Dentist...

So on Thursday I went for a cleaning and a checkup at the dentist. The hygienist was very nice and talkative. I know I don't always floss like I should, but after the startling story she shared with me, I am newly converted to flossing. Here is the true story she told me while cleaning my teeth:

You need to floss because bacteria gets in your mouth. The bacteria have a party in your mouth. When the party is done, the bacteria poop. That poop stays around your gums. You need to floss to get rid of the poop.

Well if I ever had doubts about flossing before, she cleared them right up. My vow for 2012- keep gums poop free.

See Ya Later 2011!

I like end of the year lists. I like reading people's "best of" and "worst of" because it gives me things to add to my own list. Here is my own randomly generated list.

1st Broadway Musical Tour Seen by Jackie, Me and the Girls

Mary Poppins (Capitol Theatre) in September. The girls did pretty good. We may try Beauty and the Beast in March and Wicked August- but that will make it time number 5 for me...

Most Recent Book Read that Caused a Solitary Tear to Slide Down My Cheek

A Monster Calls. Holy cow an amazing book. Even though it's junior fiction, it it a powerful punch to the gut (in a good way) that will make you weep. If you have a heart. Or Soul.

Guilty Pleasure Movies

Loved Mission Impossible 4 and Harry Potter. Although someone (Oscar Wilde?) says there are no guilty pleasures- just pleasures.

Guilty Pleasure Theatre

Loved The Book of Mormon and Sister Act on Broadway and Noises Off at Utah Shakespeare

Where I Fantasized Vacationing from Movies and Magazines

Paris (from Midnight in Paris) and Croatia (from Budget Travel magazine)

What Kind of Souffle I Made for the First Time Ever

Chocolate. It turned out well-- but they're not kidding when they say eat it fast or it will fall.

Most bizarre gift from students

A 5 pound Hershey bar. We melted 1/2 of it for Christmas dipping. Not sure what to do with the other half.

Runner Up: A huge bottle of bubbles from the cast of The Miracle Worker that i still cannot open to this day.

Best 2011 Workout

The Brooke Wilson Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Megamix Dance. Followed closely by the Marilyn Montgomery One More Angel Hoe-Down.

Best 2011 New Tradition to Negate the 2011 Workout

Grand America Breakfast with Santa.

If You're Going to Break the Sabbath...

Do it at the Grand America Sunday Brunch.

Best Show That Makes Me Want to be British in WW1

Downton Abbey

Best Show That Makes Me Want to Write my own Sitcom

Parks and Rec or Happy Endings or Modern Family

Best Foot Rub

That Korean Place in NYC that's right by Pomme Frites

New Fun NYC Thing with Jackie

The Greenwich Village Eating Tour

1st Netflix Rental in 2011

The Hasty Heart with Ronald Reagan

Last Netflix Rental in 2011

Season 1 of Justified (so far so good)

Total Rentals from Netflix

126 (not counting streaming)

Favorite Bad Movie from Netflix

Curse of the Cat People (Brilliant!)

Show That I'm Conflicted About

American Horror Story...

Interesting Movie I'm Glad I Saw

Tree of Life. I think Mormons will have a different perspective on this film than others-- but I'm so glad I saw it.

Favorite PodCast

Podcats with Ames Bell (strictly invited guests only- limited to who could fit in our Joseph dressing room)

Almost made me want to go the North Korea

A State of Mind (Documentary- the gymnastics will blow you away)

Best Book Recommendation from Brother in Law Bryan

Child 44. Could not put it down.

Theatre seen in 2011

22 Shows

(First show of 2011- Phantom in Vegas. Last, Annie at PTC in Salt Lake) I liked both for completely different reasons.

Favorite Pet of 2011

Roomba!

Favorite Potentail Pet of 2012

Ipod Touch 64!

RHS Theatre involved in 2011

On the Radio- A Musical Revue (number 7 with Kelly DeHaan!)

The Miracle Worker

Smile

Annie Get Your Gun

HERE's TO MORE GOOD STUFF IN 2012!!

Western Romantic Comedy

So next Thursday Nov. 17-Monday, Nov. 21st come to Riverton High School to see the Western Romantic Comedy Annie Get Your Gun. Not familiar with it? I bet you know the songs... Anything you Can Do I Can Do Better, No Business Like Show Business, Falling In Love Is Wonderful.
Come see it for our cast of 60 (nearly killing me...), our 9 foot high horse (thanks Hale!) our confetti cannons, our live pit and a fun evening of theatre!
Maybe if you ask politely, I'll let you sit on the horse.
Tickets are $7.00 for students and $8.00 for adults.
...we're also selling the amazing Craver's chocolate dipped cookies- so come for that too!

CLIN

So I recently discovered that to some people, the name CLIN stands for:
Chronic Lymphocytic Interstitial Nephritis
or- in laymans terms, something really gross that can happen with your kidneys. I much prefer the acronym in the business world that sees the letters CLIN and thinks Contract Line Item Number. It sounds boring, but at least it doesn't involve pee...

