The 2008 Throwdown: A Mass Update

Hey Peeps!

Happy New Year! It's been a while since I've update, but things have definitely been busy the last little while. I can't beleive we are alread into 2009. Um, one question...Where did freaking 2008 go!?!?

2008 was a good year. I thought I'd recap on everything I got to do this year:

January - April: "The Civil War" at Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley (playing leading roles Frederick Douglass and Clayton Toler). By far one of the best, and most powerful shows I have been apart of to date.

March - May: "Feelin' Groovy-A 60's Review" at Rodgers Memorial Theatre in Centerville. Put together and Arranged Music, Directed and Musically Directed the Show. A very tiring project, but worth the experience and it had a really neat outcome.

May-June: "Ragtime: In Concert" at Sandy Amphitheatre in Sandy. Directed, Musically Directed, and Conducted this production. What a freaking fun project. I had to come up with a simple concept/design that would be achieved with very little budget. The Orchestra became part of the set and background, and the cast dressed in "concert black" to simplify costuming. It turned out to be a successful production, and Sandy has now decided to do another concert production this upcoming season.

July: This month took me on trips to both Hawaii and Las Vegas. I spent 7 Days in Hawaii...BEST TRIP EVER. Met one of my dear friends Kristine who transferred with our company (Hilton) for a promotion. I stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Villiage Resort on the Big Island (Ocean View Room). My roommate Andrew flew over and joined me for a couple of days in Honolulu where we stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Villiage Resort (in an awesome Suite with Ocean View!!) We had some great site seeing and beach time. It was my first true vacation in YEARS and felt so nice to get away from work for a while.

Later that month I joined a bunch of my good friends for a fun weekend trip to Vegas. It was in honor of a couple of friends Birthday's. We rented a nice Toyota Highlander and had a fun trip down. It got pretty wild and crazy at times, and I randomly ended up at this classy "strip club" and had an interesting night there....WTF!? haha

August: I had a fun trip to New York City with my best pal Scott M. Primary purpose of the trip was for call-back auditions for the Hairspray National Tour. While we were there we got to see 4 shows (Title of Show, Hairspray, Gypsy, and A Tale of Two Cities). It was sooo fun and laid back. I'm glad Scott was able to join me. I stayed at the Hilton right across from Ground Zero (Terrorist Attack Site). I could literally see down into the huge empty pit from my room. It was crazy.

September: Moved out of the Hudson House where I had lived for almost 3 years, and got a new house downtown in the Rose Park Area. Moved into a neighborhood where 3 sets of dear friends already lived. It's soooo nice living down town, and next to a park where my doggie can run around and play. I moved in with a great roommate, Ashely, and we have such a fun time together.

September-November: I played Dracula in Frightmares at Lagoon again. They built us a stage this year, so it felt much more like a real show this year. Of course it was fun having my roommate in the show with me along with other fun friends.

October - January: MUSIC MAN!!!! I ended the year working on "The Music Man" in Park City at the Egyptian Theatre. I worked on the show as the Musical Director and Conductor. It was a fun project. It felt pretty long and tiring, simply because it ran over each major holiday of the season (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year). But I was so glad I got to be apart of it. The orchestra was such a delight and sounded so good for how small it was (7-Pieces was all). We ended the run after 31 totall performances.

And now look....2008 is over and we are off to a busy 2009. Already I have opened a show "The Wizard of Oz" in which I designed lighting for. Now, I'm Musically Directing the show "Thoroughly Modern Millie" at Rodgers Memorial Theatre in Centerville. It opens on February 20th so be sure to come and see it!

Alright, that's all for now. :)

-T

Music Man is Hot!

Here's a lovely review about my current production, "The Music Man." It's playing at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City. COME SEE IT! :-)

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Review: Egyptian Theatre's 'Music Man' is hotIowa in July in Park City in December? You bet!

By Robert Coleman

Special To The Tribune

Salt Lake TribuneUpdated:

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Park City » Going from fresh snow on Park City's December streets to Iowa in July seemed quite unusual. Why would a theater in this winter sports hot spot present Meredith Willson's "The Music Man" this time of year?

But the Egyptian Theatre Company's lively production had the audience quickly shedding coats and longing for ice-cold lemonade.

The musical's story of con man Harold Hill (Mark R. Gollaher) selling band instruments and uniforms to the parents of River City's youth, and skeptical librarian/piano teacher Marian Paroo (Carianne H. Jones), unfolded enthusiastically. The rapid-paced production benefited from Gollaher's fast-talking, relentless performance and director Terrence Goodman's judicious score cuts.

