UPDATE: Friday Evening

The commercial is back up over at Metro's Blog.


tick,tick...BOOM! runs for 5 more performances, and there are tickets available.
Visit Metro's website for details.

Frustration

So, we had a little tick tick commercial put together for our last extension week by the theatre. It was a fantastic commercial, and in league with actor's equity standards ( 3 minutes, and no clip lasting more than 30 seconds), yet someone reported it and had it taken down. Now there is no commercial. A marketing tool shot down. By who?
I wonder. hmmm.
I know how to find out who did it. I am currently on a quest to do such. I have a hunch.
This is why my Union can be screwed up. We here in DC are at a horrible economic point as far as selling tickets to shows. No one has money to go and see shows right now. Any way we can market a show is a blessing and a godsend.
This ad was in standing with regulation, and because someone bitched about it, and why, I'd love to know, it was pulled.
What kind of protection is my union offering me by preventing an ad to go up that will sell tickets to an extension? I am not being taken advantage of in any way.
If this is someone in the union's idea to enforce rules, then guess what? They are A) wrong, because the ad met rule code, B) not helping me as an equity actor. Know why? Because now I will not be helped by the ad to fill the house.
So to whom it may concern who thought that they were being some kind of savior of the modern world...you were wrong in reporting this, and also...you are not helping or defending us. You are hurting us.
SO sorry for this post, but I cannot hide my frustration with this situation. When arts and theatre are hidden and tied down behind such regulations and tape, they are not art. Don't we want people to come and see us?
Goodnight,
Luv,
SGS

A Different Kind of Christmas Carol

As you may or may not know, my husband, Matt Conner is always busy working on several projects at once. Since the completion of Nevermore in 2006, he has continued to write and create more projects, from Crossing, that just had it's first workshop at Signature a few weeks ago, to a children's book that he is still developing, and premiering this week at the Lisner Auditorium, The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington will perform a work that he wrote for them, A (Gay) Christmas Carol(s). He is very proud of the work that he has done on this mini musical adaptation of the classic tale, and I am equally as proud of him.
The show is hysterical, and takes a loving swipe at many a gay icon.
Matt wrote the book, music, and lyrics on this piece. I am always astounded at the levels and depth of his creativity, and he never fails to surprise me with his amazing talent.
One of the funniest things about this are the incarnations of the three ghosts. Think about it for a minute. Look at the title. Why is there an (s) at the end? Use your imagination, people. I think that it is absolutely hysterical! Especially the surprise of the last ghost.
For those with children, beyond the fact that there are gay people in relationships portrayed on the stage (which you can see any night on basic cable), this is not a lewd or non family evening at all. Just a bit of camp, with a huge heart behind it, and some very sensitive and endearing moments thrown in for good measure.
To purchase tickets, visit www.gmcw.org.
And have your self a "Mary" little Christmas now.
;)
luv,
SGS

The Tick Tick Commercial!

Happy Turkey Day!!!!

a little well placed foil and you too can make this turkey your Thanksgiving Day surprise!
PS...did anyone else hear the annoying audio feedback that prevailed on the Macy's Day Parade?

TICK, TICK...BOOM! EXTENDED!!!

Well, our little show that could has chugged up the mountain, and is extending at Metro Stage. It will now play till December 2nd. Please help me pass the word on to those who might not have seen it yet, or might want to come a second time (as many have) to see it again.
Go to Metro Stage's website to get tickets.
See you there!

soup...(a condensed story)