Decisions

I've decided to base all of my decisions the way our 4-year old does. When trying to decide which piece of halloween candy to eat, she will lay them out in front of her and say, "Skunk in the barnyard, pee-yoo. Somebody let him out, not you" and gradually eliminate it down to one lucky winner. It happens about 14 times a day. I think this would come in very handy in the high school setting (but so would our 4-year olds other popular saying, "Kiss my butt"- said right before going to church today). Oh, and there is also her lunch time conversation today of drinking a special Sprite she got trick-or-treating, "I'm going to pretend I'm Mom and that this is a Diet Coke. And that I have 100 more in my purse."
On an unrelated note, to the 60 people going on NYC 2012, it's gonna be fun...

TODAY is the Day

So your NYC deposits are due TODAY. If you want to call it in, call Bob Guymon at Thomas Travel, 801-266-2775 and tell him it's about the Eaton Theatre Group. Come and see this show:


EVITA!

2 Weeks

So exactly 2 weeks from today your NYC deposit is due. In tribute to that, here is a clip of one of my favorite Broadway performers ever (and I've only seen her live at Hale Orem), Audra McDonald. This will be playing when we are in NYC...

16 Days

So you have 16 days to turn in your deposit for NYC- would anyone be interested in seeing this? (I'm considering it if Sister Act closes):

Rigor

It's funny to me that the first words out of parents mouths at Parent Teacher Conference when they discover that their child has a bad grade in my classes is- "How can they be failing theatre/musical theatre/film/stage crew?"
By the tone of voice they are using, are they assuming that all their child needed to do to pass was to attend?
I then point out the 7 Shakespeare related assignments that are weeks past due and they look at the grade sheet in amazement that I actually have assignments. That I actually have written work that is required (and that most students should be able to fill out and turn in before the class period is over). I always wonder what they assume I do with them during class. Sit in a circle, hold hands and sing Kumbaya? Stare in a mirror at themselves until they find their inner reality?
It's also funny to me that in Film Studies, the parents turn to their child and say, "How can you be failing Film Studies? You LOVE movies!" Again, I point out that their little darling has not turned in any papers- and papers are 40% of the grade.
Just because someone loves something does not actually mean it will be easy.

Shakespeare Festival

We leave today with 39 high school students to the Utah Shakespeare Festival High Shcool Competition. We will be competing in acting, dance and technical theatre. We will also be seeing this:

and this:

Oh- I also had my first polygamist parent teacher conference last night-
and 22 days until NYC deposit.

23 Until...

If you turn in your deposit (and if this show is still playing), we will be seeing this:

24 Days Until...

If you turn in your deposit for NYC, then you will probably be seeing this show:

New York 2012 Annoucement...

So, you have exactly 25 days to turn in your $350 deposit if you want to go on our NYC trip in June of 2012.
As of right now, I'm doing two trips:

Trip #1: RHS students and parents (and if you prefer these dates, come with them).
June 12th-18th.

Trip #2: Adults, faculty, staff, RHS alumni (we need 40 for this tirp to happen).
June 19th-25th.

It's $1950 total for 4 people in a room (that'll get you 6 Broadway shows, hotel in Times Square, a day activity every day, airfare- even from Boise or Portland..., unlimited Subway card, plus me and Jackie as your guides!!) You'll even have the chance to see 3 additional shows of your choice (including The Book of Mormon- I'm not taking the group- but our travel agent will get you a ticket if you want one).

And...drum roll...chances are very high that one of our 6 shows will be this:



So come!! You'll have a blast!

44 Shows...

So Joseph at Hale is finally over. At the end, I did 44 shows in 8 weeks. That's over 132 up and down groveling on my knees (which is why they now sound like creaky cathedral doors every morning when I wake up).

Overall, it was a great experience (even performing at 7:30pm and 10:00pm on a Friday night, followed by 9:30am and 12:30pm the next day)- and let's not forget that magical Saturday when I did 4 shows in a row- and honestly began hallucinating during the Megamix and thought I had arrived at a disco Celestial kingdom (well, everyone was in white and sparkles- except for Joseph's magical LED-lit coat).

My patient show wife Brittany. Really nice dance partner that megamixed and hoe-downed with me. I repaid her kindness by not breaking her nose (which accidentally happened in one of our shows between husband and wife).

Our dressing room (#1). Ames, David, Casey, Matt, me and Nate. Ames would host his daily pod cast (Podcats), David would lose all of his costume pieces, Nate would yell "ten minutes" with a finger puppet at everyone in the dressing rooms, Casey would sing in the bathroom and Matt would roll his eyes at all of us.

Below is Ames Bell (with some back issue), Casey Elliot (Go Go Joseph) and Dru (pondering his life as Pharoh).

GREAT SHOW EVERYONE!

