Who says?

Funny how there's a mold that every societal subgroup creates to which all in the group are expected to conform. Who creates it? How does it become what it is? Who says?

Someone once said that New York is the city of misfits.

I think it's true. And then again, it's not. A social class system permeates the island. The elite should do this and the poor should do that. The West Side's like this, and the East Side like that. A child should be raised this way, and eat this, and wear that. They should go to school here (says the Cat in the Hat.)

Before I pay further homage to Dr. Seuss, I'll stop there.

This city is full of people who don't fit many other places. But at the heart of the island, people are concerned with who's in and who's out. It's almost as if it's made up of three kinds of people. People who are "in," people who desperately want to be "in," and people who could care less about being "in," about rules and status and labels.

We belong to the third group. The misfits. The ones who don't care about being "in." But by saying it, we're fitting in. You know what? It feels really good to fit into that group.

Random Saturday Musings

I know I'm a little late in the game on this one, but I love hummus. I'm eating it constantly these days! I love it so much I have a little chant-like song I sing in my head when I eat it. It goes like this:

CHICK pea CHICK pea!
hummushummushummushummus
CHICK pea CHICK pea!
hummushummushummushummus
TAHINI!
Yeaaaaah TAHINI!

CHICK pea CHICK pea!
hummushummushummushummus...

And so forth and so on.

It's nice, huh?

Also, I said the word, "nifty," the other day, a word that's really fun to say, and this song from 5th grade popped into my head. Anyone ever sing this?

FIFty NIFty uNITEd states
From thirteen original COLonies.
FIFty NIFty stars in the flag
That billOW so beautifully in the breeze.

ALABAMA! ALASKA ARIZONA ARKANSAS!...

And all through the fifty states in alphabetical order, but I stop after Arkansas cuz I can't remember which ones are next. Are there even any states that start with a B? is what runs through my head. Then I drop it cuz that's way too much thinking for a reminiscent 5th grade song. The important thing is that when you sing it you must sing it with such gusto and excitement as when you were 11.

Then I was telling Seth it was hot in our apartment, so I opened the window (a real great thing about New York, you just open a window! Until July/ August. I hear it's unbearable and that's when you kick the window A/C into gear). And as I opened the window I remembered a song from 6th grade choir. Yeah, I was a choir nerd. Totally and absolutely and I'm proud of it.

All I remember is the last line:

It is HOT it is HOT it is very very HOT
AND YET I SHIVAH!

"Shiv-ah" being the pronunciation 6th graders sing for "shiver." It was a weird song.

I'm about to eat homemade oatmeal. Not homemade by me, of course, cuz I hardly ever cook anything. Homemade by my husband who has a kickA recipe for apple-cinnamon oatmeal. It's REALLY good. Then we're going for a walk in Central Park with our friend a block over. It's a GORGEOUS day here and I'll kill myself if I stay inside.

Have a fantastic day.

The Lord's Prayer: 2 Yr Old Style

HT: Super Churchlady


Now that's worship right there.

Is This Home

OK.

Some have asked for this kind of thing before. And since Roy (Lumierre, whose pictures I stole and previously posted) kindly posted the link down in one of the comment sections, I'll give it to you here.

DISCLAIMER 1: Live direct feeds really bite. That's when what you sing into the microphone goes directly into a recording, without reverb OR balance with the orchestra OR help from the house acoustics, and then without the chance to redo the bad notes. =-) It's a really dry, flat sound. AND every tiny breath, out of tune note, pop, or weird thing that happens to your voice is amplified. Here, since the keyboard strings are direct as well, you get alot of that without hearing the full orchestra, which was really dang good and directed by our friend, Rick Spitz. End recorded product: Me = really dang loud. Orchestra = not loud enough.

DISCLAIMER 2: Stage productions on camera never capture the true essence of the performance, in my opinion, and in my husband's opinion, who watched the show all three nights, God bless'im.

DISCLAIMER 3: This is about an 8 1/2 minute clip, just so you know. The song's in the middle.

So that out of the way, here's me as Belle singing, "Is This Home," from Beauty and the Beast.

It's Big Give, NOT Big Giveaway

Derr.

Not only was I wrong about the name of this show, I think I might have been wrong about the show, period.