Gollaher's transformation from an oily salesman to love-smitten penitent is remarkable. His slightly raspy voice had trouble reaching low notes during "Seventy-Six Trombones" but achieved clearer focus on songs with Jones, including "Till There Was You." Her buttery voice had operatic heft in "My White Knight" (a tune replaced by "Being in Love" for the movie), but took on a tender shade for "Goodnight My Someone." Vocally and physically, she was Gollaher's opposite, but they quickly developed an appealing chemistry.

The solid cast had many other standouts. Mason Johnson stole the show as Winthrop. There may not have been a more endearing version of this character since Ronnie Howard played the lisping child on the big screen. His priceless expressions and fearless rendition of "Gary Indiana" are worth the price of a ticket.

Charleton W. Bluford as Hill's friend Marcellus Washburn is another total-package performer. "Shipoopi" highlighted his appealing voice, effortless dancing and considerable acting chops.

Kinetic energy and bluster infused Bob Longoria's depiction of anvil salesman Charlie Cowell. Expressive eyes and feigned pomposity made Dee Macaluso's portrait of the mayor's wife, Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn, less forbidding but she sustained a scene-stealing presence throughout.

Veteran actor Fredric Cook as Mayor Shinn suffered from some comedic timing misfires that robbed some of the intended bufoonery from his character's lines. But his jowl-wobbling line "Where's the band?" was a unique touch.

The school board-turned-barbershop quartet -- Aaron Spencer, W. Derek Hendricks, Tyson Richard Baker and Rick LaPointe -- delivered tight harmony and animated performances.

The rest of the cast delivered polished performances and maximized the small capacity of the stage thanks to Goodman's purposeful direction and Janet Muse Gray's compelling choreography.

Anne Benson's beautifully detailed, efficient sets allowed scenes to flow seamlessly. Nancy Hill's turn-of-the-century costumes, Jesse Portillo's lighting and Eric Robinette's sound design kept eyes and ears focused on Iowa's small-town citizenry. And a seven-piece band led by keyboardist Trevor Jerome accomplished the yeoman's task of distilling a full orchestral score into a tight combo chart. Trumpet player Reed LeCheminant's endurance was particularly amazing.

As Professor Hill told Marian, "Pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you have nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays." Don't miss an opportunity to spend a bit of your holiday in Iowa.

 

Trouble comes to Park City

What » "The Music Man"

Where » Egyptian Theatre, 328 S. Main St., Park City

When » Reviewed Dec. 4; continues at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 28. Additional shows Dec. 11 and 18 at 7 p.m.

Tickets » $16-$30, at 435-649-9371 or www.ParkCityShows.com.

Running time » Two hours and 20 minutes, with one intermission.

Bottom line » An energetic "Music Man" has marched into Park City for the holiday season.

  

212º - The Extra Degree

Ok, so I was at a meeting this morning, and I came back to my office to find a book sitting on my desk. The book was entitled 212º the extra degree.

So I opened it up and the preface reads:

ONE DEGREE
"Applying one extra degree of temperature to water means the difference between something that is simply very hot and something that generates enough force to power a machine - a beautifully uncomplicated metaphor that ideally should feed our every endeavor - consistently pushing us to make the extra effort in every task, action and effort we undertake...."

I started reading all of the simple suggestions that help in general life...or even as specifically as if you were a Baseball Coach. It's amazing the little things you can do...the extra degree that you add...and how that truly can affect things. My favorite one so far (there is much more to read) is:

212 commitment
Put a smile in the path of complain...once daily.
Cease to complain.

I work in an environment where there is always just so much negativity and it is exhausting. I work with some people who tend to complain about EVERYTHING...but if I help set the standard and not complain at least once a day, that is 365 seeds of negativity that I eliminate :) Here's to hoping it works.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas!

This week, while I am off from the show for a few days, I decided to get my Christmas Lights and Decorations up. It's been fun especially being in the new house and wanting it to look all pretty and festive. So as I decorated outside, Bailey watched me from behind the glass door. I tried letting her stay outside with me but she kept chasing after anyone who walked by. She gets sooo excited when she sees people. :) 

           

I still want to add more to what I've done. It's funny, you think you are done and then once you see it you want to add more garland "here" or some lights "there"...it's  a work in progress. But considering that I didn't decorate an OUNCE last year at my old house, I wanted to be sure to get more in the spirit this year. I also want to go see and do more festive activities like going to see Holiday Concerts or Shows, Christmas Lights, Christmas Caroling/Parties, etc. Today I downloaded 3 Christmas Albums to add to my iTunes library. This is going to be the best Christmas ever!!