New York City Day #2

So Thursday in NYC was the first day of the Broadway Teacher's Conference at Jazz at Lincoln Center. I've decided the conference is totally worth it for the elevator ride alone up to the cool rooms our conference is in. Basically, we're located in Branford Marsalis recording and rehearsal studios.

So, I was up bright and early and walked from my hotel to the Time Warner building. The elevators weren't open yet so I went and got a snack at Bouchon Bakery and watched people react to the huge naked sumo wrestler statues in the lobby.

My first session was a getting to know you- and for being a theatre teacher, I dread doing "getting to know you exercises"- which makes me a total hypocrite because I make my theatre students do them all the time. I, however, met nice teachers from Australia, Georgia and Canada- so I guess it was worth it.

I then took a puppetry session from John Tartaglia (Tony nominee for Avenue Q and also a hilarious Pinochico from Shrek the musical). Totally fun and inspirational- Theatre 3 will be doing a puppetry unit this year. If I can get supplies.

After two sessions, it was lunch time so up I went to my favorite Grey's Papaya then a frozen hot chocolate at Jacque Torres. I then picked up some more chocolate love at Levain Bakery so Jackie would have a snack waiting for her in the fridge when she arrived the next morning.

That afternoon I listened to current Broadway stars talk about their Path to Broadway and then it was time for dinner.

It was Spiderman that night (and it started at 7:30pm) so I had a quick dinner after hitting the Drama Bookstore and stocking up on scripts for my school.

Now on to Spiderman. Hmmm.

Let's say the following: You can certainly see the 75 million dollars as the sets are jaw-dropping (and sometimes actor dropping as well), the flying is amazing (as the head of some mafia organization sitting next to me said when Green Goblin whizzed by his head (as in flew...not pee): "whoa"), but I think this show is a prime example of WAY too many cooks in the kitchen- and the end result is like everything was thrown up on the stage to see what sticks (random hip-hop military dance? Check. Spiderwoman Archnae vaguely seducing Peter Parker? Check. Crazy supervillians that look like they have a hard time walking? Check. Absolutely awful music? Check (more about that as it related to a class I took the next day from the music director- who has earned her spot in heaven working on this show...and did you see the number they did at the Tony Awards? THAT was the best number in the show- which says a lot).

I guess I'm glad I saw it- but I don't want to see it again- and it could have been an awesome show if the music was amazing... but it wasn't.

There. You've seen the best parts. Save your money.

But...Reeve Carney (he plays Peter Parker) and the guy that fell 25 feet head first into the orchestra pit last December came out and talked to us and answered questions. That was cool.

Go Go Go...

So I'm in this little production called Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Hale Center Theatre in West Valley. I play Isachaar (one of the brothers) and the Baker (sentenced to death because he dreamed about birds and bread and baskets). (In the picture above, I'm top left. I'm really not facing the wrong direction... I'm just trying to cheat out so that side of the audience doesn't feel left out)...

Things I've learned about this production:

1. I am the 2nd oldest person in our dressing room. Last night, the 3rd oldest was planning a playlist for his high school reunion.... from 2001. I am an old man in this cast.

2. The only way I can get through shows is with Ibuprofen- and even then, I have to time it right so it kicks in during Act 2 when all of the brothers are on their knees for what feels like 45 hours.

3. If my microphone is turned on during my lift with my show wife in One More Angel in Heaven, the audience will literally hear me chanting, Please Jesus, Please Jesus on rotation.

4. It is next to impossible to sing a High A while jumping up and down.

5. All sense of modesty and decorum goes out the window when you have exactly one verse of Close Every Door to do a complete costume change from head to toe.

6. You know everyone in the cast sweats a lot when Hale covers every microphone with a condom. The oldest guy in our dressing room (who has seven kids) thought the actor playing Joseph was playing a trick on him... it took some convincing that the condoms were not a joke.

7. You should have gotten tickets yesterday because they have added about 20 shows (on one weekend I get to do the Friday 7:30pm, 10:00pm and the Saturday 9:30am, 12:30pm, 4:00pm and 7:30pm. I will just have to have a IV drip with Ibuprofen...) because the regular shows are sold out.

But if you want to try to see it, it runs through the 24th of Sept. and I'm in the MWF Sat. 12:30pm matinee cast. It really is a good show (to quote Ellis- Age 4- she can see Joseph's boob in one song...) and I sweat a lot.

90% Won't Care...But

So today was our August showcase for Hale Summer Camp. One of the girls (11 years old) told us her uncle was coming. We said, That's nice. She then said, we're singing Step in Time from Mary Poppins and he played Bert on Broadway and London...and the teachers looked at each other and asked who her uncle was...
and it's this Broadway star:

Gavin Creel.