I watched it again tonight. Each contestant had 24 hours to give away $100,000. They could give up to $500 per person and up to $10,000 per location. The challenge was to give away all $100,000 before the 24 hours were up, as creatively as possible. But the gifts could not be the cash itself. It had to be in a different form. I watched one contestant buy groceries for the first 100 people to enter a grocery store in an impoverished area of town. I watched one contestant send 20 random people in a Target on a 5 minute shopping spree, up to $500 each. Turns out one of those 20 people was living in a homeless shelter at the time with his family. I saw one man buy truckloads of electronic equipment and hand deliver them to the doorsteps of impoverished neighborhoods. Another guy paid off outstanding debts on remaining cars in a mechanic shop. One woman bought $10,000 worth of bus and rail passes for a charity that helps foster girls make the transition from foster homes out into the real world.

I was moved by the reactions of the people who received. They raised their hands toward God. Genuine joy and thankfulness. A light of hope shown in their eyes. Something that said, it's been real hard but I know I can make it now. And at that point it wasn't about the contestants. It was about the people whose lives were changed. The contestants themselves weren't thinking of themselves but of the best way to help people in need. It was about the contestants searching within themselves to meet the challenge, not about competing with each other.

And as I sat on my couch watching others help, I thought, am I doing what I can? Not...I wish I had $100,000 to give away. Just...to help meet a need. To just open my eyes, look around me, and give. Personally. Purposefully. If I wondered any further about the contestants, or Oprah, or Simon Cowell, I remembered my butt on the couch. And if I were to ask Jesus about them, he would ask why I was asking and tell me to worry about myself.

And I think that T.V. is one thing, and someone's personal life is another. That the purpose and workings of a T.V. show could be set apart, to an extent, from the purposes and workings of an individual life. Maybe. And that it doesn't really matter anyway. The point is the 8 yr old boy wrapped his arms around a stranger because his dad could pick the car up from the mechanic shop and take it home that day.

Happy Easter

Unnatural

It's not natural for a dog to poop on the pavement.

Just plain dadgum unnatural.

I hate walking by a dog taking a crap on the sidewalk in Manhattan.


HATE it.



They look horridly embarrassed: ears back, necks out, beady little eyes, glancing ashamedly at passer-bys. The dogs hate it, too! No grass or shrubs to hide their gross contorted excrementing bodies.

Ugh.

Gross, gross, gross.

The Big Giveaway

I like Oprah. I know there are a lot of members of the Christian community who don't like her and think she's New Age. I don't know if she's New Age. She says she's a Christian. I have to believe her.

I like the good she does for humanity. I like that she gives bookoos of her money away to help people. She changes people's lives. She raises awareness. She encourages action. I like that very much. I watch her show often. She has achieved the incredible, and she inspires me to move forward with my goals.

But I'm not sure I like her new show, The Big Giveaway. Something about competitive giving. It doesn't sit quite right in me. Something about giving for all America to see. Giving to win.

It's not only that Jesus' words keep running over in my head.

"1 Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:1-4)

Who knows how much money Oprah, personally, (not Oprah, the T.V. producer), gives away that nobody sees? I don't know. I can't, shouldn't, judge her life for what I see on T.V. I won't.

It was something she said today. And something Simon Cowell said today, on her show, that got me thinking.

Yesterday I heard a sermon by Tim Keller (here we go again...it's just too good, people!), and part of what he said was like this:

When Nicodemus came to Jesus that night, Jesus told him he must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. Meaning that, all those moral, outstanding, upstanding, deeds he did as a Pharisee (for he was a very good, kind Jew) meant nothing in regards to the salvation Jesus offered. Jesus said, that despite all of that, Nicodemus must be born again. A completely new life. Not a life born of flesh from the pain and suffering and blood of his mother in labor, but a life born of the Spirit...born from Jesus' pain and suffering blood of the cross. A life given to him, not something he could produce.

So what is sin, really? In all of Nicodemus' good lifestyle, what was it that kept him from the kingdom of God? It was, and is, man's completely self-centered idea of himself. Of his existence, his worth, his future, his meaning, his esteem. Jesus was saying that nothing Nicodemus did could excuse him from this state of sin. So when we do something good for the self-centered reason of being good, of winning points for the sake of righteousness, of thinking we are wonderful, of thinking we are more loved by God, better, SELF-righteous, we miss the mark. We misunderstand Christ. And we are not one step nearer to the kingdom of God. To God, himself. Because it's CHRIST'S sacrifice that saves us.

