SNOW. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

I love snow.
It's fabulous to watch.
To see.
To feel.
To romp in with my dog.
HOWEVER.
It is NOT fun when it traps me in my house.
I haven't been to work in the past two days.
Actually...
I haven't been ANYWHERE in the past two days.
I have yet to gain the infamous Cabin fever or become stir-crazy.
STILL.
I'd like to regain the OPTION of leaving if I chose to do so.
argh.

On the flip side, the website for the dance studio is up and it's great...
As long as you overlook the EXTREMELY cheesy picture of me.
It made me die a little on the inside.
www.charmionpac.com

From anger to elation: a day in the life...

Today isn't a great day.
I still haven't gotten my scripts from Barry....
NOT fun.
I was cold at best and very depressed.....
I dunno.
Not good stuff....

Tomorrow is supposed to be the first day of my Musical Theatre classes for this semester.
I am stoked because I love the kids.
HOWEVER, I will cancel classes if the weather stays this crappy.
Regardless, I'll still be there around 3 to meet up with our head instructor, Virginia, and go over stuff for the recital.
We all have collectively decided to do it in two acts.
The first act will be like a regular recital, with separate individual bits for each class.
THEN, the second act will be OUR version of "Beauty and the Beast."
The reason I'm getting with Virg is to tweak the story line and kinda figure out with what direction we want to go.
THEN, I get the fabulous task of writing the script.
Hizzah....
lol.
OH!
Both her and our FABULOUS Irish step instructor (Who I adore!) Ryan have asked me to do the Mrs. Potts character.
That means singing and acting onstage with the kids.
Yep.
I don't mind...
My only issue is if someone else has an issue with it.
Virg said she's probably gonna do a little tap number, and the cheer instructor Tammi wants to dance too...
THEN, I won't feel so awkward.
I can tell right now that, come June, I will HATE both stories of Treasure Island and Beauty and the Beast....
lol

I ran across this play,The Murderous Mansion of Mr. Uno, A deadly comedy by Don Zolidis.
I think it is wicked funny and it's a sort of spoof on the movie version of CLUE.
GENRE Murder Mystery/Comedy
LENGTH Short, 40-60 minutes
CAST 5 females, 6 males
SET Unit set. The living room, library, and study of a mansion. Could be suggested.

The mysterious Mr. Uno has invited six eccentric guests to his dark and stormy mansion. When Uno winds up dead (several times over), and guests begin dying mysteriously, those remaining must uncover the murderer before it's too late. A wickedly funny parody of the traditional murder mystery, with eleven possible alternate endings voted on by the audience. Mix and match them all!
I emailed the writer about getting a copy of the script and he sent me the following link, which is the majority of the script.
http://www.playscripts.com/playview.php3?playid=1011
He also said, "I'll make this offer. If a community theater out there goes ahead and buys the rights to perform the show from Playscripts, I will write you a new version of this play that works out to a full-length. You can use the new version for your production and only pay the cost of a one-act performance (right now the play is $40 a performance, which is a pretty good deal). The deal is good until Playscripts publishes the new, full-length version of the show. "


I apologize and you'll forgive...
I will die as you learn to live...
I'll sing my song and you'll dance along
and we'll all pretend to smile somehow.
I will beg and you will pay...
I'll be the director...
You, an actor in my play...
We could be the queen and king
and we'll all pretend to smile somehow.

Hizzahs all around!

HIZZAH!
An interesting murder mystery that sounds a lot like clue, but isn't!
Actually someone told me that it is kind of a spoof on the movie, even though the movie was kinda spoofy itself.
Anywhoo...
YAY!
http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=1011

I must insert that the cat is currently sitting in the kitchen vocalizing....
It's this "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrollll.... Aaaroowl....Arrrowl...Aaaarrrroll...."
Argh.
Anyways...
OH!
MAJOR HIZZAH for the fact that the scripts are in!
They are with Jane, the president of the board, and she's gonna have her husband Barry bring them to the Table.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
and only 18 days away.....
You had better believe I am counting down...
I am ready to get started!

That's all I have for now...
I must buzz off to work...
Bleh.
Driving in snow....

Quilting memories OR capturing a miracle... of sorts...

Over a year ago, I presented this overstuffed canvas bag to my poor grandmother.
Inside this bag was a zillion T-shirts I had collected over the years and no longer wanted to use in my wardrobe.
My idea?
To cut them up and make a quilt.
Ha!
Unfortunately, LIFE took over and it wasn't until last week that we both thought about it again.
SO, a couple of days ago, I went over with a smaller pile of MORE T-shirts and got to work.
We've now got several squares cut up and we started arranging them on the floor, trying to decide how we want the final look to be.
It's a work in process...

I decided to start a blog for Treasure Island.
http://rtptreasureisland.blogspot.com/
Another creative step.
I've been meaning to post this pic forever.
I took it on my phone back in August.
I couldn't believe there was a pirate ship cloud in the sky.
Mom and I stood in the parking lot for a solid two minutes, just marvelling...



If you notice the pointy turret in between the buildings....
That's the uppermost front turret of Memorial Hall, home of Roundtown Players...
It's fate.

24 days.......

24 days.
Time has completely flown by.
Little Johnny Jones is in full swing.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
So I'm only slightly mad...
ha.
I've decided to start a blog for the whole Treasure Island process.
I'm going to tell the kids and parents so they can follow along and enjoy....
AND it could be a little relief for me....
Therapy...
Something every half-crazed thespian needs...
OH, the scripts will be here this week.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!
I feel so psyched and giddy everytime I think about it.
Man, it is going to roooooooock.
lol
I am so OVERLY animated about this show.