I know 90% of you don't care (or even know who he is), but he was Tony nominated for Thoroughly Modern Millie (the original Jimmy with Sutton Foster) and Hair (with Will Swenson).
He was really nice and gave me a bear hug (that lifted me off the ground) after the showcase- even though we were a little nervous playing our Mary Poppins songs with him in the audience.
My kind friend Neal Johnson took these pics:


And if you want to hear how amazing his voice is, listen to him sing this song from Next to Normal.

30 Sec. Mark

Watch this video- esp. around the 30 sec. mark. You'll see the bad version of his message.
Basically they came and had me and Jackie improvise a big fight around balancing the checkbook. Millie was sitting next to me coloring and Jackie was holding Ellis and a big knife.

New York Day #1

So I recently attended the Broadway Teacher's Conference in New York City. Basically teachers (from elementary to high school) come from all over the world (this year Switzerland and Australia were the furthest) to attend workshops from Broadway professionals and attend shows.

I arrived a day early so I could do my own stuff. Here is Day #1.

After a lovely red eye flight (thanks Jetblue) seated next to an elderly woman who was as still and silent as a stone- even though her tv was set to wrestling the entire flight. Even when everyone else turned off their tv's to try and sleep, her tv stayed on watching wrestling- even though she slept the entire flight.

After arriving bright and early (6:20am) at JFK, and grabbing my shuttle (30 minutes later), me and 6 other passengers were headed to Manhattan. I was next to a really nice couple from Australia who were in NYC for the first time. hey asked a lot of questions about Broadway shows and I hope whatever I recommended to them, they liked. Otherwise, it could sully their entire opinion of Americans.

I was dropped off at my hotel (the Wellington) on 55th and 7th where I got a room upgrade (to the top floor, with a balcony overlooking Times Square). The room wasn't ready so they held my bags and I was off to check out The Book of Mormon musical.

It was 8:20am and already pretty warm. When I got to the O'Neill theatre, there was already a line formed for Standing Room tickets. I sat down next to a film student from Columbia (cinematography emphasis) when the stage manager (or someone official) asked me to continue the line on the other side of the sage door. I was lucky because when I sat down, I was protected from the sun from a street barricade.

I sat down and read the new James Bond book, listened to my Ipod as I made friends with other people that joined the line behind me (a teacher from Canada attending the same conference as me, a mother of 2 teenage girls from Southern California, a guy from mid-town Manhattan who wanted a ticket for his birthday...etc). Around 10:00am there were over 50 people in line.

Since this was a Wednesday, they were doing standby for both the 2:00pm matinee and the 7:o0pm evening show. They came out and told us that they didn't know how many standing room tickets would be released at 1:00pm but if you didn't get a ticket then, you could stay in line until 6:00pm to get a standing ticket for the 7:00pm.

At noon they had all of us fill out papers for the lottery- around 100 people entered the lottery with 12 names being drawn for $27 front row seats. I didn't get them but at 1:00pm, I got my standing room ticket.

After grabbing a gross turkey sandwich, drinking a Coke to stay awake during the show, watching a homeless woman grab bread out of the garbage can to feed pigeons, I saw The Book of Mormon musical at 2:00pm.

I really liked the show (I'll do a separate entry for it)- and it was definitely worth the $27 I paid- but to pay $477 like someone did in the cancellation line? No.

After that, I checked into the hotel, showered and went off for a nice dinner.

After dinner was War Horse at Lincoln Center. I had gotten a seat on the 3rd row, but the way the theatre is, I was right next to the stage- so close that I got brushed with some of the horse's tails.

In short, the play was breathtaking with amazing puppets and a great story. The man next to me was uncontrollably sobbing at the end of the show.

I then went and grabbed some cheesecake from Carnegie Deli and it was off to sleep.

Summer Fun

So in June, the fam packed their bags and made it to Disneyland- barely. I underestimated how long the security lines would be and got on the plane (Southwest) with only individual center seats available. I went to the back of the plane with Millie and loudly said, "OK Millie, sit between both of those nice business men and I'll sit right behind you." I knew I would be successful when Millie starting crying and one of those nice business men stood up and gave me his seat so I could be next to my 6- year old. Jackie was more direct. She stood in the middle of the plane and said, "Who's getting up so I can sit by my 4-year old daughter. She can't sit by herself." Her plan worked as well and we were off to Los Angeles.

We arrived late Thursday night to our nice room at the Howard Johnson (free upgrade- thank you!)

Over the next 4 days we did:

Friday- Magic Kingdom (normally not supercrowded this time of year- however, people had spent the night outside to get on the grand re-opening of Star Tours). We avoided that side of the park- but could not talk Ellis into going on Splash Mountain- esp. after Millie and I got off it SOAKED.

We played in the park til lunch, ate at Ralph Brennens, stayed up late for fireworks- had fun.

Saturday- Early entry. Ran like mad to get Star Tours fastpasses- not open at 7:00am- just rode it alone while Jackie and the girls hit Fantasyland. Met up with Jackie's parents and siblings and got to go on tons of rides because there were lots of us. We even ran over and (after waiting tons) rode the new Ariel ride at California Adventure. That night, came back for Fantasmic. Ellis fell asleep before the show and woke up just in time to see the Dragon. She was a little concerned.