SO! Back to Oprah. Her guest today was Simon Cowell, the American Idol guru, and T.V./record producer. He talked about who would win this season. He showed off his new girl that won in Britain, and his ventriliquist that won America's Got Talent, and then he gave $165,000 to a family whose three year old daughter is receiving chemo and radiation for cancer. He wrote a check for $165,000 to pay off their mortgage. Here's the conversation that took place after he gave the money away, in more or less words:

Simon: I feel really good.

Oprah: Yes! Giving Makes You Feel Good!!

Simon: Yeah, I do. I feel really good.

Oprah: Giving Makes You Feel Good! That's the Point!

Simon: It took me forty something years to realize that and I credit you, Oprah, for bringing it to light.

Oprah: Me? When did you first figure it out?

Simon: Today. Today I can say: I'm a guardian angel now.

*****

Giving Makes You Feel Good. That's the point. I'm a guardian angel now.

That bothered me. It seems that the American idea of giving, as stated here on the Oprah show, is meant to give yourself a little boost. To esteem yourself. It's about what you get out of it. After all, doesn't the Bible say, give and it will be given unto you. You reap what you sow. Feeling good is natural, isn't it? Did Jesus feel good when he raised Lazarus from the dead? When he fed the multitudes and healed the sick? When he died on the cross? Or should it feel bad? Should it feel like bearing your cross? Like being crucified with Christ? Like a sacrifice?

Thoughts welcome.

Characters

Cast of Characters:

DAD - a logical, extremely smart yet quirky character, governed by reason and funny without trying to be.

MOM - sweet and innocent, yet wise and discerning. Loves to laugh. Likes to be silly. Particularly likes to laugh with me and Brother at Dad.

BROTHER - deep thinker, does randomly weird things on purpose. Likes to laugh. Likes to observe. Particularly likes to laugh with me and Mom at Dad.

BROTHER'S WIFE - deep thinker and seemingly quiet, but not really. Can eat a horse and never gain a pound.

SETH - my husband, creative and funny. Incredibly discerning. Sharp eyes and sharp wit.

ME - doesn't care to write descriptions of herself.

*****************
A conversation with my family at dinner. The family sits at a round table for 6 in the front corner of the restaurant.

ME: (to Brother's Wife) How can you eat all that and stay so thin?

BROTHER'S WIFE: I don't know! I'm sure it'll catch up with me someday.

DAD: (full from a great meal, leans back in his chair, looks at Mom and pats his belly. In a high falsetto, says) Hoo!

MOM: (Laughs and imitates him) Hoo! Ha ha! (looks at me sitting on her other side) Did you hear Dad? He just went "Hoo!" Charles, you sounded like Al Capone in that movie! (She laughs) You know that movie where he's driving that car and he's blind.

DAD: (perplexed) No.

ME: Al Capone? Mom, not Al Capone, it's Al.... (turns to Seth on her other side) Seth, Mom just said Al Capone played in that movie where's he's blind. But it's not Al Capone! It's Al....Al...what is it?

SETH: (dryly) Al Pacino

ME: Al Pacino! (turns to Mom) Al Pacino, Mom! Not Al Capone! (I laugh)

MOM: Al Pacino! Oh! (She laughs) What's that movie again, where he goes "Hoo!"?

ME: No, not "Hoo!" It's "Hoo-yah!"

MOM: Oh yeah. "Hoo-yah!" "Hoo-yah!"

ME: "Hoo-yah!"

MOM: What's the movie?

SETH: (shakes his head) It's "Hoo-AH"

ME: Oh! Oops. "Hoo-AH"

MOM: "Hoo-AH"

SETH: (again, dryly) Scent of a Woman. (turns to Brother and Brother's wife on his other side) Amber does that stuff all the time. Just the other day she was trying to call something "rinky dink" and she called it "dinky rinky." Ya know, a mix between "rinky dink" and "winky dinky."

(All laugh)

DAD: (to Mom) I know, Betty. When you said Al Capone I couldn't figure out what you were talking about. I thought, what did you just watch, The Fugitives?

(All confused)

SETH: (Looks at Dad, eyes squint, slight smile, slightly shakes his head) The Untouchables.

DAD: Oh, that's right, The Untouchables.

(All laugh, except Dad.)