What time is it? 6pm. One hour before I jump in the car, and drive the purple station wagon down to Metro Stage. Soup time. I usually eat chicken noodle soup for dinner during show nights. I can't eat anything that really is a trigger for my acid-reflux, and I don't want to eat anything too heavy, as I really don't have time for offstage burps. Or God forbid anything else.
The soup, as you all know, is pretty bland so it works well enough. The broth is also a nice warm treat for my vocal chords.
When I used to be asked by my cast mates what I had for dinner, after about the fifth time of answering soup, they got the picture. I told them that I had been eating so much soup that my last name should be Campbell.
Sometimes, Felicia will ask me out of the blue between shows, "Are you going home? What are you going to eat?".
I'll look at her and say, "What's my last name?".
She nods, knowingly.
Matt Pearson started worrying about my sodium levels since I was eating so much soup. I eased his fears by informing him, "no-no...I eat Healthy Request Soup. No worries." He shook his head and walked away laughing.
But about three weeks ago, Matty (my Matt) volunteered to make me my soup dinner while I walked Buddha. I came back and looked at what seemed to be a HUGE bowl of soup.
"How many cans did you make?", I asked Matt.
"Just one, honey.", he said.
I thought to myself that it must have been a large can. Oh well.
I started to eat it. Hmm...it tasted awfully bland. I even asked Matt if it were a different brand. He said no.
The next day around dinner time, Matt was in the kitchen fixing dinner, and I joined him, making my soup. He watched as I poured the can into the pot on the burner, and then went back to flipping my grilled cheese in the skillet.


"Aren't you going to add any water, honey?", he asked.
"NO! Why? That's why it tasted funny yesterday! I thought it tasted watered down!"
I felt like Sherlock Holmes, just having solved the mystery of a century. A great "A-HA!" moment. Water in the soup? No way, man. That's like when people put water in red sauce to make more of it, but what ends up happening is that they have a whole bunch of thin, runny, and nasty sauce. I hate that.
"But honey, you're supposed to...it's condensed soup."
I pondered this for a minute.
"Doesn't it taste horrible without water? It must be like eating pure salt!", Matty said.
I pondered more. Condensed?
"But I have never added water to it.", I said.
Suddenly I felt a wave of stupidity, mixed with embarrassment, mixed with hysterics.
I became what I can't stand: just like every man who doesn't ever read instructions or directions because he knows he must be right.
We both had a huge laugh about the whole situation.
The next time I made soup, I used the recommended amount of water. Still blah. Tasted like water with some noodles in it.
So, I met the instructions half way. Half the amount. Which is how I eat it now.
Do I miss eating condensed soup without water added? A little.
Do my arteries? Not one bit.
With that, I have just finished my soup, so should go wash my dirty dishes and throw a sweater on. Time to go to work.
Have a warm, fuzzy, flannel blanket, cup of hot cocoa, curl up on the couch and watch old movies kind of evening. And if you have not yet, come and see tick,tick...BOOM! (10 remaining performances!)
Talk to you soon,
SGS

Hump Day Check In...

Well...no, this is not the scene from my backyard this evening. Just a little wishful thinking on my part. (yes, I am a snow advocate)
Well, I start the next weekend of TICKS today. Ready for another killer weekend. The sales have really been picking up, so I hope to see you there this weekend. Whoever "you" are. Whatever "that" means.
Next week is Thanksgiving week, and I am already pining to bring out the Christmas decorations. I can't wait!
I have been falling asleep to:
A Home of Our Own, The Homecoming, Miracle on 34th Street, and Charlie Brown Christmas. Oh yeah...I'm ready.
I'll be spending Thanksgiving, as always, with Matt's family. Always our annual swapping of names in the Christmas present exchange. Wonder who I'll get this year?



And if you are searching for pre-Thanksgiving week entertainment this weekend, visit TICKETPLACE's WEBSITE to buy online half price tickets to many shows in the area, including my own, Josh's, and both Shows at Signature! Check it out and go and support local theatre! We need you now more than ever, what with the economy being what it is. Come out and support local artists.
Talk more later. (I am off all day before the show.)
Luv,
SGS

The Studio at Signature Theatre

I saw the opening of The Studio at Signature Theatre Monday night. What an amazing night. I would strongly encourage you to go and see it. It is a beautiful evening, and very striking at the same time. I can't put words to it, and was so moved at the end that I could not speak.
Go and see it.

Ira Levin has passed...

The author of Rosemary's Baby has passed. Yes, he wrote much more than that, but that was his triumph. I am sad. Cheers to Ira Levin.

