The Broadway Dream Aftermath

It has been a few days since I last wrote, so I apologize for all however many of you are waiting.  I have a feeling it isn't many folks, but anyway... here I am writing to you. 

The other night (last week) I performed my one-man show, Broadway Dreams.  It was a huge success.  I had tons of fun, sang my heart out, and the audience actually wanted me back for a second night.  Very exciting.  I think I have sold at least four CD's (Thanks Sis!) but I can't get the money from them until it is approved by the line.  Ah well.  All the better when it finally gets approved. 

My book, on the other hand, was not approved.  It won't stop me from selling it, of course.  Just on a cash only basis and somewhat under the table.  We'll see.  There really hasn't been much interest in it, to tell you the truth.  Even with a slide show in my show, I figured people would see the photos I have taken and want to buy my book.  Maybe there will be more interest on the Asia cruise, as a lot of the photos are from Asia.  Again, we'll see.

So I have been trying to upload footage of my show for my folks and any interested parties to see, but it is taking forever to upload.  You may have to wait on that.  My apologies.

In other news, I think I have lost weight, finally!  Tonight during Shimmy, my pants were all falling down!  A good feeling.  Just sucks that it take s so much effort to take the weight off.  Hitting the gym every day or every other day, my body is always in pain, but I guess the rewards are starting to show.  I look in the mirror and I am not AS disgusted as I was at home seeing myself.  Maybe my love life will improve, too.  Yeah, like that's bound to happen, EVER.

We are bound for Auckland, New Zealand.  Should be there day after tomorrow.  Crosses the International Date Line today, which means that today never existed in my world.  That is, the 22nd of August.  We went from the 21st to the 23rd.  Hmm.  Time travel is so much fun.

It is starting to cool down, too, which will be interesting.  I have not been in This part of the world during their winter.  I hope my sweatshirt and light jacket will keep me warm enough.  I do have several hats, so they will at least keep the old ears warm.

Not much else to report.  We are in the midst of installing British Invasion, which is a pain in the you know what.  The lifts are acting strange, and the safety features on them have failed, so we are basically working on a very unsafe stage.  But what can you do?  The show must go on, right? 

Looking at crossing over to Royal Caribbean in the future.  They are looking for people to play Corny Collins and Amos in Hairspray and Chicago, respectively.  I think it might be fun after this gig is up to try that.  As far as I know, they are Equity contracts, too.  I could use one of those, God knows.  Insurance weeks are good!  We'll see, and I will certainly let you all know what happens with that. 

Later, taters!

One more dawn, one more day...one day more.

I have been working my tush off.  Besides getting my show up and running, I have also been working on a play that I am writing called 031.  It is a play that I have been commissioned to write by the Raleigh Police Department and the Wake County School System.  It deals with gangs, and is a project designed to open up lines of communication between students and faculty/advisers.  I hope it works.  The piece is very very powerful, and I think it is some of my best writing.  I only wish I was going to be in town to work on it more.  I feel like I am so removed from it that I will be forgotten in the process.  I know that won't happen, but it is a real feeling that I can't deny having.

Piano Man opens tomorrow night.  Today's rehearsal was awful.  The band sounds terrible.  People still don't know the choreography.  Some folks are here for the reason to party and play and get drunk and not for the purpose of entertaining the folks who are paying their paycheck.  It is a little disheartening when I am here because i love to do this, and others seem to step all over it.

Ah well.  It is late and I need to get some sleep. 

Sang at the Captain's Circle Party tonight with Darian.  We did a sneak preview of Piano Man, which was fun.  The show should go well.  At least we know what we are doing.  Once again, it is coming down to me to carry the shows for the most part, and I am still having fun doing it.  So far.

More later.  Miss so much already.  Now with all the earthquakes and stuff happening, not to mention this scary election coming up.  Wow.  That's a subject for another day and another time. 

Love to all at home.  Please leave me some messages so I know these posts are being read. 