ME: (laughing, to Seth) See where I get it?

(All at the table laugh harder...except Dad. He calmly watches every one laugh.)

SETH: (to Brother and Brother's Wife) Yeah. Like, a while back, we're at the airport in...where were we, Amber?

ME: I don't know. I don't remember. Atlanta or something.

SETH: We were flying Southwest into the airport and she says, "Yeah, I think this airport is a major hubbub." instead of "hub." She was trying to say it was a major Southwest Airlines hub.

(All at the table laugh...except Dad, who is a frequent Southwest Rapid Reward flyer, turns his head sharply to look at me and says, completely serious)

DAD: Atlanta? No, no.

Married to An A.D.D man

Yesterday morning, on the way out the door for an audition, my husband says to me,

Husband: Are we still into February?

Me: (surely he's not serious...) (I look at him for a brief moment before replying,) We're into March.

Husband: Really? March what?

Me: (oh my gosh, he's serious) March 14.

Husband: Really!!??

*******

I kid you not.

Birthdays

I was in a cab the other day, and I remembered this thing my best friends and I used to do. I had this group of friends in college...we sang together. Traveled the country together, actually, singing and selling our records. But we did more than sing together. We were all a part of each other's lives in this beautiful way, a way in which we could all make a difference to each other. We were a family, really. The "family" sort of extended outward, I guess you could say, and a bunch of people were brought together. I was remembering something we used to do for birthdays and wishing my actual family would have done this for my brother's birthday.

To celebrate birthdays, we used to get a bunch of people together at someone's apartment, have cake and ice cream or whatever. Then we'd pull up chairs into a cozy fashion of sorts and have a "time of affirmation" for the celebrated person. That person sat while everyone took turns saying something affirming about him/her. Something about his or her character, something that person had done, anything at all that encouraged that person in who he or she was. In that way we celebrated his or her life. We remembered how thankful we were that God had placed that life in ours. There were always a lot of laughs and a whole lot of tears. But it was the best present anyone could get. On your birthday you knew more than anything that you were loved.

I wish we would have done that for my brother this week. I look forward to making new friends here and carrying on the tradition.

Thanks, Brody, for Positive Post Tuesday. I may not be diligent enough to remember to join in, but thank you for celebrating the lives of those you love and encouraging others to do the same thing.

Thank you, Zagat

My brother's birthday is next week, but we celebrated Sunday, for the obvious reason that we're all together this week. (Which means, Mom and Dad, to be fair, all of you have to come again next month to celebrate my birthday. It's only fair.)

So because it was my brother's birthday, he got to choose the restaurant. Well, he got to choose the kind of restaurant. I was, naturally, in charge of what restaurant since I live here and like to plan. Here's the conversation between me and my brother.

Me: So where do you want to go eat tonight for your birthday?

Brother: Oh, we're doing that tonight?

Me: Yeah

Brother: I didn't know we were doing that tonight.

Me: Well...now you do. Tonight.

Me: So where do you want to go?

Brother: I don't know. I'll think about it and tell you later.

Me: OK

Later, on the phone

Me: So where do you want to go tonight?

Brother: Oh....I don't know, really.

Me: Well...what kind of food are you in the mood for?

Brother: Ummmm...I don't know.

Me: Italian, French, American, Mexican.....

Brother: Uh....I don't know, let me call you back.

Me: OK.

Later, again on the phone

Me: So, what do you think? What kind of food are you in the mood for?

Brother: I was thinking, like, Lebanese, Middle Eastern-ish, Israeli....

Me: .....

Brother: Mediteranean. Well, not really Mediteranean. More, Middle Eastern.

Me: ....

Brother: Ya know?

Me: Uh....like Greek?

Brother: No, not really Greek. More Lebanese. Middle Eastern.

Me: Lebanese. OK....huh....

*****

I think his wife and I looked for at least 45 minutes for the right place. It didn't help that neither of us knew what Lebanese or Middle Eastern food was like. BUT! Thanks to our trusty black Zagat book! and superb googling skills, his wife and I found just the place. Called Taboon. And WOW was it good. GOOD. Some of the best food I've eaten here. The most incredible freshly made bread with hummus...the most tasty falafel...a scrumptious beet salad....the most tender fall-off-the-bone rib meat topped with butternut squash over couscous....and a very refreshing Bellini, a perfect birthday dinner.

