Thursday, September 24, 2009

Friends, family and readers alike:  This is Kiki (aka Brian Patrick Murphy) here as your new Blonde blogger guest starring while my dearly departed and injured brethren Abs Dalton is healing.  I will try and faithfully continue this lovely blog whilst he heal.

We are in Tempe Az and the weather is hot and the show is busy.  We have been losing people left and right as our 1st year came to an end.  On the road we become a family for good and for bad.  We realize who to go to for all things.  You learn who to call when looking for Whole foods, or who to get directions to the gym from, or who to find out where CVS is.  Not to mention who to talk to about anything.  So when turnover happens in a cast, which is inevitable in this business, it is always a little strange.  

The new cast members are wonderfully nice and absolutely talented.  We are thrilled to have them and excited to get to know them.  Last night Ashley Moniz went on and did a superb job for her first show.  WOW, what a great opportunity!  She proved to be a total pro and it was thrilling for her and for the cast.

We look forward to putting Candice Marie Woods in the  show as Pilar and Adam Zelasko formerly Nikos/Padamadan into Monster Dalton's track.  Adam is a great actor and will be awesome and i am sure Candice will too.  

We send love to our brother Tally Sessions who opened in the South Pacific tour this week and are thrilled that departed family Josh Walden and Mamie Parris will be working together in Ragtime on Broadway.  They are both brilliant and great people, so please support them and go see it in NYC.  

It is strange to be here for over a year now.  I remember a year ago like it was yesterday.  So much has changed yet so much is similar.  We will again be experiencing Halloween, THanksgiving, Christmas and New Years together.  All of those seem so monumental from last year and now it will be with so many new people.  I am nervous and excited about all of it.

So, let's wish all our departed well and hope that this year will treat us as good or better than the last......

til next time, KIKI 

Friday, September 18, 2009

KIKI goes Cyber


Whilst I am gone Brian Patrick Murphy will be taking the over the blog.......

FIERCE!

Times they are a changin.......



I write this while living in unfortunate irony, having sat by the shore in Newport Beach for the last two weeks because I was sleeping less than 100 yards away.  

The irony is I skinned my toe going to PT so am unable to submerge in saltwater for the rest of the weekend.

And, tonite is the night that  Lucia Spina starts as ENID. 

I leave Monday for an inditerminate amount of time on Medical Leave, alongside Cortney, Gretchen, and Crystal Joy. We will have Bloody Marys in the airport as Zelasko flies back to cover me for a month.  Hilarity!!!!













Its been sunny and beautiful here, watching dolphins frolicing in the sand doesn't really feel like work.  But, people have still been stuck in theatre in rehearsals.  Why you ask?

Lauren is leaving after Tempe to go to the land where all Prom Nights are rained out and Sara Jenkins leaves after Sacramento.  



So, we now have Kathleen Monteleone ( my acting partner from GREASE: YOURE THE ONE THAT I WANT) replacing Lauren.  

Who is replacing Sara?  Did anyone ever see the movie DOUBLE TROUBLE in the 80's?

Also, Ashley Moniz is our new swing and 
Candice Marie Woods will be Pilar as of Wednesday.
So many changes and in so little time, but once we pass the 
1 year mark of tour, after Costa Mesa, anything is fair game.  

Thats right---
year 2 totes goes International!!!!!

Enjoy these random 
pictures from the year......

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

One more reason to love BEN + JERRYS


So....
 as if there was a better reason to stick w/ the ole standby 
instead of conceding to the debaucherous vehicle of COLDSTONE
BEN + JERRY'S has turned yet another hypothetical liberal thought into yet another
 genius entrepreneurial adventure.

New Additions to the Cast


So as forseen by Shawnee Shamans across the great burning state of California, our new additions have gone on early.

Let us begin with.......

Mrs. Cjay Hardy Philip   as SALESWOMAN/JUDGE




then Mr Jonathan Rayson as AARON SCHULTZ



















Soon it will be Constantine Rousouli as NIKOS


















Then JD Wing as MOM/COURTNEY/WHITNEY



















Then other people as:
Serena (rumor is it is TIFF ENGEN), 
Pilar (could be another HSPRAY alum), 
Enid (who closed it on BWAY?), 
and whoever will replace the adorable Lauren Zakrin?

Well, with Lou Diamond Phillips and our writer Heather Hach visiting this weekend anything was possible.........

And so we went to support our friend and comrade 
(and my TWEEDLE Partner from BwayBares)

JAKE WILSON 

on the launch of 
Season 2 of

(starring LB cast members old and new)

Stay tuned for "Last week in LA Shenanigans"

Natalie Joy Johnsons Cabaret--Sept 7 at UPRIGHT CABARET




“Natalie Joy Johnson is a knockout who sings with a purity of spirit.”
The New York Times

"Merman-voiced Johnson is a scream as the floozy-ish Paulette, nailing every laugh and belting out her numbers to the back row of the balcony."
Los Angeles Times

“It truly felt like watching a young Bette Midler, just on the verge of exploding.”
HX Magazine

NATALIE JOY JOHNSON
at Upright Cabaret
Vermont
1714 Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90027

MUSICAL DIRECTION by OUR LADY J
SPECIAL MATERIAL and GUEST APPEARANCE by JOHN HILL
DIRECTED by BEN RIMALOWER

Monday, September 7th at 9pm

Tickets: $20
http://www.uprightcabaret.com/events/2009/08/12/natalie-joy-johnson/

Natalie Joy Johnson, currently starring as Paulette in Legally Blonde at the Pantages Theatre, brings her popular club act to Upright Cabaret for its West Coast premiere, after sold out engagements at Joe’s Pub, the Cutting Room, Feinstein’s and Ars Nova. Natalie’s act harkens back to a time when the great ladies of show business entertained every night in swanky, smoky rooms. She brings her powerful and expressive voice to an evening both compelling and irreverent, and completely unlike any other show around.