Joshing...

Josh Lefkowitz and I got to hang out and catch up this afternoon. We went to our usual hang out...Cici's Pizza, and ate till we couldn't breathe.
Josh and I met during One Red Flower at Signature Theatre, and since then, he has been back to the area several times performing his one man shows, Help Wanted and Now What?
Currently, you can catch him performing the latter at Wooly Mammoth Theatre, on 7th and D, NW.
After spending about two hours of this afternoon with him, my face hurts from laughing so hard. So go and see him. If you do, you'll get to see him wear this shirt and make this face:
Who could turn that down?

Courtney Love...my patron saint of this show...(for you Matty Gardiner)

...every show I have a patron saint. She is mine for this show. A bloody mess, but yet still amazing. Here are some highlights..

Fall Clean Up 2007

SO, look at this mess! I had to clean up, put away, and winterize my back yard yesterday while I had the time. What a grueling and disgusting job! I usually wait until it is a little bit colder, so I can avoid a majority of the creepy crawlie critters, but my time was limited, so I did it yesterday. I had some Halloween yard stuff to put away, the tent had to come down, the fountain had to be emptied, Halloween lights had to be taken down, and plants cut back to soil level. Where should I even start?







First, all objects for disposal, or to be put away met in separate piles on the table.
I think that Drowned Pumpkin sensed his imminent fate...








I also had to take all objects screwed into the fence down, as we are getting a new fence in a week or so, and take the refrigerator in for the winter. I had to unscrew: a planter, some screws holding up lights, a framed picture, and a singing fish mounted on plastic.
You heard me.




And while I took a swipe at taking down the other Halloween beasties, I had not put them away properly, and had not even attempted to take town Ms. 1930.
Remember Ms. 1930?







Here she is after being stripped nekkid and snatched bald headed...






But what's that I spy on her nekkid shoulder?
UGH! A SPIDER!







No, I didn't kill it, I simply plucked it off and hoped for the best for it. Next up? The tent. Ugh, more spiders, as they tend to nest in it. I took off the fabric part, shook it out (ugh-they flew everywhere!) and folded down the tent's frame...







Now to get the frame into it's protective bag for the winter...wait, what is that yellow speck on the cover, is that? It's MOVING! A Yellow SPIDER!!!










Disgusted by his personage, but inspired by his hue, I painted two outdoor boxes yellow to match his gorgeous color.










I went through all my yard supplies, old pots, Halloween stuff, and decided that I had WAY too much. I went through everything, deciding that things that I did not use this past year, I would not miss by next year. Look at all of the trash!





After all the blood, sweat, and spiders, I am pleased that the yard now looks more open and clear for the cold and (hopefully) snowy months to come. I always like the look of the yard stripped to its bareness this time of year. When Spring and summer roll around, and it is burgeoning with bounty, it almost seems impossible that it sprang forth from this. A wiped clean slate is good to have sometimes. It allows other possibilities to present themselves later.
Hopefully those possibilities will arise without spiders.
;)
luv,
SGS

The finished product:

TICK TICK BOOM! Starts again tonight through Sunday night!

Well, I am just eating dinner and getting ready to start another great weekend of shows. Another review came out. The Washington City Paper. While not terribly bad, I don't really agree with the review on many points. It seems to infer that if I screamed like bloody murder, ruined my voice, and didn't enunciate, then I would have done much better. Damned if you do or don't I say.
What I do know is that I have been getting e-mails (through my blog) from people who have come to see the show. People who I do not know. I normally wouldn't share these, but I have received so many, and I never get e-mails like this from any show that I do.
Here are some of the excerpts:


Here's one...

"Thanks for an amazing performance.
We met briefly with Felicia Curry at the end of tonight's (Sunday 7:00 PM) performance in the Lobby of Metro Stage. I grudgingly came to see the performance (I was kind of down), which turned out to be (as I said in the lobby) totally amazing.
The three of you have awesome voices, especially your voice, which is so suited for that kind of score and music.
I truly believe that you could easily do RENT on Broadway or most anything both musical and non-musical. You have a fantastic energy in you.
I left with a smile on my face tonight and hope to keep it for the rest of the week, maybe longer."