A surprising,...particular,...and perfect birthday dinner.

Late Night with Charlotte Bronte

Can't sleep again. And on the night we lose an hour! That's just great. And I'll be getting up somewhat early to go to St. Thomas with my brother and his wife. This isn't good. Well, God help me.

I just finished Jane Eyre. Ever read it? Oh, man, is it good. I finished it on the plane ride to Houston a few weeks ago. I cried like a baby. I'm pretty sure Charlotte Bronte is my new favorite writer. She writes a heroine of such a different nature, mysterious, hardly beautiful, frank, smart, strange. But not without passion. Filled with passion that leads her to abnormal or rather, inappropriate? (at least to the mid-19th century reader), reactions and circumstances. But not without faith, virtue. Not without love. But also not without reason. And the two are at battle within her. Just listen to this:

(Here Jane talks to herself of her feelings for Mr. Rochester)

"Listen, then, Jane Eyre, to your sentence: tomorrow, place the glass before you, and draw in chalk your own picture, faithfully; without softening one defect: omit no harsh line, smooth away no displeasing irregularity; write under it, 'Portrait of a Governess, disconnected, poor, and plain.'

Afterwards, take a piece of smooth ivory...take your palette, mix your freshest, finest, clearest tints; choose your most delicate camel-hair pencils; delineate carefully the loveliest face you can imagine; paint it in your softest shades and sweetest hues, according to the description given by Mrs. Fairfax of Blanche Ingram: remember raven ringlets, the oriental eye....No sentiment! No regret! I will endure only sense and resolution.... Omit neither diamond ring nor gold bracelet...call it 'Blanche, an accomplished lady of rank.'

Whenever, in future, you should chance to fancy Mr. Rochester thinks well of you, take out these two pictures and compare them; say, 'Mr. Rochester might probably win that noble lady's love, if he chose to strive for it; is it likely he would waste a serious thought on this indigent and insignificant plebiean?"

Charlotte Bronte so clearly and magnificently paints the inside of this woman's soul. Her yearning heart's desire for what she feels she cannot and will not have, and her battle to reason herself away from unrequited love.

But Jane is not a sad character. She is strong. Such will power. Such grace!

Here Jane meets a gypsy...a fortune teller, of whom she has no faith:

"Well, and you want your fortune told?' she (the fortune teller) said in a voice as decided as her glance, as harsh as her features.

"I don't care about it, mother; you may please yourself; but I ought to warn you, I have no faith."

"It's like your impudence to say so; I expected it of you; I heard it in your step as you crossed the threshold."

"Did you: You've a quick ear."

"I have; and a quick eye, and a quick brain."

"You need them all in your trade."

"I do; especially when I 've customers like you to deal with. Why don't you tremble?"

"I'm not cold."

"Why don't you turn pale?"

"I am not sick."

"Why don't you consult my art?"

"I'm not silly."

Ha! I love it. I love this character. I haven't been drawn to British female authors in the past. I've tried reading Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and I can't finish them. I guess I get bored. (I did like Emma.) But this is a league of its own.

Anyone read her sister, Emily Bronte? Wuthering Heights? Should I read it?

The Fam's Comin'

I just saw them, but lucky for me, my family's coming to NYC tomorrow for my brother's Spring Break. It's the family vacation this year. We've been planning it for a while now, primary reason being, my family loves to PLAN. Man, can we plan! Unlike Seth's family, who have no idea what they're gonna do until 5 minutes before they do it. Every time. Always. It's how it is. It's how it always will be. My family, however, gets irritable and grumpy without a plan. Except for my brother. He's the laid back one of the family. Or maybe it's just that we've always planned for him, so why should he start now?

Since we've moved to New York, I've seen my parents more than when we lived in Texas. Pretty cool, actually. My dad has business to attend to here, so my mom tags along, and it's always a blast. No matter what we're doing, my mom has this way of making it hilariously fun. Take for instance, last time they were here. Seth and I had just moved from the ganuf's building into our newfound haven, and Mom and Dad helped us get moved in and situated. This is me and mom making a "shower caddy."

I mean, really, how fun can it be? Soooo much fun.

Doesn't get much more fun than that.

While my dad slaves away in the next room, doing this:

Yep. Putting up shelves. As many of you handy people know, he's finding the studs with the nifty stud-finder. Seth kept wondering why the thing didn't light up and beep when it passed him....

