Tidbits! (Memorial Day Weekend)

Over the weekend, PBS aired the 2007 Drama Desk Awards. I recorded them and watched about half. The other half I fast forwarded through. The show was hosted by Kristen Chenoweth, who I love. I'll be honest though, I didn't think she was all that funny. Don't get me wrong, I had some good chuckles at a few of her jokes. I even laughed outright at a few. The trouble was that I was watching with my family and no one else was laughing. I had to keep pausing the show to explain why what she was doing was comical.

The main reason I recorded the show was so that I could watch two of the performances: Raul Esparza singing "Marry Me a Little" from COMPANY; and the girls of SPRING AWAKENING singing "Mama Who Bore Me". Both performances were pretty good.

I couldn't find a video or Raul's performance from the Awards, but here's one of him singing the same song in the actual show at the close of the first act.

This is the actual performance from the Awards of "Mama Who Bore Me". The girl with no shoes and long hair is Lauren Pritchard (Isle) and YES, she was just that annoying in the actual show...

Last night, Melissa Errico returned to Birdland in "Lullabyes N' Broadway". She is a Tony-nominated actress (Amour) with fantastic vocal chops! Her good friend Raul Esparza was on hand to watch her perform.

The two were featured together in the 2005 benefit "Children and Art". It was a Broadway-Star Studded night featuring the music of Stephen Sondheim. There were many A-List performers, including Bernadette Peters, Barbara Cook, and Brian Stokes Mitchell to only name a few. Raul and Melissa sang "Move On" and "Sunday" from Sunday in the Park With George.

Last week we saw a whole lot of T.R. Knight. Over the weekend his co-star and TV-wife Sara Ramirez (who won a Tony for her role in Spamalot) visited friend Janine LaManna backstage at the Marquis Theater. Apparently the two had a stint in summer stock together.

This was long before Sara Ramirez got her big Broadway break playing "Lady of the Lake" in Spamalot, and before she got to pick a show to be on ABC and chose Grey's Anatomy. Janine is currently playing "Janet Van de Graff" in The Drowsy Chaperone. She's not very good.
Boy, I would hate to not be very talented and be friends with someone as talented as Sara….

Jason Robert Brown (the composer and lyricist from The Last Five Years, Songs for a New World) is scheduled to have a new show on Broadway next season. "13" is about a young man who moves from New York to Indiana right before his 13th birthday and bar mitzvah. The show will feature a teen band and thirteen young performers.

Apparently Brown and his producers are trying to capitalize on what Spring Awakening made happen with their young cast. I don't mean to be a nay-sayer, but I hope they realize the biggest reason that show worked was because of Duncan Sheik's score. And don't get me wrong - I love JRB. But a night of songs by 13-year olds written by him? It makes me nervous…

Now for some personal notes!

Oh man, what a weekend!

Thursday night I met up with my good friend Scottie, who is in town from Houston, TX. We grabbed some dinner at Cilantro (I had the Mushroom Spinach and Goat Cheese Enchiladas - yum!) and took advantage of their awesome Happy Hour specials. After that, Scottie was a sport and went with me to my friend David's apartment, where he was hosting a small-ish roof top dinner party. That was a lot of fun. I had already eaten, but David informed me that it was rude to attend and not eat, so I had some of the shrimp pasta that was actually pretty great! Two bottles of wine later (they were shared…) I dragged myself home to meet my mom. She arrived at my apartment around midnight, and I was pretty tipsy. So we chatted for an hour or so and then I passed out.

Friday we went out to Connecticut. We barbequed and hung out and it was a lot of fun!
Saturday was the Annual Lime Rock racing event. We met up with the gang early in the morning for some quick breakfast and cocktails, and then raced up to the track. Lime Rock is 1.5 hours north of where we were in CT, and it was quite literally a race to the event. Our caravan consisted of multiple Porsche's and BMW's. I rode in the back of a convertible BMW M-3. I've never been in a car that fast, let alone with the top down! We topped out around 120 mph at a few points, and while I admit that there was a moment where I clutched the seat in fear, it was a total blast! I can't wait for next year now!

Everyone got really into it. Even the puppies dressed for days events.

And my nephew Jack is all about the race cars. This is him standing next to his Uncle DJ's red Porsche. That silver one behind it belongs to my brother-in-law, Doug.

Mandy and Doug rode together (naturally) on the race up to the races, and this is them passing us on the highway and blowing a kiss - It's amazing the pic isn't blurry!

Sunday was Jack's Birthday party. I can't believe he's 2. We spent the day down on the beach in Noroton Bay playing games and spending time with the family. We even had time to take the boat out for a bit.

Yesterday we went back out on the boat for a few hours before my mom had to catch her flight back to Utah. Mandy and I drove her to the airport, and then we went into the city to drop off my stuff and go to dinner.

Well, we got to my apartment, and I realized that I didn't have my keys. They had been put in a drawer in CT so that Jack wouldn't play with them. So we went to dinner, and then headed back to Huntington. I picked up my keys and then got on a train into the city. So the second half of my day was kinda rough.

Except for dinner with Mandy. We had sushi, and then went back to Cilantro (where I ate on Thursday with Scottie). The bartender there is very cute and Serbian. I have a little crush… So we had a few drinks before getting back on the road and that part was actually really fun! I love my sister…

Tonight is Scottie's last night here before going to SLC for the Utah Pride Festival this weekend. I'm going to try to catch up with him and spend some more time before he takes off.
I'm definitely planning on an early bedtime tonight though. This weekend has seriously wiped me out!