Broadway Nightmares

Three days until my solo show, and I am once again second guessing my song choices.  There are so many people that want me to sing Music of the Night, but I simply am finding it one of the most difficult things to sing.  I sound awful, and I need an uptempo song to put in its place.  I am thinking "On Broadway."  It's catchy, uptempo, a good transitional song for the second half of my show.  I'm nervous.

In other news, I missed my deadline for the final draft of my script.  I thought it was the 16th, but I found out just moments ago that it was indeed, yesterday.  Yikes.  Hopefully the powers that be won't be too judgmental, and they will give me a couple days' extension.  I mean, they literally gave me a month to write a full script.  It's not my fault.

Oy.  Stress.  Piano Man opens in just two days, then my show, then I am singing at the Ultimate Deck Party, then Shimmy.  That's a lot of singing.  I'll let you know more later.  I should probably get to finishing the script.

JMB

Aloha!

It's been a while!   We are in the middle of installing our new cast on the Sun Princess.  Four shows down, two more to go.  Exciting stuff.  Stressful stuff, though, too. 

Spent the first night in NYC, saw Sister Act, which was very cute.  Sorry if I am repeating myself...  I guess I will just give you all an update on what is happening nowadays.  I am in the process of opening my solo show, Broadway Dreams, which goes up on the 16th of August.  It is kind of scary.  Putting myself out there for everyone to judge.  I have a great set list, I think, and I hope the audience will enjoy listening to some Broadway show tunes. 

My sister did an amazing job of putting together an awesome CD package for two CD's I have now to sell.  LIVE! and A PLACE CALLED HOME.  They look incredible, and I can't wait to get them out there for everyone to see.  Hopefully I will be able to get some extra money to spend so I can save my entire salary.  We'll see.

My book is a disappointment.  I'll be honest.  I went through Blurb.com and the product is not the quality I had hoped.  The full page photos have white edges on them, and there are still some typos (my fault).  The folks in the home office seem to be dragging their feet approving it, so I have not been able to sell any of them on board yet.  I did put a segment in my show with photos behind me from the book.  We'll see if they can sell.  Thankfully I only have seven copies to sell, so it's not like I am going to put the shops on board out of business.  Oy.

Honolulu was nice today.  Spent the morning doing some errands, spending money.  Had to get a new pair of jeans and khakis, because my jeans went missing after the country show, and my khakis are torn and falling apart.  Not to mention I am just simply fat.  More on that later.

I have started visiting the gym, so I am trying to get rid of this inner tube that has appeared in my midsection.  So far, I have lost four pounds, and hopefully I will be able to get myself back to my ideal weight of 175-180.  I didn't think I would like going to the gym, and I must say it is very intimidating when there are all these young hotties working out and here I am the Pillsbury dough boy doing crunches in the corner.  I'll let you know how the weight loss and diet go. 

My set list so far includes opening with Tonight from West Side Story, Prologue/Any Dream Will Do from Joseph and the Amazing technicolor Dreamcoat, Corner of the Sky from Pippin, Sweet Heaven from Copacabana, Every Single Day from Harmony, Bring Him Home and Stars from Les Miserables, The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha, This is the Moment from Jekyll and Hyde, On The Street Where You Live from My Fair Lady, Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera, Never Land from Peter Pan, What I Did For Love from A Chorus Line, and Love Changes Everything as an encore.  Lots of music.  I will probably cut Music of the Night, because as I sing it, it sound horrible in my voice.  It's a hard song to sing, and right now the song owns me, not the other way around.  Working on it, though.  It will probably be a last minute adjustment. 

The next show we install is Piano Man, and we go up on the 15th.  So basically I am rehearsing two shows at once... and then I have to sing two shows in two days.  Nothing new, but very stressful.  I hope my voice stays healthy and I am able to pull this off.  If I can, it may mean a solo show  and a solo career.  Here's to the future!

I miss my cats, Hamlet and Othello. 