You better believe it, we had planned for those shelves to be put up. Right down to the hour of day. And don't feel sorry for ole' dad. He loves it! No, really. He loves it! I think he might just put up shelves all day long if he could. It's like a puzzle to him.

"Hmmmm...now why is this showing studs 16 inches apart here (finger thumps the wall twice) but then 12 inches apart here? And then LOOK, I get here and it's like a big huge solid...(moves the stud finder over the same area about 12 times) something.... Concrete. (Decisively) It's gotta be concrete, or maybe brick. Nope. The shelves won't work there. Let's try over here...hmmmm."

But watch out, Seth. With dad around, you're doin' stuff you never even IMAGINED you could do!

That's Seth putting up a hand towel ring on the wall. Dad approves.

While I've been blessed to see my parents often, I haven't seen much of my brother at all. He still lives in Texas. He and his wife attend a missionary training school and plan to go overseas as missionaries in the near future. They were able to come see my show in Houston. My brother gave me a Belle doll after the show. It is now a permanent decorative fixture in our apartment. Here's me, my brother, and the doll. It made my night to see them there.:

Handsome guy, huh? And here's his gorgeous wife sitting next to him at the show, and his wife's sister next to her:

They are a beautiful couple, both with hearts sensitive to the Lord and hungry for His Word and the gospel of Christ. I'm not ready for them to move so far away. But I'm thankful for these next few days with them. Love you guys. See ya soon!

Words of Advice

While searching through your cabinets for hot tea packets, avoid the boxes that say "Super Dieter's Tea."


The effects really aren't very pleasant. I came "home" from my show Friday night in dire need of hot tea. My throat was tired. And since I was tired, my search led me to the only box that said "caffeine free." The box also said "Super Dieter's Tea," but I didn't pay much attention to that because I didn't know what it meant.

Um....after Saturday morning, I know what it means.

Do you what that means?

The box also said to let the tea steep for only 1 minute, and avoid pressing on the tea packet while it steeped. I didn't read that part, either.

More Pictures: The Gold Dress

How can you not love playing this role when you get to wear dresses like this?...

As you can see, I'm real happy about my dress. Cogsworth's sister-in-law made it. She's amazing. I wish I could wear dresses like that every day. My four-year-old niece dresses up like a princess every day. Why can't I?

Me and Lumiere

And when you get to take pictures with little brown-eyed girls like this...

Oh my gosh, she had the biggest, most beautiful brown eyes.

One little 4-year-old girl came up to me, kissed my cheek and said in her sweet little voice, "I love you."

One little girl stood with her daddy after the show, and when she saw me, gasped and said, "She's real!"

And then another one handed me this wilted flower. As she handed it to me, wide-eyed and speechless, her mom told me she had picked it before the show and held it the whole time so she could hand it to me afterwards.



My sweet husband and parents. I'm so thankful for the support my husband and my parents continually give. I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing without the encouragement Seth has given me. I am so blessed. My parents haven't missed a show yet.

And here's some more fun ones I found:

Gaston and the Beast rehearsing the fight scene.

Silly Girls and Lefou swoon over Gaston

"My daughter...odd? Now where did you get an idea like that?"Papa and his invention

My friend and email buddy, Audrey, playing Chip! She did a FANTASTIC job. During the show she was inside a rolling cart, with only her head sticking out the top...until the end of the show, when she ran out as a...GASP....BOY!!!

OK, I think I'm finally done with picture mania.

More Beauty and the Beast Pics

All right, I'm sorry for all the pics here, but grin and bear it, because the show's over, and I'm sad. So here's some backstage shots.

Wardrobe, Belle, Babette, Lumiere, and.... a cheese grater.

Those crazy half-humans

"Oh no, no, no! I've been burnt by you before!!"

Belle and the frightful Beast

Belle and the not-so-scary-slightly-puppy-like Beast

And finally, the Julio-Prince!

More to come!!

Opening Night!

It went REALLY well, considering all the things that could have gone wrong... I absolutely love playing this role. Here are a few pics. They're actually from dress rehearsal. Will have more coming soon. (I'm sure you know, but just in case you don't...you can click on the pic to enlarge.)



OK, well, they're taking forever to load and I'm exhausted, so more coming soon.

Congrats to the cast and crew!