Good vs. Evil

So it's March 31st. The first day of spring was March 21st (ten days ago!), and today, it's snowing. Lightly, yes, but it's still cold. Old man winter is evil. Spring is good. Evil can not win Spring! Good is supposed to beat evil down! Where's your courage? Where's your hootspa? (Yes, I know I spelled it wrong!) Have some guts! Being timid never got anybody anywhere!
There, now that I've given Spring his much needed pep talk, I thought I would update you on all that is exciting and thrilling. Me! Yep, I know. You just can't wait. Beauty and the Beast is almost over, but due to the fact that we had 4 pages of a wait list for the play and each night is sold out, we added another performance. Monday they opened up the day so people could make reservations, and by that night, there were 10 seats left for that show. I have no idea if it is sold out yet. But that is really cool. Really cool. I want to show you some of the pictures I took backstage. Those are always fun!

Lefou and Cogsworth chat before the show.


Morgan gets her make up on...


Morgan and me in my Enchantress costume. It'd probably fit both of us in it!


Monsieur D'Arque and Goldie wait to go on. But wait, he's just a villager there. Many of us play multiple parts.


Lisa and Rene get ready for Be Our Guest!

Remember Yesterday, When I Said I Would Cry?

It snowed today. Bleh!

Spring is Here!

I love my sister. She's awesome. But she likes to brag about how cold it is in her little Minnesota town. Our poor, Utah bodies are not adjusted to cold temperatures when they drop into the minus territory. So we say things to her like it was 14 degrees today! It was sooooo cold! And she just laughs, and says, that's warm compared to -30 degrees. So today, a little weather. My town, Utah: 41 degrees. Sister-town, MN: 56 degrees (I must say I was expecting it to be colder there. Dang it!). Now, that's not much different, but when I have this in my front yard

all I can say is "Neener, neener, neener!" Ha ha ha! There are benefits to living here, and having a south-facing house. The tulips aren't blooming yet, but they aren't far behind. Any way, sista! I thought I would send you a little spring in your cabin fever induced state!
Of course, because Utah has absolutely insane weather (according to my mother sometimes it snows in June here - but it's rare), tomorrow, it could look like this again

At which point I will burst into tears. But luckily, it's only supposed to rain tomorrow (It's raining now, too!). Kaleb said that he thought it was spring when we were walking from the church to our car this afternoon. I said, "It is spring, what do you mean?" He said, "It's cold today!" I told him it was because Winter still wants it to be winter, but Spring is saying, "No, it's my turn!" And Winter says, "I want to be here longer!" Eventually Spring will win, but succumb, all too quickly, to Summer.

"Picking Up Cat Poop is Funner Than That Movie!"

I think it is sad when you go to watch a movie, spend $8 on a ticket and the previews are more entertaining than the production. Last night I went to see a movie with my very bestest friend ever! We went to Iggy's for dinner and had a wonderful time chatting and catching up on things. Then we went to see Watchmen. I give it cat poop for a rating. Actually, cat poop is above this movie. We were expecting a movie about people saving the world or their city from bad guys. Not "dumb gory porn". Those quotes are from my friend. Seriously, horror flicks aren't as bloody and gory as this movie was. And the heroes aren't really even that likable. Oh, and just so you're prepared, in case you don't heed my advice and run the other direction when someone suggests watching it, the blue guy is pretty much naked the entire film and yes you see everything! I wanted to scream "My eyes! My eyes!" or "It burns us! It burns us!" At one point, I turned to her and said, "I thought this movie was rated PG-13." She thought so too. Boy were we wrong. It turns out it was rated R, but in my opinion, that is a pretty generous R! I suggested we walk out, but we both thought the movie would get better. No, it was three hours of blood, disturbing images, and then more pools of blood. I am so offended that the guy at the counter didn't ask for my I.D.!

