Sweet Charity

Sweet Charity is kind of a racy show....especially for a high school to do......especially for a Catholic high school to do. So I was very impressed that my friends at Holy Cross pulled it off. I'm told there were lots of changes to the script.....it was my first experience with the show, so I'm no expert....but, the story was still there.

It's got a couple of songs that I had heard before, "Big Spender" & "If They Could See Me Now", and a real downer of an ending, even though it manages to leave you smiling.

Thank Youuuuu

Last night, there was an Orioles game on TV from 1996 and it got me seriously misty. Not because it was the game when Eddie Murray hit his 500th home run or because the O's had an amazing team that year and made it to the playoffs and all that, but because in the background you could hear Rex Barney announcing the players as they came up to bat at Camden Yards.

You may remember Rex's familiar, "Thank Youuuuu" or "Give that fan a contract!" whenever someone in the stands made a good catch.

I got to produce Rex's radio shows back in the day during my time at WBAL and we got to be good friends. His show would air before and after O's games on weekends, so during the game he'd hang out with me while I pushed the buttons for the broadcast and we'd talk baseball and stuff for hours. His post-game show would air from the time the game ended until 6pm when ESPN radio started, so obviously the longer the game went, the shorter his time on the air would be. He would spend the whole game yelling, "Play slower!" One Saturday the game got rained out and Rex did six solid hours of Orioles talk. He used to say that I helped him get thru it but all I did was answer the phones and push the buttons.

It should be pointed out that Rex pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers and was actually the starter for Jackie Robinson's first game in the bigs. He was also the only player to pitch a no-hitter at the Polo Grounds in NY, which is where the Dodgers played before they moved to L.A. Needless to say he had amazing stories to tell about some legendary folks, as well as some advice about which Orioles Hall of Famers I should never get in a car with. He was a caring and generous guy and I loved working with him.

When he passed away, I went to his viewing and a close friend of his approached and introduced herself. When I told her who I was, a huge smile came across her face"You're Jason?! Rex used to talk about you all the time! He would say how great you were and how much he loved working with you!"

Wow! That was all I could say.

The O's have a plaque dedicated to Rex in the press box at the stadium... ...and inducted him into their hall of fame. I got Rex to sign a baseball for me one day and he personalized it to me.
It reminds me of him but it also reminds me of the kind of person I want to be. A person who accomplished great things but is remembered first for his kindness.

Joseph

Have you heard of the ORCHextra? It's a computer that will play the orchestration for your musical. The way it works is that each instrument is programed into the computer and you tap the tempo on a mini-piano keyboard and it plays the show. You can vamp, repeat, make cuts, all the things a real orchestra can do. There are two big differences.....first, you only have to pay one person to tap, as opposed to a roomful of musicians. Secondly, the ORCHextra sounds like what it is....a computer, but who besides musicians and music theater types are really gonna notice. It's also a little unforgiving. If a performer misses an entrance or gets off a beat or two, it's a little tricky to catch up.

I hate the freakin' thing!!!

So with that bit of background, I will tell you that I played Joseph at Archbishop Curley High this past weekend and it was all about the damn computer! It crashed, it wouldn't remember cuts, and was generally user un-friendly. In addition to the ORCHextra there was myself, a drummer, and a dude on piano. We did our best to keep the show moving and the kids on stage did a great job battling thru it all.

13

'Tis the season for school shows and said season began this week with 13 at Jemicy School. If you're not familiar with 13, it's the newest show by Jason Robert Brown who also wrote Songs For A New World and The Last Five Years and is notorious for writing really difficult music. When 13 was on Broadway the cast AND band were all kids which is maybe why this show wasn't so hard.
The kids were awesome and did a great job!!

Go O's

So, remember that story I wrote like a month ago about going to an audition and getting stuck in the snow afterwards. Well, I got the gig, so I think it was worth it. It was a commercial for MASN and The Orioles. The day started with me waking up to find a huge zit on the side of my face!! WHY!?! Thank God for make-up. Anyway, we shot five different ads which will be put into the mix with five additional spots that they shot yesterday and will starting airing at the end of this month. I hope I make the final cut. Either way, it was a really fun day!

Everything Is Rent....Again

Rent at Keegan Theater closed this weekend. Yup, another production of Rent and probably not the last.

This show ended up blowing up huge!! Most of the performances were sold out. We extended for two more weeks which also sold out. Five Helen Hayes Nominations (that's like the Tony Awards for DC theaters). Most importantly, a really great group of people.The thing I really appreciated was being appreciated!!!! With a few exceptions, often in professional theaters, I find that there is an attitude that the performers should bow down and be eternally thankful for the work and just suck up whatever un-happiness they may have about the work situation. I do believe in being professional and doing the job that you are hired to do. I also believe in choosing your battles and that you have a responsibility to do a little bit of research about where you're going to work so that you don't find yourself in a bad spot, but that doesn't mean that a theater can just throw anything at you that they want and then just say, "you should just be thankful for the opportunity I'm giving you." The folks at Keegan really went out of their way to make sure that we all knew how much they appreciated our efforts to perform well every night. When the show started to take off and do well and eventually get nominated, again, they went out of their way to show thanks and appreciation to everyone.

It meant a lot to me.


Rent is still not one of my favorite shows but this run was fun. Having just played the show with my friends at Winters Lane, I didn't need the learning period and was able to jump right in which was good because the band was amazing! I was glad I already knew the show because it helped me hold my own with them. And I finally figured out "Santa Fe".....it's still hard but I got it.

The New Year's Eve party was just disgustingly awesome! 'Nuff said!

February is kinda chill as far as gigs go, which is fine because March is already crazy and I think the rest of the spring will be as well.

Stay warm!

Goodbye Love.

Busy Friday

Three gigs are in one day! Kinda crazy!

The hardest thing about a day like this is leaving the house in the morning and trying to make sure that I have everything I need for the day since I won't have time to come home if I forget something.

First up was recording my vocals for The Saints recording with the Dizzy Miss Lizzie gang. Singing at 10am is never fun. Couple that with the last remnants of a cold and it took me a couple of attempts to get a good take. I got it done though.

Next I drove to Gaithersburg to shoot an industrial for The Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services. What's an industrial? It's usually a not-for-broadcast corporate type video, such as a training video, which is what this was. It was called "Common Issues Facing The Elderly" and in it I played a doctor discussing a patient with another doctor. Yeah, it's about as exciting as it sounds, but then again it is a training video so no one's gonna be judging it on it's level of excitement. It was actually a really fun shoot. Everyone was really nice and the whole process was painless.

After that, I had some time to kill before heading into DC to play Rent, but not enuff to come all that way home so I found the nearest movie theater and hoped that something good would be starting soon. Lucky for me, The Lovely Bones was starting five minutes after I got there. Sweet! I'm still not sure if this movie is supposed to be sad or a feel-good thing or what, because it kinda pulls at several emotions at once. Peter Jackson is a brilliant director that way! Definitely go see it.

Then it was time for Rent. Not my best performance of the run but I was really tired after a long day. With the snow today I hope it wasn't the last show! I doubt it. The show closes this weekend and I'll write all about this experience then.

After the show I was really tired and had to fight sleep all the way home. I got into bed and, thanks to my DVR, turned on Rachel Maddow (LOVE HER!) and got toally wrapped up in watching her and Keith Olbermann's coverage of Obama mopping the floor with the Republicans at their retreat in Baltimore. It was awesome to watch him tear down their talking points one by one to their face. Afterwards the Repubs admitted that they shouldn't have agreed to have the cameras present. Oh well. Sucks to be you.