Friends!

Hey gang!

My life has come to this: dipping delicious italian bread in a jar of peanut butter. How did this happen? I don't know, but it's actually pretty delicious. Some may say, "Choosey Moms, Choose JIF", but I'm getting dippy with some Skippy and I must say: me likey!

I've just returned home after another night in a darken theatre. This evening, however, was spent in Broadway's newest house: Henry Miller's Theatre. Currently, the first-ever revival of Bye, Bye Birdie is taking up residence here, but only until this Sunday. Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, it features a pretty impressive ensemble of celebrities headed by none other than John "Uncle Jesse" Stamos and Gina "Showgirls" Gershon. I'm sure Ms. Gershon wouldn't appreciate that reference, but I wasn't sure how many of you would be able to pin point her if I said "Face/Off" instead... Anyway, both actors were pretty decent and had their very own shining moments. But I must admit that this show belongs to Bill Irwin as the father of a small-town girl chosen to receive a kiss from Conrad Birdie (an Elvis-wannabe). Mr. Irwin not only steals the show with his perfect mix of neurosis and slap-stick, but he's one hell of a nice guy to meet at the stage door. Yes, theatre dorks, I met BILL IRWIN! And he's awesome! And yes, non-theatre dorks, I met John Stamos! He is equally as kind but was on his way out the door to meet a huge crowd of adoring fans (mostly middle-aged women...). Before I close off this paragraph, I do need to mention the kids in this production. They really do command the stage and make the most of every second on time. Since they took up residency at the theatre, I've been privileged to get to meet a lot of them and admire them. This is probably mostly due to the fact that they have my life, but I won't hold that against them. Great job to all involved!

On subject of shows, I forgot to mention the most incredibly emotional theatrical experience of the year: HAIR!!! As I mentioned in an early post, my friends Sean and Amanda bought me an incredible ticket to see HAIR for Christmas/my birthday. As expected, I cried during "Aquarius" and "Let the Sunshine In". A few years ago, I saw a production of HAIR at Miami, but I believe there were substantial cuts for that production, I'm not sure. However, the entire show is pretty random in its structure, but is powerful in so many ways. The music and story are wonderfully interwoven, but it's the complete dedication of the cast to each and every word that makes this show such an phenomenal treasure for an audience. Most importantly, after the ensemble moves the audience to tears singing "Let the Sunshine In" at the end, they come back on stage, the band starts it up again, and the cast invites audience members to join them onstage for a dance party. I know what you're thinking: Nick wouldn't go up there, he's too shy. BULLSHIT! You KNOW I did! I looked out into the audience of the Al Hirshfeld Theatre and knew that was exactly what I wanted to see for the rest of my life. But the evening didn't end there, I proceeded out of the theatre and over to the same stage door where I met David Hyde Pierce after Curtains a few years ago. But tonight, belonged to the tribe of HAIR. Each and every single person came out and signed each Playbill or poster or whatever people wanted signed. More importantly, they listened to each person's reaction to the show and looked each person in the eye and said, "Thank you" in a beautifully genuine tone. They've had this very same reaction for almost a year now--some of them for longer since they've been with this production since it premiere at the Public Theatre during the summer of 2008--and yet, they seem to never tire of the power their performances have. I really admire them all for their candor and for their "leave-it-all-out-there" performances. Peace, Love, and HAIR!

This past weekend saw the return of someone to my life it had definitely been missing: the Morgmaster! My good friend from college Morgan was in town visiting with a friend and she was kind enough to pencil me in for some time. We got to hang out at my place, then we had dinner at my restaurant, then we--wait for it--went to a show! As Morgan was a psychology major in school, we decided on Next to Normal as an appropriate show. As you may remember, I saw N2N back in November with KTD and Emily. However, seeing a show a second time has never been so wonderful! More than anything it was great to spend the evening with a good friend I haven't seen for quite a long time. Morgmaster, let's please not spend so much time apart?

UPDATE: So last week I told you all that I got my first role in a reading called A House Divided. Well, unless you stalk me on facebook, you may know that I've also been cast in readings of FOUR OTHER SCREENPLAYS! It's incredibly exciting, brilliantly humbling, and fanastically schedule bulking. Fo rizzle: I have so little free time between now and the end of the month since I'll be reading up on 5 scripts. Thankfully, one isn't all that involved and I don't have that much to learn. The down side is that I've only seen two of the scripts, so I have no clue as to how involved the rest of my work will be. More to come...

In other news, I recently rejoined the human race in Netflix. More importantly, I've joined race of laughing humans by watching 30 Rock. In about three sittings, I watched the ENTIRE first season. Holy crap! It's so good, it's making me like Tracy Morgan, which if you know me at all know that I do NOT find Tracy Morgan funny--so that's saying something. Furthermore, I have received the first two discs of season 2 of Mad Men. I've already given the first season a try and wasn't all that impressed because it didn't feel like anything really happened, but I'm willing to give it another shot to win me over.

And just as an added bonus for making it this far, I present to you my good "friend" Susan Blackwell in her own Broadway.com series entitled "Side By Side By Susan Blackwell". Basically, the handsome lady hangs out with her fantastic act-y friends and asks them random questions that are HI-larious! (My new life goal is to lick or be licked by Susan Blackwell) Enjoy!

http://www.broadway.com/videos/all/side-by-side-by-susan-blackwell-episode-two-gavin-creel-beth-leavel-kelli-ohara/

Happy Adventures!