Cocoa Crispy

Man, it is HOT here in Cocoa.  Started my journey this time around in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Spent the night before (4th of July) with my folks and my cats (Hamlet and Othello), and basically took all my clothes with me.  I had been cleaning and doing laundry during the day.  The look on Mom's face was one of slight overwhelm-ment.  I could see she was thinking "There is no way all that is going to fit in your suitcases."  Well, of course, she was right.  It took me several times to pack, and eventually, I ended up packing six or seven basic outfits.  The way i see it, if I need something else, I can buy it once I get somewhere.  Dad won't like that statement, but I will try to live below my means.

So then comes the plane ride.  All was fine until there is this weird vibrating sound, then the bar near the window and ceiling two rows behind me comes crashing down.  Are we going down?  No.  Just the A/C.  Ah well.  Of course, then comes all the cell phones taking photos, and the comments about how "This'll get us a free ticket somewhere."  Jeez.  Get me to Cocoa already.

I arrive in Cocoa okay, and our costumer, Rex is there to pick me up.  We have to wait at the airport for Darian's flight, which was set to arrive about an hour after mine.  Hers was delayed by maybe 20 minutes, but she showed up and we had our happy reunion.  We have not stopped laughing since.

Today is Sunday, our day off.  Most of the cast went to Disney today, but I stayed behind to live below my means.  Besides, I have a play to write.

Went to the pool, got some writing done, now just blogging to see what new things are in store for me and this cast.  We did a run through of Piano Man yesterday, and strangely, it seems like everyone and their mother was there to watch.  But... not bad for one day of rehearsal.  The show went well, and I realized that I am WAY out of shape.  Got lots of work to do.  Thankfully I have been eating well and walking every morning.  More later.  See ya!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not much to report. Still homesick, but here are some of the latest photos from Akaroa, New Zealand. Next time I am here, I will be revisiting Christchurch, so expect some photos then as well. These photos are for Grama and Gerry.

What a ride!

It has been an interesting couple of days, let me tell you! First off, one of our dancers was out of the show British Invasion because of a foot injury. Strangely, the day after it happened, she was up and already decorating her cane for the Halloween party the dancers were throwing. Interesting, huh? I might also add that the lack of communication is still going strong. The way I found out about the party the dancers were throwing? I saw a poster on the wall advertising it. You would think that as one of the cast of singers and dancers I would have been notified? Of course not. The cruise ship world doesn't work that way.

So, said dancer was out of the show. But she still showed up with a drink in hand to the disco! Any sort of reprimand? Of course not.

Just one of the many reasons why things don't make sense. Bad things will always happen to good people, and the bad guy will always get away.

Speaking of the bad guy getting away, I finished my first draft of Dr. Merlin's Magic Shop, a musical I am writing. The lyrics are there, sort of, and the book is pretty strong, I just need some written music to accompany the lyrics. This is what I suck at. My theory is rusty, and I have no access to a piano on a regular basis to plunk out melodies.

Ah well. I am not in the best of moods lately, am I?

Yesterday I was asked if I wanted to participate in the "Secret Santa" thing with the cast, and I said no. What is my problem? I guess I really don't understand why these folks are the way they are. I have no desire to hang around them, see the world with them, even sit and eat at the same table with them. They are vindictive, selfish, and basically young children who need everything done for them, and expect everything as well. They have no work ethic, or if they do, it is one of "I don't want to work, just party." Obviously. It will be nice to get back into the professional performing business.

So last night around 11:30pm, the captain interrupts everyone with an announcement... due to the engine failure, we are running on only one engine, and with the headwinds, we are going to be delayed arriving in Sydney by TEN HOURS! What? Are you kidding me? Then I looked outside. We were crawling... no, LIMPING through the Tasman Sea. We finally got in around noon, and I got off the ship as soon as I could. I am in an internet cafe typing this as we speak. That makes no sense, but you get my drift...pun intended.

So, I don't have to be back on board until 7pm tonight, which is kind of a nice change, and tonight's welcome aboard show has been either canceled or postponed. I have no idea when we will sail. Would have been nice to have an overnight in Sydney, maybe catch a show or something, but no such luck this time around.

I have posted picture on my Facebook page, because for some reason they upload faster than they do on here. I will be posting more on this site soon, though. You just need to continue to be patient with me.