Results tagged “Grad Conn” from Blogway Baby

New York, New York! It's a helluva walk-on!

After my successful appearance on the 5th Avenue Theatre stage last year in HELLO DOLLY, I was asked back to appear in ON THE TOWN.

Well, okay, I wasn't exactly "asked back"...

Grad and I successfully bid on a dual walk-on role at last year's Gala at the 5th Avenue. We even snagged the closing show! I had a blast last year, but sharing the spotlight with my husband was even more fun. Although, I did have to share my dressing room with him...

We received the usual top notch star treatment - photos at the stage door, photos by the show bricks, big gold stars on our dressing room doors, a goody bag, flowers, chocolate, posing with the stars of the show...you know, my usual treatment.

I wore a fabulous kelly green (emerald green?) forties dress, gloves, hat, and my very own character shoes. Grad looked very cute in his forties suit and fedora. Then it was off to tech talk on stage. Boy ON THE TOWN is tech-intensive! And don't even get me started on the huge dinosaur hanging from the ceiling. We even got our picture taken in front of the cave man statue! Cast member Gabriel Corey gave us the run down on our scene - we were going to be part of the museum tour with Rich Gray as museum curator (in one of his many wigs!). Then as the show started it was off to hair and make up! I got to wear a red wig this time! And Grad got the old Brylcreem treatment. We watched a bit of the show backstage and then it was showtime!

We walked on and followed Rich, looking at all the amazing museum sights! We even laughed at Rich's jokes on cue! As we appeared on stage I could hear the chuckling from the audience in Row M, where my daughters Myrna and Trinity sat with their friends.

Much too soon it was over. Back to reality and the show! We got to watch the rest of the performance and meet up with everyone at intermission.

I hadn't seen the show since opening night and it was a magical performance! What a talented, funny company. I had actually just been reading about World War II that morning before the show (coincidentally), so I was watching it with new eyes! I got chills when they sang "We'll catch up some other time".

Thanks to everyone at the 5th Avenue Theatre for a thrilling afternoon!

ON THE TOWN was another fabulous production by the 5th Avenue Theatre!

Let the Leonard Bernstein festival continue with the final show of the season, CANDIDE!

Breaking news: COCKTAIL NUTS welcomes special guest Anthony Fedorov!

That's right, in addition to our already stellar line up, Anthony Fedorov will be joining us on Monday September 28! Anthony Fedorov is an American Idol runner-up who will be starring as Joseph in The 5th Avenue Theatre's production of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT from October 10 - November 1, 2009!

So, here is the final fabulous line-up of talent for our inaugural COCKTAIL NUTS on Monday September 28:

Come join our host Rich Gray as he celebrates "Landing The Gig" with:

Anthony Fedorov (from The 5th Avenue Theatre's upcoming JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT)

Anne Allgood (from ACT Theatre's upcoming ROCK 'N' ROLL)

Jessica Skerritt (from Village Theatre's upcoming CHASING NICOLETTE)

The NightClub Gentlemen (the "almost" Rat Packers)

Also featuring appearances by Bill Robison and Myrna Conn

Tickets for this incredible night of entertainment are only $35.00 which includes complimentary gourmet snacks. And there will be a cash bar featuring an original COCKTAIL NUTS cocktail -- all cocktail and food service is by the inimitable VESSEL.

WHEN

Monday September 28, 2009

Door: 7pm for cocktails and complimentary gourmet snacks

Show: 8pm to 10pm

WHERE

ACT Theatre

Bullitt Cabaret

Union and 7th, downtown Seattle

Tickets will go on sale at ACT by the end of the week. Stay tuned for more information!

Go, go, go Trinity!

I'm super duper excited about The 5th Avenue Theatre's JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT playing October 10 - November 1, 2009.

And it's not just because the show is super fun, and I've watched the Donny Osmond DVD a thousand times.

And it's not just because Anthony Fedorov (former American Idol runner-up) is playing Joseph.

And it's not just because the cast will be wearing spandex unitards and golden cow heads (I hope!).

No, no, no it's because my daughter, Trinity is in the children's choir! How cool is that! Over 150 kids auditioned and Trinity got in!

She's been in rehearsals twice a week since August... and things really heat up next week. Soon she'll be rehearsing every day! Luckily she has a few friends in the choir and we've put together a massively intricate carpool (actually the other moms have done most of the organizing, I just try to remember to show up when it's my turn!)

So, when JOSEPH starts, three out of four of the Conns will have been on the 5th Avenue Theatre stage -- Myrna was a performance intern in HELLO DOLLY, I had a walk-on in HELLO DOLLY, and of course, Trinity is in JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT.

Now if I can jut get my husband Grad up there...

Stay tuned for more posts!

ROBERT MCKEE Story Seminar in New York City!

Aka “Shut up and listen!”

When I realized I hadn’t been back east for almost two years since I moved to Seattle, I decided a trip to New York was in order. And what better reason to fly 5 hours than to attend Robert Mckee’s famous “Story” seminar. Yes, I had read his book, aptly named “STORY”, but I wanted to experience it first hand since I had heard so many great things about his seminars. So my husband and I signed up,  and started packing!

From the website:

Over three intense days, McKee's Story Seminar effectively demonstrates the relationship between story design and character. Quality story structure demands creativity; It cannot be reduced to simple formulas that impose a rigid number of mandatory story elements. Robert McKee's course teaches you the principles involved in the art and craft of screenwriting and story design, and proves the essence of good story is unchanging and universal. Whether on the big screen, on television, in novels, on stage and in ALL creative work, everything works in the shadow of classic story design.

