the people called it "ragtime!"

          In December 2011, I was cast in a dramatic and uplifting musical called "Ragtime." I hardly knew anything about it before my preparations for the auditions. We began rehearsals in January and opened in February and went on to our last show on March 4th. It was at a university in my town with a fantastic theatre department. I had done shows there before, but this was my absolute favorite. Not just the story, but the cast and the crew and the amazingly fun times we had in rehearsals and performances! I'll be posting more photos later, but here are four of them.  

          This is a real vintage 1920's Model T! We rented it from Kansas, and used it for Coalhouse's beloved car.

          Haha! I loved this scene. It was the song "What a Game" where Father takes the Little Boy to a game of baseball, saying "it's a civilized pass-time," only to surrounded by crazy fanatics who spit and scream and jump. It was hilarious!

          From left to right ~ Little Boy, Evelyn Nesbit, Little Girl, and Sarah in the green room! 

           The Little Boy was the child of the leading New Rochelle family, consisting of Mother, Father, Grandfather, and Younger Brother. The Little Boy was energetic and sort of blunt! His signature line was "Warn the duke!" which he said probably 10 times throughout the show. He was played by Jake. 

          Evelyn Nesbit was actually a real person, and you can read more about her here: Wikipedia Nesbit. Her story is actually quite interesting! Miss Nesbit was played by Rachel. 

          The Little Girl was a whole lot shyer than the Little Boy. Her Mameh had died long before she and her father journeyed to America, which is when the story begins. She and her dad, Tateh, struggle to survive in nasty tenements through all of Act 1, but in Act 2, things start to look up for the pair! The Little Girl was played by Kate, me!

          And, lastly, Sarah was the love of Coalhouse's life. They have a child, who is introduced at the end of the show, but at the end of Act 1, tragedy strikes the trio. Sarah was played by Ciji.

         This picture was taken just as the curtain comes up at the beginning of the musical, cueing New Rochelle to start the opening title number! In the middle you see Little Boy, Grandfather, Younger Brother, Father, and Mother.

          If you want to learn more about the musical Ragtime, check out this Wikipedia entry about it.

          On another note, Farrah, from Farrah's Flavor, has rewarded me with the Versatile Blogger Award! 

          I now am going to say 7 random things about myself...

1. I love the 50's. I honestly think I was born in the wrong era. But, that's why I became an actress!
2. Recently I've been really into smoothies. Every morning I make a healthy, fruity, and delicious smoothie to wake me up! Maybe I'll post the recipe tomorrow. It's really simple.
3. Anything vintage or thrifted or yard-saled is totally my thing. I love little vintage boutiques and finding something there that's totally unique! Style, not fashion, is really important to me. :)
4. My idol is Sutton Foster. Always has been, always will be. She's tall and belty just like me!
5. Most of the time I am wearing a dress or skirt. I think they're so much more comfy and cute than pants!
6. I'm obsessed with pasta, pizza, and bread. You could say I eat a little too much grain... 
7. And lastly, I am very outgoing. It doesn't really bother me when I do something embarrassing, because that's life. And most of the time it's hilarious, and to be quite honest, I love being in the spotlight. :) 

           I now hereby award Rebecca from Resemble the Versatile Blogger Award. Also, I reward it to Julia from Au Milieu and The Anywhere and Everywhere. You must put the badge up top on your next post and write 7 random things about yourself. Go!

          I'm sorry I temporarily gave up on this blog, but I'm planning to get back into it now!

oh, the things you can think!

Seussical went great last week! Here are some pictures...

From left to right: Wickersham Brother, Mayzie la Bird, Gertrude McFuzz, Cat in the Hat!

Mayzie la Bird and Cat in the Hat in final bows!

The Cat in the Hat has a stethoscope hanging from her neck, because the Cat played many different parts, which is why this part is so cool! Good accents and humor are a necessity in order to play this quirky role!

These are the Bird Girls, and then me on the right is Mayzie la Bird. 

The Bird Girls look up to Mayzie because of her beauty, but Mayzie isn't too beautiful on the inside!

This is me, Mayzie, with the Sour Kangaroo and Baby Kangaroo. The three of us were the meanest characters in the show. Sour/Baby Kangaroo had attitudes and disliked change in the Jungle of Nool. Mayzie la Bird was more of the popular girl who thought of nothing but herself. 

This is Mr. Mayor, the mayor of Whoville. Actually, a girl played him in our show. But a sleek black tuzxedo, bright red bow tie, and gray hairspray made her kind of look like a man!

Mayzie's makeup was complete with lots of red blush (which is washed off in this picture), way too much purple eye shadow, and red lipstick. Giant chandelier earrings and a bedazzled headband completed her face.

Her costume was a plain purple dress hidden by pounds of red feather boas. Red fishnet tights, long red gloves, and glittery Dorothy-style red heels added to her bad-girl flavor. Also, a huge dark pink feather tail added to her "beauty" and was very important to the show.

This picture is of the Sour Kangaroo, the Baby Kangaroo, and the Wickersham Brothers. These jungle characters stirred up lots of trouble for Horton!

Sorry for not posting in a while, and sorry for the lack of pictures. More will be up soon, maybe with some videos too! Don't forget to check out my other new blog in the works, It's Tea Time!

Toodli-doooooo!

GREASE is the word!

Hey everyone! I haven't been posting a lot recently, so I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. I've been so so so so busy! Anyway, last night I was watching Grease on ABC Family, and while I was watching I realized I haven't yet posted about this popular movie and "everybody's favorite sing-along!" We're doing it next year for our spring musical at school! Can't wait! Anyway, I'm not one to write reviews (I might start doing that though...) as you know. I just like to post pictures and give you a link to Wikipedia or something. So here's some pictures from... Grease!