Sunday- Did California Adventure- including getting SOAKED at World of Color (but in my opinion, worth it- amazing show). Had the picnic lunch which included our Fastpasses for the show. Got to ride Tower of Terror with other people- which is rare because I usually ride it with strangers because Jackie refuses to ride it with me. Even talked Ellis and Millie into riding on Grizzly River Rapids- and had fun.

Monday- Back in Magic Kingdom for Toontown Madness (pretty much had Toontown for ourselves for a while) and hit our favorite rides. Also had preferred seating for the new parade which was fun because we were the only people in preferred seating that had kids- so the cast members had fun with them.

Back in Utah on Tuesday so Jackie could be in class.

One thing: What was with all of the normal healthy looking people riding jazzies all over the park (and getting line passes?) Literally saw a family of 4 all pull up to City Hall all on jazzie while the dad went in to get line passes for the family. The dad came back out to tell everyone they needed to come inside, but the mom said, absolutely not. Jazzies were EVERYWHERE- and I don't mind if you are elderly or frail or have visible damage, but really, it was like the ship on the movie WALLE. They were obnoxious.

How True

You have no idea how true these awards are (even if you don't normally watch videos on blog- this is short and funny- read the scrawl at the bottom of the tech awards screen):


High School Tony Awards Honor Nation's Biggest Drama Club Nerds

Vacation

We leave for:

this afternoon.

I am excited for:

and for:

Jackie got so excited yesterday that she kicked a:

into the front room.

Hopefully we have lots of:

and not lots of:

Since we won't be back until June 7th, we'll fill you in on all of our shenanigans.

Haircut

So our oldest daughter Millie has the hair of a Shetland pony. Her little sister Ellis has the hair of the silk on an ear of corn. For some odd reason, Jackie figured the perfect time to trim both of their hair was before church on Sunday.

So the girls settled in front of Veggitales and Mom got out her scissors.

Ellis- done in 10 minutes.

Millie- 1 hour and 45 minutes later, I yell at the top of the stairs that we have to go to choir. Millie comes up- with a... how shall I describe it... fashion forward, runway model, hair show style. Now the remarkable thing is that this style came about completely organically- and as Millie's hair dried, different lengths began appearing all across her head.

Millie suffered through church (most people didn't notice- or, thought Jackie was trying radical new styles on her oldest daughter) and 1st thing Memorial Day, I took Millie to a salon to have her style "adjusted" (I told the stylist that she did it too herself... I expected Millie to defend herself but she was interested in having her hair shampooed).

She is now a cute (well, she was cute before Jackie's "makeover") stylish, shorter haired version of herself. No more home haircuts in front of the tv for her.

11 Years

So the class of 2011 graduates this upcoming Wednesday- and that day also officially brings to a close my 11th year of teaching theatre, film, and stage crew at Riverton High School.

In 11 years of teaching I've:

• Seen 2 of my former students become high school theatre teachers themselves (1 starting at my former high school West Jordan High this upcoming school year)



• Been to the High School Shakespeare Competition 12 years in a row (the first I directed All's Well That Ends Well when I was student teaching at Riverton).



• Been a colleague with some of my former teachers (Dave Stoddard- who hired me as the principal at Riverton was my middle school biology teacher, Steve Bickmore- my high school AP English teacher, Ed Willis- my high school biology teacher and Georgia Fairbanks- my high school choir teacher (now a counselor at Riverton).



• Been walked in on using the bathroom in the boys dressing room 1 time (I still apologize to the minister of the Draper Community Church in Christ- but it was the vice principal that let you into the boys dressing room while I was using it...)



• Vomited 1 time in the boys dressing room (during rehearsals for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat)



• Had the projector in Film Studies explode 1 time (but it was horrifying and thankfully the black smoke that poured out of it didn't set off the fire alarm).



• Set off the fire alarm once (from the fog machine in 7 Brides for 7 Brothers)



• Lost control at a production of Little Shop of Horrors at Dixie State in 2000 (but I partially blame Bradley Moss for that)



• Have directed the following Shakesepare pieces: All Well, Titus Andronicus, 12th Night, Taming of the Shrew, and King Lear (twice- the dividing of the kingdom and the blinding of Glouchester)



• Have directed the following musicals: Once Upon a Mattress, Working, Quilters, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Anything Goes, Les Miserables, Smile, Back to the 80's, Lucky Stiff, Secret Garden, Once on this Island, and Secrets Every Smart Traveller Should Know.



• Have done 7 Musical revues- all with Kori Wakamatsu and Kelly DeHaan (for the MDT class).



• Have directed the following plays: The Diviners, The Curious Savage, Lend Me A Tenor, 10 Little Indians, Cash on Delivery, Rumors, The Greek Mythology Olympiaganza, Arabian Nights, Soap Opera, and The Miracle Worker.