The seminar ran Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 9am -8:30pm. Yikes! I haven’t sat for that long in a long time. And it didn’t leave much time to see any shows! I did manage to squeeze in a matinee of EXIT THE KING (Geoffrey Rush is amazing!) and the last 30 minutes of TOXIC AVENGER!

I thoroughly enjoyed the seminar, and having Robert Mckee basically talk us through the book really helped solidify the concepts and ideas in my mind. And he runs these workshops with a iron (and grumpy) fist. No questions allowed except at break time (by then, you’re too scared to ask!) and no cell phones at all. If your cell phone rings by mistake, you have to pay him ten dollars. If it happens again, he kicks you out. And he loves to go off on tangents (aka rants) on the current sad state of movies, and various political topics. Perhaps his grumpiness had something to do with the fact that he had just badly hurt his back playing golf and had to sit the entire time.

One of my favorite parts of the seminar was the screening and anaylsis of CASABLANCA (the seminar really is geared towards the cinema, but the fundamentals of story apply to other mediums as well, such as musical theatre). Plots, subplots, text, subtext all unfolded before us. Interestingly, I don’t remember CASABLANCA being so funny! I chuckled constantly throughout the film. That is until the iconic farewell scene as the last plane out is about to take off. It was then that I realized, to my  horror, that I had left my cell phone on from the last break! Oh no! What to do, what to do? And my cell phone sounds like a jet engine when you turn it on or off!

I thought about making a run for the door, but then in a moment of pure genius, I waited until the screen was full of loud, rotating airplane propellers and I pressed the off button. The jet engine sound of my phone was muffled by the movie! Robert Mckee remained blissfully unawared of my cell phone situation, and I watched the last few minutes of the film peacefully (ignoring the disgusted glare from my husband who couldn’t believe what had just happened!).

Mckee does this story seminar around the world, as well as single days devoted to genres (love, comedy etc.) .I would highly recommend his seminar to anyone who is in the business of telling stories.

The end.

One Singular Sensation! (lol tis a bit overused but WHATEVS)

Last week I saw the Saturday matinee performance of A CHORUS LINE's national tour at the Paramount Theatre. It was CRAMAZING! Oh my goodness, I think this was the best production of CHORUS LINE that I've ever seen. This tour opened in Denver, CO at the Buell Theatre on May 4, 2008. Seattle is the 5th stop on the tour.

The cast was stellar. Of course, my favorite was Hollie Howard as Maggie - see her bio here (scroll down). Notice how under "Favorites" there's the one, the only PLANE CRAZY! She was also fantastic as Holly Banks in the NYMF 2005 production of PLANE CRAZY. Other favorites included Jessica Latshaw as Kristine, Colt Prattes as Al and u/s Mike, Clyde Alves as Mike, Gabrielle Ruiz as Diana, and Kevin Santos as Paul! However, everyone was really good and brought a new dimension to their character that I had never seen in any A CHORUS LINE production before.

The set was the same as the Broadway revival that I saw in New York (which closes today... tear). Simple yet powerful. The choreography was old school CHORUS LINE (well of course) and... everything was just fabola. Paul's speech moved me (and my dad, the fantastic Microsoft employee and avid theatre fan Grad Conn) more than ever before, and What I Did For Love was even more poignant with Gabrielle Ruiz's spectacular performance as Diana Morales... who coincidentally sings my favorite song in the show, Nothing.

In conclusion, WOW. I would definitely count this show as one of my favorite theatre experiences ever, and you should definitely check it out if it's coming to a theatre near you! Check out the tour schedule here.

Today, July 11, musical theatre writer Suzy Conn (PLANE CRAZY, THE TALE OF PIGLING BLAND, BECKY AND THE BOOGER, THE MERCER GIRLS) and her husband Grad Conn are celebrating 21 years of marriage! Wow! Now that's something to write about!

Here are a few other notable historical theatrical events for July 11…

From an article on Playbill.com:

1915 A King is born today... in the form of Yul Brynner. Brynner will, of course, go on to star as one half of the title of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King And I, opposite Gertrude Lawrence. Brynner will go on to play the role in numerous incarnations of the production, as well as in the film version (for which he won the Academy Award), and a short-lived, non-musical 1970's sitcom called "Anna and the King."

1985 Alan Ayckbourn's Season's Greetings, a comedy about a family's reunion for a traditional English Christmas, opens at the Joyce Theatre. The American Theatre Exchange production was helmed by Pat Brown. The play ran previously in London and then made its American premiere at Houston's Alley Theatre in Texas before making its way to Off Broadway.

1989 Sir Laurence Olivier dies today. The celebrated actor of stage and film was 82 years old. Olivier appeared on Broadway and in the West End in a large array of roles, ranging from Shakespearean tragic heros Hamlet and Caesar to lighter fare like No Time For Comedy. As a stage director, Olivier staged the London bow of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring his wife, Vivien Leigh. Film credits include his Academy Award-winning version of "Hamlet," which Olivier also directed, and "Clash of the Titans."

1998 After playing 12 previews and 240 regular performances in William Luce's Broadway bio of John Barrymore at the Music Box Theatre, actor Christopher Plummer will kick off an eight-city tour of Barrymore tonight. The Broadway production closed Nov. 2, 1997, but Plummer took some time off to rest from the role which won him the 1997 Best Actor Tony Award, as well as a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award.

2002 Comedian Robin Williams hones a new standup act in Robin Williams Live on Broadway, which plays a 3-performance limited run at the Broadway Theatre, starting today.

Here's the next 21 years of marriage!