Opening Night!!!

I opened my very first Broadway show on Sunday night. It was an experience I hope to never forget. It was sort of like a wedding day or prom. You know when the day starts so early and there never seems to be a chance to stop and relax? I got 1 free ticket for a guest and 2 party passes (obviously Jason took that one). But our friends Caroline and BJ wanted to attend so I found a way for them to purchase tickets as well (they each came with a party pass too so they were with us for the whole event). It's good to have friends with you at parties that are as big as this one was going to be.

I started my day at 6:30 in the morning, waking up to get ready for a day work call at another show ("In the Heights"). I started working there at 8:30 (just pressing and ironing clothes) and left around 11:30. I then went to my own theatre to do the exact same thing. The other 14 dressers were there with me. It was a very exciting time. We made all of our clothes look absolutely perfect for opening night from 12-4. Then I had 1 hour to go and get my hair blown out and set before I had to be back at the show to get the actors ready.

When I got back to the theatre at 5, the magic started. There were sooo many gifts everywhere. From our supervisors, from the producers, from the actors, from eachother.....it was incredible. It was like Christmas morning only broadway style. And it just kept going.

These were the gifts from our supervisors. We each got a bottle of wine (our choice-red or white) with specially designed Ragtime labels on them and all of our names listed. I never want to drink it. We also each got an apron with the logo on it. I know you're thinking 'What's so great about an apron?'. But believe me when I say that an apron is my best friend when I work backstage. It holds everything I need in an emergency quick change situation.

And this was the gift from the producers. They are glacier technology zip up snow jacket/windbreaker things. They're waterproof and 3 season appropriate. Really awesome. And they have the logo on the sleeve!!

The show started at 6:30 and it went incredibly well. When the curtain went up, the applause lasted for about 2 minutes. The actors were having a great time and so was the crew. We all proceeded to get ready in little bits at a time during our breaks while the show went on. By the end of the show, all I had to do was get dressed and organize my clutch.

When the show finished, the actors rushed back to their dressing rooms to let us help them get undressed. They all started getting dressed and we, the wardrobe crew, went ahead and got the heck out of dodge. We proceeded to the site of the party, Tavern on the Green. The party was open-bar and there were numerous bars and food tables scattered throughout the restaurant. Celebrities were everywhere. It was amazing. Of course I had to snap a picture with Mo Rocca!!

Sort of fairy-tale like....
I dress 3 girls in the womens' ensemble. This is me, Yleana, and Arlene. They are two other dressers on the crew. Yleana dresses with me in the womens' ensemble while Arlene is with the male ensemble. 2 of my favorite new people.

This is Catherine, one of my 3 ladies.

Valisia, another....

And Sumayya completes my trio.

These ladies are some of the best in the room of 11 female ensemble members and I couldn't be happier or feel more blessed to be working with them. They constantly make me laugh and I have a great time with them.

This is Bryonha. I don't dress her but I love laughing with her. She's hysterical. She has an incredible voice and sings a big solo at the end of Act 1. She'll be famous some day so I had to grab her for a picture. It was a wonderful evening. I wish I could open a show every 3 months or so. So happy.

New Job and a small catch up

I got a new job!!! I am now working on the wardrobe crew for the revival of "Ragtime" on broadway. And I've decided to try to make mondays (which will be my new day off) my blog days. I don't see why not right? We'll see how long it will last....Not much to tell yet though. I started last tuesday and we're just doing alterations and setting up the backstage spaces. The people are nice so far and we start tech rehearsals on tuesday. The first preview for an audience is October 23 and we open the show on November 15!! I'm very excited about it. There will be more to come hopefully...

Our friends Jamie and Rachel were here again this weekend and we decided to do something we've always wanted to do- take a night-time bus tour!! It was pretty awesome. We started out in times square and headed down through the financial district and we even went over the bridge to brooklyn before we headed back to times square to finish. It lasted about 2 hours and our tour guide was excruciating. We tuned her out after the first 15 minutes or so and had our own little good time in the back of the bus. It was amazing how different New York City looked from just 15 extra feet in the air. It's fun to have friends visit. It allows us to do tourist-y things we might not do on our own.

A few weeks ago, we made a trip to Boston to see Juli and Josh. They introduced us to candle pin bowling. All of the rules of regular bowling apply but the balls and pins are different. All of the bowling balls are the same size and weight. About the size of a small cantaloupe. And the pins are not shaped like bowling pins. They're like big thick candles. The game is played the same though and we had a lot of fun.

I've been running home from midtown. I'll try and get some better pictures but here's one from my iphone. This is a view from the bridge as I run across the Queensborough Bridge. Kind of cool.