• Have seen over 100 shows at Pioneer Theatre Company.



• Have seen over 100 shows on Broadway.



• Have taken students to see the Broadway Touring Shows in Salt Lake City for Wicked, Urinetown, Les Miserables, Cats, The Color Purple, Mary Poppins, Young Frankenstein, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Hairspray, and Spamalot (with Leanna Willmore!)



• Worked with 1000's of students who are majoring in acting, musical theatre, music dance theatre, technical theatre, stage management all over the state of Utah. I've also worked with students that are now performing at Tuachan, BYU Young Ambassadors, Hale Orem, Hale WVC, Pioneer Theatre Company, The Grand and all over the USA.
  

Here's to many more years of RHS Theatre!

NPR

So if you're interested in listening to a song from the new Book of Mormon musical, you can listen to the entire soundtrack on NPR (it's the only place you can listen right now). Try to listen to the first song (Hello)- nothing offensive there- and not have it stuck in your head the rest of the day. If I was in the mission field, I would be singing this on my bike. And the socially awkward missionary 1/2 way through? You all know they're out there...

Utah Premiere!

So, this Friday, Saturday and Monday nights, come to Riverton High School to see the Utah Premiere of the Broadway musical Smile. 25 RHS Music, Dance, Theatre students are performing this show at 7:00pm (with me, getting carpal tunnel, accompanying them).

It's a great show that takes you behind the scenes of the 1985 Young American Miss Beauty Pageant. The songs (which are great and will get stuck in your head) are by Marvin Hamlisch (A Chorus Line) and Howard Ashman (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors). Seating is limited to 150 so I know we'll be turning people away. Come see this fun and touching show! And buy candy at intermission. Drama club needs your money (since no one is voting for us on the KUTV contest).

Please Vote

So, last year at this time, I was begging my 7 readers to please vote every day for the Riverton High School video on KUTV's website. It's that time of year again and this year, we have posted a video from the Broadway musical Mary Poppins. If you have an email address, please go here:
http://connect2utah.upickem.net/engine/ApprovedSubmissions.aspx?PageType=APPROVED&contestid=29092
and vote every day for the Riverton High School video so RHS can win some money. Our video quality is not the best, but the students sound great and the dance they are doing is hard.
(And I know Neal is reading this- great freaky video- did you know that number is cut in all productions now? It's been replaced with something else. It scared me.).

So, starting tomorrow (for the next 14 days) vote 1 time every day for us. And leave a comment under the video if you want. Thanks!
Thanks!

April

Millie's 6th Birthday. She got a lot of fun presents (but announced to Jackie that Grandma and Grandpas give better presents than Mom and Dad- she is now off my Disneyland list- other 6 year olds may send me a headshot and resume to be considered as Millie's understudy on our Disneyland trip in June. Must be able to pray that you won't hurt your bottom at the top of a water slide at the new rec center pool while a long line of children are behind you ready to push you down).
When riding her bike with a new helmet and bike bell (that I attached)- she rings the bell- and it falls onto the sidewalk in a thousand pieces. Though it is a Disney Princess bell, no amount of Disney magic is going to be able to put this bell back together.
She then goes to bed under the new "princess canopy" from Ikea (that I put up)- it proceeds to fall off the ceiling and onto her head the next morning.
There is a chirping sound driving her crazy- I try to find the smoke alarm somewhere upstairs that needs a new battery- I replace it- still more chirping. Finally (while Jackie is out of town at a conference) it drives me to the point of profanity and I unplug all of the upstairs smoke detectors.
Unfortunately, my father (innocently enough) asks how the alarms are doing- in front of Jackie. This proceeds to unravel my web of lies involving the smoke alarms in front of her. Jackie has the family go on an outing to Walmart to purchase 10 9 volt batteries to replace every single smoke detector in the house.
After doing all that- still chirping from downstairs. The alarm in the family room has wiring issues- I think I solve it by reconnecting everything while simultaneously not exploding with electrical current. Jackie helps by periodically asking, "do you know what you're doing?" and the always helpful, "please don't kill yourself."
2 days later, the stupid thing falls off the ceiling.
Our great cousin Curt comes over with his family for Millie's birthday (and so he can have gluten filled cake)- but as is custom at the Eaton home, if you come for cake, you must fix something- and he proceeds to rewire the smoke alarm- AND attach it to the ceiling so it doesn't fall on someones head!
He also looks at our bathroom sink drain stop that stopped working- pulls it out- does something fancy under the sink (while I nodded pretending that I had any idea what he was talking about)- pulled out a part that I will now take to Home Depot to "attempt" to fix. Somehow, the sink will probably explode in Millie's face.
And what, you may well ask, is up with our bathroom towel rack that fell off the wall in November- after me "fixing" it 3 other times? Don't worry your pretty head dear reader. It is still laying on our bedroom floor looking forlorn. Jackie has learned to just shake herself dry like a Labrador retriever after taking a shower.