One from an obvious youngster...

"I hope you don't mind, but I got your email off of your blog and just wanted to compliment you on tick tick BOOM. I was in the audience Friday night and thought it was wonderful. It has always been one of my favorite shows and as a huge Raul Esparza fan I came in fully biased towards hating you, quite honestly, but you (and your cast mates) completely won me over. I hope you all are enjoying yourselves, good luck with the rest of the run!"




Here's a really touching one...

"I was at "Tick, Tick ... BOOM!" tonight (Thurs.) with my God Mother, and I have to say we were both extremely impressed by the show you, Matt and Felicia put on.
If words could explain the sensations we were both feeling by the end of the evening, they would probably reflect the following: incredible, uplifting, inspirational, and ... incredible (again).
Watching the three of you on stage was not only powerful, it was exquisite, elegant and meaningful. The thesis of the show hit home, and ... it hit hard -- but was so well done that at the end, I felt inspired, not faulted; which sometimes is often the unbearable truth.
Caroline (God mother) and I have season tickets to Metro Stage and have seen Felicia preform in a previous production "Three Sistahs." We have been blown away by her performance before, and were truly blown away again. She's excellent. You all are. Truly wonderfully talented artists -- if it weren't for your great performance as a team, this email would have never been birthed.
What was so beautiful was the nature in which you each worked off of each others energies; together as one acting body you transformed the emotions of your audience to care, think, feel, react. You left our hearts pounding at the end of the night. And for that, we can only respond: Thank you. Our hearts needed it."


So come out and see us, and then feel free to write me after.
Today is the start of the 3rd to last weekend of shows. Not much time remaining!
www.metrostage.org


PS- I will check in later, after the show and tell you all about Fall Back Yard Clean up. Sound like fun? No, it was NOT! TONS of...ugh...SPIDERS!!!
yuck!
Talk later,
SGS

Tuesday night...checking in.

Well now...where to start? Matty is still recovering. He is keeping things down and able to eat today (soup, pudding, crackers) and has had some Pedialyte and Smart Water. He is just exhausted. I don't think that he has been awake for longer than 3 hours today. My poor baby. He is surely on the mend, but just wiped out. I have never seen him like this. I feel so helpless. I wish I could just do something to make him feel better, but I can't. I just hope he'll feel better by tomorrow. I'm sure he will.


The weather is starting to turn colder, and with that in mind, I look ahead to the Winter months to come. Kind of strange to think that after TICK closes on the 25th of this month, I have nothing lined up for the rest of the season. Nothing. So weird. I'm not really stressed about it yet. Just wish that something would turn up.

And finally, Buddha is ALMOST done with all of his medication. He had his last Prednisone today, and tomorrow morning is his last Antibiotic pill. He just has a few more days of antihistamine left. He is a new pug. Although, now that the cold has set in, he has to wear his red hoodie out on walks. He hates the hoodie, but puts up with it because he also hates to be cold.
Currently, Matty is drinking SMART water and eating yogurt, so hopefully it will make him feel better. Keep the positive thoughts up, as always. I am a firm believer that positive energy heals everything.
Goodnight, all. I hope you have a wonderful night/day.
Luv,
SGS

To hold off a civil war...

...against Babs fans on the verge of an assassination attempt on my part, I present a peace offering...one of my favorite performances of hers, from Funny Lady.
There. I kind of like her sometimes. Now hopefully the Babs armada will let me escape with my life.
;)
luv,
SGS

Hello,Gorgeous...