Oh, an update on my CLUE search....
My fabulous friend John gave me a contact number for someone within the walls of the Paramount people...
Yep...
PARAMOUNT.
After talking to a couple different guys, I was connected with a gent in their Licensing Department.
I left a message, so, hopefully, he'll call me back and give me good news...
I hope.


Yo Ho Ho
From a 1901 Broadway musical
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike
The bosun brained with a marlinspike
And cookey's throat was marked belike
It had been gripped by fingers ten;
And there they lay, all good dead men
Like break o'day in a boozing ken
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Fifteen men of the whole ship's list
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Dead and be damned and the rest gone whist!
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
The skipper lay with his nob in gore
Where the scullion's axe his cheek had shore
And the scullion he was stabbed times four
And there they lay, and the soggy skies
Dripped down in up-staring eyes
In murk sunset and foul sunrise
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Fifteen men of 'em stiff and stark
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Ten of the crew had the murder mark!
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers' glut with a rotting red
And there they lay, aye, damn my eyes
Looking up at paradise
All souls bound just contrawise
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Fifteen men of 'em good and true
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Ev'ry man jack could ha' sailed with Old Pew,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
There was chest on chest of Spanish gold
With a ton of plate in the middle hold
And the cabins riot of stuff untold,
And they lay there that took the plum
With sightless glare and their lips struck dumb
While we shared all by the rule of thumb,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

More was seen through a sternlight screen...
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Chartings undoubt where a woman had been
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
'Twas a flimsy shift on a bunker cot
With a dirk slit sheer through the bosom spot
And the lace stiff dry in a purplish blot
Oh was she wench or some shudderin' maid
That dared the knife and took the blade
By God! she had stuff for a plucky jade
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
We wrapped 'em all in a mains'l tight
With twice ten turns of a hawser's bight
And we heaved 'em over and out of sight,
With a Yo-Heave-Ho! and a fare-you-well
And a sudden plunge in the sullen swell
Ten fathoms deep on the road to hell,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Patty and Skip Hendersonchanteyman@email.msn.com

Information for your sailor's song collection; Fifteen Men on the Dead Man's Chest was a poem written by Young E. Allison who was a contemporary of Robert. Louis Stevenson describing the fate of the crew on a ship wrecked on the infamous Dead Man's Chest, a reef close to the island of Tortola in the eastern Caribbean, east of Puerto Rico, in the British Virgin Islands. The title of the poem is Derelict. Allison used the lines from Stevenson's Treasure Island story to retell the folk legend. The tune was used by several professional musical organizations recording an approximate melody, most notably the Roger Wagner Chorale on a cassette tape called SEA CHANTIES(RW 029-C). The most accurate tune from the early San Francisco shanty days was performed by A.L.Ekstrom of Sausalito,CA. and was rewritten by Skip Henderson (myself) in 1964. I perform, research, and annotate english language sea chanties and maritime music as a hobby and work with the National Maritime Historic Park Service, as a volunteer, at Hyde St. Pier, in San Francisco. I have an extensive library of books and tapes and would be glad to aid in answering questions concerning this rather obscure folk music.

Skip Henderson

Will someone please give me a CLUE?!?!?!?!

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20051006/ai_n15805357
http://laughingsquid.com/squidlist/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=168765&year=2007&month=7
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/north_sound/arl/entertainment/33856914.html
www.communitytheatre.org
So, I'm being the crazy stalker chick tonight.
I've sent a couple of half-crazed emails to total strangers across the nation, looking for anyone, ANYONE, who would have the rights for a straight stage production of CLUE.
Great movie.
And apparently a great musical.
BUT, I want the straight version.
The NON musical version, if you will.
So far, only one person has emailed me back from the Dark Room Theatre in San Francisco.
They, unfortunately, are a pirate theatre and basically wrote their own version.
ARGH.
BUT, I haven't used up all my resources....
I'm also stalking several High School directors in my search...
I'm feeling kinda like a mad woman....
Kinda scary...
lol

I told you so

We've all had this moment.
The moment where you realize, " I was RIGHT."
"I WAS RIGHT!"
It is truly an awesome moment.
We've also had those moments that some times follow where we get to share our joy in the "I told you so" state.
I truly had one of those moments today.
I recently gave a friend advice.
Relationship advice.
And it was good advice.
Right on the nose.
Unfortunately, what they wanted to do did not line up with what I was advising them to do.
After so many agonizing minutes of trying to help and lead them into the right direction, I finally gave up and told them to "Follow their gut."
I gave this final statement knowing full well the consequences.
And I waited.
I waited for a week.
Then, today, I received the information that they had indeed gone with their gut.
They went ahead with their original plan.
AND FAILED.
Miserably, it seems.
I sat at the Table and raised my hands in triumph after hearing the news.
"I was right." I said, over and over again.
I was right.
Whadya know...
Now should come the "I told you so" moment, right?
No.
Nope.
Because I can be nice.
And kicking a dog when he's down isn't my bag.
Unless I hate the dog...
And the dog is only a metaphor for a human.
(Because I'd never actually kick a dog....
But I would kick another person....
What was I talking about?
Oh yea.............)
NOW, will this moment come?
I dunno.
I've gone through several scenarios, ranging from me patting my friend on the back and saying, "Well, I tried to warn you" to me being frustrated and haggardly spitting out "You know what? I told you! I told you what would happen, and it did!"
(I tend to overdramatize things sometimes.)
SO, who knows what will happen.

But I so told them.
HA!