To check out more on the show/movie, go to IMDb! All photo credits to Fan Pop.

Toodles!!!

just press play!

Here are two videos of me singing!

Check them out (and more!) on Youtube by clicking here.

That video was of me singing "I'm Not That Girl" from Wicked!

That video was of me singing "On My Own" from Les Miserables!

Toodli-doodles!

Seussical "Previews!"

On Tuesday, Horton, Gertrude McFuzz, Sour Kangaroo, and I- Mayzie la Bird- performed at the 6th grade orientation for our school! We sang songs (Biggest Blame Fool: Sour Kangaroo, All; Alone in the Universe: Horton; Notice Me, Horton: Gertrude McFuzz, Horton; How Lucky You Are: Mayzie la Bird; Mayzie at the Circus: Mayzie la Bird; and Amayzing Horton: Mayzie la Bird, Horton!) from the show and threw on random costumes and stuck some fake plants here and there to set the scene!

The rising 6th graders would go from class to class to learn about the cirriculum and in between "classes" we were in the hall performing for them! It was so fun! I can't wait till May, the actual show!

Anyway, here are some pictures of our last-minute costumes.

Toodles!

P.S. This post will be edited soon about the costumes, so check back!

"Anything Goes" Review

This is a review from The Broadway Critic Blog, written by Spencer Williams. I love Sutton Foster, so I decided to post this! But be sure you know I do not own this. I did not write this.

11MA

"Anything Goes, Roundabout Theatre Company’s newest revival, is absolutely de-lovely.

It’s delightful.

It’s delicious in every respect.

Not only is it one of the best revivals I have seen in recent years, it’s one of the best shows that I’ve seen on Broadway in a long time. While other Broadway shows are trying to push the envelope, Anything Goes ends up being good-ole fashioned musical theatre fun. It doesn’t need to be technically over-produced like Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark, or pushing the limits on subject matter like in Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s musical, The Book of Mormon because Anything Goes is a classic....

Now to talk about the formidable Sutton Foster. Let’s just say this: if she doesn’t win the Tony Award for this portrayal of Reno Sweeney, I’m going to be flabbergasted. She sings it better than I’ve ever heard before (her belting was sublime), dances it with ease and finds nuance in the script that no one ever knew was there. As Lord Oakleigh would say, “She is the dog’s pajamas.” She is one of the few actors on the Broadway stage that is a true triple threat. She is a becoming a true Broadway legend....."

To check out the rest of this review of Anything Goes, click The Broadway Critic Blog.

Toodli-doo-da!!!

P.S. Again, I did NOT write any of this. This is all the work of Spencer Williams, from The Broadway Critic Blog.

james & the giant peach!

"The Aunt Sponge Song"

One of our many frozen positions.

Earthworm complaining, as always!

"The Aunt Spiker Song"

Probably Earthworm whining.

James, Aunt Spiker, and Aunt Sponge at the beginning of the show!

This is Meg, who played Miss Spider. She had black gloves, tights, leotard, and skirt. And in our touring performance, she had a touch of black blush on!

The Narrators (Annie, Katelyn, Mercer) were very very very important in the story. They were chosen as The Narrators because of their ability to speak and memorize well. Black flats, blue jeans, and white shirts added to their simplicity!

This is the Caterpillar, played by Taylor. Green gloves, tights, hat, and dress compliment her gold antennae!

This is the Ant, played by Anika. Black tights, skirt, leotard, and beret are very ant-ish. Touches of silver- her gloves and antennae- look perfect!

This is me; I played the Centipede. I had to show this makeup! A highly noticeable unibrow and wart add to the geeky black 3-D glasses and black aviator hat.

Centipede's full costume consisted of a tan leotard, skirt, socks, and tights. Touches of black (which are present in real centipedes) cover my hands, eyes, and head. Brown boots cover my feet and shins, and are also very important to the plot. Centipede is obsessed with boots... we'll just put it at that. The gold rag hanging from my neck is the polisher for the boots!

The Silkworm, played by Rebecca, is completely blanketed with white... white ballet shoes, tights, skirt, gloves, leotard, earrings, and hat. Lavender antennae add a little color to this adorable costume!

Dakota, who played the Glow-Worm, had these awesome light neon green shoes with squiggles on the bottom. Perfect for his part! Not to mention the khaki shorts, yellow-green gloves, yellow shirt, puffy yellow vest, and yellow makeup. He also had on a yellow miner hat with a light attached to the top. He turned on the light when the Centipede gets impatient with the dark, and it looked really cool!

The Old-Green-Grasshopper, played by Allison, had on green tights, green gloves, and a green leotard. Black shorts and a cute green beret worked very well with the rest of her costume! Wire-rimmed glasses, a dark brown cane, and a staggering walk made her look older!

This is Sarah, who played the Ladybug. Red gloves, tights, leotard, and black skirt are the perfect colors for a ladybug! Red antennae and polka dotted black and red wings added to her costume, as well as the red dots on her cheeks!

James Henry Trotter, played by Luc, wore lots of makeup to make him look younger. He also wore a tan hat, khaki shorts, and tan Sperrys. A plaid blue button-down covered by a navy blue pullover match his blue argyle high socks!

Julia, who played the Earthworm, had on a red leotard, red hat, red shorts, red gloves, and red tights! Her huge pink glasses added to the fact that the Earthworm is blind!

Hope you enjoyed this extremely belated post! Don't forget-comment and follow on this blog and on Twitter! Also- get excited- the Seussical auditions are on March 1st! Get ready for millions of posts about that!

Toodli-doodle-I-need-my-boots!