Life Upon the Wicked Stage: Week 3: Sooooo ready to come home

My view from Adinah's place

Saturday: Went down to the East Village to watch a staged reading that Jinay was stage managing. Watched it with her boyfriend Scott and our friend Paul (also my ASM from Ogunquit). The play was translated from some weird existential French play. This was the longest hour of my life and I still don't understand what I witnessed. Paul and I just kept looking at each other in confusion slash amusement. After we all chatted for a bit, Paul had to go to a rehearsal for a reading he is stage managing and Jinay, Scott and I poked around this great little funky gift shop. All over the place I was seeing people dressed as Santa and elves travelling in packs. I had no idea what the hell was going on until Jinay told me it was Santacon, which is basically a giant pub crawl for people in costume. Their official wesbite describes it as "a non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and non-sensical Santa Claus convention that occurs once a year for absolutely no reason". So I shot a couple of pics that amused me. The one I missed was an extremely tall black Santa wearing an enormous afro wig under his hat which I didn't get because a taxi came flying out of nowhere and breakneck speed and almost ran me down. I mean I literally was staring at the grill and thought I was done for but jumped back just in time and he swerved but kept right on going. Good times.

I guess his sleigh was in the shop

Next I headed back up to Hell's Kitchen to meet Bex and Bob for dinner. They had come in to see a matinee of Promises, Promises and after getting Kristin Chenoweth and Molly Shannon's autographs (and Bex's pic with Molly) they came and met me at me and Mike's special restaurant, Don Giovanni. I was excited to introduce them to the place...until a 20 minute wait turned into an hour, poor management and having our first table given away. It was REALLY trying. Good thing the food was delicious! Bob and Bex kindly picked up the check which made me feel bad because I had really splurged but it was very sweet of them. I was glad to get home and get out of people.

Sunday I got up and went to the Upper West side to visit my friends Ed and Devyn. Ed and I did both Christmas Carol and Sound of Music together and Devyn is his husband. They are sooooo cute! They've been together for 36 years now and still hold hands. They are the sweetest guys! Ed had to leave for rehearsal for a reading he's doing and I had more to do so I stopped in Starbucks to warm up with a latte. I wish Dad had been with me because Albert Brooks was on his way out as I came in and he would have loved that. I walked down to 72nd street to the Kinkos to print out our annual Christmas letter (I'm waaaay behind on getting cards out). I scooted back down to the apartment to do some cleaning and take care of Miss Coyote. When I was done cleaning I went to my friend Bob's Christmas party three floors down from me. Nice commute! It was quite an eclectic mix of people. Bob was playing bartender and had quite the holiday cocktail menu going. I felt kinda bad because there was TONS of food and no one was eating anything, just drinking. I had a couple of glasses of red wine but didn't want to go too nuts because there were some theatre luminaries mixed in with us regular guys. Nancy Dussault was there (I mostly just know her from the 80's sitcom "Too Close for Comfort"), Dan Butler (Bulldog from "Frasier" who was ogling the twinks but we also had a nice chat) and the amazing Len Cariou. I had a lovely conversation with Len and it was a bit of an out-of-body experience. I mean this man is theatre royalty, the original Sweeney Todd among countless other roles. I had met him once before at the Broadway Cares Flea Market but that was more of a fan setting and here I was at the party of a mutual friend as though we were peers. If only!

Monday morning Adinah arrived home from North Carolina to repack for Chicago and pick up Coyote. I was sad to see her go. It's kinda lonely in the apartment now and I miss my animals even more now. Wahhhhh! But without a dog to run home to every few hours I was finally able to go out to Sunnyside and spend some quality time with Michelle. We played beauty parlor (where I color her hair) so now we are both youthful again since I just redid mine as well! We hung out, ordered in dinner (Shelly's treat!) and watched the latest SNL as well as our favorite Justin Timberlake episode that she had on her DVR. Omletteville and the Barry Gibb Talk Show never stop being funny...ever. By the time I left to go home the bottom had dropped out of the thermometer and it was snowing.

This walking everywhere in winter thing really sucks

Today I got up at 7:00 and got ready for my Sweeney Todd ECC for the Fulton. It was kinda nice to not be nervous and my voice was there for me today thankfully. I wasn't nervous, though, because I have auditioned for Marc Robin, the Artistic Director, so damn many times now and I never book anything. He likes me, he's always warm and complimentary, he calls me back, but nada. So I knew either he'd hire me or he wouldn't and it really has nothing to do with whether he likes me or not. It's totally beyond my control. Now why can't I have that same attitude toward everything? The play audition I nailed last week didn't get me a callback and it's still gnawing at me. Gah! Afterward I went up to the Equity building to volunteer on the Falat Basket Project some more. I'm really having fun helping out and making some good connections too it seems though that's not why I do it. I thought these volunteers were just members like me but it turns out they all have quite a history in the theatre and I had a great time listening to them all reminisce about their old gigs. One of them is a regional V.P. for Equity so always good to know the big wigs in the union! And I love love love the old gays! These 80 year-old dudes queening out and talking about their dancer days...hilarious!

When we wrapped up for the day I went up to Harlem to visit with my old Texas pal Brent. We'd seen each other a few times recently when he played some auditions I went to but we haven't had a chance to sit and chat in years so we had a great visit. He also helped me think of some new songs for my audition book. He is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to musical scores. He has an entire room of them, it's unbelievable. I ended my frozen day out and about with a coffee date with my friend Rashidra who is leaving tomorrow to go do Rent in Syracuse before she starts Sister Act: The Musical on Broadway in February. She introduced me to her stage manager friend who works over at In The Heights, for a little while longer anyway. So many shows are closing in January. I know that's normal but it's still a little unsettling. A definite sign the economy is still not really bouncing back.

The remainder of the week before I go home holds more social opportunities, more volunteering and free tickets to an Off Broadway show. More later!