Everybody's Changing

I dyed my hair Sunday. Yeah. I know. I was ill. My fever went down and I took some cough syrup and went over there. It looks really cool, but I think I wasn't as talkative as I usually am. I also got really, really sleepy. It wasn't until yesterday, that I figured out the cough medicine might be what made me so drowsy. I probably should have stayed home, though. Because when I went to bed, my temperature was back up to 101. But I love it! It's red with blond highlights. It brings out the green in my eyes. No, they are not just brown.
Yesterday, I did the laundry. Well, sort of. I felt like I was dragging all day yesterday. It takes me an hour and a half to do my hair for the play and because my parents were watching my kids (at their house) that evening while I was performing, I had to do it at like one o'clock. I took Kaleb to preschool and Riley and I went to the grocery store in the morning. After we put the groceries away, it was time to go get Kaleb. Then it was lunch time. Then take Riley to kindergarten. Then do my hair. Wait, where is my hairspray? I can't do my hair without that! I called my mom and apparently I had left it at her house Saturday. So run to the store and get some more. Finally, half an hour later than I had intended to start, I was doing my hair. I told the boys I would pick them up from school so we could go strait to Grandma's. After I finished my hair, I was running around the house making sure I had packed everything I intended to take with me to my mom's house. Then, Kurtis calls me. At 3:50, I'm ready to scream because I am the kind of girl who likes things to go her way. Any way, the boys walked up to the house right as I was getting everything in the car. Hallelujah! They are so smart. They knew to walk home rather than waiting around for me. I did my make up at my mom's house, but because I hate lipstick (I can taste it on my lips and I don't like it) I meant to put it on right before the show. Well, I forgot my lipstick! I left all my make up at my mom's house. Oh, well, hopefully you could still see that I really do have a mouth while I was on stage. I tried biting my lips right before I went on to bring out the red pigments. Seriously, who cares? The show was awesome! Our leads rock. No one was even looking at me, I'm sure. Any way, my point in blogging today was to put up a picture of my hair. I got sidetracked. I'm still sick today and I need a nap very, very badly, but I am very glad that I do not have to do my hair! Hee hee hee!

Temperature

You know what sucks? Being sick. I am sick today. Yesterday, I felt like I had been hit with a ton of bricks. Today, it feels like the crane that was holding those bricks dropped them on top of me. I have a fever of 100 degrees, which for me is a bit more like 101 because I am always like 97.4 or something. The people at the doctor's office told me that was low once. Well, I can't help it if I'm not 98.6 degrees all the time. Any way, I am a little delirious. Spell check probably can't even help me today. My throat hurts, my head aches, and I'm really hot. Before I was shivering. The entire cast of Beauty and the Beast is sick. Except Belle. I think she is okay. But it was just a matter of time before I got it too. During last night's performance, the Beast apparently blacked out during the scene where he is attacked by wolves. He said he didn't completely come around until the dancing scene with Belle. Amazing. He still pulled it off. I had a hard time hitting all the high notes last night. I was singing Be Our Guest with a cough drop in my mouth (not easy, I don't recommend it). During Friday night's performance, the Wardrobe almost fell over. Apparently she had taken a lot of different kinds of medicine at once. She's okay. But don't do that either. Especially if you have to drive. I was going to get my hair dyed today, but I don't think that is going to happen. I don't want to get my sister-in-law and her family sick. But the show must go on, so hopefully I will feel better tomorrow. Because even if I can't move, I will still be there tomorrow night.

Whew!

Well, I must say! The Heritage Theater's production of Beauty and the Beast is simply "magical". Those are the comments people were giving during the invited dress rehearsal last night! I've never done a show at Heritage before, but apparently, there has never been a packed house at an invited dress rehearsal and there has never been a standing ovation at the end of a dress rehearsal. How exciting to be a part of this wonderful production! Tonight is opening night and I am so excited. I feel giddy! Everybody who can, should come see this play. And if you don't live near here, and your community is putting it on, go see it! It is simply magical! My boys really loved the wolves. There is something for everyone. Princesses, princes, old and young. Simply divine!


These are some pictures that were taken on Wednesday. The top is Belle during the scene where Mrs. Potts sings to the Beast and Belle ("Tale as old as time..." You know the one!) The bottom is Lefou and Gaston trying to talk to Belle after the first number of the show!