At the end of the summer Jason and I went out to the Hamptons. It's one of those things that we want to be able to say we did while we lived here so we just piled in the car and drove out. We went out to the very tip of the island and saw the ocean and ate some seafood at a roadside diner. Then we bought some of our own scallops to cook at home. Delicious!!

It's been too long.

Hello everyone! This is Jason. Sam is back at work and super busy so I thought I would give a little update as to what's going on. It will definitely not be as good as Sam's but it will have the info!


I see her last post was in May so let me fill you in as to what has been going on since then. As you probably know, Sam got laid off from her job at Tricorne because of the economy so we were both looking for some work over the summer. We found it at Marymount Drama Camp. It is at Marymount High School where I have been musically directing for the past two years. The camp lasted five weeks and we had a blast. I played for the little kids, ages 7-9, and Sam taught costumes/art to everyone, ages 7-9 and 10-13. She was also the camp photographer. The little kids did a 45 min version of Cinderella and the big kids did an hour and 15 min version of Beauty and the Beast. They were really good! (Sam will have to come in later and plug in some pictures:))

Then we went home to visit some family in AR for a week at the beginning of this month. We went to Gaston's fishing resort with my family and ate way too much and played way too many games of Trivial Pursuit. Then we went to Fort Smith to see Sam's family and ate way too much and played in their pool a lot! It was a much needed vacation. We only get to see our families at Christmas and maybe one other time in the year so it was very special to us.


Good news! Sam got her job back this week! She started back at Tricorne this last Monday and informed me that she had been away from the shop four months to the day. She is having to adjust to how the shop is structured now and how she fits into it. I love those Harpers but they don't like change! :)


I am writing this because I am home not spending money. NYU doesn't start classes again until Sep. 8 and I am laying low and teaching a few voice lessons until then. I'm also constantly trying to network and get on Broadway. I feel like I am always sending out some email or resume to some Musical Director or Conductor. It is so much like asking someone out on a date it is scary! You want to be assertive but not pushy. And you want them to remember you but not get a restraining order against you. Blarg!

I'm going so crazy in the house today that I'm taking myself to the Museum of Modern Art. Sam doesn't love the museum thing and especially not the modern art thing so I think it will be fun and she won't mind not being there. I have cleaned and cooked my fill for this week, although I really do enjoying being the house husband-shhh!


That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

-JB

PS-Go see Julie & Julia, the movie about Julia Child. We loved it!

OK, just one picture. This is my section of the Drama Camp when we went to see Shrek on Broadway. It really isn't that hard to keep up with 18 kids in NY. Makes you look at those tourists that are afraid of losing each other and smile...cause we used to be them!!

Everyone meet Gus- and other happenings from NYC

I know its been a while and this is the biggest news I guess- we got another cat. Everyone meet Gus.

I found him in Brooklyn one Sunday afternoon while helping a friend move into her new apartment. Jason, of course, thinks the whole story sounds sketchy but we've moved on and we're keeping him. He's very sweet and has an AWESOME purr. He's also still a kitten and loves to bite anything and everything he can get his little teeth around. We think that will eventually fade away and he'll be wonderful.

He likes people (which is a big deal for us- as most of you who know, since our other one doesn't) and he LOVES Gypsy (the Devil). And actually, she kind of likes him too. She may act like she doesn't but we can tell....

Lets see...lets see...well also, I have been unemployed for a little over a month now. Tricorne had to make some cut backs because there just wasn't enough work coming in to keep everyone employed. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the economy has struck Broadway as well. If you take a look, you'll notice that there aren't very many "huge" shows up right now. Lots of cheaper ways of doing things now-a-days.

I'm doing ok though. I'm remaining positive. I was a little restless at work anyway. I kept thinking I was ready for the next thing but didn't know what it might be- promotion? wardrobe job? photography business? So this was God's way of showing me what the next thing was.

I have someone building me a photography website and I'm pursuing wardrobe jobs more actively. My friend/boss at "In the Heights" (the tony award winning broadway musical from 2008) is taking care of me and creating work for me. I have had a few days a week of work there and I'm collecting unemployment some weeks, which is also good.

I went to Boston a few weeks ago and got to see the family. Took a few pictures of the babe for the website. Hope you don't mind Emily! He's just too adorable- I have to use him to get me some business!!

We cooked lobster one night. It was amazing. I asked to not be involved with the actual placing of the lobster into the boiling water but was happy to take pictures after the act was over.

And more pictures of Ben and Emily

And now on to the running. With all of my new free time, I've made sure to keep running. I ran a 4-mile for R-baby in Central Park on Mother's Day. R-baby is actually a pretty cool organization. They raise money for hospital emergency rooms to provide better care for babies.

It was a beautiful day in the park for a little jog. It was actually my first race to run the whole time (except at the water stations along the way, which I only walked for about 15 steps while I got a quick cup of water). It was a great accomplishment for me.