Well. It happened. Jacqui Piro Donovan made me a fan of Funny Girl. I know it might shock some who know my sexual orientation, but I am NOT a Streisand fan. NOT a fan of this show. Till tonight. Jacqui made me love the songs that I thought prior to tonight were the elevator music you would hear on the way down to Hell. Sorry, is that harsh? It's probably a Streisand thing. Hearing her sing "People" makes me sick. Not that she's not good, it's just that...I dunno...she knows that she is, and you can hear that when she sings...it's all about a voice. Oh well. What do I know, BUG is one of my favorite movies.
Jacqui enabled the songs with such life, heart, and soul. She stepped into a Streisand role and made me forget about Babs. (thank God). It made me want to see a full production of this show to see her do it fully. She was remarkable.
The cast of tonight's concert was terrific, and we all had a great time doing the show.
It was really sad, though...Matty caught an extremely violent stomach bug and was sick all day, and night. He did the show anyway, (like Fanny would), and after the show, we ran right out to get him home. He is currently on the couch as I play the part of Nurse Ratchet. My poor baby! :(
But the show went well, we raised a lot of money for the Signature Outreach and Education projects, and that is what we were there to do, so it was a huge success. The house was packed, and VERY responsive.
Standout moment of the evening: Jacqui singing the final "Don't Rain on my Parade", hitting that last note as the twenty something member pit blared and red glitter confetti rained down on her. Stunning and breath taking.
Keep Matty in your thoughts, and I will talk to you tomorrow.
PS...
I have to share this with you...a video passed to me by my friend, Yvonne...Utterly amazing...yet...weird. Enjoy.
Goodnight,
Luv, SGS

Thoughts on a Friday night...

On the way home from our show tonight, I was driving down Braddock Road, and suddenly saw something on the road. I hit the brakes till they screamed and as my headlights honed in on the object in question, I saw that it was a possum.
It had already been hit. It was writhing in pain, not dead yet. I saw it's teeth gnarling in pain. The image has not left me all night. I know that some might say that possums are not very nice critters, but I don't care about that. You are talking to someone who when he finds a moth indoors, captures it and releases it. I have too much of a reverance for life to extinguish it.
I still see that poor creature on the road trying to push itself up from the road, and in agony. I did not run over it again, which might have put it out of more pain. I couldn't have.
I still keep seeing it.
The pain. The suffering. The confusion.
I can't shake it. It is 1am, and I can't find anything else to fill my head.
The worst part is that I will have to travel up and down Braddock 4 times tomorrow, as I have 2 shows tomorrow. I wonder if it's corpse (by then) will still be there.
I need to shake this, but have not been able to.
I have rehearsal for Funny Girl in Concert, which is Monday night at Signature, in which I will be playing Eddie Ryan, the choreographer, and Fanny's best friend.

Visit www.signature-theatre.org for details. One night only. Monday night.
I have rehearsal at 10AM till 1PM, then 2 shows. I need to be in bed. I can't sleep.





I see a small creature in pain.
I flip through the channels, and what is on? Rent.
Though I am not a fan of the movie, it has its points.


One of the high points is this...

Very honest song, very good actors, very simple filming.
Well done, Jon.


I still see the possum.

I know what I will dream of tonight.


Ugh.

Sweet dreams, all...
Luv,
SGS

Ticking Away Again...

Well, I just got back from the first performance of the week for us. It went well, even though we had a brand new drummer playing the show for the first time in front of a live audience. I think he did extremely well, considering that this show is no musical picnic to play.
We had a fantastic and responsive house, and I thank them all for being such! Have you come out to see us yet? I hope you do soon...maybe even this weekend! We would love to see you out there. And if you have come, please tell all of your friends to come and see us. Theatre audiences are not really full all over our fine Metro Area right now, and I am sure that it is due, in large part, to the economy. Being on the lower end of the income bracket, believe me, I understand. But tickets to our show are not badly priced, and you can also get a special deal from Metro Stage's Myspace page. So, if you feel as passionately about the show as you seem to react, then please...pass it on to others.
Thanks so much, guys.
I hope everyone has a fantastic night's sleep, and I will write more tomorrow afternoon.
Goodnight!
Luv,
SGS

Scenes from a Bar on Halloween Night...

Just a casual conversation between a zombie and a human...














And my favorite Halloween costume of this year, Kara Tameika Watkins as...
Lt. Uhura from Star Trek. HOT!!!