There’s No Business LIke Show Business!

There’s no business like show business
Like no business I know
Everything about it is appealing
Everything the traffic will allow
Nowhere could you get that happy feeling
When you are stealing that extra bow

Irving Berlin (1888-1989)

 

I’m in rehearsal for variety show The Fabulous Crone Show 2008: Supercrones. My skit is called The Antique Roadshow written by Gail Sterkel . It’s going to be fun.

 

I tried out for this on a lark. It was on my short list of things to do before I die—try out for a part in community theater. Not GET a part. Just try out for one. <heh> I don’t have a clue about acting and there I am on stage with people who have been in the biz 27 years or more. YIKES!

I feel so honored to have been chosen to be part of this. I always wanted to act and here I am acting! Cool Beans!

 

They’re very kind about helping me improve but did you know that you aren’t actually supposed to talk to the people onstage? You pick someone in the back of the audience and talk to them. Rarely do you actually turn your body towards the person you are supposedly interacting with because then the audience can’t hear you. Unless you are hooked up to a microphone of course. We won’t be.   At the moment  I am talking to a water fountain.

 

Here’s the release information we were given to pass along to family and friends regarding to the show:

The Fabulous Crone Show 2008: Supercrones!

The Crones are back – shorter, sweeter and just as much fun. Those brilliant, comical, thoughtful women who performed to sold-out audiences will present new acts for the new year. The Fabulous Crone Show 2008: Supercrones! is a variety show of women performers older than 50 directed by Jan Levine Thal and produced by Wendy Fern Hutton with a cast of 30.

Performances are Thursday-Sunday, Jan 31- Feb 3, 2008. — FOUR PERFORMANCES ONLY

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30, Meriter Main Gate, 333 W. Main (free parking across the street).

Sunday matinée, 2:00 pm, Madison Senior Center, 330 W. Mifflin (next to the Overture parking ramp).

This year the Crones will take reservations. The Fabulous Crone Show 2008: Supercrones! is two hours including intermission.

Make reservations 608-225-9664 and arrive early to assure seating. Tickets are already going fast. The show is still free (donations requested $5-$20).

The Fabulous Crone Show 2008: Supercrones! is a project of Positive Aging Theater, the theater arts company of the Madison Senior Center.

More info at www.croneshow.com

 

Come and support all of us Crones Living in the Edge of Madness. I promise it’s going to be hoot! Really. When I forget my lines and start stuttering it will be hilarious!

 

B

 

 

 

 

Been Gone Fishing…

There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.

Steven Wright (1955 – )

So… it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything here. I almost feel like a stranger intruding on my own Blog. It’s interesting to look at the stats and see that people are still being drawn in like bees to pollinating flowers. It seems like everyone is sick to death of winter and they all want to escape to Blue Hawaii because that’s what they are reading.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know none of that answers the question of where has BairbreSine for damn near three months? I could say I was off having a glorious time basking in the sun on sandy beaches. Unfortunately, that would be a baldfaced lie!

I was dealing with PC problems that finally ended up shortly after Thanksgiving with no internet connection doohickey on my PC and no way to create one. The only solution was a complete re-installation of the operating system and from past experience that might not even work. YES, I’ve had problems like this before. sigh…

Frankly November is a rotten time of the year to have these kinds of problems. I’m always struggling with low grade depression which is probably due to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) The minute they change daylight savings time I go into a blue funk. So does my son. I don’t think we get enough sunlight.

At any rate, I was too depressed to bother messing around trying to fix my PC so I turned to other activities to occupy my time. Thank goodness I have a lot of interests. I read a number of good books and I’ve been into sewing lately so I made myself a sleeveless summer dress with a matching sun hat I just finished a red flannel shirt and will be moving on to a brown denim skirt and jacket. I’m enjoying working on these projects.

While I sew I’ve been watching movies I get from NetFlix. I absolutely love Netflix which I joined in November! I’m going through all the Shakespearean plays or adaptations or just movies about the royal families and having a wonderful time. I’ve seen Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter and it was wonderful. Kenneth Branagh in Henry V was marvelous. Just marvelous. I’m in heaven. I also saw The Last Temptation of Christ which I have always wanted to see because it caused such a stir. Wm Dafoe made such a good human Aryan Jesus. <snark>

I finally got the script for the skit I am going to be in in The Fabulous Crone Show. It’s a hoot and we are in rehearsals now. I just love the women I am working with. Finally I’ve met some creative HAPPY, normal women! YAY! I’ll make a separate post about the show soon.

Anyway I’m back.

 

B

Regrets, I’ve Had a Few, Too Few To Mention…

Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.

Arthur Miller 1915-2005

W00t! I got the call today, I’m going to be in “The Fabulous Crone Show!” I’m so excited I spit nails! If somebody asked me what was the best year of my life, I would have to say this year. This year is better than last year which was better than the year before which was better than the year before that. The year before that was a pretty damn good year but still, this is the best year so far. <heh>

Speaking of plays, I went to see Arthur Miller’s “The Death of a Salesman” at The Playhouse in the Overture Center for the Arts this evening. This is the third live production I’ve seen of this play over the years. The Madison Repertory Theatre was a splendid performance overall and the best of the three. I enjoyed it immensely.

The performance by Braden Moran who portrayed Biff was superb. I actually shed tears for the angst of that young man trying to connect with his father. Roderick Peeples’ Willy Loman and Patricia Boyette’s Linda Loman were credible and wonderfully engaging as was David Wilson-Brown’s Happy. Edward Marion’s Uncle Ben was appropriately ghostly and wonderfully dapper.

I hope to see more of DJ Howard who I remember from “The Piano Lesson” and Lisa Bozek Maletic whose brief performance showed promise. DJ Howard is just plain out good at what he does and makes you believe you are there with him.

Whenever I have seen or read “The Death of a Salesman” I have always come away with the conviction that one must really develop a sense of self-worth that isn’t tied up in your job or your spouse or your children. You aren’t what you do eight hours a day to earn money and you aren’t the person you married or the fruit of your loins. Things often don’t turn out the way you expected them to.

B

Crones! Arise and Gather Around! Let us Sing!

“[The Crone] holds an unspeakable wisdom in the very cells of her body. The beauty and the horror of all life are held together in love. Being with her…. we begin to see everything from two sides–the side that is totally in life, and the side that is already dwelling in disembodied soul. The Crone helps us hold the paradox.”

Marion Woodman

Tonight I went and auditioned at the Madison Senior Center for “The Fabulous Crones Show” to be put on in January of 2008. Jan Thal is the director and Wendy Fern Hutton is the Producer.

How could I not audition for something about Crones? I had intended to take some of my own work but it was raining and I didn’t want to walk down to the Library so that went by the wayside. I read something they had prepared.

They liked me, they really liked me! she says with gushy Sally Fields enthusiasm. <heh> I hope I get chosen. It will be a ton of fun, but my goodness it will be a long week that week. Three rehearsals and SIX shows Sunday through Sunday! Of course it will be all fun and games mostly.

They asked me to continue to work on my piece but I think I will scrap what I had originally written and go in a new direction. Definitely Comedy. Dark comedy.

Auditions are still open for those over 50 through Wednesday. There are a few parts for men too.

B