Progress...almost.

Heh, I've been procrastinating. I knew I shouldn't have turned on my laptop. Then again, I've been getting semi-caught up with some friends, which is good, but I haven't been doing anything "productive."

Sometimes I hate the continual feeling that I have to be productive, that I need to produce something (and not just something but something important, something big and meaningful).

Tonight, my family and I are going to see the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. We got tickets kind of last minute because Norbert Leo Butz of Wicked and The Last Five Years is actually performing in the tour company! I love his voice, and so does the rest of my family. The last time we did something this impulsive was when we bought tickets to see Guys & Dolls because Ewan McGregor was in it.

The only problem is, I really want to stay and get his autograph tonight, but I don't know where the stage exit is at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. I really have to find it...because I really want his autograph, and to meet him! It's kind of the whole point to going to the show he's in. We don't have spectacular seats (also like Guys and Dolls) but we have a chance to meet him! And I really, really want to.

So now I'm going to skulk through some fansites and see if any of them know how I could best stalk Norbert. Wish me luck!

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

So I just got back from seeing the musical, and it was hilarious! As I've said, I was laughing so hard that my cheeks still hurt! I knew absolutely nothing about the musical when I walked in to see it, except that Norbert Leo Butz was in it and had won a Tony for his performance. Enough to get me in!

Turns out that Norbert doesn't actually sing all that much -- in fact, there weren't any songs that particularly wowed me. Usually, when I see a musical, there are a few songs of it that I'd like to know by heart, but the one or two that actually touched me weren't Norbert's, though his were all really funny. I think that he probably had more of a singing role in all of the other musicals he's been in, but his acting in this one was what really kept me laughing. The role just loved him -- he milked it for all it was worth, and then some, and he could get away with it! I have a feeling that he could have gotten away with anything.

We had pretty good seats -- the last row of the orchestra that still qualifies for "premium" prices, and all the way to the right. But that's still not very far away (I was excited).

The only thing that bummed me out (and still bums me out) is that, the way OCPAC is constructed, there is no stage exit accessible to the general public -- at least, not one that I knew of. So none of the actors & actresses had to put up with my harassment. (And they were all good -- I wouldn't have just wanted Norbert's autograph, though he was still the best in the show.) I personally think it's unfair to the paying public to allow actors to escape quietly without being mercilessly slaughtered by the paparazzi and squeeing fangirls.

A bit of my review...

Best Actor: Norbert takes the cake. All he did throughout the whole thing was act! You honestly had to be there to understand the chemistry he had with the audience. Not many people can get that many laughs out of a piece of beef jerky.

Best Singer: Norbert, Norbert, Norbert! And did I say Norbert? That's kind of the whole reason why we went to see the show. The thing that annoyed me the most was that he didn't sing more!

Best Character: Christine Colgate

Best Song: the one with "Ruprecht" (you had to be there)

Better than I thought it'd be: Honestly, I'd say most of it. I had my fingers crossed on this one, but I knew almost nothing about it in advance, except that Norbert was in it. (I'm not obsessed at all...he just has that voice...)

Not as good as it should have been: Norbert should've had more songs. He's just that awesome.

But really, everyone was amazing. My favorite song actually wasn't sung by Norbert's character (as I might have already mentioned above, but I'm too lazy to check). I think it's because this musical was completely and totally a comedy, and most of the musicals I've seen (in fact, now that I come to think of it, all of the musicals I've seen recently) have been drama, or at least not intended as solely comedy. Rent and Wicked had definite social themes, and Phantom and Last Five Years are definitely dramas. I think mostly what I didn't like about Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (when there were things I didn't like about it) was that it wasn't the other musicals I've seen. Nonetheless...it was good. Really, really good in parts. Mostly good in others. And a new experience, unlike anything else I have ever seen.

I have a dream...will you make it come true?

Beauty...I don't know what this feeling in me is right now, but I know why I'm feeling it. It comes upon me at the oddest times, in the least suspected circumstances. Sometimes it makes me laugh; sometimes it makes me envy; sometimes it makes me cry for joy. It's not a bad feeling. It never becomes jealousy, or disillusionment. It's awe, plain and simple, at what people do -- what I could do, if I wanted to.

It makes me want to sing out loud to the stars outside my window. It makes me want to turn cartwheels and write the Great American Novel and talk to strangers and believe in the magic of human existence.

It's brought on by varied experiences. Sometimes it's a book, sometimes a play, sometimes a movie or something someone says to me in passing, sometimes just a thought -- but then there I go, so happy, so ready for whatever the world has to give me, because I know it does have things to give me, and only me, if only I'm there and ready for them! It makes me want to stay up all night reading a good book while snuggled under the covers with a flashlight. It makes me feel young and makes the world look new.

It's really a natural high, and it's one of the things that I live for.