T

Thankful for my Family!

So i absolutely LOVE getting together with my family. There has not been one time when we get together and we don't laugh so hard that our abs hurt.

My Mom made the most delicious dinner ever complete with, Stuffing, Collared Greens, and of course the infamous Turkey. The first huge laugh of the evening came from this story:

We ALWAYS have either a Lemon Merenge Pie or at least a Lemon Cake for our major family holiday functions, usually all those gatherings in between as well. Well, my brother Chad and I discovered that there was NO LEMON PIE!! Now, I don't like pie, but he craves for that pie. My dad's excuse was that mom had gotten up too early to start the Turkey and it was in the oven all day so there was no time. I thought, "Well, at least there is a Lemon cake!" We got to joking about there not being any Lemon Pie and how Thanksgiving was ruined, and my niece Kaley revealed accidentally that the cake that was sitting downstairs was NOT a Lemon Cake. My mom immediately made the face at her like "NO!! Don't tell!" We FREAKED OUT!!!! NO LEMON CAKE!?!?!? WHAT!??!? And Mom tried to hide it...she thought she could hold it off until we went to go cut the cake. WTF!?! haha My dad was so shocked too...he had the most disgusted face ever and all the sudden he yells out "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU MAKE!?" haha Funniest thing ever.

Naomi was out at the store getting some last minute items, so Chad immediately called her and told her to get all the ingredients to make a Cake and Pie! She saved Thanksgiving because he and I almost left.

Anyway, we finalized all the dinner items and began to eat together downstairs. We started talking about the movie "Twilight" and how they all wanted to go see it (again!) Yeah, with the exception of my mother the girls of the family had all seen it at least 2 times already. I was strongly AGAINST going to see it after all I've heard of it's cheesiness. I tried getting them to go see the new 007 movie, but to no avail. So we didn't end up going to see a movie at all. Instead we ended up watching a bunch of movie trailers online haha then we played games.

This year we decided to draw names for Christmas presents. I think it will be fun and different, and EASIER on each of us. Especially with the tough times lately. We decided to not discuss who we drew and keep it a surprise. We'll create a master Christmas Wish list so people can find out what others want for Christmas.

Hope everyone had a tasty and fun Thanksgiving!!

-T

MTV Cribs: Rose Park Edition

Ok, so I realized that I've been living in my new house in Rose Park and have not even shared pics and details about it with you. So here you are. It's an awesome house in a cute neighborhood. I have an awesome roommate, Ashley, and Bailey is absolutely in love with the house AND Ashley. We have two sets of families that we are already good friends with that lived there before we moved in, so it's been nice knowing people in the neighborhood and having decent neighbors, unlike having Madge as a neighbor.

This is the Outside of the house!

Here is Bailey posing outside the new house...her right side is apparently the better side.

I'm in love with the nice open Kitchen...and the recessed lighting hehe. 

Kitchen view - Part 2 (Behind where I'm standing is the Living Room. I didn't get a picture for some reason, but I will...trust me it's nice)

Here is my nice Bathroom...I found that super cool shower curtain at...WAL MART! Crazy huh?

 

My Room with a nice big Walk in Closet. I went from having like 3' closet space, to pretty much a second bedroom haha.

76 Trombones!

Oh wow, gee golly, it has apparently been too log since my last post. I apologize to you all for the suspense on what has been happening in my life. It's been a busy few months for me.

As you were aware from my last post, I played Dracula in Lagoon's Live Entertainment this year. It was a fun month. I was definitely so happy and excited to not have to wash make up off of my face and out of my hair each night.

At the conclusion of Frightmares, I jumped right into rehearsals for "The Music Man" that is now playing at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City. I'm the Music Director and Conducting the orchestra for the show. It's fun times. We had our opening night last Friday, the 21st. It was a good opening weekend. Please come see it and tell others to as well. It's a cute family show. We play Thursday - Sunday (except Thanksgiving and Christmas).

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had our 2nd Annual Thanksigiving at Sunset yesterday. SOO fun! (Seth and Aaron's house is on Sunset). It was fun to hang out with all our very dear friends and eat really yummy food and drink 40 bottles of wine...seriously! It was fun to go around the table, read the quote that was under each of our plates, and say what we are thankful for. I was thankful that God has given me yet another year to live and be with the people I love so much.

Until we meet again...

T