/music director, so that’s cool. And next month, I get to go to a theatre conference in Arizona and meet with more people from all over the country.

I also have next summer to look forward to. Just this week I was asked to direct a show in the summer, but the details aren’t set in stone yet. I haven’t officially said yes, either. If it doesn’t feel absolutely right, I can’t devote my life to it.

I really don’t know what the point of this post was. Mostly just to record my own thought process. And also because I’m SICK of not blogging. I need to get back into a habit, and unfortunately, that means some dumb posts are coming.

Oops!

It’s been almost 4 months since my last blog. I was planning several blogs about things that have happened, but for now, a list will have to do.

Seussical: What an amazing experience. I never felt like I was the best vocalist, but I felt really good about my acting. It was a great cast, and I loved pretty much every detail of the experience. If you came and saw it, THANK YOU. If you didn’t, you missed out.

Anthem: My friend Rachel commissioned a musical to be written, and she asked me to come and music direct the first workshop/reading in Los Angeles in June. It was an amazing experience. The show was about “The Star-Spangled Banner” and wove lines of the anthem throughout songs about real experiences people have had during war times. The cast was full of Equity/SAG actors, and they were all fantastic to work with. I clashed with the author of the show a bit because she was not ready to turn her work over to somebody else. However, it was still a great experience, and Lauren and I met some great people, including Seth Riggs, whose personal performance space was where the performance was held.

Little Women: in the space of a week, I was asked to help choose a show and if I wanted to direct it for the SCERA. I came up with a list of 3 shows, and Little Women is the one that they chose. It had been on their short list as well. So far, rehearsals have been great. I have an amazing cast, most of whom show up memorized and ready to work every night. It should turn out to be a great show.

ROCS: I started working for a new company almost a year ago as an independent contractor, recording music. It’s called Right on Cue Systems. They record music that can actually be conducted live with a Wii remote. It’s amazing. After about 6 months, I started working pretty much full time, and they gave me my own office space. As of July 1, I’ve been officially a full-time employee, with a salary, benefits, the whole shebang. It’s nice. I miss teaching a little, but I love that I’m still involved in theatre AND music. My title is Director of Production, and I basically supervise all of the sequencers and then make sure the final product is good before it’s passed off to mix. We have some very high profile clients, and we’re recording shows that I NEVER would have been able to record on my own. I love it.

And finally…

Towards the end of July, Lauren and I decided to start looking into the housing market. We were trying to just get a feel for the market with a goal of finding a house by Christmas. Within a week and a half, we had an accepted offer on a house, and were hoping to close around the end of August so we could move over Labor Day weekend. However, things were going so well with the bank and sellers that we moved up everything. We closed on Friday, August 12 and moved in Friday, August 19. We’re ALMOST totally settled, and it’s great. It’s bigger than what we need right now, but that’s great because we have room to grow. It’s a nice little house in a GREAT neighborhood in Spanish Fork. So far, more people have reached out to us in our new ward than 20 months in our last ward. It’s a nice change.

Well, that’s my summer in a nutshell. Just finished an episode of Dance Moms (Lauren’s got me hooked. Ugh.) Gotta run now to my nephew’s birthday party.

PS – Feel better Glenn? This is at least SOME reading material for you…