The movers are coming in 30 hours and I am rather anxious.  I have packed a lot, but there is plenty more to pack.  And I think I am (once again) going to be surrounded by a tower of boxes once I get into the new place.  At least I'll have the weekend to find my clothes:-)

In better news, a very very generous someone has offered me a ticket for the Friday Night Project taping tomorrow.  I am very excited (and hope that I get in).  I really want to be there, though I don't want to get too much into the spotlight if I am.

I am also very excited about meeting a number people who will be there.

Of course I probably ought to just pack for the next 30 hours straight, but perhaps it is good that I will be taking a break in the midde.

Now if only I could find the camera battery charger that isn't already packed....

77 hours to go before the movers arrive and this place is in utter chaos!

Should I be happy or sad that I am worried about getting my Doctor Who paraphernalia, rather than sex toys, out of sight?

I was hoping (trying? expecting?) to post more often, but so far I have not been doing a good job of that.  I'm still trying to figure out how best to go about it all.  I am excited about the whole LJ thing because it is nice to have an outlet for the things that I want to say.  But for various (unexciting) reasons, I need to do it in a way that preserves a bit of anonymity.  As a result, I am overthinking what I can and should say here (even though there aren't that many people who are interested/nerdy enough to do the detective work, and even though I don't imagine it would that hard for those who knew me to know it was me, if they ever looked).

OK, that was way too rambly.

The other reason why I haven't written much is that I have been painting.  Painting walls and ceilings, to be precise.  When I got the new place, I was really excited to be able to paint it whatever colours I wanted - and I still am, but I have been spending lots of nights and weekends doing it, so the newness has worn off and I have paint splatters and bruises in more places than I would have liked.  And I have to keep myself on a punishing schedule for the next few days to finish on time.  But I am quite excited by the results so far, despite the fact that my work lacks some professional touches.

I have been seeing shows, almost at my optimal pace of at least two a week, and there have been some good ones in there.  My favourite of the past few weeks has been A Prayer for My Daughter at the New Vic, featuring the dazzlingly talented Colin Morgan.  I have seen him on stage before, but this was, to use an overused expression, a revelation.  I am very excited that he is due to pop up in Doctor Who this year.

makemlaff at allthatchat posted this set of questions and I thought they'd make a nice little post here.  My answers are in bold.  I'm actually answering for Broadway, where Broadway is specifically mentioned, but for theatre in general the rest of the time.  These are fairly spur-of-the-moment answers, but I guess that in itself makes them telling.

Anyone else care to answer?


The first musical I ever saw on Broadway was Candide (or if you haven’t seen a musical on Broadway)
The first musical I would like to see on Broadway is

The musical I would most like to see again is Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

The musical I never want to see again is Evita (such a controversial answer)

The best performance in a Broadway musical by a woman I’ve ever seen is [a tie:] Maya Days or Heather Headley in Aida (even though I didn't like Aida that much).

The best performance in a Broadway musical by a man I’ve ever seen is [a tie:] Alan Cumming in Cabaret or Anthony Rapp in RENT.

The person I wish they never cast was Matthew Broderick in the show The Producers

The person they should have cast was Hunter Foster

My favorite Broadway choreography was in the show [a tie:] The Music Man (Susan Stroman) or Chicago

The lyric/line that always brings a lump to my throat is "It was the end of the world, and I was dancing with Sally Bowles, and we were both fast asleep."

The stupidest lyric/line I’ve ever heard is "Maybe things won't be so bad/And maybe I won't miss my dad" (though it has a certain charm)

The first musical I had to go back and see twice was Joseph...

The first musical I ever walked out of was [that still has never happened]

The most under praised and overly deserving show in my opinion is Taboo

The most overly praised and under deserving show in my opinion is

The song show tune I’m most likely to sing while I’m dancing around at home is [at the moment:] The Bitch of Living

If I could recast any role in a current Broadway musical with a performer of the past it would be James Rado in Spring Awakening

If I could recast current actor in a Broadway musical that was before their time it would be Raul Esparza in Hair (for more than one night, and for the whole show, this time)

The show they should never change a word of because it is already perfect is Hedwig and the Angry Inch

The show I'd most like to get my hands on and rewrite is Aida

The role I was born to play on Broadway is Mark Cohen (even though I don't look the part in any way)

Tonight I saw a production of Sondheim's musical ASSASSINS at the Landor Theatre in Clapham.  I always feel a particular need to qualify the name ASSASSINS right away lest people get confused.

Anyhow, the show was very good.  It didn't surpass the recent Broadway version that I so loved, but it was done on a completely different scale and budget and featured several excellent performers.  I was particularly impressed by the young man playing Guiteau - but I didn't get a playbill so I do not have his name at hand (and it's almost 4 a.m. now, so I mustn't start searching online for it now).

This particular theatre outing came hot on the heels of a visit last week to the Watermill Theatre in Bagnor, near Newbury, to see the new John Doyle staging of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, another Sondheim show.  I had never seen MERRILY on stage before (I ought to have seen it in Washington, D.C. several years ago but for various silly reasons that never came to pass) and I loved it here and thought it was fantastic.  I was really impressed (and a bit surprised, given the criticism that the show has endured in the past) at how brilliantly the narrative came together, and how much it had to say.  And I loved the performances by the leads.  I really appreciate shows that focus on the performances and the narrative without the need for elaborate sets, and this was a perfect example of the genre.  I loved the whole Watermill space, too.  The theatre itself was intimate (and being in the front row was fantastic), and I loved the grounds (such as we could see them on a cold, dark January night) and the bar and restaurant area.  It was nice to have an outing to the country, too, much as I love the city.

Finally!  After years of reading the LJ pages of friends and Internet strangers, I went out and got my own LJ account.  I wanted to join a particular group, and I also felt a certain need for an anonymous outlet for my fannish tendencies. 

So now I can scream and shout about the shows that I see (many, when I can) and anything else that tickles my fancy.  Yay!

So far I have only seen one show this year (which means that I'm behind schedule for me).  I saw the Pet Shop Boys do Battleship Potemkin live with the BBC Concert Orchestra on Friday night.  I love the PSB, and it is always really, really exciting to see them live.  I loved the music on Friday, and there were some really magical moments.

In other fannishness news, I'm rather excited about Torchwood tomorrow night.  But I haven't admitted that to anyone I have seen in person.