Audiences can expect to hear Natalie’s exciting take on songs originated by an eclectic group of artists including Amy Winehouse, Cyndi Lauper, Melissa Manchester, Whitney Houston and Diana Ross, as well as original songs, all woven together seamlessly by the signature sound of Our Lady J’s unforgettable arrangements, created just for Natalie.

NATALIE JOY JOHNSON is thrilled to be in the Legally Blonde: The Musical family, originating the role of ‘Paulette,’ the hairdresser in the National Tour and the role of ‘Enid Hoopes,’ the Law School lesbian, on Broadway. Other NY credits include bare: a pop opera (Nadia), But I'm a Cheerleader (Sinead), Joy (Kegan), and the national tour of Godspell (Bless The Lord). Her concert act, Natalie Joy Johnson with Our Lady J and the Pink Champagne Orchestra featuring the Bubblies has been selling out shows at Joe's Pub, Ars Nova, and the Cutting Room. www.nataliejoyjohnson.com

OUR LADY J is a New York based singer/songwriter known for her visionary gospel stylings and powerhouse piano playing. She has been described as "virtuosic" (Time Our New York), "stunning" (New York Magazine) as well as "dazzling, talented and deliciously playful" (Metro UK). Along with The Pink Champagne Orchestra and The Train-To-Kill Gospel Choir, Our Lady J has performed at NYC's The Zipper Factory, Ars Nova and The Beechman Theatre. She has also traveled the US, Ireland and England as music director for Justin Bond's critically acclaimed production of "Lustre." This year, Out Magazine named her as one the "OUT100", a list of men and women who helped shape LGBT culture in 2008. Before her work with The Pink Champagne Orchestra, Our Lady J (aka Jonnah Speidel) musical directed and performed with some of NYC’s most colorful talents in hot spots including Alice Tulley Hall, Birdland, Carnegie Hall, Caroline’s on Broadway, The Cutting Room, Feinstein’s at the Regency, Joe’s Pub, Makor, The Metropolitan Room, Radio City Music Hall and The Town Hall. As a pianist, she has accompanied the NYC Gay Men's Chorus, American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and the Mark Morris Dance Group, where she was a featured performer in the MMDG Music Ensemble.

JOHN HILL is best known to Broadway audiences for his roles as Fender in the original cast of Hairspray, Mark Herron in The Boy From Oz, and Jason in Bare. He wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed (lol) one-man performance art show Whiskers on Kittens and the deeply hated Skinny Corpse, directed by Ben Rimalower. After his days as a Broadway slut, he went on to serve as a producer on the television shows "Tori and Dean,", "Project Runway" (Emmy Nomination), "Top Chef", "Dance on Sunset", "Step It Up And Dance", "MTV Show Choir" (which was shelved due to teacher pedophilia), "Attack Of The Show", "Ninja Warrior", and "Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D List".

BEN RIMALOWER is a director and producer working in theatre in New York. He directed The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero (Daryl Roth/DR2 Theatre), Joy (Actors Playhouse, Out Magazine: "Top Ten Theatre" & HX Award nomination), Snoopy! (Symphony Space, starring Sutton Foster), And/or (Dixon Place Hot Festival) and Sodom the Musical (Kraine Theatre) as well as staged readings for Second Stage, The York and Ensemble Studio Theatre. He conceived and directed Leslie Kritzer is Patti LuPone at Les Mouches (Time Out New York Award) and subsequently produced Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records’ long-awaited recording, “Patti LuPone at Les Mouches” (#25 on Billboard “Heatseekers” Chart), digitally restored from archival tapes of LuPone’s legendary 1980 performances. In venues such as Joe’s Pub, Ars Nova and The Zipper Factory, Ben has helmed a slew of solo shows for artists including Alec Mapa, Natalie Joy Johnson, Lindsey Alley, Wendy Ho and John Hill. Ben writes the weekly blog “The New Old Gay” for the website akawilliam.com. Assistant Director credits include Lonny Price’s productions of A Class Act (Manhattan Theatre Club, Broadway and Tokyo) and A Little Night Music (starring Patti LuPone, George Hearn and Zoe Caldwell) as well as the Emmy-winning Sweeney Todd. Ben studied Theatre Arts at U.C. Berkeley where he was the founding Artistic Director of BareStage (now celebrating its 13th anniversary).

Upright Cabaret at Vermont is located at 1714 Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027. For more information, visit www.uprightcabaret.com.