Spiderman the Musical- again

Spiderman the Musical

Although I'm seeing it in July for a conference I'm attending (if it's still open that is...), I think this is probably accurate...

Tom Hanks is Great

March Thoughts

In no particular order:

• I liked The Social Network but I am happy that The King's Speech won Best Picture. In my Film 2 class, I had students fill out ballots guessing what they thought would win. My winner guessed 17 right. I guessed 8. Jackie and I ate brownies and ice cream while we watched. That was our big Oscar Party.


• The Miracle Worker was a great success. Great audiences, great performances (and, so far, no letters to the principal). Fun show to direct. Now it's on to coaching for Region and the MDT musical Smile- which, if you live in Utah, will be the Utah premiere. It's really fun.


• Should I audition for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Hale? Maybe.


• Just bought our airfare for Disneyland yesterday. We have no place to stay yet (waiting for Summer deals), but grabbed $89 flights on Southwest to Los Angeles minutes after I check out of school on June 2nd. Excited to see World of Color and the new Star Tours and Little Mermaid ride.


• Jackie made oatmeal in the crockpot for dinner last night. It was really good (much better than instant). She also chopped up apples Top Chef style to stir in it. The girls loved it.


• Submitted Millie's name for Chinese immersion. We shall see what the lottery does.


• I have to start thinking about a school musical for next year. Any thoughts?


• Going to NYC for a conference in July. Seeing Spiderman (not excited- it's part of the conference), How to Succeed (very excited- with Daniel Radcliffe too), Sister Act (medium excited) and one other show with the conference. Going out a day early to see 2 other shows. I believe Book of Mormon may be one of them...


• Started making plans for NYC trip 2012- friends and family, always welcome to come (or watch Millie and Ellis). It will be a great trip. Student trip June 4th and NEW adult/alumni trip June 18th!! Save your pennies. A deposit of $350 will be due Oct. 28th to reserve your spot.

See What Carole Mikita Liked

Come see what Carole Mikita liked Friday, Saturday or Monday night!
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=14506197

Video

Funny video- I know Lincoln from BYU.

Miracle

So this week, my production of The Miracle Worker opens on Thursday night. I always feel bad for the actors in the play because our auditorium holds 1313 people. You can have a 100 people there, but it only fills out the first 7 rows so it feels empty.

This year, we have a new ASL teacher and because The Miracle Worker is the true story of Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan, she thought having her advanced students interpret the play for the deaf community would be cool.

So, this Friday night, they are going to interpret- and if the word going around is correct, we will have a lot of the deaf community at our show- which is awesome.

KSL TV is also coming out on Tuesday to film our dress rehearsal and interview kids. I have to say, our Helen and Annie are amazing- as is the rest of the cast. I love my lighting and set as well. So, if you're looking for something to do, and you want to cry a little (from happiness- because the ending of this play will get you every time), come on Thursday, Friday, Sat. or Monday night to Riverton High School at 7:00pm and see The Miracle Worker.

Roomba

Well, it took a couple of months, but now the girls no longer shriek when the Roomba gets turned on. For a while, the quickest way to a: get the girls to run screaming to their mother and b: pick everything off the floor really quick, was for me to make a grand entrance (preferably Saturday morning) and annouce that I was turning Roomba on in their rooms.

First Ellis would cry that Roomba would vacuum up her dolls. Millie would cry that everything she loved is under her bed and that's where Roomba likes to go.

We reached a turning point last Saturday when Roomba was cleaning Ellis's room and Ellis came up and said that she would like an apple to eat while she sat on her bed to watch Roomba clean her room. And she did- for 45 minutes. Millie was slightly traumatized when Roomba began beeping and announcing "Error, change brushes" really loudly in her room. It turns out it had sucked up her jelly ring- but it was ok and Millie wore it proudly.

So, in short, the Roomba is awesome. It goes all around and under the dining room table (like a dog!), under the beds, and doesn't fall down the stairs. It got stuck once downstairs under our entertainment center and once under Ellis's bed on her matresss lining- but it figures it out if it gets a rug, magazine or drapes and reverses and lets it go. Since Jackie likes detail cleaning things with toothpicks (not being sarcastic), she even loves cleaning out its brushes when it's done with it's cycle (about 25 minutes per room). It's the pet we will never have.

A Conundrum

So Millie's elementary school has a Chinese immersion program. If you sign your student up, from grades 1-6th they will be with the same students each year in a program that is 50/50 Chinese and English. By immersion, it means the every day of school, for 3.5 hours, they hear NOTHING but Mandarin Chinese (and this starts the first day of 1st grade)- the rest of the day is in English. The goal with the program is to have the students fluent by 6th and continue the program through middle school so that in 9th grade, they can take the Chinese AP exam. I guess studies have shown that if students learn a 2nd language before puberty, they make connections in the way they think that make learning a 3rd or 4th language very easy.

