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Spring Awakening

On Sunday, Erin, Holland and I went to see the touring Broadway show, "Spring Awakening". After a laugh-filled lunch we headed on over to The Hobby Center (a tad early) for the show. We had a beverage, I bought a T-shirt and Score for the show and then we headed up to our seats. We were slightly concerned with being able to see OK since we were in the nose-bleed section where the cheap asses sit. (That's Me!) After getting up there we realized we had a very good view of the stage. Not bad at all for $23.

Once the show was about to start we saw that there were some open seats a few rows ahead of us, so we moved down and the show began. I was blown away. I had seen a bootleg copy of the Original Cast and had listened to the CD a million and one times. I've been a fan of the show for a while, but seeing it live was amazing. The energy of all of the kids in the cast was top notch. I wasn't too impressed with the girl playing Wendla, but everyone else was outstanding. If you get a chance, don't miss seeing this show. It is worth it! I must direct this show some day. Next to "Rent" this is my favorite show. Too bad it is closing on Broadway. Then again, with it closing the rights are becoming available, so......

A review on my show

Gotta brag.... bare Damon Intrabartolo (music and book) and Jon Hartmere (book and lyrics) call their vigorous and entertaining R-rated musical set at a co-ed Catholic boarding school a "pop opera," and that's all right by us, even though it's a long way from having an opera's thematic unity. Yes, everything's sung, so technically it's an opera, but more times than not when a song ends so does the scene, giving this impressive work a jerky rhythm when it should smoothly soar instead. Thanks to the two talented young creators — and Country Playhouse's talented, agile cast — bare flies high nonetheless. It's easy to see why this youth-oriented musical has had such a cult following ever since its L.A. premiere in 2000. Heavily influenced by Jonathan Larson's grunge romantic Rent, Intrabartolo and Hartmere have provocatively lowered the age of their social misfits. These are the ultimate tweeners, kids teetering before adulthood with a glaze of drugs, sex and attitude. Awash in gay sex, teen pregnancy, body consciousness and social pressure, mixed with hits of ecstasy and hash brownies, tumbled together with Catholic guilt and parental ineptitude, the headiness is aptly set to Hartmere's vernacular, spiky poetry and Intrabartolo's inventive, swirling pop score. It's mighty potent. The large cast, dewy-eyed in age only, is equally stirring, with standouts Jacob Wills, Nathan McManus, Cindy Godell, Jeremy Brown, Jessica Janes and Scott Lupton leading the way. Director O'Dell Hutchison lovingly focuses the youngsters, giving them room to breathe, while music director Luke Kirkwood, with the most minimal of orchestras, keeps the whole thing fresh, snapping and in-your-face. Through June 21. 12802 Queensbury, 713-467-4497. — DLG

Shots from my show....

So, we took a few publicity shots last night. Not everyone was there but we got a few good ones.

Peter (Nathan McManus) and Jason (Jacob Wills) are best friends, room mates and secret lovers. Here they discuss the nature of their relationship in the song "You & I".

Sister Chantelle (Deidra Helen) talks to Peter (Nathan McManus) telling him she knows he is gay and it is ok in the song "God Don't Make No Trash".

Jason (Jacob Wills) comforts his twin sister, Nadia (Jessica Janes) when she doesn't get the role of Juliet in the school play in the song "Plain Jane Fat Ass". Which is actually OK since he is cast as Romeo. That would be a little weird.

Ivy (Cindy Godell) tries to convince Jason (Jacob Wills) to give her just "One Kiss".

Good times!

It was a good night at rehearsal last night. We did some really good work and had a lot of fun in the process. As each day goes by I get more and more excited about this show and I love my cast.

In other news there was a reception at CPH last night. We had some UofH Architect students there. Their big final project for this year was to design a theatre. Some of our board members gave them our requirements. Last night we saw 13 very different and very amazing theatre plans. There were a couple (one in particular) that I was absoultely in love with. It was so exciting!

Rehearsal

OK, so we had rehearsal last night. We staged "Confession", "Birthday Bitch", and "Quiet Night at Home". We were on the Main Stage because the Black Box is being used tonight for a reception thingy and let me tell you. It's rather difficult to block 14 people in a crazy "Rent" style number about confessing on a set that is arranged for "Arsenic & Old Lace". To top it off I had left home without my staging notes so I was totally winging it. We got the basic traffic pattern down, but there will be lots of tweaking once we get our own set up. Speaking of, I need lots of help building!!!

My latest show

I'm directing the Houston premiere of an off-Broadway smash called "bare" (formerly known as "bare: a pop opera"). We started rehearsals last week and we play June 6 - 21st. I am beyond excited about this show. I have been following it for years. I love the music and the emotion of the story. I have a wonderful cast which is great because we are generating national attention. I heard from one of the producers of the original L.A. production. He has been following our production blog and is super excited. He told me he would more than likely be here to see the show, possibly with the writers and some of the original cast in tow. Today I heard from Damon Intrabartolo (he wrote the score and co-wrote the book). This is all so surreal to me. Not only am I doing a show that I love and have been passionate about for years, but I am also generating excitement around the US and have grabbed the attention of the writers and producers and original cast. All I can do is hope we put on a great show. And I hope our board of directors wake up and realize what a huge deal this is, and make some effort to help me out when I request a mic system for the theatre. I can almost hear their old bones breaking in protest right now.

God forbid we would spend $2000 on a mic system that will benefit everyone. That may mean we take away $2000 from producing a show that 15 other Houston theatre's are doing this year.

Anyway...tickets for my show are on sale now. We are expecting (HOPING) to sell out.  www.countryplayhouse.org