Just Venting (A Little)

So guess what. I can home from rehearsals on Monday night pretty much livid. We open on March 13th. That's in 9 days! Nine freaking days, people! They changed pretty much all of the choreography for all the dances! Nine days! Gaston does not know his lines! Neither does Clocksworth or Mrs. Potts! Nine days! Then the director told us to find a costume. Nothing fit me. Apparently the high school did Beauty and the Beast a few years ago. I am not in high school any more! Then I got shown my enchantress costume. All I could say was, "Really?" and "Are you sure?" Then since I get to drive half an hour home, I got really mad. When I got home I was venting to Mr. Kurtis and he was kind of shrinking away from me. I must have been freaking out a little. So I spent all of yesterday looking for a new costume for myself. I found some really good ones too. Then I went to rehearsal last night. I rehearsed for The Women for half an hour and then went upstairs to Beauty and the Beast. I was supposed to go back and forth, but that didn't really work out so much. My time was monopolized by all the dances and having to re-learn choreography and crap. It's okay, though. They know I had to be there. So I put on my enchantress costume again and watched them rehearse the battle scene and the transformation at the end. Apparently, the enchantress is also in the ending (in this playhouse's version of the play). So I go up onstage and the director's wife who is the assistant director looks at my costume and says, "What happened to it?" I had no idea what she was talking about. Some one had put Velcro on the front of the costume so it would close, engulf me, and turn me into some sort of human tent! So the Velcro is being removed, I am going to have a beautiful gown on under it or something, and everything is fine. It's a good thing to because I was about to refuse to wear it. Seriously. I really didn't want to go all diva on them, but for crying out loud! Look at this picture!

It's see-through too. But supposedly it's not supposed to close. It's supposed to be a cape - all open and flowy. You can't tell in that picture; but on stage, under the lights, it glitters like a thousand stars. It's crazy sparkly. So I will have an elegant gown on under the cloak as well. Mr. Director told me I was just going to have my hat seller costume on under it so we can hurry and get me back onstage in time. He neglected to inform me that I would also be wearing something else! I still don't have a costume for the hat seller yet, though. Nine days! People, nine days!

"Rehearsal Tracks!"

Well, I wanted to take pictures of rehearsal yesterday, but I only got one. The lighting there is terrible for photography, and the guy I asked to take pictures for me while I was on stage just looked at me like I was nuts. Geesh! What's the big deal? It's not like he's on stage all the time. Please! I'm pretty sure he's reading this, or is going to at some point, but I really don't care. I thought we were getting to be friends. Oh, well. Poo on you! That's all I really had to say. I need to get that off my chest.
So we open in like two weeks. I'm freaking out. I put on my plate costume yesterday at rehearsal. I was told it would be a plate on my back and my hands would be free to move my arms, but what a load of crap that was. It's more like two circles tied to my front and back. I can move my arms if I wanted to do jumping jacks, and that works for some of the dance moves we are supposed to do, but mostly, all I can do in that costume is stand there and try not to fall off the stairs we are standing on for "Be Our Guest." Honestly, though. I like that. I can't screw up a movement I can't do! Ha ha ha! The other plates hate it. They are all young girls who can dance, though. I would hate it too if I could actually dance.
I am no longer a wolf either. There was a mix up about who was and wasn't a wolf and one of the girls who was originally told she was a wolf got pushed aside. So I told her to do it instead of me. I could tell she was really disappointed and wanted to do it. Yeah, I know. I'm awesome.
I may not be able to be the hat seller any more either. Being the enchantress and then trying to make it back onstage for the third "Bonjour!" in "Belle" might be a challenge. So I may just be the entchantress and a plate and a villiager.
So rehearsals are going great. I run upstairs to rehearse Beauty and the Beast and then I run downstairs to rehearse The Women when I am not needed upstairs. It rocks, and when I get home, I usually really have to go to the bathroom. Oh, and Kaleb and my family aren't affected by this at all. Kaleb hasn't become clingy or anything. He doesn't always want to be on my lap or want me to carry him every where. He's adapting so well! And he doesn't freak out if I try to leave without hugging and kissing him even though I just hugged and kissed him. He's so sweet. I can't believe how incredible he is. The other two don't even know I'm gone. Kurtis really misses me though. When I get home, he stays at the computer and plays wow. No need to get up and walk upstairs to see your wife of nine and a half years. She'll come downstairs if she wants to talk to me. (It's cool. That's the way he's always been.) Usually if I don't go down there, he will eventually come upstairs to say hi. For the next two months we will be ships passing in the night. Two weeks! Two weeks and Act one of The Women has to be memorized! I'm fine! I'm not freaking out at all!
Here's my shameless plug! The show opens March 13th and goes every Monday, Friday, and Saturday til April 4th. Tickets are $9.00 for adults and $8.00 for children 12 and under. For ticket purchasing information visit Heritage Theater's website We'd love to see you there!