The problem is that, since Millie is in year-round school (and because the program is popular and students are only admitted by lottery), the Chinese immersion program is only available C Track. C Track is the "not so popular track" or, the "crap track" because of when they take their breaks. If Millie were to do it, she would be on it the next 6 years year. Ellis would also get priority to be in the program because they want siblings to learn to communicate with each other. Millie would only get 3 weeks off in July for summer break- and I teach at Hale Center Theatre for 2 of those weeks (and the rest of times she is off-track, they don't coincide with ANY of my breaks at the high school). She would be in school the entire month of June (which I get off) and all of August (she would get off right as I start back up with high school). Then if Ellis gets in, it means that for the next 8 years, no doing anything as a family over the summer, except for 1 week in July- but maybe that's ok. Is it worth it? Thoughts?

Also, Jackie and I are became addicted to Downton Abby on Masterpiece Theatre. We can't wait for the next season.

Up To

So last week, Jackie I and journeyed south to St. George, Utah for the annual Utah Theatre Conference at Dixie State College. It's a fun weekend of warm weather, meeting up with theatre teacher friends from across the state, watching shows, going to workshops and getting off of your bathroom routine because you're eating a lot of crap.
First, we took students to see this:

Now, I have seen over 150 Broadway shows, both in New York and touring shows. But, in all of my years of teaching, I have NEVER seen The Phantom of the Opera. Bizarrely, I've seen Cats 4 times, Les Miserables 4 (not counting our school production last year), Wicked 4, etc. etc. But Phantom? Never.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised AND, if you are going to see it, the Las Vegas production is the way to go. 90 minutes, no intermission and amazing technical effects that are not in the Broadway or London production. Plus, we had an amazing 45 minute talkback with the stage manager, stunt coordinator, Christine understudy, spotlight operator and a backstage worker. Fantastic experience.
Over the weekend we also saw a production of Once on this Island- which has the distinction of being the first musical Millie ever saw (when she was 3 weeks old).
Also, last week I took students to see the hilarious comedy Black Comedy at Pioneer Theatre Company. Great show which I first saw at BYU.
Also, now that it's a new year, start planning to put in your deposit for our NYC trip in 2012 in October. We are taking 2 trips. One for students and their parents and one for adults and alumni. That should help keep the numbers manageable.

Winter Tunes

So if you're like me, you are bloated with Jackie's famous Christmas fudge (or if you're my 5-year old, you're feeling great after eating everything in your Christmas stocking in 30 minutes secretly in your room), nothing is good on tv this week, you've already seen the movies you want to over Christmas and it's freezing outside. Well, if you are looking for something to warm you up, let the sweet, sweet sound of Broadway showtunes do the trick.

This upcoming Friday, Jan. 7th and Monday, Jan. 10th, the Riverton High School MUSIC, DANCE, THEATRE class will be performing their annual winter revue, On the Radio: A Broadway Revue. Tickets are only $6.00 and the show starts at 7:00pm. Accompanied (as always) by the amazing Kelly DeHaan (who will be singing a song from the musical Shrek), this revue features a little bit of everything. You want dramatic ballads? We have them (Children of Eden, Edges and A Tale of Two Cities). High energy dance numbers? Got those too (Grease, Chicago, Memphis). Chopping up people and eating them in pies? Got that (Thoroughly Modern Millie- we've put a dark spin on that show...).

So come on out this Friday or Monday and see this great show!

I Think I Saw...

So a couple of weeks ago I was stirring from a Sunday afternoon nap- when out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw movement under the door of our unfinished section of our basement.

I lept up and yelled "mouse", which brought Jackie out of her cavern of studies.

For the following 2 weeks, Jackie was a woman crazed. She cleaned everything (including the wallpaper. If we had wallpaper) looking for the villainous varmint. Strangers were told at Walmart and Home Depot (as I searched for traps). Neighbors shared their horror stories with mice. Jackie became an insomniac- she was like a cat on a hot tin roof waiting to pounce on our furry visitor.... which is funny because the longer I thought about it, the less likely I was that I saw it in the first place. There were no signs of food gotten into- no droppings (although the discovery of a raisin under the sofa nearly called for the smelling salts for Jackie)- just the foggy mind of an afternoon Sunday nap.

So the traps remain empty- but Jackie is ever vigilant.

And to help with Jackie's cleaning schedule, on Christmas we welcomed a new pet to the Eaton household:

The Roomba 550. It cleans amazingly well- and all by itself. I even found myself saying "excuse me" to it the other day when I got in its way. Jackie can program it to vacuum it any day she wants. It's only gotten stuck once (under the entertainment center) and Ellis has only asked to ride it one time (although she has requested it "get out of our house" when she thought it was going to climb up the sofa and get her.

So all mice watch out. Between Jackie and the Roomba we're ready and waiting.