And then came my first 10K last weekend. This was the longest I have ever run: 6.2 miles. I was hurting pretty bad by the end but I did it. I had to walk a little more often than the 4 mile but I figured it was fine since it was the first time my body was going to have to run that distance all at once.

It was a little rainy (another first) but it cleared after the 1st mile and I was fine with being a little damp. It kept me cooler. I signed up for another 10K in June that ends at a public pool in the park and I'll get to jump in. I'm really looking forward to it. Marathon, here I come! Jason still runs with me whenever we are together and we are running a 5 mile on Father's Day together to support prostate cancer research.

I will try to keep up the blogging but I don't think games of skip-bo with my unemployed (in between jobs) husband are very blogworthy. :)

I have no excuse...

I know, I know, I know...don't even say it...we're still alive...so don't worry.

Let's see...

It was November when we last posted. What happened since then...

My brother got married in Michigan...gorgeous. Jason and I flew up to Michigan a week before Christmas and helped with preparations and participated in the wedding. Jason played the music and I was merely the beautiful sister of the groom. We love love love our new sister-in-law Elise!! No pictures...sorry. I only have time to upload so many. If you would like to see some pictures of the wedding, let me know and I'll put a few up. Maybe I will anyway in a later post this month. Or check them out on Jason's facebook page.

We had christmas in Arkansas as always. We spent a few days with my family in Fort Smith and then headed down to Searcy to be with Jason's family. There were plenty of pictures from that too but as you may have noticed, this post has a theme. If you hadn't notice yet, notice now!

We had a superbowl party with our friends here at our house. This was the 2nd annual and now I think it will have to be a yearly tradition-so much fun!!!

So now...the running. As many of you know, I've decided I want to run a marathon. I'm aiming for 2010. I've joined the New York Road Runners, the group that organizes the marathon. If you are a member and run 9 of their other races during the year prior to the marathon (and volunteer at one), you are automatically qualified. I thought this was brilliant since I will probably not be able to run a qualifying time:)

I started running last fall and it's pretty slow going. I'm training with a friend of mine, Neal. He's a personal trainer at a gym and is very busy. Combine this with my schedule and you get a trainer and his trainee who don't get to see each other very often. Still, it's going well. I do the work outs he gives me until we can meet again, which is sometimes not for a month.

I ran my first race in December-the holiday 4-mile. I was extremely nervous but once I got there, I started to loosen up. It was in Central Park and it was 13 degrees. I had to do some jumping jacks and some pushups to warm myself up. We ran a loop around the reservoir in the middle of the park (this is where Charlotte runs in "Sex in the City") When you sign in at the race, you are given a little yellow chip to attach to your shoe. This is a computerized chip that starts your own personal clock when you cross the start line and stops it automatically when you cross the finish. Then you go home and go to a website that tells you your results that same day; pretty cool I think.

I finished in 54 minutes and 9 seconds in 4,703rd place. My pace was about a 15 minute mile. There were LOTS of children in my time corral. A couple of public schools and young kids teams. It was good to see that it wasn't about finishing first (the people who did win finished in about 19 minutes) but about finishing at all for your own goals and having a good time.

This is me at the beginning making my way to the starting line.

And me coming across the finish

Yay!! I did it and didn't collapse!!

Jason was there to take pictures and be my cheerleader (which he did quite well!) Then he took me out for a big breakfast and a double feature at a movie theatre down the street from our house (after a nap of course).

It was really early in the morning. I thanked him over and over for coming out with me. Doesn't he look like he's having fun?!?! This was approximately 7:15AM and 13 degrees.
Last weekend I ran my 2nd race-a 5K in Washington Heights. It was a little warmer-30 degrees and a light snow was falling. This was the Coogan's: Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks run. There were live bands and performance groups scattered along the route to keep the runners entertained. I had a good time and didn't need to listen to my ipod. The neighborhood was quite nice too.

Coming up on these races can tend to look a little like street fair. There are lots of port-o-potties and street vendors and balloons and street barricades. Its a very festive environment.

This time I finished 3.1 miles in a little under 40 minutes. I came in 4,496th and I bettered my mile pace to about 13 1/2 minutes. Jason came again to be my support and we had a nice big breakfast again afterwards. We went and saw a movie again too. I'm thinking this will become a tradition. Big breakfasts and movies!! Nothing better!!

I'm running another race in a couple of weeks in Central Park again. This one is for Colon Cancer, a 4-mile, and this time I'm not running alone. Jason will be with me along with our friends, Jamie and Rachel who are coming to visit from Arkansas. I couldn't be more excited to have people to run with me. It's going to be awesome and then we can ALL enjoy a big breakfast and a movie!!! And a nap!!

I'll post again soon I promise. I just wanted to share about the running because I'm pretty proud of it.